Does a creature with blindsight have disadvantage when attacking an invisible target?

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As the question states, if a creature has blindsight, do they have disadvantage on a target that is within the range of their blindsight and not otherwise hidden/covered?



The wording of the invisible condition suggests that attacks against an invisible creature have disadvantage AND the creature can't be seen without magic/special sense not BECAUSE the creature can't be seen.




Invisible Condition



An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense. For the purposes of hiding, the creature is heavily obscured. The creature's location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves.



Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage, and the creature's attack rolls have advantage.











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  • Related on Does blindsense detect invisibility?
    – NautArch
    yesterday










  • Related on When an invisible character leaves a blindsight creature's reach, does that creature get an opportunity attack?
    – NautArch
    yesterday















up vote
12
down vote

favorite
2












As the question states, if a creature has blindsight, do they have disadvantage on a target that is within the range of their blindsight and not otherwise hidden/covered?



The wording of the invisible condition suggests that attacks against an invisible creature have disadvantage AND the creature can't be seen without magic/special sense not BECAUSE the creature can't be seen.




Invisible Condition



An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense. For the purposes of hiding, the creature is heavily obscured. The creature's location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves.



Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage, and the creature's attack rolls have advantage.











share|improve this question























  • Related on Does blindsense detect invisibility?
    – NautArch
    yesterday










  • Related on When an invisible character leaves a blindsight creature's reach, does that creature get an opportunity attack?
    – NautArch
    yesterday













up vote
12
down vote

favorite
2









up vote
12
down vote

favorite
2






2





As the question states, if a creature has blindsight, do they have disadvantage on a target that is within the range of their blindsight and not otherwise hidden/covered?



The wording of the invisible condition suggests that attacks against an invisible creature have disadvantage AND the creature can't be seen without magic/special sense not BECAUSE the creature can't be seen.




Invisible Condition



An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense. For the purposes of hiding, the creature is heavily obscured. The creature's location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves.



Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage, and the creature's attack rolls have advantage.











share|improve this question















As the question states, if a creature has blindsight, do they have disadvantage on a target that is within the range of their blindsight and not otherwise hidden/covered?



The wording of the invisible condition suggests that attacks against an invisible creature have disadvantage AND the creature can't be seen without magic/special sense not BECAUSE the creature can't be seen.




Invisible Condition



An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense. For the purposes of hiding, the creature is heavily obscured. The creature's location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves.



Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage, and the creature's attack rolls have advantage.








dnd-5e vision-and-light invisibility advantage attack-roll






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edited yesterday









V2Blast

17.8k248113




17.8k248113










asked yesterday









rpeinhardt

824110




824110











  • Related on Does blindsense detect invisibility?
    – NautArch
    yesterday










  • Related on When an invisible character leaves a blindsight creature's reach, does that creature get an opportunity attack?
    – NautArch
    yesterday

















  • Related on Does blindsense detect invisibility?
    – NautArch
    yesterday










  • Related on When an invisible character leaves a blindsight creature's reach, does that creature get an opportunity attack?
    – NautArch
    yesterday
















Related on Does blindsense detect invisibility?
– NautArch
yesterday




Related on Does blindsense detect invisibility?
– NautArch
yesterday












Related on When an invisible character leaves a blindsight creature's reach, does that creature get an opportunity attack?
– NautArch
yesterday





Related on When an invisible character leaves a blindsight creature's reach, does that creature get an opportunity attack?
– NautArch
yesterday











3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
30
down vote













The Special Sense Blindsense bypasses the mechanics of being Invisible



The Invisible condition states (emphasis mine):




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




Blindsight is a special type of sense, along with senses like True Sight and Tremorsense.



The condition explicitly calls out that there are special senses that bypass the condition. As Blindsight allows a creature to see the unseen, being invisible is bypassed by that sense and thus the mechanics that the Invisible condition provides are not activated.



Jeremy Crawford also provides some support:




Blindsight lets you spot an invisible creature in range, but that creature can still try to hide behind something with Stealth.




