Concealment

Concealment is granted to a target whenever you have difficulty perceiving it. A target has Partial Concealment any time it is partially obscured from your senses, such as in low-light conditions (unless creatures have low-light or better vision), in light fogs and mists and other hazy conditions. An attack made against a creature that has Partial Concealment has Disadvantage. Attacks that target an area, however, never suffer penalties from Concealment.

Penalties from Concealment
  • Partial Concealment: One Disadvantage to Attack a Creature, no penalty in an Area
  • Superior Concealment: Two Disadvantages to Attack a Creature, no penalty in an Area
  • Hidden: Cannot target creature except with a Wild Swing, which imposes two Disadvantages to the attack. Attacks that target an area are unaffected

When your opponent has Partial Concealment:

  • It is difficult to see, hear, or otherwise sense, but you still have Line of Perception to the opponent.
  • Attacks that target the opponent have Disadvantage. This does not apply to attacks that target all creatures in an area.
  • You may not take Opportunity actions on the creature.

Superior Concealment is granted when a creature is almost entirely concealed from its opponents, such as in darkness (unless opponents have means of seeing through that darkness, such as Darkvision), in dense fogs and mists, while invisible, when its opponent is Blinded, etc. You do not threaten creatures with Superior Concealment and your attacks against it suffer two Disadvantages (assuming you can determine the creature's location).

When your opponent has Superior Concealment:

  • It is very difficult to see, hear, or otherwise perceive. You do not have Line of Perception to the opponent.
  • Attacks that target the opponent have two Disadvantages (attacks that target all creatures in an area are unaffected). You must know or determine the opponent's location (see Locating Creatures with Concealment).
  • You do not Threaten the opponent, nor can you take Opportunity actions against it.
  • It gains an Advantage when making attacks on you.
  • It may attempt to become Hidden.

A creature becomes Hidden when it can not be located by its opponent. A creature that is Hidden cannot be targeted by attacks, except with a Wild Swing. A creature can attempt to attack a Hidden Target by targeting the location where the Hidden creature was last seen (especially if that creature was within a target's melee reach). If the target remains in that location, the attacking creature still has two Disadvantages on the attack. As usual, attacks that target an area are unaffected by the Hidden condition, but the target's location is not known to the attacker when determining the outer limits of the area.

When a creature is Hidden:

  • It cannot be targeted by attacks, except with a Wild Swing which suffers two Disadvantages (attacks that target an area are unaffected).
  • You do not Threaten the creature, nor can you take Opportunity actions against it.
  • It gains an Advantage on you and other opponents it is Hidden from.

See Locating Creatures with Concealment for more information.

Concealment and Senses

Gaining concealment against creatures with beyond human-like senses is generally more difficult. For example, a creature with Blindsight has Line of Perception to nearby creatures regardless of visual conditions. Likewise, a creature with Tremorsense can determine a character's location as long as he is touching the ground and may require a PC to fly or levitate to gain concealment. Also, keep in mind that creatures typically have more than one sensory ability and it may be necessary to overcome more than one sense to gain concealment. Ultimately, it is up to the GM to determine if any creature has Line of Perception to you.