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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arial Black" data-source="post: 6906522" data-attributes="member: 6799649">Morrus is correct. Well, he is 25th level. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />The Ready action has two parts: trigger, and (re)action.The trigger must be a 'perceivable circumstance'. Your character must be able to perceive it. The trigger cannot be something like, 'when he uses a bonus action', because 'actions' are game mechanics that are unknowable to creatures in the game. The trigger must be something that creatures in the game can perceive. So 'when he uses the Attack action' is not a valid trigger, while 'if he tries to belt me with that axe' is!We know that the process of spellcasting has two parts: 'cause' and 'effect'.The 'cause' is the process of saying the magic words, wiggling your fingers and holding bat poop; the VSM components. If and when that process completes, then the spell effect comes into existence. Before that process is complete, then no part of the spell can possibly exist yet, because the casting has not been completed yet.So if you word your trigger like, 'when he casts a spell', you deserve a magic missile to the face! The DM can interpret your wording such that the trigger is 'when the spell has been cast'.Fortunately, the spellcasting process (VSM components) are perceivable....usually; Subtle Spell means there are no components to perceive, so you're SOL. So you word your trigger like, 'as he begins the verbal, somatic and/or material components of a spell...'. We know that this is allowed in the game, because this is precisely how counterspell is used.What if you want to trigger if he starts to cast some spells but not others? Well, if you have the spell on your list I would rule that you recognise the spell from those VSM components. If you don't have the spell then I'd ask for an Arcana check, with a DC equal to 10 + the level of the spell being cast. If you are successful, you can make your decision whether or not to actually execute your readied action. If you fail, you still have to make that decision, but you must do so while not being certain what the spell will be.If you ready an action such that they start to do something but that your readied action resolves before they actually execute theirs, remember that they choose the parameters at the time they execute. If you scatter before the dragon actually breaths, fine. But after everyone has 'moved out of the way', then the dragon is not locked into breathing onto the same exact spot on the landscape; he decides where to aim at the moment he actually breathes. If your are foolish enough to see where he actually breathes before you react, then you get a face full of dragon breath and a valuable lesson about careful wording of triggers.Ah, but if I react before he actually executes, can he change his mind in response to what I just did?It depends. If your trigger was VSM components, he is already casting a specific spell so he cannot change it to a different spell half way through. But he decides target, area, effect, all variables at the moment the VSM components are complete and the spell effect begins, so if you run around the corner then he can aim at someone else.I must admit that I wouldn't allow a readied action to 'interrupt' the casting process of a spell which is cast as either a bonus action or as a reaction, because I believe the VSM casting process to be a single word/gesture, and as soon as you see/hear it then the casting process is complete and the spell effect is already in existence. That's a ruling, not a rule. I think it's a good one though. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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