Once you can see the creature the effects of being Invisible are no longer active.






share|improve this answer






















  • Strictly rules as written, "impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense" and "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" are written as separate effects. The "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" line isn't written as conditional on not being able to see the creature.
    – user2357112
    4 hours ago


















up vote
14
down vote













No, it doesn't have disadvantage.



A creature with blindsight can perceive its environment without using sight. Therefore it can perceive invisible creatures.



"Invisible" means "unable to be seen". The Invisible condition is actually defined that way:




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




So if someone can effectively see you, then you aren't invisible to them and the adverse effects of the Invisible condition don't apply to them. Note that there is precedent for being subject to a condition with respect to only some creatures: you are considered blinded when trying to see things that are heavily obscured.



The rules handle attacks between unseen characters in a consistent way, whether they're invisible, blind (and thus unable to see anything), or heavily obscured.






share|improve this answer


















  • 2




    This answer would be improved by quoting/citing the sources of the relevant rules (rather than simply mentioning what they say).
    – V2Blast
    yesterday










  • There are a number of possible Tweets that might support this, like this
    – Slagmoth
    23 hours ago










  • "Invisible" does not mean "unable to be seen" - if I am on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark I am "unable to be seen" but I am not "invisible". Also, the "invisible" condition is not defined that way - it is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) give you.
    – Dale M
    22 hours ago







  • 2




    @DaleM And yet if you are on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark, attack rolls against you have disadvantage. Unable to be seen = unable to be seen.
    – Mark Wells
    22 hours ago

















up vote
-2
down vote













An Invisible creature is still Invisible even if someone can see it



Invisibility is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) gives you and the condition only ends in the way that the effect says - I don't know of any that end just because something can "see" you. While you have the condition it does what it says it does.



So, yes, an Invisible creature attacks with advantage and is attacked with disadvantage even if the target/attacker can "see" it through blindsight, tremorsense, truesight etc.



Why? Because the advantage/disadvantage comes from the Invisible condition (PHB p.291) and is distinct from the advantage/disadvantage that comes from being unseen (PHB p.195).



Does this make sense? I don't ask that question anymore.






share|improve this answer






















  • Thank you. That is what I believed may have been the correct interpretation but there was some confusion in my group about there being disadvantage even when the creature was seen or "perceived" by blindsight.
    – rpeinhardt
    yesterday






  • 1




    @rpeinhardt: Although you are free to accept any answer, and DaleM is clearly an expert, if you are interested in consensus as evidenced by the votes, you will see that this answer has less agreement from other voters. If you are interested in the reasons behind polarised versions of answers, this seems to be a classic example of gamist vs narrative interpretations of rules - neither are inherently "wrong", however the swing was heavily gamist for D&D v4, and there was a deliberate swing back the other way for 5E. More detail on that would be the topic of another question
    – Neil Slater
    18 hours ago











  • @rpeinhardt Rules do what they say, and this is indeed what the rules say. 5e has, quote honestly, poorly written rules from the perspective of "saying what they should say"; instead, 5e was written in a conversational manner, with next to no attention payed to "oh, and did we write what we meant to?" in most of it.
    – Yakk
    11 hours ago










  • @ Neil Slater: That's a VERY good comment. Really, it's kind of an answer unto itself. Thank you! I've unmarked this answer as chosen not necessarily because I think it's wrong, but because it seems to be more complex.
    – rpeinhardt
    8 hours ago










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3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes








3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes








up vote
30
down vote













The Special Sense Blindsense bypasses the mechanics of being Invisible



The Invisible condition states (emphasis mine):




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




Blindsight is a special type of sense, along with senses like True Sight and Tremorsense.



The condition explicitly calls out that there are special senses that bypass the condition. As Blindsight allows a creature to see the unseen, being invisible is bypassed by that sense and thus the mechanics that the Invisible condition provides are not activated.



