Readied Actions - I can't believe after three years we are still confused over this!!

[thalmin]

He could ready a Partial Charge (or whatever it's called in 3.5), though, right? "If an enemy comes within 10 feet, I charge and attack."

Wrong. He can't charge if he has already moved.

 

[WCrawford]

He could ready a Partial Charge (or whatever it's called in 3.5), though, right? "If an enemy comes within 10 feet, I charge and attack."

Look at page 141 of the PHB. Charge is listed under full round actions and has the notation of 5 next to it. This notation says, "May be taken as a standard action if you are limited to taking only a single action in a round."

Since the character is not limited to taking only a single action, he could not ready a charge since it requires a full round action. However, a character could ready a charge in a surprise round (where everyone is limited to a single action).

 

[Malcer]

A question that is related to the issue...

Do I have to specifiy that I ready a Counterspell against an enemy spellcaster, or can I simply ready any of the actions allowed and choose one of them?

(with the trigger I ready an action when he/she starts casting a spell)

In other words, is it possible that after realizing that you are not able to counter the spell, cast a damage spell in order to interrupt the casting instead?

Or can't you even counter the spell, if you don't expressively say that you're reading an action to counter a spell?


Thanks for the help!

 

[WCrawford]

A question that is related to the issue...

Do I have to specifiy that I ready a Counterspell against an enemy spellcaster, or can I simply ready any of the actions allowed and choose one of them?

(with the trigger I ready an action when he/she starts casting a spell)

In other words, is it possible that after realizing that you are not able to counter the spell, cast a damage spell in order to interrupt the casting instead?

Or can't you even counter the spell, if you don't expressively say that you're reading an action to counter a spell?


Thanks for the help!

PHB p 160 under 'Readying an Action': "You can ready a standard action, a move action, or a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions you will take it."

So you must specify that you are readying an action to counter spell and what conditions will trigger the counter spelling attempt.

 

[Artoomis]

Look at page 141 of the PHB. Charge is listed under full round actions and has the notation of 5 next to it. This notation says, "May be taken as a standard action if you are limited to taking only a single action in a round."

Since the character is not limited to taking only a single action, he could not ready a charge since it requires a full round action. However, a character could ready a charge in a surprise round (where everyone is limited to a single action).

This is debatable. It's a rather technical debate that centers on the definitions of round and readied actions; suffice it to say that it is possible to make an argument that you can ready an action that would include a charge. You'd be in a minority position on this argument, true, but nonetheless it is a legitimate position to take. I don't think this has been clarified by WotC.

 

[Malcer]

PHB p 160 under 'Readying an Action': "You can ready a standard action, a move action, or a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions you will take it."

So you must specify that you are readying an action to counter spell and what conditions will trigger the counter spelling attempt.

Well, one could argue that the only thing that you'd have to specify is whether you take a standard action, a move action, or a free action.

I still think that you'd have the choice after readying for someone to cast a spell that you'd either Distract him with or try to Counterspell.

But I think that since you have readied a standard action that you'd would be unable to identify the spell being cast without choosing the option to counterspell, which would mean that you can't go back after you've decided to try to identify the spell.

Just my interpretation...

Another question is whether a targeted spell would fail if you readied a move action (a move action that actually involves leaving you square) if you'd trigger the move action at the point the enemy caster finished his spell.
You'd have no idea what kind of spell the enemy caster is throwing, but the question is whether targeted spells fail if you moved out of range or behind a wall, or even if spells that require a ranged touch attack hit you at all, even if you moved only one square? This might be a handy way to avoid a ray of Disintegration or even the Scorching Ray spell.

And even if you don't agree that you only have to specify whether you take a standard, move, or free action, you could specify you're move action like just when he finishes casting his spells I will move 20 feet behind the next wall.

-Malcer