D&D 5E Ready action confusion - can it cause a PC to get 2 attacks in 1 round?

[Melba Toast]

(polite note: apologies if this thread appears more than once. The quick thread feature doesn't seem to be working at the moment)

Can the Ready Action result in a character getting 2 attacks in a round?


Consider this scenario.


We have 2 PCs: Sworddude and Axechick, and they are fighting a gang of orcs.


Sworddude rolls a 7 for initiative. Axechick rolls a 12 for initiative. The Orcs roll 10 initiative.


Sworddude and Axechick have partial cover behind a boulder so they want to wait for the orcs to come to them.


So... first round:


12 Axechick: I ready, my trigger is the orc moving into melee range.
10 Orcs: The orcs hesitate. Gather. Move into formation.
7 Sworddude: I ready action too, same trigger, but I'm taunting them with insults in Orcish: "Your mother was an elf! etc etc".


(DM rolls a CHA check to see if the orcs are sufficiently enraged. They are.)


Round two:


12 Axechick: Continues to ready
10: Orcs charge! Axechick's attack is triggered and she takes her attack. But wait! Sworddude is still readied from last round, so he gets to attack too!
Then the orcs attack. This is all happening simultaneously.
7: Sworddude attacks again! Its his new initiative right? And he gets another attack, right?


This happened in my game the other day and it caused a huge blow up. Axechick couldn't understand why Sworddude should get two attacks that round while she only got one, and Axechick felt she was being punished for having a higher initiative.

It makes sense to me, but the players weren't having it. Axechick was going to get another attack at the top of the next round anyway.


Have I misunderstood something? Am I not playing ready action right?

 

[jgsugden]

That is correct. If you ready an attack, it might go off right before your next turn... and if the trigger doesn't go off before your next action, you lose the benefit of the readied action.

 

[werecorpse]

And straight after sword dude gets his attack it's back to the top and axe chick gets a go. So the effect is
Trigger actions both get a go
Orcs go
Both get a go
Orcs go
Both get a go
Etc.

Both get the same number of actions in cyclical initiative.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

and Axechick felt she was being punished for having a higher initiative.

Yes, you are in some ways punished for a high initiative, much like in some ways you are punished for having a low initiative. This is why you can't change your initiative like in other editions.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

And besides, that's not how this should have gone down.

First orc activates, moves in closer, sees Axechick is waiting for something, then attacks Axechick with thrown javelin from 10'.
Second orc activates, moves in, sees Axechick is waiting for something, then attacks Axechick with thrown javelin from 10'.

and so on.

And even if the DM rules readies don't have visible cues...

First orc activates, moves in, gets hit with axechicks ready, orc attacks her and since axe chick has used her reaction, orc 1 moves back for...

Second orc activates, moves in to axe chick, orc 2 attacks and since axe chick has used her reaction, orc 2 moves back for...

Third orc activates, moves in, gets hit with axechicks ready, orc attacks and since axe chick has used her reaction, orc 3 moves back for...

and so on.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

Just like if you beat your caster in init who was going to Haste you, you can't wait, tough luck, YOU ACT!!!

 

[guachi]

The wierdness of action declaration occurring at the beginning of your turn is leading me to go to everyone declaring actions at the beginning of the round and then rolling initiative like it used to be done.

 

[KarinsDad]

This happened in my game the other day and it caused a huge blow up. Axechick couldn't understand why Sworddude should get two attacks that round while she only got one, and Axechick felt she was being punished for having a higher initiative.

Well, there is a minor drawback to this, but she isn't really being punished.

Round 2:

Orcs Charge

Axechick's readied attack goes off.
Sworddude's readied attack goes off.

Orcs attack

Sworddude's attack goes off.

Round 3:

Axechick's attack goes off.


In reality, both PCs got off a readied attack off before the Orcs. The minor drawback is that Axechick won initiative and from her perspective, Sworddude is attacking before her every time from then on out.


I have a guy at work who considers his work week to be Monday through Sunday instead of Sunday through Saturday (like the company does). So sometimes when he works on a Sunday, he is working (from his perspective) M, T, W, Th, F, and Sun, or 6 days in one week. In reality, he is working M, T, W, Th, F this week and Sun, M, T, W, Th (and not Friday) the following week. He still only puts in 5 days of work each week, but his mindset for years has been that his work week starts Monday night when he starts work, so he is working 6 days this week and 4 days next week.

 

[Li Shenron]

This is why in 3e the ready option changed your initiative count.

In this situation, in 3e both PCs would change to Init 10 and will only act once in the second round.

I presume the change was made in 5e to simplify the game, but it does create some strange situations.

 

[Nebulous]

this confuses me