D&D 5E Ready action confusion - can it cause a PC to get 2 attacks in 1 round?

[The Crimson Binome]

Can the Ready Action result in a character getting 2 attacks in a round?

A "round" isn't really a thing. It might sometimes be a useful idea, when you're talking about things like a surprise round, but generally speaking it doesn't do anything. Once you've established the order that characters act in, there's no reason to demarcate the transition from the bottom of the order to the top of the order - it's just a continuous progression of turns. In your example, the concept of round two is meaningless, since the characters have all already acted and the (infinitely repeating) order has been established.

A more useful way to measure rounds is relative to the character. If my wizard creates an effect that lasts until for one round, then everyone gets a turn, and it ends when things get back to the wizard.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

Yes, you are in some ways punished for a high initiative, much like in some ways you are punished for having a low initiative. This is why you can't change your initiative like in other editions.

No, you are not punished for having high initiative. You are "punished" for deciding to not use your high initiative. Punished isn't even the right word. It's in no way shape or form "punishment"; it's a choice. It's like saying someone is being "punished" for using a bow after he shoots, hits and finds out that the creature is immune to piercing weapons.

Axechick made a choice to reduce her initiative to whatever time it would be when the orcs got to her. That was HER choice. She could have thrown an axe. Then the orcs move in, then she smacks one with an axe, then the orcs go and Sword-Dude go at the same time. In this scenario, Axechick got a 'free' attack because she choose to actually do something on her higher initiative.

You know the old saying.... you snooze, you loose!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Lidgar]

Yoda: "Think not in terms of Rounds, but in Turns"

Luke: "Huh?"

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

Can the Ready Action result in a character getting 2 attacks in a round?

No, it allows a character to get 2 attacks in 2 rounds, but both those attacks might happen in the same round.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Axechick made a choice to reduce her initiative to whatever time it would be when the orcs got to her. That was HER choice. She could have thrown an axe. Then the orcs move in, then she smacks one with an axe, then the orcs go and Sword-Dude go at the same time. In this scenario, Axechick got a 'free' attack because she choose to actually do something on her higher initiative.

Yours is a very understandable answer.

If Axechick cared about killing the orcs as fast as humanly possible, she could have thrown a hand weapon or charged in at the start, and simply trusted that Sworddude could protect her from from being surrounded and cut off from assistance. Instead she implicitly made a tactical choice to pause and coordinate her actions with Sworddude, and that choice came with a small price.

 

[Psikerlord#]

Just like if you beat your caster in init who was going to Haste you, you can't wait, tough luck, YOU ACT!!!

We allows delays and changing initiative. We find it works better. And makes sense.

 

[bedir than]

I have a different "ready" question. What if a caster cast a ritual, could they "ready" the final effect for a specific instance?

 

[PnPgamer]

I have a different "ready" question. What if a caster cast a ritual, could they "ready" the final effect for a specific instance?

No. Ready action on page 193 phb specifies that a spell that you ready must have a casting time of 1 action. Ritualising a spell increases casting time by 10 minutes.

As a sidenote it turns into a concentration as well.

 

[CapnZapp]

You are correct. Your players need to learn and understand cyclical initiative, and how little role the "round" plays.

 

[Sage Genesis]

No, you're looking at it from the wrong direction. They get the same number of attacks.

However, they didn't spend the same number of actions to get those attacks. Axechick readied twice, Swordguy readied once. Although they will make the same number of attacks through the combat, Swordguy still "benefited" in some way from a certain perspective.

Some people will advice you to make ranged attacks on your turn or otherwise take responsibility yourself to ensure that you don't waste your action. And that's all true but it also evades the root issue: cyclic initiative in the way D&D has used it since 3e is prone to "glitches" and odd timing issues. It tries to condense the mayhem of a pitched battle into a strictly ordered sequence, while also claiming that high initiative is rewarding even though there are situations where this isn't the case. This scenario is one such situation but there are others - think of a brave Rogue who springs forward because he won initiative, only to find that all the monsters are next and now he's all alone on the front ranks. A situation that can happen if the Rogue is careless. His own fault? Maybe, but it's caused by the peculiarities of the initiative system.

You and your players need to accept that if you're playing post-3e D&D this sort of thing will happen from time to time. Alternatively, you could consider playing a different game if the modern D&D system doesn't suit your group. There are thousands of games out there, some of which have initiative systems that might suit you better. D&D is a good game but it's not the only game.