D&D 5E Reaction before your first turn starts?

[Ovinomancer]

And six years later, the rule still doesn't sit quite right with me.

Why? What does the fiction tell you? No one is surprised on either side, so being unable to react due to the game convenience rule would be what would seem odd to me.

 

[Rabbitbait]

I'd just always felt the initiative was how fast people react to situations - so being able to take a reaction before you are actually able to react just feels funny. I do use the rule as written though as it works for the game and it's not a big enough disconnect for me to worry about it.

 

[auburn2]

I find nothing in the rules that says you need to wait till your first turn to take a reaction. Does that mean you can take a reaction before your first turn (if you are not surprised)?

This would have a big impact on some characters with a low initiative modifier but special reaction abilities or spells.

Interesting to note that you can take a reaction in the surprise round, but only after your (non active) turn has passed in the initiative order. So you potentially still get a reaction in the first round, even if you have been surprised.

I may have been playing 5e for a few months now, but I am still having to unlearn what I have learnt from previous editions.

Hmmm.

Assuming no surprise - your initiative goes both forwards and backwards. You take a reaction at any time but only once from the beginning of your turn to the beginning of your next turn. The key thing to realize is that you get one action and one reaction per turn, but you can get more than 1 reaction per round as the reactions are counted turn to turn, not round to round.

So for example: 1 enemy, 1 you, 1 hidden enemy. You are a spell caster with shield and at least 2 slots. Enemy initiative 20, you initiative 10, hidden enemy initiative 1.

Round 1.
Enemy turn: Enemy attacks you, you can take shield as a reaction

Your turn: You make an attack and then you back up 10' (no disengage), the enemy makes an OA and you use your shield as a reaction on your turn to make it miss. You have now used two reactions this round. Now you can not use another reaction until the beginnning of your next turn.

Hidden enemy: takes hide action (he was not hidden at start of combat)

Round 2.
Enemy turn: Enemy closes the 10 ft and attacks. He misses, then he back up (no disengage). You already used your reaction so you can not make an attack of opportunity.

Your turn: You take a ready action to attack the seen enemy as soon as he enters range.

hidden enemy: he sneaks in and attacks, then he backs up. Since you redied an action you get no OA and you can not cast shield.

Round 3.
Enemy: Enemy moves into attack - as soon as he is within reach you make your attack. If he survives this he closes and maes his attack

Your turn: You attack enemy. You have now got in 2 attacks this round.

Hidden enemy (no longer hidden)-moves in, attacks and then backs away. You get an AO when he moves out. Now you have made 3 attacks this round.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Assuming no surprise - your initiative goes both forwards and backwards. You take a reaction at any time but only once from the beginning of your turn to the beginning of your next turn. The key thing to realize is that you get one action and one reaction per turn, but you can get more than 1 reaction per round as the reactions are counted turn to turn, not round to round.

So for example: 1 enemy, 1 you, 1 hidden enemy. You are a spell caster with shield and at least 2 slots. Enemy initiative 20, you initiative 10, hidden enemy initiative 1.

Round 1.
Enemy turn: Enemy attacks you, you can take shield as a reaction

Your turn: You make an attack and then you back up 10' (no disengage), the enemy makes an OA and you use your shield as a reaction on your turn to make it miss. You have now used two reactions this round. Now you can not use another reaction until the beginnning of your next turn.

Hidden enemy: takes hide action (he was not hidden at start of combat)

Round 2.
Enemy turn: Enemy closes the 10 ft and attacks. He misses, then he back up (no disengage). You already used your reaction so you can not make an attack of opportunity.

Your turn: You take a ready action to attack the seen enemy as soon as he enters range.

hidden enemy: he sneaks in and attacks, then he backs up. Since you redied an action you get no OA and you can not cast shield.

Round 3.
Enemy: Enemy moves into attack - as soon as he is within reach you make your attack. If he survives this he closes and maes his attack

Your turn: You attack enemy. You have now got in 2 attacks this round.

Hidden enemy (no longer hidden)-moves in, attacks and then backs away. You get an AO when he moves out. Now you have made 3 attacks this round.

So, a few things in Round 2. To start, readying an action doesn't consume your reaction until you use your reaction. In essence, the Ready action creates a new trigger where you can use your reaction to take the specified action. It does not, however, remove other triggers. You can still opt to use your reaction to take an opportunity attack (if you meet the conditions) or cast a spell that is a reaction, like shield. Doing so, though, will cause the held spell to be wasted, because you then won't be able to use it prior to your next turn, and it will be lost.

The second thing is the "sneaks in and attacks." This requires a very special set of battlefield terrain or features OR an extremely lenient ruling by the GM. In combat, you are assumed to be looking for threats, and you cannot hide if you can be seen clearly. Given there is no facing, the moment a hidden enemy enters a clear space where they can be seen, they are no longer hidden from those that can see them. There isn't, in the rules, any grace space or distance for this, although you can rule otherwise. Now, battlefield terrain, like tall grass everywhere, can let a hidden enemy sneak up to a target, as can things like fog or darkness, but, in general, it's uncommon that a hidden enemy will be able to sneak all the way up to a target.

 

[Quickleaf]

The shift in thinking for gamers accustomed to previous editions learning the fine points of 5e's rules about surprise and reactions is this:

In past editions you had a surprise round. In 5e surprised is like a condition (except it's not officially one), even effectively expiring at the end of your turn. This condition prevents you from acting during your turn or using reactions on anyone's turn.

Your initiative score determines how fast you recover from being surprised.

That's it.

 

[auburn2]

So, a few things in Round 2. To start, readying an action doesn't consume your reaction until you use your reaction. In essence, the Ready action creates a new trigger where you can use your reaction to take the specified action. It does not, however, remove other triggers. You can still opt to use your reaction to take an opportunity attack (if you meet the conditions) or cast a spell that is a reaction, like shield. Doing so, though, will cause the held spell to be wasted, because you then won't be able to use it prior to your next turn, and it will be lost.

The second thing is the "sneaks in and attacks." This requires a very special set of battlefield terrain or features OR an extremely lenient ruling by the GM. In combat, you are assumed to be looking for threats, and you cannot hide if you can be seen clearly. Given there is no facing, the moment a hidden enemy enters a clear space where they can be seen, they are no longer hidden from those that can see them. There isn't, in the rules, any grace space or distance for this, although you can rule otherwise. Now, battlefield terrain, like tall grass everywhere, can let a hidden enemy sneak up to a target, as can things like fog or darkness, but, in general, it's uncommon that a hidden enemy will be able to sneak all the way up to a target.

Agree on both points. Was not talking about stealth, perhaps I should have used different wording and missed on the first.