Ways to Conceal Scent in 5e

[Aalbatr0ss]

There are all kind of ways to be invisible/silent in 5e. There are ways to foil scrying and divination magic. By the rules, is there a way to mask your scent?

(planning a 1-shot. Just realized the shifter beast barbarian will crack the adventure immediately if she can smell the antagonist too easily)

[Zhorn]

While they don't have a mechanics spelled out, perfume is on the list of adventuring gear (PHB p150) at 5gp a vial, and soap at 2cp.

A character using either of those would smell different to how they would naturally for a time.

If it's a case of concealing their scent for the purposes of sneaking about undetected, it might not help that much, but if it's a case of scent recognition having them smell different from scene to scene is something that could misdirect a scent based identification.

[Schwann145]

You could go underwater.
Cover yourself in mud or some other coating completely head to toe.
Cast Prestidigitation tactically to create areas that smell weird, strong, etc that aren't you.
Use a Wish irresponsibly to remove all scent from yourself.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.

[Mastikator]

Prestidigitation spell cast every round to create a smell.

[Grey Watcher]

The Pass Without Trace spell would do it.


A veil of shadows and silence radiates from you, masking you and your companions from detection. For the duration, each creature you choose within 30 feet of you (including you) has a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks and can't be tracked except by magical means. A creature that receives this bonus leaves behind no tracks or other traces of its passage.

[nickl_2000]

My kid was trained in nature and disguise kits. I ruled that his disguise kit contained pheromones that could be used to confuse his scent with animals (in this case a giant snake moved away from him confused and attacked a different target). Definitely not RAW, but it was fun and he was proud of it.


For RAW, Major Image would easily do it and can last 10 minutes.

[solidork]

The Pass Without Trace spell would do it.

The 14th level Ranger class feature uses similar language, so it likely also qualifies.

[Demonslayer666]

There used to be an adventuring gear item in previous editions for throwing dogs off your scent with pepper. I recall my rogues using a bag of tricks that had caltrops, marbles, and the pepper in it for escaping.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Pepper actually hurts dogs/canids!

I upvote prestidigitation.

Created water, waterskin water, and natural water might also help. Druidcraft might be pretty helpful here too, as would any spell that invoked wind.

[JLandan]

Prestidigitation spell cast every round to create a smell.

You wouldn't need to cast every round, it lasts an hour, and can have up to three separate effects going at once.

[nickl_2000]

Pepper actually hurts dogs/canids!

I upvote prestidigitation.

Created water, waterskin water, and natural water might also help. Druidcraft might be pretty helpful here too, as would any spell that invoked wind.

*DISCLAIMER* I DO NOT CONDONE THE HURTING OF DOGS IN REAL LIFE, DON'T DO IT! *END DISCLAIMER*

I mean, hurting a dog is a good way to establish that the BBEG is truly evil. After all, I would react strongly to someone hurting my in game pupper. (see John Wick)

[Catullus64]

It's called a Dexterity (Stealth) check.

"Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check when you attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on someone without being seen or heard."

Emphasis mine; concealing yourself from enemies can involve concealing any sensory cue, not just visual ones, that might give you away.

If a character has some particular reason to think that their ability to hide is impeded by their odor, or that they are facing an enemy with a particularly strong sense of smell, they might take additional precautions which grant advantage or disadvantage to either party.

In cases where scent is particularly important, using an ability score other than Dexterity is probably warranted. But the rules allow for that too!

[Demonslayer666]

Pepper actually hurts dogs/canids!

...

lol. It's a good thing it's virtual and not actual.

[Aalbatr0ss]

lol. It's a good thing it's virtual and not actual.

Don't worry. It's not a dog, it's a barbarian and I've hurt them a lot more than this in the past :smallsmile:

[KorvinStarmast]

Ways to Conceal Scent in 5e
As with any RPG session:
1. Bathe/shower before attending the session
2. Apply Brut 33, by Fabrege! (or other suitable fragrance in a bottle)

Less silly answer is: prestidigitation, a much underappreciated cantrip.

[Chronos]

Catullus64 has it. Dogs etc. have advantage to perception checks involving smell, which is clear evidence that smell uses perception checks. Checks are always rolled against something, and perception checks to detect creatures are rolled against the creature's stealth check. Ergo, a successful stealth check can (somehow) hide your scent. How? Well, that's up to the person rolling the stealth check to describe.

[Cyclops08]

Like several have already said, prestidigitation is the perfect cap to stealth. One caster can cover an entire party in minutes. all elven boots and invisibility: Wala. The perfect stealth machine.

Note you can also set up a false trail with presto and fake images. But I would just use it to make your barbarian's mouth taste like literal crap...

[Aalbatr0ss]

This is all great advice. The party will probably be chasing a arcanaloth stowaway around their ship. They do indeed have prestidigitation on the list.

[Jak]

There's a bullet point for Magical Tinkering from the 1st level of artificer class features:

"The object continuously emits your choice of an odor or a nonverbal sound (wind, waves, chirping, or the like). The chosen phenomenon is perceivable up to 10 feet away."

[Demonslayer666]

Being stealthy does not mask scent. It makes you go unseen and unheard.

[Schwann145]

Being stealthy does not mask scent. It makes you go unseen and unheard.

Part of being stealthy is doing things like making sure you're down-wind of things you're trying to hide from. So yes, being stealthy should (and mechanically does) mask scent.

