Ready split?

[DEFCON 1]

For some reason I don't know if I've ever played/ruled this correctly, and the rules block on Pg. 291 of the PHB doesn't state it explicity... but the Ready action: can you split your round of actions up? Are you able to take part of your round's action in their proper place in the initiative order (i.e. the Move and/or Minor actions), then Ready your Standard action to go off later in the round?

So for example... can a rogue use a Move action on his turn to move up adjacent to an enemy, then Ready his attack action to go off when the fighter (for example) shifts into a flanking position on the fighter's turn? (Then once the fighter is in place, the rogue can now attack with combat advantage.)

I've always played it that you can't split your actions up like that... that once you start any of your actions for your turn, you have to finish the rest of them... but I suspect I'm not playing it correctly.

What the concensus with everyone here?

 

[Mort_Q]

Readying an action is a standard action, regardless of the action.

Since the triggered action is an Immediate Reaction, and you only get one of those per round (and never on your own turn), you can't take your minor or move actions afterward.

But, by RAW, you can do a minor and a move action on the turn you ready your action.

 

[Llamas Notsheep]

What Mort_Q said. Delaying means you can't split your actions, and that when you do go, you can use your move/minor after whatever you readied with your standard. But when you ready an action, it's just a standard (which can, of course, be used to ready something that only requires a move or minor).

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Do keep in mind that you "lose" your action if the trigger never happens - so, if the fighter is immobilzed or otherwise can't move to flank, you don't get to take back that standard action and essentially waste your turn.

This happened when I was GMing - a goblin held his attack for his buddy to flank a PC, which the PCs prevented so he never got to go. I've been much more careful about holding actions ever since. 8)

 

[DEFCON 1]

So if I'm understanding your posts... all three of you are agreeing that you can split your round's actions in half.

Use a Move action to get up next to an enemy and/or a Minor action as needed.
Use a Standard action to Ready an attack, the trigger being when an ally moves into a flanking position.

If/when the ally does move into a flank on their turn, you get to take your Immediate Reaction to attack the enemy with flank/combat advantage. However, you are unable to take any actions after that, since you can Ready only a single action, which in this case was the attack.

If by some chance none of your allies are able to move into a flanking position before your turn comes up in the order again, you lose your action altogether.

**********

Now here's my next question about this... which might very well change the answers I'll get. Looking at the rules for Readying an Action, the examples all describe readying actions in response to ENEMY action... not ally action. (I.E. from the Compendium: "As soon as the troll walks out from behind the corner, I’ll use my pinning strike and interrupt its movement" or something like, "If the goblin attacks, I’ll react with a crushing blow.") And the further examples again, all use enemy actions as the triggering responses.

Now the fact that the Ready An Action rule starts with When you ready an action, you prepare to react to a creature’s action or an event. Readying an action is a way of saying, “As soon as x happens, I’ll do y.”, it would seem therefore that it does not have to be just an enemy action that is the trigger... an ally action (like moving into flank) could be one too (since it specifically says 'a creature's action'). And yet, all examples are from the enemy action point of view.

Anyone have an opinion/personal ruling on this? I haven't bothered sending a query to CustServ because quite frankly it's never been a big enough deal to me to bother to do so... but I'm just curious what others feelings were on the matter.

Thanx for all previous responses and all potential responses upcoming!

 

[HarbingerX]

Monsters with the same initiative count (ie. Same monster type in group) are using Ready Actions on you whenever they move to flank, then each attack - you just didn't notice because they have the same initiative count. The DMG specifically recommends this (Pg ?) (rather than the DM always having to say "Move1", "Ready1 attack when 2 attacks", "Move2", "Attack 2", "Resolve Readied Attack".

You can do the same technique with your allies.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yep, you can do it with allies - in the example I gave from my game, it was an NPC goblin readying for its ally to move in and flank.

Of course, the PCs prevented the ally from flanking (by killing it, if I remember correctly), so the NPC goblin lost his attack.

Incidentally, there was a thread a while back regarding exactly what could be used for a trigger - the PH isn't clear. For example, can you ready an action for an ally telling you to go? At that point, it boils down to the DM to draw the line for what can/can't be a trigger.

 

[Regicide]

Now the fact that the Ready An Action rule starts with When you ready an action, you prepare to react to a creature’s action or an event.

An event can be anything your character can perceive, it doesn't have to be an enemy, it could be a door opening, a rock falling, whatever.