D&D 5E I am not ready to ready the ready action...

[Dausuul]

In my experience, there are two scenarios where people will Ready in combat:

• A melee warrior can't (or doesn't want to) close with an enemy on his/her turn, but anticipates that the enemy will close on its turn, and wants to prepare a warm welcome. A flying melee monster, or an enemy between 35 and 60 feet away, would be a good example.
• An enemy is using hit-and-run tactics; for example, an incorporeal monster phasing in and out of walls, or a rogue playing games with Cunning Action and Hide. PCs who are unable to rely on opportunity attacks might Ready a ranged attack, a cantrip, or (in rare cases) a leveled spell.

I do think the rules are unnecessarily clunky, though. The one-attack limit and the "holding a spell" rules are a nuisance to keep track of. I'd rather just allow Readying an entire action.

I'd also like to find a way to allow Readying outside of combat - ideally, it could be merged with the surprise rules, so that Readying is the usual way to set up an ambush. (You can't take reactions when surprised, so Readying still would not protect you from being ambushed.) Players are always trying to Ready ambushes anyhow, it's the natural and intuitive thing to do, so why not make it the correct thing to do and save some hassle?

 

[Rod Staffwand]

It's most often used in our group to delay an attack, grab, shove, etc. until an enemy moves into range, out of cover or concealment or otherwise into a position where it is possible to affect them. It comes up maybe once every 2-3 combats.

Using the ready action is often a gamble, since the trigger may not occur. However, every action is a gamble. Attacks might miss, enemies might save, and you might defend during a round when no one attacks you. Yes, spellcasters might lose a spell slot on a ready action to no avail, but this may be an acceptable risk for optimal fireball placement, critical healing spell or other combat-winning tactic.

However, the existence of the ready action is less about the number of situations in which it is useful (or optimal), but in the introduction of a mechanic in which dealing with such situations is possible. Without the ready action, any time a player says "I hold my arrow until the goblin comes into view" requires ad hoc adjudication or is plain impossible. It adds some much needed flexibility to the rigidity of D&D turn-based combat.

 

[cmad1977]

‘I ready my action to cast telekinesis the moment my ally is dropped into the chasm by the Vrock’

Me the DM: ‘damn... nice move’

Readying an action has come up plenty in my games even from players who are unaware of the rule.

 

[the Jester]

I see it all the time- at least once per session pretty much every session. A few recent examples:

*"Chomper moves next to the door and readies an attack for the first enemy to come through the threshold." (Party is retreating around a corner, trying to break off combat; Chomper is a rogue dire squirrel who is already hidden.)
*Ready an attack with my bow for the first orc to attack one of us. (Party isn't sure of potential enemies' intentions- are they hostile?)
*Ready to cast command on the first enemy that approaches the badly wounded pc.
*Ready to shut the door when the last pc enters the room (closing the enemies outside).
*Ready to shove the prone bad guy after he stands up (and thereby knock him prone again).

I find that some pcs use it poorly- last session the wizard readied a big AoE for when the first stirge reached the party instead of just hammering them before they all flew down from the ceiling- but it's very often quite effective, especially for tactically-minded players.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Usually just readying an attack until someone comes into melee range. Since we actually pay attention to weapon switching rules, it might be more hassle than it's worth to switch to a ranged attack. Most commonly it's one of those things to do when you don't have anything better to do, right above deciding to just Dodge.

 

[TheSword]

I’m actually okay with the action coming after the trigger. Mainly because all sorts of paradoxes can happen where the readied action means the trigger could never have happened. It gets weird. Better to assume the readying person isn't fast enough.

The main uses I’ve seen are either as a kind of overwatch for ranger shooting - when a person breaks from cover for instance. I.e that annoying ranged rogue who moves-attacks-moves-hides every turn. Or for enemies you know are coming.

Alternatively when you’re trying to ‘hold the line’ to get a free attack in melee once the enemy get to you.

As has been discussed - touch spells against flyers where aoo’s don’t trigger spells.

The general kind of teamwork style tactics - cast a spell on x when he reaches me.

My players use it a lot in discussions to not waste a rounds actions. The goblin surrenders, I’m going to talk to him but ready an action to attack/cast x if he moves.

Ready actions sometimes require the DM fitting the parties intentions into the ready framework. Provided it’s reasonable I’m pretty cool being flexible with the actions they can take in these circumstances.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

It's not RAW, but if a spellcaster wanted to Ready a spell to blast a group of potential enemies, but the Bard ends up parleying with the opposition leader for a few rounds, I'd probably rule that the spellcaster could keep the spell in Readied status - maybe adding a mechanic like the need for a successful Concentration check that gets more difficult with each passing round - without costing an additional spell slot.

 

[epithet]

Where do you get the idea that you can't ready an action "outside of combat" from? When you ready an action, all you're doing is preparing an action to perform as a reaction. You can do that any time, like "I'm watching the alley to the south. If I see the door open, I'm ducking behind the stack of crates." That's a hide action as a reaction, and doesn't require combat turn order.

Anything you can do in combat, from swinging a sword or casting a spell through hiding and dodging, can be done just as well out of combat. That includes readying an action. Whenever a player declares "If this thing happens, I will do that thing," an action is readied and, if this thing happens, that thing can be triggered as a reaction. It isn't complicated, people do it all the time (whether you call it that or not.)

I have no problem with characters having a readied action at the top of Round 1. If you tell me you're approaching the door with your crossbow trained on the opening, ready to take a shot of something threatening emerges, that's fine. You'll have disadvantage to passive Perception for anything other than something coming out of the door, but you can certainly use your reaction to take a shot when the high-initiative-rolling hobgoblin charges out.

 

[epithet]

It's not RAW, but if a spellcaster wanted to Ready a spell to blast a group of potential enemies, but the Bard ends up parleying with the opposition leader for a few rounds, I'd probably rule that the spellcaster could keep the spell in Readied status - maybe adding a mechanic like the need for a successful Concentration check that gets more difficult with each passing round - without costing an additional spell slot.

There is nothing in the rules that specifies the spell trigger must occur before the caster's next turn, only that the caster must maintain concentration. If a caster is undisturbed, I see nothing to suggest that a readied spell couldn't be held for a minute, or even 10 minutes. During that time, the caster would need to use his action each turn (if in combat) to maintain the readied spell, and would obviously need to maintain concentration.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

There is nothing in the rules that specifies the spell trigger must occur before the caster's next turn, only that the caster must maintain concentration. If a caster is undisturbed, I see nothing to suggest that a readied spell couldn't be held for a minute, or even 10 minutes. During that time, the caster would need to use his action each turn (if in combat) to maintain the readied spell, and would obviously need to maintain concentration.

It's actually in the PHB Errata:

"Ready (p. 193). You have until the start of your next turn to use a readied action."