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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Saeviomagy" data-source="post: 2111209" data-attributes="member: 5890">A man in australia ran at the podium upon which prince charles and the prime minister were standing. He was holding a realistic looking rubber gun. He got close enough to tackle one of them I recall.So this IS what happens in real life.Also - what sort of dumbass GUARD doesn't get combat reflexes? What the hell did he DO with all his feats?Now - on to why "readying outside of combat is a bad idea".1. The party always readies when they expect trouble.2. The monster always readies when he expects trouble.3. Random third party doesn't ready - he's not expecting trouble.Readied (ie - partial) actions occur in dex order, followed by random third party on his initiative - he gets a full round of actions.How does this differ from normal?1. The party expects trouble2. The monster expects trouble3. random third party does not expect trouble.Groups 1 and 2 get a surprise round, determined by initiative roll. 3 does not. In fact, he may miss a second round.What's the sum difference?If you can ready outside of combat1. Everyone effectively takes 10 on initiative, but people who aren't expecting trouble go last.2. People NOT expecting trouble get a WHOLE ROUND TO ACT, but those READY for trouble only get a partial action. Normally someone NOT expecting trouble would end up getting 1 full round action to everyone elses full round + partial.3. You get really, really stupid chains. For instance:In the "two groups of people meet and the situation is tense" scenario.Group 1 readies to attack if group 2 attacks. Group 2 readies to attack if group 1 attacks.Now - someone in group 2 attacks.Group 1 therefore get their readied actions. But they're attacking! That means that group 2 get THEIR readied actions FIRST!So group 2 go first. Except the guy who actually initiated everything and attacked - he goes LAST, AFTER the guys that he jumped.He would have been better off to ready his action for when his buddies attacked, then used a free action to yell "attack!", then group 1 would probably respond as if it was an attack, then HIS group would ALL get the jump on group 1. By yelling out his intentions before attacking, he has INCREASED his chances of getting the jump on his foes.In short - it's dumb. Really dumb.If people are expecting trouble, they get the surprise round. If they're not, they don't. This is basically entirely in the realm of the DM to decide.Regardless, they're flatfooted until their first init score comes up.And effective royal guards have combat reflexes. It's not like there are any limitations at all on who can take it. It's a feat with NO prerequisites.</blockquote>

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