Can a readied action catch someone flat-footed?

[Sagiro]

Consider this scenario:

Combat starts, and the rogue has the highest initiative. He's less than 30' away from an enemy wizard, and announces he's readying an action to fire his bow at the wizard if she casts a spell.

The wizard starts to cast a spell at the rogue, and the rogue fires. Is the wizard considered flat-footed, and thus vulnerable to sneak-attack damage? On the one hand, the wizard hasn't yet gone, and so should be considered flat-footed. On the other hand, the wizard must have at least started casting the spell in order to trigger the readied action, and that seems to contradict the notion that the wizard is caught off guard at the moment of the attack. Reading the PH I'd have to say that by the rules, it's a sneak-attack. Has this ever been clarified by WotC? I'd be interested in hearing opinions. Thanks!

-Sagiro

 

[Jhulae]

No. Because it's the wizard's initative turn. When the Wizard's turn comes up, the wizard is acting to cast the spell which activates the readied action. The SRD states you interrupt the other character. If you were going before the other character, there'd be nothing to interrupt.

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.

Of course, if you really want to not worry about it, just have the wizard take her move action first. ::shrug::

 

[Infiniti2000]

Jhulae has it right. The wizard has started her action and thus, at that moment, is no longer flat-footed.