Passive perception against hiding monster

Question

Can someone explain how passive perception works against hiding monsters?

For example, the adventurers are walking down a road and there are goblins hiding up ahead.

Would I use a passive perception check here and if so, what do I compare the passive score to?

Note that the accepted answer for that potential duplicate is not right. :-( — mattdm, Jan 09 '18 at 21:33
@mattdm Would you be willing to open a meta drawing attention to what the issue is (so we can work to resolve it), or alternately, would you be willing to speak with one of the moderators in chat to help us understand the issue so that we might do so? (I know nitsua60 and SevenSidedDie are well-versed in D&D 5e) I don't want to put you on the spot, though if there's an issue like that it's worth sussing out. — doppelgreener, Jan 09 '18 at 23:06

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 09 '18 at 21:31

1

This is straightforward. The hiding monster rolls. If it beats the passive perception scores of the party members, it is hidden from them.

answered Jan 09 '18 at 21:31

mattdm

Thanks. if the monster passes the check and remains hidden and then the PC say they are actively looking, would the PC then get an active check or would the passive check remain as the answer? – JP1975 Jan 09 '18 at 22:01
@jp1975 If a character is actively looking for anything, that is either a perception or investigation check (depending on context). So the players would get a role. – Imperator Jan 09 '18 at 22:05
@JP1975 Yeah. If they take an action to search, they can make an active Wisdom (Perception) roll against the DC set by the monster's Dexterity (Stealth) check. – mattdm Jan 09 '18 at 22:42
Appreciate the answers, thanks guys, the whole passive thing hurts my head – JP1975 Jan 10 '18 at 02:40

1 Answers1