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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6904270" data-attributes="member: 2067">The line between "initiative" and "not initiative" isn't necessarily a hard one. The actions you can perform on your turn can also be performed when you aren't tracking turns - you presumably let players use items, hide, and cast spells when they do not have a "turn," so extending that idea to "being ready to attack for a trigger" isn't a major leap. In this view, Initiative doesn't make new actions possible, it simply orders the actions of people all trying to go at the same time. This aligns with the principle of using the rules to adjudicate what happens in the fiction (as opposed to using the rules to determine what is possible in the fiction). It's not the case that a character would be constantly readying actions, because there is an opportunity cost - namely, the other actions you could be performing. Someone readying an attack isn't, say, on high alert (dodge), looking for danger (making a Perception check), or, most commonly, moving quickly through the space (Dash). The common ambush scenario would go:1 - Ambusher moves into position and hides (uses the Hide action, rolls a stealth check)2 - A few seconds later, Ambusher readies an action to shoot the first guard she sees with her bow.3 - Time passes. A guard somewhere is spending time moving, and then making a Perception check, and repeating that process. Ambusher essentially keeps performing the same action - no movement, ready an attack.4 - A guard enters the Ambusher's vision. Triggered attack goes off. The guard was using his action to make Perception checks, so nothing changes. (If the Ambusher wants to wait, she can - the guard makes a Perception check where he stands, and then we go to the Ambusher's turn)5 - I check the stealth roll vs. the guard's passive Perception to determine if the guard is surprised. Regardless, initiative is rolled.Hypothetically, if we have a guard who is lousy at his job and wants to ready an attack with his crossbow instead of trying to, you know, keep a look out, it would flow almost exactly the same, except the guard's triggered attack would go off after the Ambusher's attack if the guard was not surprised (and if he WAS surprised, he can't take reactions, so he loses his readied attack). This would be a rather poor tactical choice for the guard, even if the guard had Alert - the guard's job isn't murder, it's to keep a look out for trespassers (and call for reinforcements if he sees any). Readying an action to call out the alarm would be a better idea, but might also detract from his ability to keep a watch by making active Perception checks (and thus hoping to get lucky).</blockquote>

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