What concealed can be used for hiding?

[Zazula]

I want to know whether the concealed gained by the cancellation of invisibility by Glitterdust can be used for hiding.
I know RAW it’s ok.But I think it's strange, can anyone answer it? It would be nice to analyze other effects, such as Sudden Shift and Ki Rush.

[Baarogue]

Posting from mobile and no books at hand so forgive me for the imprecision, but in various sources of concealment there has occurred a phrase along the lines of, "as with any source of concealment which leaves your position obvious, this cannot be used to hide." Glitterdust would be one such source of concealment, since its effect and purpose is to highlight a target, not conceal. If someone else doesn't beat me to those examples and the rule they're referencing, I'll find it later and post

[NielsenE]

Glitterdust doesn't have that line -- probably because its an offensive spell going from invisible -> observed + concealed. While the "can not be used to hide" line is added to most of the defensive spells going from observed -> observed + concealed -- likely because they are more worried about blocking self-initiated exploits/combos and glitterdust is used by players against monsters more than the reverse.

It probably should have that line/clause. Its one of those places where the "can not be used to hide" text on blur for instance, is written as if its a restatement/reminder of a general rule, but its not under Hide, or concealed as a general rule.

It is a bit odd -- glitterdust only cares about the invisibility condition, not the hidden condition. So let's assume you can't hide from the concealment caused by glitterdust, you could still hide from any other source of concealment (breaking LoS, etc) and stealth away, without glitterdust giving away your position. Which feels counter-intuitive to me.

Personally, I think I would run with glitterdust's concealment not allowing hiding; and I think I'd need to adjudicate "becoming hidden (from a different concealment source) while glitterdusted" on a case by case basis.

[Cordell Kintner]

I agree, it should say that the concealment can't be used to Hide or Sneak. The dust itself doesn't put off light, but rather reflects it. If it actually produced light it would have the Light trait.

Therefore, it can't reveal someone behind actual concealment, like bushes, darkness, or fog. However, if they were out in the open and there was a light source nearby the dust should give their position away.

Outside game mechanics, Glitterdust probably wouldn't work too well in total darkness. It would likely just look like normal dust if looking at it through darkvision.

[Baarogue]

Cordell Kintner wrote:

Outside game mechanics, Glitterdust probably wouldn't work too well in total darkness. It would likely just look like normal dust if looking at it through darkvision.

Naw, man. Haven't you seen Predator 2?