Does Fog obscure or blind?

[Chaosolous]

I've been told both.

If you are grouped up and cast fog on yourself, are you just blinding yourself or are you obscuring yourself from being seen?

Examples: I'm in a group, everyone is next to me, there's only ranged attackers with bows/spells. I cast fog on MY characters. Are the ranged attackers at disadvantage because they cannot see into/through the fog or am I just blinding my characters for no reason?

People have told me it obscures and blinds, but the issue is that I was in the Druid's Grove many moons ago and I had my thief and my caster at that little short guy who has the shop. I wanted to rob him so I cast Fog with my caster and then when I was my thief and went to go lockpick his stuff (within the fog mind you) I was caught by the guard and the whole "You've been caught blah blah blah" cutscene started with all the fog around my characters but none around the guards. In this example the people in the fog are "Vendor, Caster, Thief & chest to lockpick" yet I was still caught, making me think it ONLY blinds and doesn't obscure.

Doing the same thing as above but with "Darkness" did infact Obscure us though and I was able to do what I wanted.

So does Fog ONLY blind characters within the fog cloud but outsides can still attack into the cloud without disadvantage?

OR

Does Fog OBSCURE you while you're within it, making outside attacks at disadvantage?

Please be super specific, because 1. I'm new to DnD and 2. I'm an idiot and also 3. I've gotten so many conflicting answers IDK what's real anymore. Like, am I even here writing this? IDK.

[pirate240]

Fog does both. If you're in the fog, you're blinded, but you're also obscured from outside the fog. Heavily Obscured, however, doesn't make you invisible, and creatures looking into the fog still have a roll (with a higher DC) to see you being up to no good within the cloud. The shopkeeper could have also spotted you being up to no good because you were close to them and the guard was alerted.

[Chaosolous]

Originally posted by pirate240:

Fog does both. If you're in the fog, you're blinded, but you're also obscured from outside the fog. Heavily Obscured, however, doesn't make you invisible, and creatures looking into the fog still have a roll (with a higher DC) to see you being up to no good within the cloud. The shopkeeper could have also spotted you being up to no good and the guard was alerted.

So I was caught because there's a DC involved in whether or not you're "obscured" and I ultimately failed that DC?

That would make sense. I didn't know there would be a DC, I figured it was just "You are obscured. Full stop."

Is Darkness just that same effect without the DC then or did I just get a successful DC when I used Darkness instead?

[pirate240]

Darkness basically does the same thing but isn't pushed around by a gust of wind and can be attached to something or someone specific. It could be whoever spotted you just rolled lower.

[Dragon Master]

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

Originally posted by pirate240:

Fog does both. If you're in the fog, you're blinded, but you're also obscured from outside the fog. Heavily Obscured, however, doesn't make you invisible, and creatures looking into the fog still have a roll (with a higher DC) to see you being up to no good within the cloud. The shopkeeper could have also spotted you being up to no good and the guard was alerted.

So I was caught because there's a DC involved in whether or not you're "obscured" and I ultimately failed that DC?

That would make sense. I didn't know there would be a DC, I figured it was just "You are obscured. Full stop."

Basically.

Let's say I'm playing a rogue. I use Shadowheart to give me blessing of the trickster to give me advantage on stealth checks. I also have expertise in stealth. At levels 1-4 that means I'm automatically getting +4 to my stealth check, but I roll it twice thanks to Shadowheart and take the higher roll.

Or I could use Shadowheart and cast Enhance Ability on me to give advantage on all Dexterity checks (which uses a 2nd level spell slot whereas Blessing of the Trickster uses nothing) so I could have advantage on stealth AND sleight of hand if I wanted to pick the pocket of a merchant.

That doesn't guarantee I'll succeed the rolls but it maximizes my chances. If Darkness is cast then everyone inside it is blind. No one can see you within it but neither can you see anything either....unless you're a warlock who have the eldritch invocation that lets you see in magical darkness. Being blind would give you disadvantage if you wanted to pick a pocket but enhance ability would give you advantage so it would ultimately be a straight roll.