Jeremy Crawford also provides some support:




Blindsight lets you spot an invisible creature in range, but that creature can still try to hide behind something with Stealth.




Once you can see the creature the effects of being Invisible are no longer active.






share|improve this answer






















  • Strictly rules as written, "impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense" and "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" are written as separate effects. The "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" line isn't written as conditional on not being able to see the creature.
    – user2357112
    4 hours ago















up vote
30
down vote













The Special Sense Blindsense bypasses the mechanics of being Invisible



The Invisible condition states (emphasis mine):




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




Blindsight is a special type of sense, along with senses like True Sight and Tremorsense.



The condition explicitly calls out that there are special senses that bypass the condition. As Blindsight allows a creature to see the unseen, being invisible is bypassed by that sense and thus the mechanics that the Invisible condition provides are not activated.



Jeremy Crawford also provides some support:




Blindsight lets you spot an invisible creature in range, but that creature can still try to hide behind something with Stealth.




Once you can see the creature the effects of being Invisible are no longer active.






share|improve this answer






















  • Strictly rules as written, "impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense" and "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" are written as separate effects. The "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" line isn't written as conditional on not being able to see the creature.
    – user2357112
    4 hours ago













up vote
30
down vote










up vote
30
down vote









The Special Sense Blindsense bypasses the mechanics of being Invisible



The Invisible condition states (emphasis mine):




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




Blindsight is a special type of sense, along with senses like True Sight and Tremorsense.



The condition explicitly calls out that there are special senses that bypass the condition. As Blindsight allows a creature to see the unseen, being invisible is bypassed by that sense and thus the mechanics that the Invisible condition provides are not activated.



Jeremy Crawford also provides some support:




Blindsight lets you spot an invisible creature in range, but that creature can still try to hide behind something with Stealth.




Once you can see the creature the effects of being Invisible are no longer active.






share|improve this answer














The Special Sense Blindsense bypasses the mechanics of being Invisible



The Invisible condition states (emphasis mine):




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




Blindsight is a special type of sense, along with senses like True Sight and Tremorsense.



The condition explicitly calls out that there are special senses that bypass the condition. As Blindsight allows a creature to see the unseen, being invisible is bypassed by that sense and thus the mechanics that the Invisible condition provides are not activated.



Jeremy Crawford also provides some support:




Blindsight lets you spot an invisible creature in range, but that creature can still try to hide behind something with Stealth.




Once you can see the creature the effects of being Invisible are no longer active.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 22 hours ago

























answered 22 hours ago









NautArch

49.5k6172336




49.5k6172336











  • Strictly rules as written, "impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense" and "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" are written as separate effects. The "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" line isn't written as conditional on not being able to see the creature.
    – user2357112
    4 hours ago

















  • Strictly rules as written, "impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense" and "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" are written as separate effects. The "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" line isn't written as conditional on not being able to see the creature.
    – user2357112
    4 hours ago
















Strictly rules as written, "impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense" and "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" are written as separate effects. The "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" line isn't written as conditional on not being able to see the creature.
– user2357112
4 hours ago





Strictly rules as written, "impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense" and "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" are written as separate effects. The "Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage" line isn't written as conditional on not being able to see the creature.
– user2357112
4 hours ago













up vote
14
down vote













No, it doesn't have disadvantage.



A creature with blindsight can perceive its environment without using sight. Therefore it can perceive invisible creatures.



"Invisible" means "unable to be seen". The Invisible condition is actually defined that way:




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




So if someone can effectively see you, then you aren't invisible to them and the adverse effects of the Invisible condition don't apply to them. Note that there is precedent for being subject to a condition with respect to only some creatures: you are considered blinded when trying to see things that are heavily obscured.



