How do thief tricks interract with Ready?

[Colmarr]

I'm AFB, so I apologise if this is a dumb question:

If a Thief uses Tactical Trick to get away from an enemy without provoking an OA but then has no valid target against which he has combat advantage, can he ready his attack for when an ally moves adjacent to the target? Or does the act of readying end his turn (and thus the effects of Tactical Trick).

My thinking is that readying doesn't work, but I wanted to get a second option.

 

[Obryn]

Readying ends his turn. Tactical trick wears off.

-O

 

[Bagpuss]

It is likely to be a rare occasion where you can use Tactical Trick to avoid an OA without the ally already being adjacent to a target already, but on those occasions for a Thief it is usually better to delay (unless you are really low on hps and the enemy is higher in the initiative than your ally that you expect to move to your aid.

On your initiative just Delay and use a free action to ask the defender or other melee character to come to your aid.

I've done that twice in the four combats my 1st level thief has had so far, you don't really lose anything.

 

[sigfile]

My thinking is that readying doesn't work, but I wanted to get a second option.

You're right, that particular tactic won't work. However, if you take the Cunning Stalker feat, you open up the option of readying an attack for when the enemy moves to a spot that's not adjacent to any other creature. It's one of the easy ways a thief can get CA off-turn.