Ready action outside of combat

[the Jester]

How did the earth elemental pass through the wall?

A lot of people house rule that elementals can pass through their own elemental substance, since they can do it on their home planes.

I do.

 

[Caliban]

A lot of people house rule that elementals can pass through their own elemental substance, since they can do it on their home planes.

I do.

It makes earth elementals far more dangerous than their CR would indicate, and the bigger ones are hard enough as it is.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

How did the earth elemental pass through the wall?

Or was it just standing in front of the wall looking like part of the scenery?

Page 83 in the MM says that an earth elemental can "travel through solid ground or stone as easily as humans walk on the earth's surface." The EE in question lives in an ancient burial mound in which the characters are exploring. It stepped out of the ground/wall and attacked. Did I goof?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Page 83 in the MM says that an earth elemental can "travel through solid ground or stone as easily as humans walk on the earth's surface."

I was sure I'd read something like that!

I'm at work and it's not in the SRD - I'd started to believe maybe I'd misremembered!

-Hyp.

 

[Ferox4]

Page 83 in the MM says that an earth elemental can "travel through solid ground or stone as easily as humans walk on the earth's surface." The EE in question lives in an ancient burial mound in which the characters are exploring. It stepped out of the ground/wall and attacked. Did I goof?

Only if the EE moved more than 5' (unless it partial charged).

 

[Caliban]

Page 83 in the MM says that an earth elemental can "travel through solid ground or stone as easily as humans walk on the earth's surface." The EE in question lives in an ancient burial mound in which the characters are exploring. It stepped out of the ground/wall and attacked. Did I goof?

No, apparently I did. You would think that unusual movement abilities like that would be mentioned in it's stat block (the way Fly, Burrow, or Swim speeds are), but it's not.

And it's not mentioned in the SRD at all.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

No, apparently I did. You would think that unusual movement abilities like that would be mentioned in it's stat block (the way Fly, Burrow, or Swim speeds are), but it's not.

And it's not mentioned in the SRD at all.

You would think, yes. I was just preparing for the game by reading the MM entries for the creatures I thought would be encountered and stumbled onto that sentence in the flavor text. It really should be in the stat block somewhere, and detailed under the Combat section, not above it. It is no small ability and makes them much better in combat given the right surroundings.

 

[gvbezoff]

This has come up a number of times in my campaign, and I have ruled along with the DMG that, in general, you cannot ready an action outside of combat.

I do, however, allow an exception to this. If a party member is aware of an opponent who is oblivious to his presence, that party member can ready an action to occur on the opponent's initiative, should the opponent get a superior inititative roll.

Example: The rogue, in advance of his party, sneaks up invisibly upon a wizard and his guards and is undetected. He takes a strategic position and prepares an action to (sneak) attack the wizard with his bow as soon a the wizard notices the rest of the party approach and begins casting a spell.

This seems perfectly reasonable to me. In effect, the rogue is starting the battle a round before anybody else knows there is going to be a battle.

 

[Caliban]

This has come up a number of times in my campaign, and I have ruled along with the DMG that, in general, you cannot ready an action outside of combat.

I do, however, allow an exception to this. If a party member is aware of an opponent who is oblivious to his presence, that party member can ready an action to occur on the opponent's initiative, should the opponent get a superior inititative roll.

Example: The rogue, in advance of his party, sneaks up invisibly upon a wizard and his guards and is undetected. He takes a strategic position and prepares an action to (sneak) attack the wizard with his bow as soon a the wizard notices the rest of the party approach and begins casting a spell.

This seems perfectly reasonable to me. In effect, the rogue is starting the battle a round before anybody else knows there is going to be a battle.

That is effectively getting a suprise round on the wizard, and using your suprise action to Ready an attack on the wizard.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Only if the EE moved more than 5' (unless it partial charged).

The EE in question won initiative, so it has its normal action (plus a partial action - maytheyrestinpeace - from the surprise round).