The rules handle attacks between unseen characters in a consistent way, whether they're invisible, blind (and thus unable to see anything), or heavily obscured.






share|improve this answer


















  • 2




    This answer would be improved by quoting/citing the sources of the relevant rules (rather than simply mentioning what they say).
    – V2Blast
    yesterday










  • There are a number of possible Tweets that might support this, like this
    – Slagmoth
    23 hours ago










  • "Invisible" does not mean "unable to be seen" - if I am on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark I am "unable to be seen" but I am not "invisible". Also, the "invisible" condition is not defined that way - it is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) give you.
    – Dale M
    22 hours ago







  • 2




    @DaleM And yet if you are on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark, attack rolls against you have disadvantage. Unable to be seen = unable to be seen.
    – Mark Wells
    22 hours ago














up vote
14
down vote













No, it doesn't have disadvantage.



A creature with blindsight can perceive its environment without using sight. Therefore it can perceive invisible creatures.



"Invisible" means "unable to be seen". The Invisible condition is actually defined that way:




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




So if someone can effectively see you, then you aren't invisible to them and the adverse effects of the Invisible condition don't apply to them. Note that there is precedent for being subject to a condition with respect to only some creatures: you are considered blinded when trying to see things that are heavily obscured.



The rules handle attacks between unseen characters in a consistent way, whether they're invisible, blind (and thus unable to see anything), or heavily obscured.






share|improve this answer


















  • 2




    This answer would be improved by quoting/citing the sources of the relevant rules (rather than simply mentioning what they say).
    – V2Blast
    yesterday










  • There are a number of possible Tweets that might support this, like this
    – Slagmoth
    23 hours ago










  • "Invisible" does not mean "unable to be seen" - if I am on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark I am "unable to be seen" but I am not "invisible". Also, the "invisible" condition is not defined that way - it is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) give you.
    – Dale M
    22 hours ago







  • 2




    @DaleM And yet if you are on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark, attack rolls against you have disadvantage. Unable to be seen = unable to be seen.
    – Mark Wells
    22 hours ago












up vote
14
down vote










up vote
14
down vote









No, it doesn't have disadvantage.



A creature with blindsight can perceive its environment without using sight. Therefore it can perceive invisible creatures.



"Invisible" means "unable to be seen". The Invisible condition is actually defined that way:




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




So if someone can effectively see you, then you aren't invisible to them and the adverse effects of the Invisible condition don't apply to them. Note that there is precedent for being subject to a condition with respect to only some creatures: you are considered blinded when trying to see things that are heavily obscured.



The rules handle attacks between unseen characters in a consistent way, whether they're invisible, blind (and thus unable to see anything), or heavily obscured.






share|improve this answer














No, it doesn't have disadvantage.



A creature with blindsight can perceive its environment without using sight. Therefore it can perceive invisible creatures.



"Invisible" means "unable to be seen". The Invisible condition is actually defined that way:




An invisible creature is impossible to see without the aid of magic or a special sense.




So if someone can effectively see you, then you aren't invisible to them and the adverse effects of the Invisible condition don't apply to them. Note that there is precedent for being subject to a condition with respect to only some creatures: you are considered blinded when trying to see things that are heavily obscured.



The rules handle attacks between unseen characters in a consistent way, whether they're invisible, blind (and thus unable to see anything), or heavily obscured.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 21 hours ago

























answered yesterday









Mark Wells

4,5901332




4,5901332







  • 2




    This answer would be improved by quoting/citing the sources of the relevant rules (rather than simply mentioning what they say).
    – V2Blast
    yesterday










  • There are a number of possible Tweets that might support this, like this
    – Slagmoth
    23 hours ago










  • "Invisible" does not mean "unable to be seen" - if I am on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark I am "unable to be seen" but I am not "invisible". Also, the "invisible" condition is not defined that way - it is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) give you.
    – Dale M
    22 hours ago







  • 2




    @DaleM And yet if you are on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark, attack rolls against you have disadvantage. Unable to be seen = unable to be seen.
    – Mark Wells
    22 hours ago












  • 2




    This answer would be improved by quoting/citing the sources of the relevant rules (rather than simply mentioning what they say).
    – V2Blast
    yesterday










