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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 2585974" data-attributes="member: 32740">No, it's clearly an abuse.  As is obvious by the lack of extended rules governing readied actions they aren't meant to be 50% of all melee actions.I can think of only two situations where readied actions are appropriate: indecision and specific preparation.  If a character is indecisive about what to do, or indeed to do anything at all, then they ready an action - they move the responsibility for the decision to act to their opponent.  What their opponent does triggers their own action rather than the normal straight-forward decision of, "My action is to do XYZ NOW."  If a character is in a situation where he takes time to prepare, that is the other situation where readied actions apply.  You're still moving the final trigger for the action away from your own decision and onto your opponents action but it's for purposes of achieving a specific timing or order of actions, not because you can't or won't decide what to do.Ready works the way it does because it has to.  Its function is to determine the order of resolution for actions.  I repeat, it doesn't determine the order in which actions are TAKEN, it determines the order in which the EFFECTS of those actions are resolved.  Note how the PH says it is to be used: AFTER your turn is over but BEFORE your next one has begun, and your order in the initiative sequence changes if the readied action is indeed performed.  It is thus ultimately merely a means of changing the order in which actions are resolved.  Only occasionally can that actually benefit you significantly either by enabling you to prevent or counteract an enemy action or lessen its effects.Readied actions are definitely the territory of DM adjudication because you simply CANNOT take into account all the possible actions that could be readied much less all the actions that could potentially be used as triggers for those actions to be taken.  Again, it's vague because it needs to be in order for it to accomodate all the possibilities.  But a high degree of specificity is definitely in the players best interests with readied actions and their triggers.It was wise to completely disallow the silly attempt to ready an action based on what the opponent DOESN'T do.  You could base it on when an opponent STOPS doing something but, "I'll cast my spell if she doesn't back away" is useless because it gains the player no advantage whatsoever.  It can ONLY be resolved after the opponent has completed their turn and the associated movement that would be allowed - in which case the opponents turn is over and the player may as well have stated, "I do NOTHING this round.  I'll cast my spell on my next turn after I see whether she backs away or not."  Again, the point of readying the action is to re-order the resolution of actions and change your place in the initiative lineup between the end of your current turn and before the beginning of your next turn.The PH uses poor wording.  The phrase, "The action occurs just before the action that triggers it," should instead read, "The action is resolved just before the action that triggers it."It's as powerful as you want to let it be.  Players know full well if what they are attempting to do with a readied action is abusive of the rules or actually what the rules intended should be allowed.  Sometime before your next game go ahead and ask them if they honestly think it's reasonable.  Ask them if they think it would be reasonable if you used their own logic against them: "So, what I SHOULD have done is when the banshee appeared I should have had her ready the scream against any of your PC's "acting hostile" or "not surrendering" and thus preempting anything you might do against her?"Well you could fight fire with fire and simply do to the PC's what they do themselves but only if you really need to in order to prove the point.  Doing that sort of thing isn't going to do much to immediately improve your game.COMMUNICATE.  TALK to the players about it.  Tell them that as DM it is clear that they're abusing the rule, that although they don't want to admit it to themselves they also know they're being abusive because 50% of everything they do is attempting to take advantage of it.  Tell them you will NOT allow the abuse to continue one way or another, but for a limited time only, as mere players, they will be allowed to help determine how it's going to be handled.  Only THEY can prevent it becoming necessary for you to arbitrarily disallow readied actions.  Talk to them about what the rule is there for, how it SHOULD be used, and how it would be better for everyone for the PC's to be taking more positive, IMMEDIATE action, rather than readied actions.</blockquote>

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