Ready vs. charge

[Negative Zero]

when you ready a longspear against a charge, the PHB states that you do double damage. what if the oponent doesn't charge you specifically, but still passes through your threatened area, e.g. if he charges your buddy standing next to you? my instincs say no x2 damage, but it seems a fairly simple thing to reposition a spear. what do you think?

~NegZ

 

[Dr. Zoom]

As long as his charge takes him into your threatened area, you get the double damage. He does not have to be making the charge attack against you.

 

[Artoomis]

What's the actual text?

Is it something like "when set to receive a charge?" Or any sort of similar language? If so, that implies you must "recieve" the chare - not someone else.

 

[mikebr99]

What's the actual text?

Is it something like "when set to receive a charge?" Or any sort of similar language? If so, that implies you must "recieve" the chare - not someone else.

Charge [Full][AoO: Yes]
Description: The combatant must move before attacking, not after. The combatant must move at least 10 feet and may move up
to double base speed. All movement must be in a straight line, with no backing up allowed. The charge stops as soon as the
combatant threatens the target. A combatant can't run past the target and attack from another direction.
After moving, the combatant may make a single melee attack or a bull rush. The combatant gets a +2 bonus on the attack roll.
The combatant also suffers a -2 penalty to AC for 1 round.
A lance deals double damage if employed by a mounted combatant in a charge.
A target can ready certain piercing weapons, setting them to receive charges by using the ready action against receiving a
charge. A weapon of this type deals double damage if the readied attack is successful.

You have to use the ready action to set for a charge, though I'd allow anything that charges through your threat range to trigger the ready action... not just charges at you specifically. YMMV...

 

[Mr.Binx]

You are correct. It does use the wording "receiving a charge" in the actual PHB text. Solely based on rl experiences in budo, I would tend to agree that it would be difficult to receive the charge of an adjacent character without using a specialized weapon made for such an event. I'm pretty sure that the double-damage in this case is being inflicted because you are lining the weapon up in a linear "I'm-going-to-impale you-with-your-own-momentum" attack. I would say that you could receive someone else's charge as long as you were flanking the individual receiving the charge with the charging opponent (I hope that made sense). Otherwise, if you were standing at a 45-degree angle or more, the angle of attack by the set weapon would not carry the attackers full momentum and it's basically turning into a normal attack. The weapon might actually have a greater chance of causing a glancing or tearing blow in the latter case. Since it's not fully documented though, it's up the DM and/or player consensus (depending on your gaming style) to decide whether or not you can actually receive someone else's charge. Make things to complicated and the game bogs down. I like the system because it's simplistic and sometimes you have to just say "yes" or "no" to an idea and move on.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I'd suggest allowing someone to recieve any charge which passes through his threatened area, otherwise you get interesting scenarios in which a man on horseback simply charges the archers behind the pikemen, and tramples through the pikemen without suffering double damage attacks, or a rogue makes a tumbling charge through a character and into the man behind him, neatly avoiding the double-damage set-versus-charge. Personally I'd much rather assume that even at an extreme angle the pikeman is capable of using his opponents weigth against him than assume that the pikeman is using some telepathic power to read his targets intent before deciding whether to impale him good...

 

[Negative Zero]

thanks guys, much appreciated

~NegZ

 

[Rednax]

What about AoO?

If I ready a reach weapon (such as a longspear) against a charge, and am then subsequently charged, does following happen:

1. When oponent enters my threatenned area (10ft away) I get readied attack with 2x damage.
2. When openent leaves threatenned area (& enters square next to me) I get AoO at 1x damage (I assume 2x damage only applies to the readied attack).

Suplimentary question, can I specify multiple triggers for a readied action? I.e. I attack if any charges or moves into my thretenned area? I guess in this case I would NOT get 2x damage vs. charge.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Here is another thread that dealt with the issue of readying against a charge recently.