  • There are a number of possible Tweets that might support this, like this
    – Slagmoth
    23 hours ago










  • "Invisible" does not mean "unable to be seen" - if I am on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark I am "unable to be seen" but I am not "invisible". Also, the "invisible" condition is not defined that way - it is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) give you.
    – Dale M
    22 hours ago







  • 2




    @DaleM And yet if you are on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark, attack rolls against you have disadvantage. Unable to be seen = unable to be seen.
    – Mark Wells
    22 hours ago







2




2




This answer would be improved by quoting/citing the sources of the relevant rules (rather than simply mentioning what they say).
– V2Blast
yesterday




This answer would be improved by quoting/citing the sources of the relevant rules (rather than simply mentioning what they say).
– V2Blast
yesterday












There are a number of possible Tweets that might support this, like this
– Slagmoth
23 hours ago




There are a number of possible Tweets that might support this, like this
– Slagmoth
23 hours ago












"Invisible" does not mean "unable to be seen" - if I am on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark I am "unable to be seen" but I am not "invisible". Also, the "invisible" condition is not defined that way - it is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) give you.
– Dale M
22 hours ago





"Invisible" does not mean "unable to be seen" - if I am on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark I am "unable to be seen" but I am not "invisible". Also, the "invisible" condition is not defined that way - it is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) give you.
– Dale M
22 hours ago





2




2




@DaleM And yet if you are on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark, attack rolls against you have disadvantage. Unable to be seen = unable to be seen.
– Mark Wells
22 hours ago




@DaleM And yet if you are on the other side of a closed door or standing in the dark, attack rolls against you have disadvantage. Unable to be seen = unable to be seen.
– Mark Wells
22 hours ago










up vote
-2
down vote













An Invisible creature is still Invisible even if someone can see it



Invisibility is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) gives you and the condition only ends in the way that the effect says - I don't know of any that end just because something can "see" you. While you have the condition it does what it says it does.



So, yes, an Invisible creature attacks with advantage and is attacked with disadvantage even if the target/attacker can "see" it through blindsight, tremorsense, truesight etc.



Why? Because the advantage/disadvantage comes from the Invisible condition (PHB p.291) and is distinct from the advantage/disadvantage that comes from being unseen (PHB p.195).



Does this make sense? I don't ask that question anymore.






share|improve this answer






















  • Thank you. That is what I believed may have been the correct interpretation but there was some confusion in my group about there being disadvantage even when the creature was seen or "perceived" by blindsight.
    – rpeinhardt
    yesterday






  • 1




    @rpeinhardt: Although you are free to accept any answer, and DaleM is clearly an expert, if you are interested in consensus as evidenced by the votes, you will see that this answer has less agreement from other voters. If you are interested in the reasons behind polarised versions of answers, this seems to be a classic example of gamist vs narrative interpretations of rules - neither are inherently "wrong", however the swing was heavily gamist for D&D v4, and there was a deliberate swing back the other way for 5E. More detail on that would be the topic of another question
    – Neil Slater
    18 hours ago











  • @rpeinhardt Rules do what they say, and this is indeed what the rules say. 5e has, quote honestly, poorly written rules from the perspective of "saying what they should say"; instead, 5e was written in a conversational manner, with next to no attention payed to "oh, and did we write what we meant to?" in most of it.
    – Yakk
    11 hours ago










  • @ Neil Slater: That's a VERY good comment. Really, it's kind of an answer unto itself. Thank you! I've unmarked this answer as chosen not necessarily because I think it's wrong, but because it seems to be more complex.
    – rpeinhardt
    8 hours ago














up vote
-2
down vote













An Invisible creature is still Invisible even if someone can see it



Invisibility is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) gives you and the condition only ends in the way that the effect says - I don't know of any that end just because something can "see" you. While you have the condition it does what it says it does.



So, yes, an Invisible creature attacks with advantage and is attacked with disadvantage even if the target/attacker can "see" it through blindsight, tremorsense, truesight etc.



