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D&D 5E is stealth an action?

Agreed. The question is wether walking into a different room while in combat requires me to use the hide action in order to move in stealth.

As a DM, with an ongoing combat that could potentially spill over into that room, I'd require it. It just makes things simpler to use combat tracking actions and initiative for all the players involved in events at the table when some of those events are concurrent combat rounds. It keeps everyone on consistent time.
 

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Since you're a participant in what's essentially a turn-based chase, either following upon or as an interlude during combat with the monster, I think the DM is correct in requiring you to use your action to hide, given that your objective is to escape the notice of creatures in the room you're passing through.
 


Since you're a participant in what's essentially a turn-based chase, either following upon or as an interlude during combat with the monster, I think the DM is correct in requiring you to use your action to hide, given that your objective is to escape the notice of creatures in the room you're passing through.

Of course, this is contingent upon the DM's determination that moving through the room unnoticed is a possibility in the first place.
 

Because the rules say none of those things.

There is no "stealth mode"
There is no "enter stealth"
There is no restriction on stealthy movement during combat.

If you want to walk down the hallway quietly, you make a Dex(Stealth) check. There is no rule saying this requires an action. (Nor does it mean you are necessarily hidden.)
There is no rule saying you need to us an action to be stealthy.
 

To be clear, I wasn't trying to hide from the monster, just avoid any surprises in the other room.
Dm said that if I do so not as an action it makes the rouge cunning obsolete.
I thought that my action is not hiding but using stealth as part of my movement.

I was in combat, initiative was still in place. And no, I'm a bard, don't have cunning action

Your DM was right.

There is no "move stealthily" in 5e combat. It's not in the game mechanics. It's not in the game. Just as there is no "move running" or "move hopping on one foot" or "move whilst tugging your beard". You can improvise actions in combat, but movement is not an action; you can't improvise styles of movement and just make up your own rules for them.

So, the only way to represent what you describe doing is to make your normal movement and take the Hide action (which involves making a Stealth roll) before, during or after moving. That uses up your turn. You can't take the Dash action as well.
 

Because the rules say none of those things.

There is no "stealth mode"
There is no "enter stealth"
There is no restriction on stealthy movement during combat.

If you want to walk down the hallway quietly, you make a Dex(Stealth) check. There is no rule saying this requires an action. (Nor does it mean you are necessarily hidden.)
There is no rule saying you need to us an action to be stealthy.

But what does that get you? You cannot be hidden from the creatures in the next room because you did not hide, so in all cases they will automatically see you when you move from behind cover. If you remain behind cover, and are attempting to not be detected, that's a hide action, otherwise you're automatically detected. There's no benefit to 'moving stealthily' in 5e without the hide action.

Or is there, and I'm missing something?
 

Because the rules say none of those things.

There is no "stealth mode"
There is no "enter stealth"
There is no restriction on stealthy movement during combat.

If you want to walk down the hallway quietly, you make a Dex(Stealth) check. There is no rule saying this requires an action. (Nor does it mean you are necessarily hidden.)
There is no rule saying you need to us an action to be stealthy.

It occurs to me that perhaps the OP has been used to playing computer games where there is a "Stealth Mode" that you can toggle on and off while you move and take combat actions. Perhaps that's where his 2/3 movement idea comes from.

If so, whatever computer game it was, it wasn't using 5e rules.
 

Because the rules say none of those things.

...

If you want to walk down the hallway quietly, you make a Dex(Stealth) check. There is no rule saying this requires an action. (Nor does it mean you are necessarily hidden.)
There is no rule saying you need to us an action to be stealthy.

But the rules do say exactly that. If you want to sneak away, sneak past, or sneak up on someone without them knowing, you have to actively hide with a Dexterity (Stealth) check which requires an action. pg 177 (Stealth), pg 192 (Actions in Combat - Hide)

The bard is can not be seen by the monster, so the bard makes a Stealth check (action) to be hidden and then moves in to the room (move).
 

Your DM was right.

There is no "move stealthily" in 5e combat. It's not in the game mechanics.

Of course it is. It is the Dex(Stealth) skill.

Your claim is the same as saying there is not "remember info" in 5E because it is not listed in the game mechanics. Thus you can't use your knowledge of History or Arcana etc to remember anything.

There is no 'intimidate' action in the game mechanics either....
 

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