Can I ready an action *and* get an AOO?

[Joshua Randall]

This came up in last night's game. Please excuse my lame ASCII art.

It is character A's turn, and he wants to prevent the gnoll (G) from charging character B.

[font=Courier New]B . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . A
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . G . . .[/font]

A takes his move and moves 30 ft. due west, interposing himself in G's path to B.

[font=Courier New]B . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . A <--------(A)
. . . * . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . G . . .[/font]

Because G no longer has an unobstructed path to B, G cannot charge B.

Back to A. He's taken his move, and he has a standard action left that he doesn't want to waste. So, A readies an action to attack G if he enters my threatened area -- specifically, the space marked with an asterisk (*) in my crude map. A's turn is now over.

First question: is this a legitimate use of the Ready action?

Next it is G's turn. G decides to Overrun A in an attempt to get at B. G does not have the Improved Overrun feat. G begins his Overrun attempt by moving northwest, which takes him into A's threatened space.

[font=Courier New]B . . . . . . . .
[font=Courier New]. . . . . . . . .[/font]
[font=Courier New]. . A . . . . . .[/font]
[font=Courier New]. . . * . . . . .[/font]
[font=Courier New]. . . . \ . . . .[/font]
[font=Courier New]. . . . .(G). . .[/font]
[/font]

Second question: does A's readied action trigger when G moves into his threatened space (*)? If the answer to this is yes, then does A also get his attack of opportunity as normal for G moving into his space as part of an attempted Overrun?

= = = = =

Reference.

READY

​

The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action. It does not provoke an attack of opportunity (though the action that you ready might do so).​

Readying an Action: You can ready a standard action, a move action, or a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it. Then, any time before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition. The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. 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.​

​

OVERRUN

You can attempt an overrun as a standard action taken during your move, or as part of a charge. (In general, you cannot take a standard action during a move; this is an exception.) With an overrun, you attempt to plow past or over your opponent (and move through his square) as you move. You can only overrun an opponent who is one size category larger than you, the same size, or smaller. You can make only one overrun attempt per round. If you’re attempting to overrun an opponent, follow these steps.​

Step 1: Attack of Opportunity. Since you begin the overrun by moving into the defender’s space, you provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender. ... ​

​

 

[mikebr99]

I am going to say... YES!

Because, the ready action to attack once the guys gets close, happens 1st, as soon as he enters a threatened square, and the AoO happens after... just as he is leaving the threatened square. But you wouldn't get a 3rd attack from him using Overrun, untrained, as it is still part of the movement which just provoked an AoO. YMMV


Mike

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

yes and yes

You can ready an action provided you have a standard action.

You can use an aoo even while holding a readied action.


My recently retired tripmaster (half-giant bloodline human sw1/monk2/f3) started using this tactic and I retired her because of it (felt it wasn't fair to the party)

Essentially, she was readying an action to hit something when it came within range of her spiked chain... When the foe enters the 20' square (enlarged, spiked chain (large size)), she attacks with a trip. If they don't fall, they move on to the 15'. Now they've left a threatened square, so I take my AoO.

You can also flip that - ready for 10' and AoO at 15'.

CR makes this really ugly when your GM rules that each square left is a seperate provocation of AoO.

 

[Liquidsabre]

CR makes this really ugly when your GM rules that each square left is a seperate provocation of AoO.

Contrary to the rules of course. Can lead to problems.

 

[the Jester]

Yep. Happens all the time in my epic game, where lots of folks spend time with large or bigger size and corresponding reach.

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

You know what the sad thing is? Before that character was 5th level (sw1, then fighter 1,2,monk 1,2) she had fought a frost giant, an ogre, several vile fiendish things (book of vile darkness), and had fought her way past a drow encampment to tackle the minotaurs.

I'm still not sure retiring was the right thing to do she's the only reason why we've survived some of the things we have.

-end hijack-


The original question got answered satisfactorily? Yes, you can AoO with Readied Actions? (involve Karmic Strike, Goad and CR + Cat's Grace for some particularly nasty combos)