D&D 5E is stealth an action?

[Coredump]

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.

There is no rule saying they will automatically see you, you made that up.

In combat, they will 'usually' see you if you leave your hiding spot. But you are not 'usually' trying to be sneaky against someone in a different room that may or may not even be aware you are there. This situation is, by definition, unusual.

If you remain behind cover, and are attempting to not be detected, that's a hide action, otherwise you're automatically detected.

First, there is *no* rule saying you are 'automatically detected' if you do not hide. That is absurd.
Second, the Hide action is one way to be undetected, it does not say it is the *only* way.
You are making a lot of assumptions.

There's no benefit to 'moving stealthily' in 5e without the hide action.

Or is there, and I'm missing something?

The Dex(Stealth) skill says it can be used to sneak past a guard, slip away, or sneak up.... it *never* says anything about *requiring* the Hide Action.

 

[Coredump]

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.

THe OP was not the one referring to "entering Stealth" or "Stealth Mode".... that was the people saying that the Dex (stealth) skill requires the Hide Action.

Which, by the way, never even gives an allowance for movement at all. The Hiding sidebar does not give permission for movement, stealthy or otherwise.

 

[Coredump]

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).

That is provably false.
Under Skills, the Dex(Stealth) skill says it is used for sneaking past, slipping away, moving up, etc.... it *never* says anything about requiring the Hide Action.
The Hide Action is listed as one option that will allow you to use the Dex(Stealth) kill to try and Hide. It *never* says you can then move freely about that way.

 

[Ovinomancer]

There is no rule saying they will automatically see you, you made that up.

No, I didn't. Absent hiding or other obscurement, things in the open are noticed. If you disagree, what do you assign as the WIS(perception) DC to notice the Dragon in the middle of the empty, well lit cavern? If you are not hiding, you can be seen. If you've nowhere to hide, it stands to reason that you'll be seen.

In combat, they will 'usually' see you if you leave your hiding spot. But you are not 'usually' trying to be sneaky against someone in a different room that may or may not even be aware you are there. This situation is, by definition, unusual.

I'm not sure what kind of game you run, but in mine, sneaking between rooms in a dungeon where the next room may or may not be alerted to your presence (like having a friendly creature run into the room fleeing the party) is a quite common occurrence. I feel quite strongly that the rules are written with exactly such interactions in mind. This is not anywhere near an unusual or corner situation.

First, there is *no* rule saying you are 'automatically detected' if you do not hide. That is absurd.
Second, the Hide action is one way to be undetected, it does not say it is the *only* way.
You are making a lot of assumptions.

Again, what's the DC to notice someone not hiding?

If I want to hide, the hide action gives me the mechanics for hiding. If there were another way of hiding, there is a suspicious lack of mechanics presented for how it works. If you, as a DM, make such a ruling, I'm happy to accept that you can do so, but when I read the rules the only way to avoid detection given is the hide action.

The Dex(Stealth) skill says it can be used to sneak past a guard, slip away, or sneak up.... it *never* says anything about *requiring* the Hide Action.

So, then, how does that work? I know the Hide action clearly states how the DEX(stealth) ability check functions to allow you to hide, and the perception section states how you perceive the world, and so on, but I missed the section under DEX(stealth) where it says how you do that.

Again, if you'd like to rule it that way, and invent mechanics to allow hiding without using the Hide action, you're more than welcome. I wouldn't count on that ruling working in an AL game, though.

 

[Ovinomancer]

That is provably false.
Under Skills, the Dex(Stealth) skill says it is used for sneaking past, slipping away, moving up, etc.... it *never* says anything about requiring the Hide Action.
The Hide Action is listed as one option that will allow you to use the Dex(Stealth) kill to try and Hide. It *never* says you can then move freely about that way.

Using skills generally requires an action, though.

Also, you may note the irony in you saying that there's no statement that there's not another way to hide, but you're insisting that since the Hide actions doesn't explicitly say you can move freely, that you can't.