[Demonslayer666]

Part of being stealthy is doing things like making sure you're down-wind of things you're trying to hide from. So yes, being stealthy should (and mechanically does) mask scent.

Being downwind doesn't mask your scent. It simply carries your scent away from them, but it is still there. You still leave a scent wherever you go and being quiet and out of sight does not remove it.

If that did apply to stealth, it would say that under stealth. It specifically calls out vision and hearing, and does not say that it applies to all forms of being detected. Unseen and unheard. Not unsmelled.

[JLandan]

It's called a Dexterity (Stealth) check.

"Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check when you attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on someone without being seen or heard."

Emphasis mine; concealing yourself from enemies can involve concealing any sensory cue, not just visual ones, that might give you away.

If a character has some particular reason to think that their ability to hide is impeded by their odor, or that they are facing an enemy with a particularly strong sense of smell, they might take additional precautions which grant advantage or disadvantage to either party.

In cases where scent is particularly important, using an ability score other than Dexterity is probably warranted. But the rules allow for that too!

This idea is giving a lot of juice to Dexterity. And as stated in your own quote:
"Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check when you attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on someone without being seen or heard."
Emphasis mine.
Without being seen or heard is quite specific and does not include being smelled. A character could try moving upwind, but that is very conditional and would be a DM call.

[Schwann145]

Except, as pointed out already above, using scent to ferret out an enemy is just using a Perception check. Having the Scent ability just grants you advantage on said perception check.

Unless you're going to homebrew rule that creatures cannot roll Stealth vs Perception when scent is being used, then the way to oppose a Perception roll is... rolling Stealth.

[Chronos]

Sneaking up on someone without being seen or heard is one of several possible uses for stealth, there. The other parts of the quote give other examples, such as going unnoticed or concealing yourself. Stealth can apply to any senses.

[TMac9000]

My kid was trained in nature and disguise kits. I ruled that his disguise kit contained pheromones that could be used to confuse his scent with animals (in this case a giant snake moved away from him confused and attacked a different target). Definitely not RAW, but it was fun and he was proud of it.


For RAW, Major Image would easily do it and can last 10 minutes.

I was thinking along the same lines -- Nature would let you know it needed to be done, being trained in disguise would let you know how to do it.

I also like some of the suggestions regarding prestidigitation. It might not be a powerful enough effect to null out your scent entirely, but could go towards masking it. (Especially paired with Nature and Disguise Kit as above.)

And in the heavy-hitter category, Major Image does it all for you. Put a ten-minute gap in your trail, and that gives you a decent chance to shake pursuit.

[huginn]

Mythbusters did an episode about evading bloodhounds, havent seen it myself so I cant say how useful it be to watch. Some animals such as bears have a much better sense of smell then dogs. If a ranger/druid using speak with animals trained a bear it ought to make it harder to conceal your scent

[Demonslayer666]

Except, as pointed out already above, using scent to ferret out an enemy is just using a Perception check. Having the Scent ability just grants you advantage on said perception check.

Unless you're going to homebrew rule that creatures cannot roll Stealth vs Perception when scent is being used, then the way to oppose a Perception roll is... rolling Stealth.

Stealth is by far the most common and conventional way to avoid detection by other humans because sight and hearing are what we predominantly use to detect things, and being quiet and out of sight will avoid detection by other humans. We do not use scent to detect things, nor do we mask scent to avoid detection by other humans.

Stealth is not the only way to oppose perception. Distance, cover, concealment, distractions - can all make things go unnoticed without anyone trying to be stealthy.

This is the right tool for the job situation. You are homebrewing by adding in scent to stealth when it is not written there. Which is fine, play how you want. Being sneaky doesn't apply to scent.

Survival would be a more appropriate skill check to cover your scent due to knowing how animals would detect you, and what scents would throw them off.

[ender241]

You are homebrewing by adding in scent to stealth when it is not written there. Which is fine, play how you want. Being sneaky doesn't apply to scent.

Survival would be a more appropriate skill check to cover your scent due to knowing how animals would detect you, and what scents would throw them off.


Survival. The DM might ask you to make a Wisdom (Survival) check to follow tracks, hunt wild game, guide your group through frozen wastelands, identify signs that owlbears live nearby, predict the weather, or avoid quicksand and other natural hazards.

It doesn't say anything about covering your scent for survival checks either. So I guess you're also homebrewing by allowing a survivor check to accomplish this?

If it's "homebrew" every time a DM ruled to use a skill check for something not written under that skill, there isn't a single DM out there running 5E RAW. Sorry, that's just absurd.

In this case I could see the argument for survival or stealth. Maybe a stronger one for survival, but either could fit.

[Schwann145]

We do not use scent to detect things, nor do we mask scent to avoid detection by other humans.
If you sat and gave it some serious thought, I think you'd be surprised just how much we humans actually do use our sense of smell to ferret out things we can't see or hear.
We're obviously nowhere near as good at it as some animals who, in mechanical terms, would have the Scent ability, but then our human(oid) characters also don't get the bonus that Scent-having creatures do.

[SpanielBear]

What I might do, as a DM, is ask the player character making the stealth check how they intend to mask their scent, *with the expectation that whatever idea they came up with I’d probably agree with.* It’s a roleplay question for me how the players achieve things; their characters are competent at what they do. Their stats and skills are about how well they do, not an exhaustive description of what they do.