D&D 5E is stealth an action?

[abirdcall]

I also agree with the DM.

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.

This is mostly right with the exception that if you want to walk down the hallway quietly you say that is what you do. The DM then determines whether you do it well, not well, or whether there is doubt. If there is doubt then you make a roll which will probably be Dex (Stealth).

If I understand this correctly the OP wants to run into the other room using the dash action, but then reduce some of the movement in order to be sneaky about it. That doesn't make sense to me.

Instead I would expect this

- What do you do?

-- I chase the monster into the other room, I am not sure what lurks in there though so I stay quiet and keep hidden while trying to see what is going on

- Okay you can move up to your combat speed (probably 30') and you see ____ as you go. I may have you roll a Dex (Stealth) check as needed. That is your turn.

I would expect a player of a Rogue to say that they are being their normal stealthy selves and then after they move and see things I would ask them if there is anything else they want to do on their turn.

I don't see being in initiative as only applying to directly hostile situations, that is just most common, but to situations where it is important to operate on a time scale of a few seconds at a time. In this case I would probably stay in initiative until the characters don't feel the need to do actions that only take a couple seconds.

 

[Noctem]

Entering stealth is an action. Once you did that, you remain hidden for all future turns until your spotted, attack, make noise, or something like that. Then you need to take another action to hide again.

There is no speed penalty for moving in stealth mode, so you can dash on your next turn if you want.

It doesn't really negate the rogue. He could follow stealthily faster, since he can hide and dash in the same turn. Not to mention expertise.

+1. I really think that he's mixing up travel pace rules and stealth rules.

 

[Flamestrike]

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.

Yes there is. The Hide action.Its right there in the combat section.

Just like you need to use the Attack action to make an attack in combat, or the Help action to help someone in combat, you need to take the Hide action to (move silently/ hide) in combat.

If I want to sneak up to an Ogre on my turn (who is looking the other way), I first need to use the Hide action. The Hide action enables me to make a Stealth check. If this beats the Ogres passive perception, I can then move right up behind the Ogre (who is unaware I am there) with my movement.

If I am a Rogue 2, I can Hide as a bonus action, walk over to the distracted Ogre as my movement, and then Attack the Ogre with the Attack action.

 

[Noctem]

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.

You're confusing the travel pace rules which allow you to move at half speed outside combat to be stealthy and stealth used in combat which uses your action or bonus action if you're a rogue. Your DM is correct as long as you were in combat which you just said you were because you were in initiative order.

 

[Celtavian]

+1. I really think that he's mixing up travel pace rules and stealth rules.

If you're climbing or swimming in a combat round, do you move slower? I don't see why you wouldn't stealth slower. Travel pace is listed as down to minutes and everyone knows what you move in a round. I don't see why you wouldn't need to move at a Slow pace to stealth even in a round just like if you climbed or crossed difficult terrain, your movement would be slowed for that round.

Travel is also the section where they discuss general movement. So it's not only covering travel a minute or longer. It is also covering round to round movement. I don't see why Stealthing for a minute would require a slow pace, but stealthing for a round (6 seconds) would be at full speed. Doesn't much make sense.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I wonder if the "half speed" thing doesn't assume using an action.

Because if you don't need to use an action to hide, you can move "double" your normal speed - using the dash action.

But if you DO need to use your action to hide, you essentially wouldn't be taking those Dash actions, resulting in a (comparatively) halved speed.

Entering stealth is an action. Once you did that, you remain hidden for all future turns until your spotted, attack, make noise, or something like that. Then you need to take another action to hide again.

Moving to a new location would fit in the category of "something like that," no? The logic I'd use would say that if you're hiding behind a low wall, and you move along that low wall to a new place, you're not hiding in the same place anymore. In the new place, there's new conditions - new rocks, new divots, new things that you need to do to hide yourself - that would mean that the Stealth check you already rolled wouldn't apply, IMO. Roll a new one if you want to stay hidden - see if you can hide here. And that takes an action.

I'm leaning toward that interpretation in part based on my experiences with a party that makes ample use of stealth scouting - it seems like one roll shouldn't just apply for the whole affair. "Make a roll, then move up to your speed" is what happens round-by-round in that interpretation. And "move half speed" is what happens on longer timescales!