Why? Because the advantage/disadvantage comes from the Invisible condition (PHB p.291) and is distinct from the advantage/disadvantage that comes from being unseen (PHB p.195).



Does this make sense? I don't ask that question anymore.






share|improve this answer






















  • Thank you. That is what I believed may have been the correct interpretation but there was some confusion in my group about there being disadvantage even when the creature was seen or "perceived" by blindsight.
    – rpeinhardt
    yesterday






  • 1




    @rpeinhardt: Although you are free to accept any answer, and DaleM is clearly an expert, if you are interested in consensus as evidenced by the votes, you will see that this answer has less agreement from other voters. If you are interested in the reasons behind polarised versions of answers, this seems to be a classic example of gamist vs narrative interpretations of rules - neither are inherently "wrong", however the swing was heavily gamist for D&D v4, and there was a deliberate swing back the other way for 5E. More detail on that would be the topic of another question
    – Neil Slater
    18 hours ago











  • @rpeinhardt Rules do what they say, and this is indeed what the rules say. 5e has, quote honestly, poorly written rules from the perspective of "saying what they should say"; instead, 5e was written in a conversational manner, with next to no attention payed to "oh, and did we write what we meant to?" in most of it.
    – Yakk
    11 hours ago










  • @ Neil Slater: That's a VERY good comment. Really, it's kind of an answer unto itself. Thank you! I've unmarked this answer as chosen not necessarily because I think it's wrong, but because it seems to be more complex.
    – rpeinhardt
    8 hours ago












up vote
-2
down vote










up vote
-2
down vote









An Invisible creature is still Invisible even if someone can see it



Invisibility is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) gives you and the condition only ends in the way that the effect says - I don't know of any that end just because something can "see" you. While you have the condition it does what it says it does.



So, yes, an Invisible creature attacks with advantage and is attacked with disadvantage even if the target/attacker can "see" it through blindsight, tremorsense, truesight etc.



Why? Because the advantage/disadvantage comes from the Invisible condition (PHB p.291) and is distinct from the advantage/disadvantage that comes from being unseen (PHB p.195).



Does this make sense? I don't ask that question anymore.






share|improve this answer














An Invisible creature is still Invisible even if someone can see it



Invisibility is a condition that certain magical effects (e.g. Invisibility spell) gives you and the condition only ends in the way that the effect says - I don't know of any that end just because something can "see" you. While you have the condition it does what it says it does.



So, yes, an Invisible creature attacks with advantage and is attacked with disadvantage even if the target/attacker can "see" it through blindsight, tremorsense, truesight etc.



Why? Because the advantage/disadvantage comes from the Invisible condition (PHB p.291) and is distinct from the advantage/disadvantage that comes from being unseen (PHB p.195).



Does this make sense? I don't ask that question anymore.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 22 hours ago

























answered yesterday









Dale M

98.4k19251442




98.4k19251442











  • Thank you. That is what I believed may have been the correct interpretation but there was some confusion in my group about there being disadvantage even when the creature was seen or "perceived" by blindsight.
    – rpeinhardt
    yesterday






  • 1




    @rpeinhardt: Although you are free to accept any answer, and DaleM is clearly an expert, if you are interested in consensus as evidenced by the votes, you will see that this answer has less agreement from other voters. If you are interested in the reasons behind polarised versions of answers, this seems to be a classic example of gamist vs narrative interpretations of rules - neither are inherently "wrong", however the swing was heavily gamist for D&D v4, and there was a deliberate swing back the other way for 5E. More detail on that would be the topic of another question
    – Neil Slater
    18 hours ago











  • @rpeinhardt Rules do what they say, and this is indeed what the rules say. 5e has, quote honestly, poorly written rules from the perspective of "saying what they should say"; instead, 5e was written in a conversational manner, with next to no attention payed to "oh, and did we write what we meant to?" in most of it.
    – Yakk
    11 hours ago










