Setting Spears against a Charge...

[Creat]

Readying an action once is nothing that I would cosider requiring patience in the way it was (imo) meant by the game designers, but that's a matter of interpretation. I think of readying to attack someone who is as I think about to attack me not as a matter of patience but tactic. If my instincts tell me "Oh, he looks like hes gonna run towards you any second now! You can probably gain some advantage from that!" then I wouldn't charge him instead just because I'm angry/raging/on adrenaline or however you interpret the rage ability. But I wouldn't let him do it twice or even more times.
But keep in mind that you might want to allow him to do so anyway, after all his rage lasts only a few rounds, so if he wants to waste them waiting for something to happen (and as with all ready actions there's always a chance you're not getting it because the circumstances specified just didn't happen) be my guest, after his rage is over their enemies might have a much easier time killing him. So I wouldn't think of it as unbalancing in any way.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Of course, the Barbarian could always ready their spear, then rage when the enemy got in range for the attack right before taking the attack to get the bonus if you don't like the idea of them readying while raging.

 

[Devilkiller]

If it is a longspear and the enemy doesn't have reach then the barbarian is also likely to get an AoO too, right? I mean, the readied action happens as soon as the enemy comes into the barbarian's threatened area. Then if the enemy insists on continuing the charge he suffers an AoO, albeit for regular damage - OUCH!

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I think the key thing in all of this is remembering that the guy is readying for all of 6 seconds.

Then what's the point of the restriction? Rage only lasts a matter of seconds. If the barbarian can be patient for seconds, then he can be patient long enough to perform any actions requiring it during a rage. The whole point of the restriction seems to me to restrict the barbarian from any abilities that require patience, regardless of how long they take to perform, while raging.

Now, one might argue, as Creat said, that "readying an action" isn't an "ability" per se. I'm not sure I'd argue against that, since as I've already said, I allow a barbarian to ready during a rage, even if I don't believe the rules do.

But if you do rule that readying is an "ability", then it's certainly an ability that requires patience, and the restriction on barbarians doesn't mention any exceptions to the rule, such as it being okay if it's only being patient for 6 seconds.

 

[Felix]

Special Initiative Actions:
...
Ready
...

It's only an "ability" in the sense that he's able to do it, even while raging. It's very, very clearly an action.

 

[Storyteller01]

Haven't read the whole thread yet...

It could just be me, but I thought that setting for a charge meant propping the weapon against an available obstruction (a rock, your foot, etc). Since you weren't actually attacking you didn't receive the STR bonus for using both hands?? :\

As for not attacking the guy with the spear, there IS an OGL source that allows you to swap out weapons on a Rod of Lordly Might as a free action(as well as a few other nasty surprises)

 

[Felix]

It could just be me, but I thought that setting for a charge meant propping the weapon against an available obstruction (a rock, your foot, etc).

That's the cinematic version of "setting a spear against a charge". It makes sense to see it that way, but rules wise, there is absolutely nothing concerning what the character does with the butt of the spear.

All "Setting a spear" means is that the guy has a readied action to attack a charging enemy. You don't need to plant it in the ground to attack, and you certainly do get 1.5x STR if you have it in two hands.