D&D 5E Legal Ready action triggers and order of resolution

[Plaguescarred]

Especially given, again per the rule, it does not *interrupt* whatever triggering event.

It doesn't interrupt the trigger as it happen right after, but it can interrupt the action the trigger is contain within.

I.E I will shoot the orc when he moves 5 feet would interrupt the rest of his movement for exemple, letting you take your reaction right after he moved 5 feet. Likewise readying to shoot when a creature draw a weapon would let you take your reaction right after he does it before he does anything else with it.

 

[Corwin]

It doesn't interrupt the trigger as it happen right after, but it can interrupt the action the trigger is contain within.

I.E I will shoot the orc when he moves 5 feet would interrupt the rest of his movement for exemple, letting you take your reaction right after he moved 5 feet. Likewise readying to shoot when a creature draw a weapon would let you take your reaction right after he does it before he does anything else with it.

I think we've already established our differences of opinion on this matter. I'm not sure why you feel compelled to rehash it once more by responding to me again. Is this a sort of "last word" thing? Or trying to win the internets? You can't really prove me "wrong" in a topic like this, so what is your end game here in replying to me in this way?

 

[TallIan]

If you answer 'yes' to the above, then this is possible:

• When a rogue tries to run for cover, an archer Readied to 'shoot him if he tries to move' gets his shot off first before the rogue gets to cover.
• When a mage attempt to cast an Invisibility spell, a player Readied to 'cast Magic Missile on him if he attempts a spell' gets to attack him before the Invisibility takes effect (Magic Missile spell requires a visible target).
• When a caster attempts to cast Magic Missile on a player that has used the Ready action to 'run through the door and out of line-of-sight if the mage starts casting a spell" the player does just that, preventing the mage from targeting him.
• When a dragon starts to use its breath attack, a tightly packed group of goblins that have used Readied actions to "run if the dragon tries to breath fire on us" all run in different direction, making it impossible for the dragon place them all in with the AOE of its breath attack.

Now, if you answered 'no', then that means:

• When an archer uses a Readied action to 'shoot a rogue if he tries to move', the Rogue can move behind nearby full cover and avoid being shot, thus wasting the archers use of the Readied action.
• When a player readies a 'Magic Missile spell to attack an enemy spell caster if he attempts to use a spell', the enemy spell caster can use the Invisibility spell to avoid being targeted, thus wasting the players Magic Missile spell.
• When a player uses a Ready action to 'run out of sight if an enemy spell caster attempts a spell', he will not get to move until after the spell caster has finished that spell.
• A dragon that readies a Breath Attack on a group of goblins 'if they try to run' won't be able to target them all if they run in all different directions.

This line of thought might cause a different argument, but keep in mind that if you ready an action to trigger on another combatants action, you could have done something to that combatant first. I know that after the first round (ignoring any possible surprise) turns are cyclical.

In the OP's examples why would you not simply:

• Shoot the rogue rather than wait for him to go for cover
• Shoot Magic missile at the caster
• Run through the door so you can't be targeted anyway.
• Have the goblins scatter before the dragons turns

In all of these its not like you have taken an action AND readied another one.

Usually if you ready an action it's because you either had nothing to do on your action but are anticipating something bad happening or you are using the threat of your action to try and coerce the combatant to do something.
If the readied action does not interrupt the target's actions in the former case, why has the GM simply not sprung the combat 1 round later and used the surprise mechanics? In the latter case your readied action would never serve any purpose, since the target can do what he was planning to before any reprisals.

Tall

 

[morikahn]

• Shoot the rogue rather than wait for him to go for cover
• Shoot Magic missile at the caster
• Run through the door so you can't be targeted anyway.
• Have the goblins scatter before the dragons turns

In all of these its not like you have taken an action AND readied another one.

Usually if you ready an action it's because you either had nothing to do on your action but are anticipating something bad happening or you are using the threat of your action to try and coerce the combatant to do something.

The examples weren't meant to have a serious explanation behind them; I just chose them to demonstrate various options available or not available.

You asked why would anyone do any of these things as they aren't efficient. And its true, they usually wouldn't be. They would generally come up in exceptional situations that were more plot related than combat oriented.

• Why not just shoot the rogue instead of waiting for him to try to run? Maybe he is an important NPCs you hope will surrender.
• Why not just cast Magic Missile on the caster instead of waiting for him to cast a spell? Maybe the party is in a fight with bandits and you know there is a caster, but not which one.. so you are hoping he'll cast a spell to identify himself.
• Why wait to run through a door so you can't be targeted by a Lightning Bolt spell? Maybe you want to goad him into wasting the spell.
• Why not have the goblins scatter on their turn instead of waiting for the dragon to try to breathe fire on them? Maybe the goblins are attempting to draw the dragon's attention away from a more critical target.

The point is these situations are generally exceptional; they don't come up too often, but when they DO its probably for a very important reason, either plot related or an attempt at a clever and dangerous tactic. So I wanted to know exactly what was legal and what wasn't so these climatic points in a battle are handled correctly.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I think we've already established our differences of opinion on this matter. I'm not sure why you feel compelled to rehash it once more by responding to me again. Is this a sort of "last word" thing? Or trying to win the internets? You can't really prove me "wrong" in a topic like this, so what is your end game here in replying to me in this way?

I feel important to tell that the rules don't prevent it wether you agree with this or not. It has nothing to do with winning internet i don't know why you feel the need to take it personnal and start question my own motives.

 

[Corwin]

I feel important to tell that the rules don't prevent it wether you agree with this or not.

I hope you meant to say, "I feel important to tell that my interpretation of the rules don't prevent it wether you agree with this or not."

 

[Plaguescarred]

I hope you meant to say, "I feel important to tell that my interpretation of the rules don't prevent it wether you agree with this or not."

It's not an interpretation, Ready action doesn't say it cannot interrupt an action, simply that a readied action can be taken right after the trigger finishes.

 

[Corwin]

It's not an interpretation, Ready action doesn't say it cannot interrupt an action, simply that a readied action can be taken right after the trigger finishes.

Nuh-uh. That's not the point at all. Your *interpretation* kicked in when you started declaring what qualifies as a trigger and what does not. Again, I thought that was made clear the first few times we went over this. Why are we doing it again?

 

[Plaguescarred]

Some people may prefer Ready to be more restrictive and others less restrictive and that's fine. It's important to know that Ready doesn't impose that much restriction as written though, the DM will. RAW Ready is quite permissive if you select your trigger and action carefully and this many have understood it.

 

[Corwin]

There you go again...