  • @ Neil Slater: That's a VERY good comment. Really, it's kind of an answer unto itself. Thank you! I've unmarked this answer as chosen not necessarily because I think it's wrong, but because it seems to be more complex.
    – rpeinhardt
    8 hours ago
















  • Thank you. That is what I believed may have been the correct interpretation but there was some confusion in my group about there being disadvantage even when the creature was seen or "perceived" by blindsight.
    – rpeinhardt
    yesterday






  • 1




    @rpeinhardt: Although you are free to accept any answer, and DaleM is clearly an expert, if you are interested in consensus as evidenced by the votes, you will see that this answer has less agreement from other voters. If you are interested in the reasons behind polarised versions of answers, this seems to be a classic example of gamist vs narrative interpretations of rules - neither are inherently "wrong", however the swing was heavily gamist for D&D v4, and there was a deliberate swing back the other way for 5E. More detail on that would be the topic of another question
    – Neil Slater
    18 hours ago











  • @rpeinhardt Rules do what they say, and this is indeed what the rules say. 5e has, quote honestly, poorly written rules from the perspective of "saying what they should say"; instead, 5e was written in a conversational manner, with next to no attention payed to "oh, and did we write what we meant to?" in most of it.
    – Yakk
    11 hours ago










  • @ Neil Slater: That's a VERY good comment. Really, it's kind of an answer unto itself. Thank you! I've unmarked this answer as chosen not necessarily because I think it's wrong, but because it seems to be more complex.
    – rpeinhardt
    8 hours ago















Thank you. That is what I believed may have been the correct interpretation but there was some confusion in my group about there being disadvantage even when the creature was seen or "perceived" by blindsight.
– rpeinhardt
yesterday




Thank you. That is what I believed may have been the correct interpretation but there was some confusion in my group about there being disadvantage even when the creature was seen or "perceived" by blindsight.
– rpeinhardt
yesterday




1




1




@rpeinhardt: Although you are free to accept any answer, and DaleM is clearly an expert, if you are interested in consensus as evidenced by the votes, you will see that this answer has less agreement from other voters. If you are interested in the reasons behind polarised versions of answers, this seems to be a classic example of gamist vs narrative interpretations of rules - neither are inherently "wrong", however the swing was heavily gamist for D&D v4, and there was a deliberate swing back the other way for 5E. More detail on that would be the topic of another question
– Neil Slater
18 hours ago





@rpeinhardt: Although you are free to accept any answer, and DaleM is clearly an expert, if you are interested in consensus as evidenced by the votes, you will see that this answer has less agreement from other voters. If you are interested in the reasons behind polarised versions of answers, this seems to be a classic example of gamist vs narrative interpretations of rules - neither are inherently "wrong", however the swing was heavily gamist for D&D v4, and there was a deliberate swing back the other way for 5E. More detail on that would be the topic of another question
– Neil Slater
18 hours ago













@rpeinhardt Rules do what they say, and this is indeed what the rules say. 5e has, quote honestly, poorly written rules from the perspective of "saying what they should say"; instead, 5e was written in a conversational manner, with next to no attention payed to "oh, and did we write what we meant to?" in most of it.
– Yakk
11 hours ago




@rpeinhardt Rules do what they say, and this is indeed what the rules say. 5e has, quote honestly, poorly written rules from the perspective of "saying what they should say"; instead, 5e was written in a conversational manner, with next to no attention payed to "oh, and did we write what we meant to?" in most of it.
– Yakk
11 hours ago












@ Neil Slater: That's a VERY good comment. Really, it's kind of an answer unto itself. Thank you! I've unmarked this answer as chosen not necessarily because I think it's wrong, but because it seems to be more complex.
– rpeinhardt
8 hours ago




@ Neil Slater: That's a VERY good comment. Really, it's kind of an answer unto itself. Thank you! I've unmarked this answer as chosen not necessarily because I think it's wrong, but because it seems to be more complex.
– rpeinhardt
8 hours ago

















 

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