Heavily armored cleric. Cast a concentration spell. Cast spiritual hammer. Use bonus action to hit things. Dodge. It is horribly underused.
D&D 5E I am not ready to ready the ready action...
Heavily armored cleric. Cast a concentration spell. Cast spiritual hammer. Use bonus action to hit things. Dodge. It is horribly underused.
Harzel
Adventurer
The circumstances in which I see the Ready action used are some that others have already mentioned: mainly when opponents make themselves otherwise unattackable by moving in and out of cover, incorporeal movement, or moving back and forth from the ethereal plane. [MENTION=1465]Li Shenron[/MENTION], do your players ever encounter such situations?
The rest of this is a bit of a rant; take it with a grain of salt (or the seasoning of your choice).
I think not telling beginners about Ready is an understandable (trying to keep it simple) but ultimately unfortunate choice. D&D bills itself as a team-oriented game in which you can attempt anything. Yet the structure of what for many groups is the most significant part of play - combat - features each PC acting individually while everyone else is frozen in space and time. The Ready action is the system's sole concession to enabling joint efforts, and the sort of reactions to other combatants that "attempt anything" ought to include. (Of course, the system penalizes anyone who uses this workaround, but that's a different part of the conversation.) Leaving out the Ready action further emphasizes the individual-turn-taking nature of the combat system.
As to the observation that the only time the OP's players attempt to use a "ready" mechanism is outside of combat - ok, I'm going to go out a highly speculative limb here (since in reality I know very little about the OP's game). The players have been presented with a game that has two modes - one relatively free-form in which actions flow relatively naturally and one that is a tightly structured around individual turns. I've never seen anyone playing Monopoly try to switch turn order or take an action in the midst of someone else's turn. To me it is not too surprising that novice players would take the game structure presented to them at face value - out of combat your PC acts naturally; in combat your PC acts only on your turn, unless your DM says otherwise.
The rest of this is a bit of a rant; take it with a grain of salt (or the seasoning of your choice).
I think not telling beginners about Ready is an understandable (trying to keep it simple) but ultimately unfortunate choice. D&D bills itself as a team-oriented game in which you can attempt anything. Yet the structure of what for many groups is the most significant part of play - combat - features each PC acting individually while everyone else is frozen in space and time. The Ready action is the system's sole concession to enabling joint efforts, and the sort of reactions to other combatants that "attempt anything" ought to include. (Of course, the system penalizes anyone who uses this workaround, but that's a different part of the conversation.) Leaving out the Ready action further emphasizes the individual-turn-taking nature of the combat system.
As to the observation that the only time the OP's players attempt to use a "ready" mechanism is outside of combat - ok, I'm going to go out a highly speculative limb here (since in reality I know very little about the OP's game). The players have been presented with a game that has two modes - one relatively free-form in which actions flow relatively naturally and one that is a tightly structured around individual turns. I've never seen anyone playing Monopoly try to switch turn order or take an action in the midst of someone else's turn. To me it is not too surprising that novice players would take the game structure presented to them at face value - out of combat your PC acts naturally; in combat your PC acts only on your turn, unless your DM says otherwise.
Jonathon Robinson
First Post
happyhermit
Adventurer
Split movement allows for some tactics like; Hiding behind cover, popping up and taking a shot, then dropping behind it again. That sort of thing can seem really cool and matches a lot of what we see in movies and imagine in real life, and while technically possible in other editions it didn't feel like that was happening because you had to stay out in the open so long. So, I've seen players have a ton of fun with this, mostly on the giving, but it can also be an exciting and fun challenge to be on the receiving end. Ready action comes into play with situations like this, a lot.
Actually if that concentration effect is some powerful aoe that is ongoing plus the spiritual weapon rd after rd and he keeps the concentration up due to not being hit... those looks might be more high fives.I bet you get strange looks from the other players too.
AmerginLiath
Adventurer
As others have said, I’ve mostly seen Ready used to combined actions in sequence. Perhaps it’s because I play with folks who love heist films as much as I do, but lining up sets of coordinated actions that go off like clockwork once everyone is position is something beautiful...
Jonathon Robinson
First Post
I can just imagine the cleric now, dancing around his foes while his spells wreak havoc in the background.
Yup that spirit guardians 3d8 wis save for half mobile aoe plus spirit hammer/ healing word option each round with dodge keeping your defenses up... A lot of groups in a lot of circumstances would not be giving you funny looks and a well trained set of enemies might well decide to gang up if you ever did drop dodge.
Of course, smarter foes likely go for grapple if they got numbers. So not perfect but good.
I bet you get strange looks from the other players too.
We had a Nature Cleric in our AL party who liked to get into melee. At one point he cast bless or spirit guardians or something and keeping the spell up was more useful. He also had cast spiritual weapon and he was in some situation where he was standing next to me and he didn't want to lose his spell so I suggested he dodge. I didn't care if the opponents attacked me. I had riposte if they missed or parry (whatever the damage reducing maneuver is) if they hit.
He did look at me strangely for a second. But he knew the rules well enough that the wheels turned and then he dodged. Dodge is frighteningly useful for people who have potent concentration spells up.
If I ever do this I'll have my PC say "Is this bugging you? I'm not touching you! Is this bugging you? I'm not touching you!"
I play in a group with two rookies and two long-time gamers. The rookie perspective: when your turn comes up, you must do something, NOW NOW NOW, valued only in terms of its immediate outcome. Preferably an attack.
If the rookies had plasma cannons, which took one turn's Action to charge, and then on the following round could be fired for an AOE Line, 20', DC 20 DEX save, 20d6 damage; then they would still use melee weapons, because they would not have the patience to spend a turn on the charge-up. It's all about I WANNA HIT SOMETHING NOW NOW NOW, not about winning with minimal losses.
Veteran tactics include surrounding a foe's hiding spot with oil puddles and caltrops, then use smoke to force them from cover, and ignite the oil as they cross the puddle.
I wish the rookies were ready to ready the Ready action. Right now they're way too eager to do anything which doesn't bear fruit before the next person's turn comes up. No deferred gratification.
If the rookies had plasma cannons, which took one turn's Action to charge, and then on the following round could be fired for an AOE Line, 20', DC 20 DEX save, 20d6 damage; then they would still use melee weapons, because they would not have the patience to spend a turn on the charge-up. It's all about I WANNA HIT SOMETHING NOW NOW NOW, not about winning with minimal losses.
Veteran tactics include surrounding a foe's hiding spot with oil puddles and caltrops, then use smoke to force them from cover, and ignite the oil as they cross the puddle.
I wish the rookies were ready to ready the Ready action. Right now they're way too eager to do anything which doesn't bear fruit before the next person's turn comes up. No deferred gratification.
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