D&D 5E Party Stealth

How do you handle party stealth? Does each character roll a stealth check? Do you have the best PC make a single roll? Do you allow helping or other types of modification to a single roll? How do you handle these types of challenges? How does it work for your party(ies)?

I've always had a challenge or uncomfortableness about the RAW methods. Having every character roll and using either passive or active perception makes sense, but means most parties have a heck of a time actually being stealthy. Having only the most stealthy roll means that most parties will always succeed (esp if the party has a rogue with expertise and reliable talent) even when one of the members is a walking tin can with a dex of 8.
 

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By RAW, everyone rolls and if half or more succeed, the whole party succeeds.

My preference is to have the character with the lowest modifier make the roll, with disadvantage if anyone in the party would have disadvantage. This is definitely harsher than RAW, but it does have the benefit of being only one roll you need to shore up. The party can pool their resources to helping out their weakest link, and its assumed everyone else did as well as or better than the result. This also has the effect of encouraging the players to split the party when it’s reasonable to do so - you’ll have much better chances of success sending the rogue or ranger to scout ahead on their own than you will trying to sneak around as a group. For me, that’s a desirable result, but for others it might not be. YMMV.

In contrast, when searching as a group, the character with the highest modifier rolls, with advantage if anyone in the party would have advantage.
 

If the party is trying to, say, sneak past something as a group, then it's a group Dexterity (Stealth) check, when the outcome is uncertain and there's a meaningful consequence for failure.

If the party is trying to surprise an enemy, then it's individual Dexterity (Stealth) checks, if the DM determines that the enemies may be surprised.
 

How do you handle party stealth? Does each character roll a stealth check? Do you have the best PC make a single roll? Do you allow helping or other types of modification to a single roll? How do you handle these types of challenges? How does it work for your party(ies)?

I've always had a challenge or uncomfortableness about the RAW methods. Having every character roll and using either passive or active perception makes sense, but means most parties have a heck of a time actually being stealthy. Having only the most stealthy roll means that most parties will always succeed (esp if the party has a rogue with expertise and reliable talent) even when one of the members is a walking tin can with a dex of 8.
First off, I determine whether a roll is even necessary, and whether it is even possible. There are situations, like sneaking past drunken nobles after dealing with the guards, where I'm not even going to ask for a check; so long as the conditions for Hiding are present (or have been orchestrated by the players), then it's automatically successful. Likewise, there are situations, like crossing an open battlefield at twilight, where so long as the conditions for Hiding remain lacking, no roll will make Hiding possible. That's a very important disclaimer.

Secondly, if I have the entire party attempting it, I almost never will make it boil down to "if one of you fails, then the alert goes to full and your infiltration is blown." Because odds are every group will have a tank in heavy armor who sucks at Stealth. EDIT: I should clarify that there are two "answers" I use to this issue... (1) The first is setting smart stakes/consequences to failure that don't go from 0 to 60 (i.e. that aren't totally black and white). (2) The second is much more situational (and thus I can't present a hard-coded formula for) and involves stuff life having one player roll, Helping others, etc.

Thirdly, it depends on the scenario and how much prep I've put into it. What I mean is, if this is just a guard patrol or random encounter or side quest the PCs have gotten themselves into, then a RAW group Stealth check compared to passive Perception (or active Perception) is what I'll use. If half or more of group succeeds, then entire group succeeds. Results tend to lean binary: "sneak past or be discovered."

Whereas if the entire scenario is based on infiltration, then I'm prepping more, and I devised my whole system/approach to these sorts of stealth infiltrations. I'll link my example PDF Assassinate the Lizard Emperor which breaks down that approach, but basically it's (a) take an average of everyone's Stealth for initial penetration through rings of concentric defense, but thereafter treat Stealth as a save used only as a last resort when you draw attention to yourself, (b) focus on the creative challenge of creating decoys, snuffing candles, knocking out sentries and dragging away bodies, creative spellcasting, and other endeavors to create the conditions ripe for hiding, (c) include some kind of a "heist planning" indie mechanic.
 
