Readied Actions and Quickened Spells

[Tirlanolir]

What happens when an player announces, "I ready to shoot the wizard as soon as he starts casting," and the wizard's next action is to cast a quickened teleport? Does the readied action go off, first? or as a free action, does the wizard get his teleport off first?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

The readied action goes off.

He shoots the wizard, who must make a Concentration check to keep the spell if he's damaged.

Quickened spells do not provoke AoOs, but they are still bound by the other limitations of spells.

 

[irdeggman]

Patryon's answer sounds correct.


per the SRD:

Swift Action: A swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action. You can perform one swift action per turn without affecting your ability to perform other actions. In that regard, a swift action is like a free action. However, you can perform only a single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take. You can take a swift action any time you would normally be allowed to take a free action. Swift actions usually involve psionics or the activation of psionic items; many characters (especially those who don’t use psionics) never have an opportunity to take a swift action.

Manifesting a quickened power is a swift action. In addition, manifesting any power with a casting time of 1 swift action is a swift action.

Manifesting a power with a manifesting time of 1 swift action does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Now this is under the psionics section but the just substitute spell for power and it works. Note that a swift action takes longer than a free action and therin lies the major distinction and why a readied action would still work. Plus as P pointed out it still must obey normal rules for spellcasting.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

It still works using only the Core rules - there's nothing that says that free actions can't be used as the triggers for a readied action, and common sense tells us that they can ("If he talks, I'll shoot 'im!" and "On your mark, get set, GO! *pistol shot*")

 

[Hypersmurf]

It still works using only the Core rules - there's nothing that says that free actions can't be used as the triggers for a readied action, and common sense tells us that they can ("If he talks, I'll shoot 'im!" and "On your mark, get set, GO! *pistol shot*")

Stop, stop, false start.

Your readied move action resolved before the pistol shot that triggered it.

-Hyp.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

What? I didn't say it would always work out the best for the readier ...

 

[Tirlanolir]

Thanks for your responses. I'm not sure that the "swift action" analysis is the way to go, since it is a relatively new concept and spoken about in terms of psionics. Using the core rules, it is a free action. If a free action, why can't the mage get off the spell before the readied action is resolved? Is it the case that readying an action lowers your initiative to one slot before the action it was readied for? If that's the case, I can see why the readied action would be resolved first. But if it's the case that readying an action lowers your initiative to the same as the person who's action for which you were readied, I can see the readied action starting, but not being resolved before the free action is completed. A readied action is still a standard action. Whereas, a free action takes less time than a standard action. Swinging a blade takes more time than a mage saying, "fugit" for example. For that matter, letting an arrow loose and having it fly to its target takes more time as well. Warrior swings blade, mage says "fugit," blade connects with thin air.....

 

[Delemental]

Thanks for your responses. I'm not sure that the "swift action" analysis is the way to go, since it is a relatively new concept and spoken about in terms of psionics. Using the core rules, it is a free action. If a free action, why can't the mage get off the spell before the readied action is resolved? Is it the case that readying an action lowers your initiative to one slot before the action it was readied for? If that's the case, I can see why the readied action would be resolved first. But if it's the case that readying an action lowers your initiative to the same as the person who's action for which you were readied, I can see the readied action starting, but not being resolved before the free action is completed. A readied action is still a standard action. Whereas, a free action takes less time than a standard action. Swinging a blade takes more time than a mage saying, "fugit" for example. For that matter, letting an arrow loose and having it fly to its target takes more time as well. Warrior swings blade, mage says "fugit," blade connects with thin air.....

Readying an Action
You can ready a standard action, a move action, or a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it. Then, any time before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition. The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of another character’s activities, you interrupt the other character. Assuming he is still capable of doing so, he continues his actions once you complete your readied action. Your initiative result changes. For the rest of the encounter, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action, and you act immediately ahead of the character whose action triggered your readied action.

Emphasis mine.

Readying an action specifically states that it occurs before the triggering action, and will interrupt the character making the triggering action. There is no specfic exception for the triggering condition being a free action.

And, as you can see, your initiative does become the same as the person who triggered your readied action, but you go before them. So if the bad guy tried to cast his quickened spell on initiative count 17, and you take your readied action, your initiative is now 17 as well, but ahead of the caster (normally, tied initiative scores go in the order of their Dex modifier).