Readied actions - too much DM advantage?

[Oracular Vision]

usually if i ready an action for a npc in a game i run i will write down what the readied action is on a piece of paper...

example of one instance: the four players entered a room and confronted the final obstacle for this adventure, which was the orc leader and his two bodyguards. Because the characters had made so much noise before they arrived i figured the main boss leader would have prepared a spell (cleric) on himself and also had a readied action that he would attack the first person that entered his threatened space. I wrote this down so I wouldn't forget.

Sure enough, one of the characters got in his space, he smacked the player a good one (I roll all combat dice in front of him and when he saw the natural 20, 2x in a row, come up, he knew he was going to take a smacking). He took like 40 points of damage because the item was a magical item that hated good, and this character was good and the orc leader was evil, and the player accused me of cheating.

There is no such thing as a readied action outside of combat, ready is in the COMBAT section, although some people think there should be, and there is some indication that 3.5 may add one.

You can have a surprise round, and you can have a non-surprised Orc leader ready an action, which then goes off on the first full round when triggered. But, you are cheating the way you described it. Read the initiative section carefully. Now, the orc leader could have cast a spell on himself before combat begins, that's okay, especially if the party has been very noisy, although you should still give the orcs eacha listen check to notice the noise, they might not all hear it. Up to you.

 

[Arnwyn]

Well, I hadn't decided who he was gonna try to waste. And it was pretty subjective to begin with. So play with the player and give him the easy kill for thinking creativly, play against the player to make the fight more interesting for everyone else, flip a coin? Unless you are a world class compartmentalizer, I don't think lack of trust is the only way this becomes relevant...

Well, you're never going to get a "one size fits all" way to play an NPC when a PC decides to ready an action - it will always be situational and the DM has to do the best he/she can in such circumstances.

In the situation above, where a PC has readied an action and the NPC hasn't decided who to waste yet, then what I would (personally) do is roll randomly among the appropriate PC targets to see who would get attacked. That way, you leave it up to chance - since the NPC hasn't decided anyways.

Or, if the NPC sees a better target, then attack that target and then justify to the player with the readied action why the NPC did that - it's likely obvious anyways.

Anyways, that's what I do - either use a random roll if the NPC doesn't care who gets it, or attack a person and provide the NPC's justification as to why. Keeps the game flowing smoothly for our group.

 

[maddman75]

What would be better for the story?

If the group is trouncing the villians, then a more dramatic climax may be appropriate. Have the fiend see it coming and do something else.

If the group is in serious trouble, then the fiend is arrogant and thinks he can wipe them out just by blasting fireballs. Allow the plan to turn the tide of the battle.

As the DM will always win if determined, he must always meta-game. It is his duty. But the goal shouldn't be to beat the players, rather to see that they have fun.

One of my maxims of gaming is 'The PCs plans should Almost Always work.'

 

[S'mon]

Re: Re: Re: Readied actions - too much DM advantage?

um, maybe yours doesn't....

but anyway, I was looking for a little more... um... concrete responses. So how DO you 'properly metagame' this particular rule subset?

Kahuna Burger

Roll d6:

1-3: Monster does smart thing.
4-6: Monster does dumb thing.

Variants in that approach do me just fine.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

There is no such thing as a readied action outside of combat, ready is in the COMBAT section, although some people think there should be, and there is some indication that 3.5 may add one.

You can have a surprise round, and you can have a non-surprised Orc leader ready an action, which then goes off on the first full round when triggered. But, you are cheating the way you described it. Read the initiative section carefully. Now, the orc leader could have cast a spell on himself before combat begins, that's okay, especially if the party has been very noisy, although you should still give the orcs eacha listen check to notice the noise, they might not all hear it. Up to you.

Read closer. He said the orc leader won initiative and held his first round action until a player got in his face.

 

[Drawmack]

I actually find that readied actions don't come into play all that often IMC.

I only use them where it's really unrefutable that this Bad Guy would have that action readied.

Here are examples, one each way:
The bad guy's hide out. There are archers on the roof. You had better believe these guys are at 90% cover with a readied action to shoot off an arrow. If just makes sense, it would be illogical for these guys to be standing in the open without an arrow nocked.


The dungeon with the BBEG on the third level. He doesn't hear the fighting until the PCs are almost on top of him since they didn't leave anyone alive.

This BBEG has many options:
1) Hide and or Run
2) Go to the PCs
3) Ready an action for when the PCs get there
4) Buff Himself up.

My guy is probably going to hide first, then buff himself up, then if there is time left ready an action. This means he probably needs 6 - 10 rounds before he gets around to readying an action so he probably won't have one ready.

 

[Steverooo]

Init.

Notes will work, but try this: Roll for initiative. Actions are declared from lowest Init. to highest. Actions are then handled from highest to lowest. Thus, low-Init guys declare first, and can't react to higher-Init ones. High-Init guys still go first, and can respond to what lower-Init guys are starting to do.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Re: Init.

Notes will work, but try this: Roll for initiative. Actions are declared from lowest Init. to highest. Actions are then handled from highest to lowest. Thus, low-Init guys declare first, and can't react to higher-Init ones. High-Init guys still go first, and can respond to what lower-Init guys are starting to do.

This was the system used in the old star wars rpg, yes? It seemed to work at the time, but when I tried to introduce it into a different system, confusion resulted. is there a critical mass of participants where this breaks down?

 

[Shadeus]

They come into play all the time for me and my groups. For example, if you are fighting someone in room A. The orc guards in room B make their listen check and secretly join the initiative. So one of the six orcs goes for help, while the other five ready an action to attack the first non-orc to come through the doorway.

If you don't have an area effect spell you can cast or you can't get them with arrows (maybe they are standing to the side of the doorway where the PCs can't even see them), you are pretty much stuck letting them attack you. And on top of that, if you move any further, several of them will get an AoO for moving through a threatened square.

This is a very common strategy which my DM has screwed me with on many occasions.

And the readied counterspell is the other common instant or a readied attack if the wizard decides to start casting a spell.

I really don't think its necessary to micromanage the readies action. If it's really a big concern, just have the PC write his readied action on a note-card and put it to the side (or give it to another PC). Then when the trigger happens, show the card to the DM. Maybe even allow the triggering creature a Spot check to see if he notices the ranger staring at him evilly with an arrow nocked.