facing and readied actions

[fl8m]

In our last game we were fighting a ghost, her favorite tactic was to drop into the ground then come up and mess with us. After the ghost dissapeared into the ground the ranger readied an action to attack the ghost should she rise up near him. The next round the ghost rises up behind the ranger (within 5') and the dm says you dont' see her because your facing away and can't use your readied action.

I'm pretty sure this isn't correct by the rules. I feel that since there is no facing i should in theory be able to react to anything that happens within my threatened area, especially if i've readied an action. unfortunately finding the proper references in the rules has proven difficult. can anybody help, or give me the rules that prove i'm just whining about not getting my readied action.
thanks

 

[Nail]

The DM is wrong.

There is NO FACING in 3.5e D&D. You don't have a "back" to sneak up on.

The way this is handled is through a reactive Spot check to see the ghost come up.

The DM should also chew on this: the ghost can't see the PCs while she's in the ground. How did she know where they were?

 

[Liquidsabre]

You were robed. Get a rope...

To be more helpful: The ghost coudl do this if they made a hide check opposed to your spot check, otherwise you would have gotten your attack.

 

[Nail]

Moreover, it sounds like the DM doesn't understand the movement rules of D&D. Could you describe an attack sequence by the ghost, round by round? I suspect some "5 foot step" errors.

 

[Nail]

You were robed.

You were probably also robbed.

 

[shilsen]

You were probably also robbed.

It's still better than being disrobed and robbed, you know!

 

[dcollins]

You were robed.

But apparently not with a robe of eyes.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Lol, well...I, uh....hmph! I still say he was robed... *crosses arms and legs and sits in his chair*