D&D 5E is stealth an action?

[Hriston]

This sounds like a communication problem with your DM. My first question in attempting to sort this all out is whether you are in combat, i.e. has the party or the monster taken any hostile action against the other? It's unclear to me from what's been said whether that's the case. To "stealth" can mean different things depending on whether combat is underway. It sounds to me as if you are attempting to move at a slow pace, relevant to exploration out of combat, whereas the DM is treating it as a situation where initiative has been rolled. This needs to be cleared up before a determination based on the rules can be made.

 

[BoldItalic]

my intenetion was to follow the monster sneaking. the monster went out the door and on my turn I followed it using stealth.
I figured it'll cost me 2/3 movement, as in the PHB rules for stealth which is part of the movement.
I saw stealth as a special movement as in PHB 182, which can be taken as part of the movement allowed in a turn

You need to tell us two things:

• Were you still taking combat turns in initiative order, even though the monster had left the room?
• What benefit were you trying to gain by being stealthy?

In 5e, there is no such thing as moving stealthily during combat. The concept doesn't exist. There is just movement. There's no rule that says you can only move at 2/3 speed if you are hiding.

During combat, you can use the Stealth rules to resolve attempts to hide, and hiding costs an action (or a bonus action if you have a suitable class feature) but it doesn't affect movement. The two are unconnected, except insofar as if you move out of your hiding place to make an attack, you are automatically no longer hidden.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The rules for stealth are crazy confusing. Here's what I've come down on:

1. If an enemy cannot see you, you can try to hide from them. If an enemy CAN see you, you cannot try to hide from them. Darkness and invisibility don't give you a bonus to hide or make you automatically hidden, they make it possible. If you're standing in the middle of the room invisible, it's still pretty clear to everyone where you are, just as, in a pitch-dark room, it's not too hard to tell where someone is. You don't need to make a check to "hide in shadows" to become unseen - you either can't be seen, or you can, depending on your environment.
2. Trying to hide is an action. The action represents you shifting your weight, quieting your equipment, finding places where your footprints don't show and aren't audible, hushing your involuntary noises, etc.
3. You can move freely when you are hidden, but if you are ever in a place where the enemy can see you, you are no longer hidden from that enemy. So, if you're hidden because you're hunkering down behind a low wall, if there's a gap in that wall, the enemy sees you when you cross the gap. If you're in darkness, entering an area of light makes you seen. If you're invisible, you don't care much about your environment (one of the advantages of invisibility!). There's no rules to determine exactly where an enemy is looking, so the DM's got some flexibility to say that a critter had its back turned or whatever. This encourages the non-hiding party members to MAKE A DISTRACTION.
4. Because trying to hide is an action, you roll a new Stealth check every time you move your speed, if you are hiding for long periods of time. You need to take a new Hide action in a new location each time.

Generally, I'm pretty happy with this, but my HotDQ party has been making ample use of stealth to sneak up on folks (and I'm struggling to come up with at what radius walking around in heavy armor is audible for those NOT using stealth...), so I've needed to lock it down a bit more coherently than the RAW does.

 

[spartanah]

It was in the middle of the combat. Monster was before me, took its movement to leave the room (ultimately tried to flank us from the other room).
When it left our sight with the back to us I tried to follow it to the other room. During combat on my turn. In order to pursue it I attempted to follow it while avoiding other creatures in the other room, therefore took on my turn the dash action while trying to be stealthy. Dm said that doing so while sneaking takes my action.

 

[spartanah]

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.
(pardon my English)

 

[BoldItalic]

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.
(pardon my English)

Okay, that's clearer, thank you. One more question: is your character a Rogue with the Cunning Action class feature (Rogue Level 2 or higher)?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Hmmh... it really doesn't matter. Just make a stealth check. It really doesn't matter at all because you are not in combat.

 

[spartanah]

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

 

[billd91]

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

Well, that would keep you from using a dash action, moving your full movement rate, and hiding. You could do the dash or the hide, but without a bonus action enabling either you couldn't do both.

 

[spartanah]

Well, that would keep you from using a dash action, moving your full movement rate, and hiding. You could do the dash or the hide, but without a bonus action enabling either you couldn't do both.

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.