Li Shenron
Legend
Yesterday I was reflecting a bit over the Ready action. First of all a little bit about my own background...
I have never seen it used in my games, but there is an explanation for that: I've DMed 5e so far for 3 different gaming groups (plus one PbP game, not considered here) and all those groups were mostly of beginners, so I never actually told them that this action exists in the game as a combat option. When I have beginners, I purposefully keep things simple, and I don't explain rules before they actually come in play. So for instance I don't tell them that they can fight with 2 weapons or that they can grapple a foe until the players come up with the ideas and they ask whether they can do them in the game. I don't talk about opportunity attacks until either a monster provokes one, or a PC would provoke one (but obviously I let them change their mind) in which case I also explain the disengage action.
What I have observed, is that opportunity attacks naturally come up in the first combat. Grappling, disarming, fighting with two weapons may come up at some point, or may not come into the players' minds at all, depending on their personal attitude towards trying something different (since I don't tell them beforehand they can do those, the idea comes from the players themselves). Ready simply never came up. Or to tell the whole truth, it came up only as something to do outside of combat, which we all already know it's NOT when you use the ready action, as it is defined only as a combat action. Trying to use ready before the combat starts is also one of the most common questions asked in forums. We are all great experts at bashing that question down with excellent explanations, so that's not the point here. I am merely noticing that in the narrative flow of the game, the general idea of readying yourself for an action comes up more often out of combat than in combat.
Back to my yesterday's musings, I was asking myself why not try to explicitly tell the player myself about the ready action, and see how they use it? So I went to take a second look at the PHB description of it, and then I searched the Sage Advice compendium and website to have a better picture. And my conclusion was: why bother?
It's more clunky and complicated that it really needed to be, otherwise there wouldn't be so many Sage Advice about it (and you pretty much need to read those to understand how Ready works with or against spellcasting). And it doesn't seem a generally useful tactic. The main dealbreaker is how your readied action takes effect after the trigger, so it is pointless to use it against an enemy attack. It might be useful against a spellcaster, but only in a few cases e.g. if the enemy casts a spell that requires concentration (you can make concentration end a bit earlier by using a readied attack instead of waiting until your turn) or casts a spell that creates an ongoing effect (you can again end it a bit earlier by using a readied Dispel Magic). However, using the Ready action to cast a spell is very risky of just losing the spell. Against a non-concentration spell (i.e. the majority), readying an attack or a grapple has no benefits.
Overall, except presumably in corner cases, it doesn't really sound to me like readying any action against any trigger is worth. You're better off just taking your action now than to wait until a trigger.
But I suppose that other gaming groups are using it regularly, so I gotta ask: how often do you use the Ready action, and what is your typical use of it?
Please don't just play devil's advocate or come up with fabricated scenarios where you think you would use it... I want to hear real stories of players/DM using the ready action satisfactorily, so that I can convince myself it's worth telling my own players about it
I have never seen it used in my games, but there is an explanation for that: I've DMed 5e so far for 3 different gaming groups (plus one PbP game, not considered here) and all those groups were mostly of beginners, so I never actually told them that this action exists in the game as a combat option. When I have beginners, I purposefully keep things simple, and I don't explain rules before they actually come in play. So for instance I don't tell them that they can fight with 2 weapons or that they can grapple a foe until the players come up with the ideas and they ask whether they can do them in the game. I don't talk about opportunity attacks until either a monster provokes one, or a PC would provoke one (but obviously I let them change their mind) in which case I also explain the disengage action.
What I have observed, is that opportunity attacks naturally come up in the first combat. Grappling, disarming, fighting with two weapons may come up at some point, or may not come into the players' minds at all, depending on their personal attitude towards trying something different (since I don't tell them beforehand they can do those, the idea comes from the players themselves). Ready simply never came up. Or to tell the whole truth, it came up only as something to do outside of combat, which we all already know it's NOT when you use the ready action, as it is defined only as a combat action. Trying to use ready before the combat starts is also one of the most common questions asked in forums. We are all great experts at bashing that question down with excellent explanations, so that's not the point here. I am merely noticing that in the narrative flow of the game, the general idea of readying yourself for an action comes up more often out of combat than in combat.
Back to my yesterday's musings, I was asking myself why not try to explicitly tell the player myself about the ready action, and see how they use it? So I went to take a second look at the PHB description of it, and then I searched the Sage Advice compendium and website to have a better picture. And my conclusion was: why bother?
It's more clunky and complicated that it really needed to be, otherwise there wouldn't be so many Sage Advice about it (and you pretty much need to read those to understand how Ready works with or against spellcasting). And it doesn't seem a generally useful tactic. The main dealbreaker is how your readied action takes effect after the trigger, so it is pointless to use it against an enemy attack. It might be useful against a spellcaster, but only in a few cases e.g. if the enemy casts a spell that requires concentration (you can make concentration end a bit earlier by using a readied attack instead of waiting until your turn) or casts a spell that creates an ongoing effect (you can again end it a bit earlier by using a readied Dispel Magic). However, using the Ready action to cast a spell is very risky of just losing the spell. Against a non-concentration spell (i.e. the majority), readying an attack or a grapple has no benefits.
Overall, except presumably in corner cases, it doesn't really sound to me like readying any action against any trigger is worth. You're better off just taking your action now than to wait until a trigger.
But I suppose that other gaming groups are using it regularly, so I gotta ask: how often do you use the Ready action, and what is your typical use of it?
Please don't just play devil's advocate or come up with fabricated scenarios where you think you would use it... I want to hear real stories of players/DM using the ready action satisfactorily, so that I can convince myself it's worth telling my own players about it
