Is Hide in Plain Sight any good?

[quinron]

Okay, did a quick search and didn't find any other posts asking this at a glance.

Because Hide in Plain Sight requires another full minute spent camouflaging once you move, what's the point? It's useless in combat, and it's not like you can really use it meaningfully to sneak up on someone because sneaking up on someone requires moving. You could use it to hide from an enemy that you know will be coming, but that seems ridiculously niche; if, as it seems to be intended, you're using this ability to scout, then you don't know where the enemies are going to be, and you'll have to be on the move to find them, so you can't Hide in Plain Sight.

The only real uses I can think of for it are if you have a reasonable expectation of where the enemies will be and are planning an ambush, in which case the rest of your party won't be hidden this well, or if you're hiding out in a certain area trying to time out the guards' patrols, which seems very boring and like a bit of a waste of time, the kind of thing that could be done easier and quicker without this ability.

Am I reading this wrong or something? Or is it just pretty useless?

[Gwendol]

It's not very good, but you have at least noted some uses of it. It's better to be a halfling or wood elf and gain HiPS under certain circumstances (or use the Skulker feat).

[Giant2005]

It is a ribbon ability - it is there for flavor, not for function.

[DeAnno]

It is a ribbon ability - it is there for flavor, not for function.

It's literally all they get at 10th level outside of a New Favored Terrain. IMO Ranger as a whole is one of the worst designed 5e classes, and dead levels like 10 are a big part of the reason.

[Specter]

It's either ambush, protecting the camp while your friends sleep or eavesdropping on people when you know where they'll be. And yes, level 10 is dead for a ranger, just like levels 6 and 14.

[Giant2005]

It's literally all they get at 10th level outside of a New Favored Terrain. IMO Ranger as a whole is one of the worst designed 5e classes, and dead levels like 10 are a big part of the reason.

I agree. Their Ribbon count is a little high - they end up getting less equivalent abilities to the other classes.

[quinron]

As a little houserule bump to the ability, I think it'd be cool if the whole party could Hide in Plain Sight, requiring the ranger's help or at least presence and 1 extra minute per party member. This would make ambushes amazing, but you couldn't just ambush with impunity - you'd need time to prep.