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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Friend of the Dork" data-source="post: 5736782" data-attributes="member: 91954">I pretty much agree with your sentiment. Most people in RL would be able to catch the coin without difficulty, as long as they had a split second to react to the falling coin. This is something very different than the "fist against fist" reaction game, where one tries to hit and one to evade. In this case a simple opposed test of some sort is the best, and the loser might indeed be "flat-fisted" for a moment. However when neither side is surprised, and two (or more) opposing characters wants to act at the same time (say, as soon as a door opens), it is not quite fair that one of them is almost defenseless just because of a lower initiative test. A has a crossbow ready and wants to shoot someone passing through the door. B wants to run into the room as soon as a door opens. DM asks for initiative, B wins. He rushes through the door, but this would trigger the ready action - but since initiative has not been rolled yet, B gets to move inside (move action) AND hit the enemy who stands there dumbfounded and looses dex+dodge to ac. Realistically, it takes alot less time and effort to just squeeze the trigger in reaction to the movement, or to the door opening. In other systems ranged attacks are favored in this respect - they are usually quicker than move+melee, either because movement per round is more limited, takes place slower, or happens at a different time. Example: In Call of Cthulhu action priority is melee, ranged, movement. Thus if an enemy is in melee he can strike you before you can shoot or move. But if he is not in reach, you can shoot before he can move, and then next round he can strike. I'm not saying we should change the rules of Pathfinder this much, but allowing ready and delay actions outside of combat is not much of a stretch. The remaining question is: How much does this affect the Rogue's sneak attack? Well, a possible fix is to use the 4th ed D&D rule, which specifically allows the Rogue "combat advantage" against anyone who has not acted yet in the first round. This gives him much needed bonus to hit, and Sneak Attack, and could be justified with him just being that damned fast. This would definitely be a house rule though.</blockquote>

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