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Yes. This. I agree with everything you just posted. But *especially* this. So much this.

If a character wants to take the time to process IFF before firing, that to me justifies making them wait until initiative. When I was talking about allowing a readied action, I was referring to the edge case where they declare that they're attacking whatever they see. And in that situation, I'd...

All the scenarios you're presenting don't sound like cautionary tales to me, they sound like fights which would be made much more dramatic and interesting with readied actions. The key is that there shouldn't be a hard and fast rule which you follow rigidly. There should simply be the option to...

It's a pretty tiny can of worms. Most sentient creatures need a beat to process data through IFF systems before attacking, a good justification for initiative. And undead and golems move pretty slowly, so the party will almost certainly be alerted before they can shamble over and execute their...

There seems to be a sentiment on this board that a warlock is useless if you don't take eldritch blast and use it almost exclusively. My last character was a perfectly enjoyable warlock who didn't even know eldritch blast.

Eventually. First I'd let the fast readied actions (archers, ranged spell attacks) do their readied actions, simultaneously. If a readied action involves movement, then it's a simple "the other side was aware of you and is also ready to move, so we'll do that in initiative order... roll." But an...

My table has a social contract that anything the party can do, the monsters can also do, and vice versa. If my party knew there was an enemy on the opposite side of that door, they'd (rightly) expect to be able to ready an action to shoot at somebody as soon as the door was opened. And far be it...

My bad. Fixed. Thanks.

That post was kind of vague, so let me give an example from this week. (Spoiler from Rise of Tiamat) The party was doing Xonthal's Tower from Rise of Tiamat, specifically the Chuul Pool. The chuuls are programmed to attack if somebody moves the gem (in effect they have a standing readied action...

I don't disagree with any of the suggestions so far in this thread, they all seem valid. However, it's also perfectly valid to allow a readied action before combat begins. Why? Because it clearly passes the "common sense" filter. If the bandits in the next room hear the party, then there's no...

Ahem. "Yol - Toor - Shul!"

I use this app in both my campaigns. It requires a lot of manual entry for some monsters (and all spells), but it's my favorite of the combat tracking apps I've used so far.

Are there situations other than this counterspell one in which a character could use their reaction on their own turn? The reaction, to me, was always something that could exclusively be used on other character's turns and never on your own. That would shut down the counterspell of a counterspell.

Side initiative. One roll for each side, individually modified by action speed.

For spell effects which last a round, I just make a note of the initiative number that the caster acted on. It lasts until that initiative number the following round.

Some of the Dessarin Valley stuff seemed borderline spoileriffic.

I dunno, sounds like a fun RP opportunity. "I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things." -Tyrion Lannister

We've tried this the last two weeks. So far, it's been much slower, but we've chalked that up to a learning curve, and to the fact that we had some players missing (but the characters were still present, so the group had to make decisions for a character they were't as familiar with). The group...

I like the idea for the wizard, but I think a campaign trying to capture the elusiveness and mystery of old edition magic would not even allow the sorcerer or warlock classes. Those are definitely more consistent with a world where magic is as commonplace as swords. Likewise, many of the...

FYI, I added an edit that you may have missed since you already replied. Where are you getting this conclusion that it would cast for "0d6" damage? Nowhere in the text of, say, firebolt does it require the caster to be 1st level. If you can cast it, it does its base damage. If you're arguing RAW...