 

[billd91]

I think there's a bit of talking past each other and the situation as described by the OP. Basically, being stealthy can be handled in a number of ways. For long distance overland movement, you can tell the DM you're being stealthy, cut the movement rate down to a slow pace (2/3 normal), and stand a chance of ambushing or avoiding encounters. This abstractly handles the PCs keeping to concealing terrain like being in ravines, behind ridges, in foliage, or whatever in order to not be spotted. When exploring an adventure site, PCs can move stealthily with no action being necessary and no specific accounting for any slowed movement due to being careful not to make noise. But the situation as described by the OP, a monster leaves immediate combat to try to flank around the PCs and is followed by a PC, is probably best handled by keeping to initiative and combat adjudication and that expects the hide action to abstractly model the PC trying to be stealthy.

Which, by the way, never even gives an allowance for movement at all. The Hiding sidebar does not give permission for movement, stealthy or otherwise.

It doesn't need to. 5e's actions are abstract enough that you can select the hide action and still take your movement allowance. The hide action stands in for the opportunity cost of being careful about moving so as to not give away your position compared to not doing so and being able to accomplish more.

 

[I'm A Banana]

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, I would've ruled that unless you take the hide action, your movement isn't stealthy (similar to the Disengage action - unless you take that action, your movement provokes OA's). But even if you DID take the Hide action, any creatures in the other room would notice you unless they were unable to see you.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

There is no rule saying they will automatically see you, you made that up.

In combat, they will 'usually' see you if you leave your hiding spot. But you are not 'usually' trying to be sneaky against someone in a different room that may or may not even be aware you are there. This situation is, by definition, unusual.

Let's see what it says: "In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger all around, so if you come out of hiding and approach a creature, it usually sees you. However, under certain circumstances, the Dungeon Master might allow you to stay hidden as you approach a creature that is distracted, allowing you to gain advantage on an attack before you are seen."

So, if you come out of hiding, you are "usually seen". What is the circumstance in which you AREN'T seen then? Luckily, we don't have to guess, it says so in the next sentence. The DM can rule that a creature might be distracted enough to allow you to stay hidden.

Which, when we combine it together says "When you leave hiding all creatures see you unless the DM rules they are distracted."

I've ruled that creatures are distracted when they were intent on looking another direction, when they were talking to someone, while they were in the middle of playing card games, and so on. Thereby allowing you, outside of combat of course, to sneak past people without needing cover.

First, there is *no* rule saying you are 'automatically detected' if you do not hide. That is absurd.

Why is that absurd? I'm with the other people who replied. If someone is standing in front of you making no attempt to hide, they can be seen. Otherwise the world would be a weird place with people randomly vanishing. Eyesight could not be trusted.

This doesn't need to be a rule. The authors of the rulebook felt there were certain things common sense enough not to have to publish in the book. One of them is that people can see normally if nothing is changing the situation.

Second, the Hide action is one way to be undetected, it does not say it is the *only* way.
You are making a lot of assumptions.

The book is a list of things you CAN do, not a list of things you can't do. If the DM wants to let you stealth another way, then they are allowed to do so. However, the only option listed in the book to hide is to use the Hide action. Which takes an action since it is listed in the actions in combat section.

The Dex(Stealth) skill says it can be used to sneak past a guard, slip away, or sneak up.... it *never* says anything about *requiring* the Hide Action.

No, it doesn't. But as other people have said, using a skill in combat generally requires your action unless otherwise specified. Stealth never says it DOESN'T require an action. Plus, there's already a rule that says if you use the Hide action during combat you need to roll your Stealth skill and describes what happens when you do. Why would that action even exist if you could just "Stealth" from people which is apparently better than using the Hide action since it doesn't require an action?

Rule number 1 I use as a DM is to use the tools provided before inventing new ones. The book tells you how to hide from people. It's better to use the rule that has been given before coming up with a new one.

 

[spartanah]

Not entirely true. As a part of my movement I can jump, climb, swim. Which may require athletics or acrobatics but doesn't count as an action. And from this point I got into stealth

 

[Ovinomancer]

Not entirely true. As a part of my movement I can jump, climb, swim. Which may require athletics or acrobatics but doesn't count as an action. And from this point I got into stealth

Athletics and acrobatics both state explicitly that they can happen as part of movement -- wording absent in stealth.