Readying An Action

[Olaf the Stout]

When you ready an action, you have to specify an action you will take when certain conditions are met. How specific do you require those conditions to be?

Do you require a detailed set of conditions or do you allow for a vague set with room for interpretation? Give examples if you can.

Thanks,

Olaf the Stout

 

[RigaMortus2]

When you ready an action, you have to specify an action you will take when certain conditions are met. How specific do you require those conditions to be?

Do you require a detailed set of conditions or do you allow for a vague set with room for interpretation? Give examples if you can.

Thanks,

Olaf the Stout

I belive it is found in the DMG in regards to how specific you have to be. And, IIRC, you have to be pretty specific.

My group is a bit easy with this. For spellcasters, they can Ready to "Cast a spell" should a condition happen. They don't have to name the spell at the time, nor do they have to name a specific target (since you can change targets at the last minute).

The DMG on the other hand, I believe you have to at least name the specific spell you want to cast. It may require you to pick the target as well, but not too sure on that one.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Last session I had a combat at night. One of my players wanted to ready an action to cast a fireball spell as soon as he saw "something" in the area of the light spell that the Sorcerer/Fighter had cast on his arrow. I told him that he had to be more specific than something as it could mean anything, like a tree even (they were in the wilderness). He refused to make it more specific. When the arrow landed in a spot that contained only trees within the light radius, he cast a fireball at it. (Yeah, I was a bit vindictive but he cracked a hissy fit and refused to pick something more specific when I told him that "something" was too general.

In the same campaign, in a session many months ago, I had a different player ready an action to attack with his greatsword the next thing that came around the corner. I made him roll his attack and damage rolls before telling him that it was a baddie. If it was an ally it would have been interesting (although I did warn him beforehand that if it was a ally he would still have to make an attack).

Olaf the Stout

 

[RigaMortus2]

Last session I had a combat at night. One of my players wanted to ready an action to cast a fireball spell as soon as he saw "something" in the area of the light spell that the Sorcerer/Fighter had cast on his arrow. I told him that he had to be more specific than something as it could mean anything, like a tree even (they were in the wilderness). He refused to make it more specific. When the arrow landed in a spot that contained only trees within the light radius, he cast a fireball at it. (Yeah, I was a bit vindictive but he cracked a hissy fit and refused to pick something more specific when I told him that "something" was too general.

In the same campaign, in a session many months ago, I had a different player ready an action to attack with his greatsword the next thing that came around the corner. I made him roll his attack and damage rolls before telling him that it was a baddie. If it was an ally it would have been interesting (although I did warn him beforehand that if it was a ally he would still have to make an attack).

Olaf the Stout

In this case, I would have said (and my DM is fine with this mind you)... I Ready an Action to Cast a Spell when I see something hostile to me in the area with the light.

Remember, you can always decide to NOT take your Ready Action if you don't want to. So if a creature entered the area that was friendly to me, I would not cast. If an enemy entered, I would cast. If a creature entered that I was not sure of it's intent, I would decide at that time if I wanted to cast or not (most likely, if it wasn't a clear cut determination, I would probably opt to NOT cast in this last situation).

 

[RigaMortus2]

In the same campaign, in a session many months ago, I had a different player ready an action to attack with his greatsword the next thing that came around the corner. I made him roll his attack and damage rolls before telling him that it was a baddie. If it was an ally it would have been interesting (although I did warn him beforehand that if it was a ally he would still have to make an attack).

Olaf the Stout

Reminds me of my archer, who willinging makes ranged attacks when his allies are involved in a grapple One time, I actually confirmed a crit before I rolled the percentiles to see who I actually hit. It was pretty intense there for a few seconds....





I bet you want to know who I hit, huh?





I (fortunately) hit the enemy The crit would have basically killed my ally, so I got lucky. It's those moments you remember the most.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

In this case, I would have said (and my DM is fine with this mind you)... I Ready an Action to Cast a Spell when I see something hostile to me in the area with the light.

Remember, you can always decide to NOT take your Ready Action if you don't want to. So if a creature entered the area that was friendly to me, I would not cast. If an enemy entered, I would cast. If a creature entered that I was not sure of it's intent, I would decide at that time if I wanted to cast or not (most likely, if it wasn't a clear cut determination, I would probably opt to NOT cast in this last situation).

Where does it say that you can decide not to take your ready action if you don't want to?

Do you think that I shouldn't have made the Sorcerer cast the fireball at the tree?

Olaf the Stout

 

[AnonymousOne]

I think it's best that you had him cast it, perhaps next time he'll be more conscious with his target selection.

Readying an action like that in such a vague manner is akin to blindfiring artillery into an area where your allies could be. I'd say make a PC pay the costs if they wish to act that rashly.

 

[Dross]

Where does it say that you can decide not to take your ready action if you don't want to?

Do you think that I shouldn't have made the Sorcerer cast the fireball at the tree?

Olaf the Stout

I can't quote you the source for allowing to not take an action if your conditions are met, although it is there (surely within the Ready An Action section). So the sorcerer should have been allowed to to not cast the spell. I also thing it says that the ready action is lost if you decide not to cast.

However you clearly stated the the sorcerer wasn't specific enough with his ready action. That was a good call.

How I would have run it was to have the "tree" or or other object meet the ready condition, let the sorcerer decide not to cast, then have one of the hostiles move through the lit area making an obscene guesture at the party.

(Of course I do have the advantage of having time to come up with this, I may not have on the spur of the moment).

As for the ally with the greatsword, I think a low to mid DC spot check is appropriate to distinguish if what comes around the corner is friend or foe (DC changes depending on the difference in appearance of what appears).

 

[Christian]

I can't quote you the source for allowing to not take an action if your conditions are met, although it is there (surely within the Ready An Action section).

DMG 3.5 pg. 25: "If a character specifies a readied action and then decides not to perform the action when the conditions are met, the standard rule is that the character can keep his action readied. Because combat is often confusing and fast, however, you're within your rights to make it a little harder on the character who readies an action and doesn't take that action when the opportunity presents itself. You have two options:
* Allow the character to forgo the action at the expense of losing the readied action.
* Allow the character to attempt a DC 15 Wisdom check to avoid taking the readied action."

So it's definitely not within the RAW to force a character to take the readied action when the conditions come up--at worst, the DM should allow a roll.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Where does it say that you can decide not to take your ready action if you don't want to?

Christian found the quote

Do you think that I shouldn't have made the Sorcerer cast the fireball at the tree?

Olaf the Stout

No, I don't. I think the player should have decided if he was going to cast the spell or not. But I also think the player should have been a little bit more specific. "Ready an Action to cast a spell when I see a creature enter the light." If a friendly creature enters, he can opt not to cast.