D&D 5E (2024) Does your table use concentration with Ready a Spell?

[Brett Bussart]

He does have thrown weapons, which are usually used with extra attack after he kills someone in melee.

That said, thrown weapons lack effective range and do less damage than a light crossbow. Javelins are the only thrown weapon that can reliably reach foes at a decent range and even with them you are often throwing at disadvantage, which is a major debuff until tier 4 when your accuracy is good enough to usually overcome disadvantage.

In the particular case we are talking about a Javelin would have done 1d6+4 damage as a ready action. Truestrike does 1d8+1d6+3, so a Thrown weapon is substantially less damage in this case, even if the bad guy did phase back in at short range.

Such is the price he had to pay for min/maxing other ability scores. There are magical thrown weapons that could and should offset their "lower" damage, but he also chose not to pursue owning or obtaining any of those. Again, choices have consequences. He made his choices, he just didn't want to deal with the consequences.

 

[Brett Bussart]

So you are invoking both the importance of the current rules on concentration AND the old school rules on hirelings.

Bold.

I don't think it's bold. I think it's a very practical and cost effective way to add helpers to the party.

Hirelings are also not an "old school" rule. They are clearly listed in the 5.5E Player's Handbook on page 232. You can find them on D&D Beyond here. Hirelings.

Do you even play D&D?

 

[ECMO3]

Such is the price he had to pay for min/maxing other ability scores.

I find it ironic that you call this particular setup min/maxing, while earlier another poster said it was "sub optimal" with "absolutely no synergy".

There are magical thrown weapons that could and should offset their "lower" damage,

At 7th level you would need a +4 magic Javelin to match the damage you would do on a ready attack with Truestrike and a light crossbow and that number would be even higher at higher levels.

There are not many (any?) PCs running around with a +4 weapon at 7th level, especially one that is a secondary weapon for the character.

 

[Reynard]

I don't think it's bold. I think it's a very practical and cost effective way to add helpers to the party.

Hirelings are also not an "old school" rule. They are clearly listed in the 5.5E Player's Handbook on page 232. You can find them on D&D Beyond here. Hirelings.

Do you even play D&D?

How much does it cost to hire a 5th level wizard to accompany the party on the adventure, above and beyond the cost of every spell cast? How do we generate that character? Do we use a Mage NPC stat block or do we create a PC?

More importantly, in what world is that the simpler option?

 

[Maxperson]

I had a player quit over this today.

RAW if you use ready action to cast a spell you need to hold concentration until the trigger event:

When you Ready a spell, you cast it as normal (expending any resources used to cast it) but hold its energy, which you release with your Reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a casting time of an action, and holding on to the spell’s magic requires Concentration, which you can maintain up to the start of your next turn. If your Concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect.

The player in question wanted to ready Truestrike while concentrating on Hex. I told him he had to drop concentration. The PC said that is unreasonable and I should houserule it. I would have been open to that discussion on making it a houserule during session 0, but not in the middle of a combat. He said no one plays that way and actually left the game over it.

What do you think?

We play that way. It makes total sense that you would have to concentrate on keeping the spell ready to cast at a moment's notice.

 

[Silam]

How much does it cost to hire a 5th level wizard to accompany the party on the adventure, above and beyond the cost of every spell cast? How do we generate that character? Do we use a Mage NPC stat block or do we create a PC?

More importantly, in what world is that the simpler option?

If I were DMing that campaign, my main question to the players would be: are you prepared to fork over a share of the XP and loot to this new party member? If not, case closed. If yes, then fine, they can indulge in creating a new character and babysit it.

 

[definiteFreakyFishGuy]

I feel like the only time I ever used readied action was when I was first learning 5e, then I just kind of forgot about it altogether

 

[Mort]

I don't think it's bold. I think it's a very practical and cost effective way to add helpers to the party.

Hirelings are also not an "old school" rule. They are clearly listed in the 5.5E Player's Handbook on page 232. You can find them on D&D Beyond here. Hirelings.

Do you even play D&D?

Throwing hirelings/henchmen or animals as cannon fodder at a problem used to be an accepted or even go to solution.

It's fallen far out of favor, though I'm sure there are still groups where it's extensively used - probably more in OSR than 5e.

 

[Umbran]

Do you even play D&D?

Mod Note:
Making it personal and being insulting are great ways to incite conflict... and have a moderator come in and give you the hairy eyeball.

Treat folks with more respect than that going forward, please and thanks.

 

[Brett Bussart]

I find it ironic that you call this particular setup min/maxing, while earlier another poster said it was "sub optimal" with "absolutely no synergy".



At 7th level you would need a +4 magic Javelin to match the damage you would do on a ready attack with Truestrike and a light crossbow and that number would be even higher at higher levels.

There are not many (any?) PCs running around with a +4 weapon at 7th level, especially one that is a secondary weapon for the character.

Oh he could have been running around with 2 to 3 Javelins of Lightning which are only Uncommon Magic items. Javelin of Lightning