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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guilt Puppy" data-source="post: 1991397" data-attributes="member: 6521">Throwing the bead is using a magic item, which does not provoke an attack of opportunity; it is a far simpler action than either a spell or a ranged attack, requiring neither focus nor aim, and so it doesn't constitute enough of a distraction for me to Rule 0 an AoO in. Were a player the one using the bead in a critical situation, I'm sure I'd hear complaints for ruling otherwise.As for readied actions, see my response to DrZ below.The orc's trigger/response was "if anyone moves, toss the bead" -- specifically, if anyone moves at least five feet. The action was readied at the time he said "if I see anyone move, things get ugly."  Prior to that, he had no action readied, which is why the others had been able to move without triggering anything, as there was nothing at the time to trigger.As for the backtrack, I don't like doing it either, but it was a matter of "do I vastly change the outcome of an encounter in order to maintain continuity through two posts?" Really, doing so would have just been an excuse for me to get away from carrying out this conclusion...First, readied actions actions require a specific trigger condition... If "sees something he doesn't like" is an acceptable trigger, there's no point having triggers at all, you know? The idea of a readied action is that you can react more quickly to something because you're watching for it, specifically, and not employing any discretion in the matter... Waiting for something potentially unexpected to happen and reacting to it is what Delaying is for.Given the post itself, it's not clear if Raven even has a readied action, or if he's simply delaying his initiative (which doesn't require any specific conditions, but would have him act after the orc)... As a readied action, the conditions would appear to be "any orc moves or attacks," based on both the IC and OOC text. Reaching for a necklace is neither of those; further, if he'd been reaching for a holy symbol to say a prayer or something, and I'd ruled that Raven attacked, I imagine you'd still be annoyed with me. While the action itself could definitely be considered an attack, it wouldn't be clear that it was one until after the fact.If you did intend for a genuine don't think, just shoot readied action, it seems fair that Raven should have some chance to recognize the action as an attack, and attempt to prevent it. Sense Motive DC 15 for Raven to recognize the motion as hostile; if so, go ahead and make an attack, as your triggered action. It'll be tough odds to actually prevent the explosion, but it's something. (BTW, the Bless is still active)I see no clear indication that anyone else has a readied action to attack. The closest I can find is "Hiritus has his longsword drawn, and Fendric has a hand on his holy symbol." I'm definitely not going to interpret a statement like that as a readied action (which you'd be committed to take) in cases where it's unfavorable to you (if Nurthk were bleeding out in need of LOH, for instance), so it would be very inconsistent of me to do so now. I don't want to discourage people from posting free-form, in lieu of referencing specific rules, but if you do want me to invoke specific rules after the fact, it needs to stand out clearly as the most sensible rule-interpretation of the text. So in Raven's case, sure, in Hiritus' case, no....Anyway, I'd anticipated there would be some teeth bared about this, so I did take an exceptional amount of time consulting the rules pre-emptively... It's possible I overlooked some angle, but overall, I feel pretty confident that this "event" is by the book. The only point of real ambiguity I could find was with Raven's nocked arrow versus the not-clearly-an-attack action... I'd considered the Sense Motive option, as well, but initially it felt like I was just tacking on an extra out, which I personally hate doing. I am the sort of DM who prefers to see his players succeed, but not if it's because I intervened to ensure it.</blockquote>

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