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When the group is moving quietly continuously, I use Passive Stealth for them (10 + DEX + prof bonus if applicable). That way I can just have my NPCs and creatures roll Perception against it when I need to. Saves time.
 

A few ways, each benefit a certain playstyle:
Narrative & Grit: Have each person roll and describe each action. Can add tension, but slows things down. If one fails, the results of someone hearing them is predicated on how poorly the PC failed. For example, the Goliath, who you gave disadvantage to because of his size and the shadows have a hard time covering him, rolled a 2. He has zero. This is a huge failure and the baddies see everyone in the group. If he rolled an 11 and needed a 12, maybe the baddies just see him.
Speed: If you are concerned with game speed, just have your players determine one player to roll. It all rests on their shoulders. It can be a good bonding experience and definitely draws all player eyes to the table for the "big roll." Narratively it works, but not as well as describing each character's fictional footsteps.
RAW: The group rolls and if half succeed, you succeed. This is designed to keep all players rolling and invested, yet still allowing for some failures. Up front, it makes no sense, but if you bend the logic a little and use a soupy narrative, it can work perfectly fine. This is medium speed alternative.
 

RAW - The Group Checks rules may be used, but that is subject to DM interpretation. Is the group trying to accomplish something as a group when they're sneaking around, or is it more of each of them trying individually to be sneaky? Does being sneaky prevent them from coordinating their efforts enough to prevent a group check?

The example in the PHB for group checks is whether a group can avoid traps while searching for them together. In a real world situation, people can interact much more freely when looking for trouble than if a group of people is trying to sneak someplace.

When applied to stealth, it often does not serve the fiction well either. In a party of 6 PCs, with a super stealthy rogue, ranger and monk you're going to make all your group stealth rolls even if the other three PCs are all 8 dexterity in platemail. Yes, you can try to adjust your fiction to account for how the stealthy folks help the unstealthy ones ... but that fiction is not endlessly elastic.

My Special Rule: I am pretty quick with the math, so I go a little complex when it really matters. If it doesn't really matter, I just use the group check rules. It matters when the result will have a major impact on the game.

When it matters, I set a DC (usually based upon passive perceptions) and then have everyone roll, with PCs being able to take disadvantage on their roll to give advantage to an ally (but they must be adjacent to that ally. I then tell them the DC they were trying to beat. People then tell me how much they succeeded or failed by.

  • If anyone failed by 10, they were detected.
  • I add up the amount by which any individuals failed and then double it. Then I subtract the amount by which individuals succeeded. If the success outweighs the double failure, they succeed collectively. If the double failure outweights the success, at least one PC was heard.
  • To determine who was detect (if it matters), I roll a d10 and subtract it from the DC. Anyone that had a stealth roll beneath that amount was detected. If none are beneath that amount, then the lowest was detected.

The presence of the special rule is more important than the effect of it. It encourages people to be creative in how they are sneaky to prevent the chances of detection. It makes the PCs that are least sneaky come up with solutions to allow them to not ruin the stealth, such as climbing into a bag of holding, using pass without trace, silence spells, etc... When players know that they can't just brute force the stealth and be guaranteed of success, they put more effort into being stealthy.
 

My preference is to have the character with the lowest modifier make the roll, with disadvantage if anyone in the party would have disadvantage. This is definitely harsher than RAW, but it does have the benefit of being only one roll you need to shore up. The party can pool their resources to helping out their weakest link, and its assumed everyone else did as well as or better than the result.
Just curious what you mean by "The party can pool their resources to helping out their weakest link." Lots of games have rules for assistance, but how would that work in 5e?
 


Just curious what you mean by "The party can pool their resources to helping out their weakest link." Lots of games have rules for assistance, but how would that work in 5e?
If anyone has Inspiration they can give it to the player making the roll. If the party has a bard they can use Bardic Inspiration, if they have a cleric they can cast Guidance or Bless, if they have a ranger they can cast Pass Without Trace, etc. And of course, if anyone in the party has heavy armor they can doff it and maybe other party members can use their resources to help make up for their decreased AC.
 


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