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<blockquote data-quote="Arrowhawk" data-source="post: 5627816" data-attributes="member: 6679551">It seems the point of confusion here is what it means to &quot;voluntarily lower your initiative result.&quot; This is plain English and I'm at a loss why this is so obscure to people.&nbsp;If the game wanted to talk about your character waiting round, they would have simply used plaing English to say something like, &quot;Your character waits around to take an action.&quot; &nbsp;Instead, the rule specifically talks about the the metagame...your initiative &quot;result&quot; (= what you rolled + modifiers was) and what you technically changed it to.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The rule says &quot;you take no action.&quot; The rule does not say that a Delay is a &quot;no action.&quot; Nor does the game define an action called &quot;no action.&quot; The WotC is simply trying to tell people that some things that can happen don't fit into the &quot;Action&quot; category, so you don't need to account for them as an &quot;Action&quot; within the frame work of free, standarad, move, etc.&quot; Blinking your eyes is an action. But that does not register on the &quot;Action&quot; detector so the game says it's not considered an action...in terms of the game counter. &nbsp;&nbsp;Technically, you're character is frozen in time (with the exception that you can face any direction you want and block an infinite number of attacks) until his/her Initiative. Guess what happens when you Delay? You substitute your original &quot;result&quot; for a lower &quot;result.&quot; So you are still frozen in time until your Init comes up. &nbsp;&nbsp;That's right.&nbsp;&nbsp;That's not what the rule says. The rule specifically does not tell you when you can decide to &quot;voluntarily lower your initiative result.&quot; Under the RAW, after everyone rolls Init, but before the first person takes any action, I can tell the DM to lower my Init to 1. I don't have to wait until it's my turn to make that declaration...because it's a metagame decision. Alternatively, I can wait until the right moment and tell the DM I want to act NOW. This can be a huge advantage. Thus, if you roll a high Init, you have options than if you roll a low Init.&nbsp;&nbsp;I submit, you're misreading the text. &quot;Not an action&quot; is not a &quot;type&quot; of action. It's saying that some actions are not tracked within the context of Actions. It's like if the rules defined these things as Weapons...and has a heading called &quot;Not a Weapon.&quot; Not a Weapon is not a category of weapons. It's category of things that are not weapons...in the context of the game.&nbsp;&nbsp;You can...not act. Or you can take a Standard Action to prepare yourself to act later...or, you can &quot;voluntarily lower your initative result&quot; and gain the benefit of acting later in the round...but you can't take a &quot;no action&quot; action. You simply choose not to act ..and foregoe any action on your initiative. You would no longer be flat footed...and you would no longer be able to act until your next turn.&nbsp;&nbsp;Plain English for &quot;teh&quot; win!&nbsp;&nbsp;I don't follow. The RAW says you can make that determination at any point...if you don't elect to change your Init &quot;result&quot; then you have to act on your original roll. It's not that complicated. &nbsp;&nbsp;Show me where in the RAW is says you have to wait till your Init turn to choose to Delay? You have to wait until your Init to choose Ready...not Delay. What is true is that the last point at which you can choose to Delay is the original Init result.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ditto.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Arrowhawk, post: 5627816, member: 6679551"] It seems the point of confusion here is what it means to "voluntarily lower your initiative result." This is plain English and I'm at a loss why this is so obscure to people. If the game wanted to talk about your character waiting round, they would have simply used plaing English to say something like, "Your character waits around to take an action." Instead, the rule specifically talks about the the metagame...your initiative "result" (= what you rolled + modifiers was) and what you technically changed it to. The rule says "you take no action." The rule does not say that a Delay is a "no action." Nor does the game define an action called "no action." The WotC is simply trying to tell people that some things that can happen don't fit into the "Action" category, so you don't need to account for them as an "Action" within the frame work of free, standarad, move, etc." Blinking your eyes is an action. But that does not register on the "Action" detector so the game says it's not considered an action[I]...in terms of the game counter.[/I] Technically, you're character is frozen in time (with the exception that you can face any direction you want and block an infinite number of attacks) until his/her Initiative. Guess what happens when you Delay? You substitute your original "result" for a lower "result." So you are still frozen in time until your Init comes up. That's right. That's not what the rule says. The rule specifically does not tell you when you can decide to "voluntarily lower your initiative result." Under the RAW, after everyone rolls Init, but before the first person takes any action, I can tell the DM to lower my Init to 1. I don't have to wait until it's my turn to make that declaration...because it's a metagame decision. Alternatively, I can wait until the right moment and tell the DM I want to act NOW. This can be a huge advantage. Thus, if you roll a high Init, you have options than if you roll a low Init. I submit, you're misreading the text. "Not an action" is not a "type" of action. It's saying that some actions are not tracked within the context of Actions. It's like if the rules defined these things as Weapons...and has a heading called "Not a Weapon." Not a Weapon is not a category of weapons. It's category of things that are [I]not[/I] weapons...[I]in the context of the game[/I]. You can...not act. Or you can take a Standard Action to prepare yourself to act later...or, you can "voluntarily lower your initative result" and gain the benefit of acting later in the round...but you can't take a "no action" action. You simply choose not to act ..and foregoe any action on your initiative. You would no longer be flat footed...and you would no longer be able to act until your next turn. Plain English for "teh" win! I don't follow. The RAW says you can make that determination at any point...if you don't elect to change your Init "result" then you have to act on your original roll. It's not that complicated. Show me where in the RAW is says you have to wait till your Init turn to choose to Delay? You have to wait until your Init to choose Ready...not Delay. What is true is that the last point at which you can [I]choose [/I]to Delay is the original Init result. Ditto. [/QUOTE]

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