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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ferghis" data-source="post: 5146156" data-attributes="member: 40483">Good call. I was at a loss of how to tie our posts back to the real issue myself.That's certainly one scenario, but I don't think I'd allow anyone to do anything retroactively. And I'm not sure what you mean by "waiting to attack something the round before the encounter started." Actions must be declared before. I'm not trying to fight you here, I'm just trying to be clear.If you're worried about your players doing this too frequently, make them make a will check. Honestly, really don't think players will abuse it, but your game may differ.I don't think so. Folks entering the battlefield get to roll initiative to determine when they act. Surprise determines whether your character can act on the surprise round. In the scenario above, the characters expect the ambush, and the ambushers are aware of the characters, so there is no chance of surprise. Regardless of whether you allow the actions at issue to be prepared before initiative or not, you still roll initiative to determine when everyone acts during the remainder of the combat. Initiative and Surprise play out normally, AFAICT.So you're rewarding the player's preparation (and perception roll) with CA? That sounds good to me.So what happens if the person kicking the door open is at the receiving end of the readied attack above? What gets resolved first? If, however the decision is made, it's the shooting, does that mean that the guy opening the door doesn't get total defense? If that's the case, why did the shooter's preparation get rewarded, but not the door opener's preparation?I have to say, even if I didn't want the character to take total defense before combat, I'd probably give them cover against the shooter. If they said they were opening the door while wary of an attack, I'd ask them to describe more precisely how, and they'd say something like "I open it from outside the doorway, push it open, quickly pull back my hand, and peek outside with my shield and weapon ready." That should warrant cover.Since those situations can be solved that way, let's examine a different one. Let's picture something concrete. The players, expecting an ambush for in-game reasons, say that they prepare a bunch of ranged attacks and send one guy (the tank) down a corridor in total defense. I say that they can't because the encounter has not yet begun, and readied actions and total defense are actions that can only be taken once the combat begins. Since the characters clearly sniffed out the ambush and the ambushers knew of the characters, there is no surprise, and combat is done normally. One of the players, after the session is over so as not to interrupt the game, asks why couldn't they do those actions before combat if they could do them in combat. I can't find anything in the books that says why, so I come to enworld. Why?</blockquote>

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