 

[billd91]

Travel is also the section where they discuss general movement. So it's not only covering travel a minute or longer. It is also covering round to round movement. I don't see why Stealthing for a minute would require a slow pace, but stealthing for a round (6 seconds) would be at full speed. Doesn't much make sense.

Think about it. If you're using the hide action, you're really doing nothing active but moving in the round, so you're limited to your movement rate. If you weren't using a hide action and just moving in the round, how far could you move? You could use the dash action to get another dose of your movement and move 2x your movement rate. So, in effect, by using the hide action you are reducing your movement potential, thus moving more slowly in combat.

Edit: teach me to respond without reading ahead. I've been ninjaed.

 

[Celtavian]

Think about it. If you're using the hide action, you're really doing nothing active but moving in the round, so you're limited to your movement rate. If you weren't using a hide action and just moving in the round, how far could you move? You could use the dash action to get another dose of your movement and move 2x your movement rate. So, in effect, by using the hide action you are reducing your movement potential, thus moving more slowly in combat.

Edit: teach me to respond without reading ahead. I've been ninjaed.

I don't generally require an action for moving stealthy myself. I do prefer they move slowly. I'm glad they left it mostly up to the DM rather than tried to hard-code the stealth rules into game for every situation. I tend to adjudicate stealth based on cinematic or real world examples I know of.

 

[Flamestrike]

I don't generally require an action for moving stealthy myself.

I do. The action represents your oppoprtunity cost of moving slowly and keeping quiet. A person not being stealthy can move twice as far as one who is trying to be quiet (by using the dash action instead of the hide actiono).

A wizard that becomes invisible doesnt automatically become hidden. He can be targetted by attacks normally (with disadvantage) and creatures know with enough accuracy where he is generally. Most spells dont work on him (they require a target you can see) and you cant make AOO on him (also require sight).

He needs to take the hide action on a subsequent turn (or if he's a rogue on this one as a bonus action) to become hidden (and for people to not know where he is anymore, be forced to guess his square etc).

Remember 'Stealth' = both Hide and Move silently, the 'Hide action' infers both hiding and being sneaky and 'Hidden' means both unseen AND unheard.

 

[S'mon]

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.

If you're not hiding, everyone can still see you. No matter how quietly you're walking.

Edit: One side are confusing travel speed rules with in-combat rules. The other side are conflating
Hiding with moving quietly, which is not Hiding, doesn't make you Hidden, and there is no indication it takes an action.

I think the OP's expectation that moving quietly through a doorway right after a monster will
cause him to not be spotted by other monsters in the room is a bit silly. Any other monsters are going to be
looking at the doorway their buddy just came through to see what he's running from!

Edit 2: This bit
Stealth. Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check when you attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on someone without being seen or heard.

Is separate from this bit

HIDING

The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding. When you try to hide, make a Dexterity (Stealth) check. Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check’s total is contested by the Wisdom (Perception) check of any creature that actively searches for signs of your presence.

You can’t hide from a creature that can see you clearly, and if you make noise (such as shouting a warning or knocking over a vase), you give away your position. An invisible creature can’t be seen, so it can always try to hide. Signs of its passage might still be noticed, however, and it still has to stay quiet.

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.

Passive Perception. When you hide, there’s a chance someone will notice you even if they aren’t searching. To determine whether such a creature notices you, the DM compares your Dexterity (Stealth) check with that creature’s passive Wisdom (Perception) score, which equals 10 + the creature’s Wisdom modifier, as well as any other bonuses or penalties. If the creature has advantage, add 5. For disadvantage, subtract 5.

For example, if a 1st-level character (with a proficiency bonus of +2) has a Wisdom of 15 (a +2 modifier) and proficiency in Perception, he or she has a passive Wisdom (Perception) of 14.

What Can You See? One of the main factors in determining whether you can find a hidden creature or object is how well you can see in an area, which might be lightly or heavily obscured, as explained in
chapter 8.

The latter - Hiding - in combat requires a Hide action:

HIDE

When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide, following the rules in chapter 7 for hiding. If you succeed, you gain certain benefits, as described in the “Unseen Attackers and Targets” section later in this chapter.

UNSEEN ATTACKERS AND TARGETS

Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by hiding, casting the invisibility spell, or lurking in darkness.

When you attack a target that you can’t see, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the DM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly.

When a creature can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it.

If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard—when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.

All quotes from http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop/players-basic-rules