Readying vs. Reach ?

Wolffenjugend

First Post
Can a character ready an attack against a monster's reach attack? For example, against a flying monster with 15-ft reach that cannot otherwise be attacked due to the distance. If an attack can be readied, should there be a penalty to the attack roll due to the fact that the creature's entire body cannot be reached, only the claw/bite/whatever that was attacking?
 

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I do not believe you can attack a creature or its weapons unless you threaten its space even if you ready an action to attack its weapon when it attacks you.
 

There are no rules for attacking, say, a claw. There are no rules for a 'called shot' against a non-item/non-weapon period. The general answer is NO.

As a practical matter, you do not usually meet monsters with 15' reach that can Fly until circa level 10+. By those levels, the PCs should have means for dealing with the situation, be it a bow or a lowly Fly potion.
 

Well, the situation came up. The party is average 11th-lvl, and their resources were reaching their limits. Flying spells were exhausted and one fighter was left with no means of flying to reach an air elemental type creature with 15-ft reach (although even 10-ft reach would have been too far for him). Arrow fire would be non-effective. Being the merciful DM that I am, I allowed him to ready an attack (albeit at a -4 penalty) to strike the creature when it reached out to attack him. I was just wondering if this is covered by the rules.
 

Typically, I'd say no.

Just turn it around, and ponder for a moment if you would let a monster/npc with reach 10' that's 15' away from a monk attack said monk's fists if the monk attacked a monster that was between the monster and the monk (ie, the monk extends himself the 5' out to make the 10').

That said, there's nothing wrong with the occasional fudge in the party's favor (to me). Ah the fun trouble of critters that can 'safely' and without effort eliminate the party (due to speed and reach).
 

Wolffenjugend said:
Well, the situation came up. The party is average 11th-lvl, and their resources were reaching their limits. Flying spells were exhausted and one fighter was left with no means of flying to reach an air elemental type creature with 15-ft reach (although even 10-ft reach would have been too far for him). Arrow fire would be non-effective. Being the merciful DM that I am, I allowed him to ready an attack (albeit at a -4 penalty) to strike the creature when it reached out to attack him. I was just wondering if this is covered by the rules.

I would humbly suggest -4 is too low, I think -8 is more like it. But as far as I am concerned, it is always okay for the DM to fudge things where the rules look a little weak and the tweak seems logical.

As for the fighter, did he drink his 'open in case of emergency' Potion of Flying already that day or the day before? Or did he not have one in the first place? If the latter, it may well be he deserved to die.

Dealing with flying creatures or evading dangers by flying is so basic to the game that I cannot find much pity for any PC who neglects the issue. In a by-the-book campaign, there is no excuse for anyone over 10th level (but it circumstances may vary greatly for a customized campaign).
 

Wolffenjugend said:
Can a character ready an attack against a monster's reach attack?

I submit the following from the 3E Main FAQ:

I know a spellcaster can’t deliver a touch spell with a
weapon, but can a spellcaster deliver a touch spell by
touching an opponent’s weapon? For example, suppose an
enemy fighter has a weapon with a 10-foot reach. Can a
spellcaster step into the area that fighter threatens and
touch the weapon to affect the wielder? Is there a limit on
how far a touch spell can travel through equipment?

For the purposes of most magical effects, touching a
creature’s equipment is exactly the same as touching the
creature. That’s why touch attacks ignore armor, natural armor,
and shields. The point of contact does have to be fairly close to
the target’s body, though.
There is no set limit to how far away a spellcaster can be
when delivering a touch spell, but the basic requirement is
being able to reach into the space the creature occupies. For
example, a human occupies a 5-foot space. Thus, a foe must be
able to reach into that space to deliver a touch attack, even if a
piece of the human’s equipment (such as 50 feet of dangling
rope or a manufactured reach weapon) sticks out of the space.
A creature with natural reach is an exception to this rule—
you can use a touch spell against such a creature by touching
one of its natural reach weapons, even if its body is out of your
reach. Such a tactic might require some preparation, however.
If a creature can reach you with a natural weapon (such as a
bite, claw, or tentacle), you can ready an action to use a touch
spell against that natural weapon when it is used to make a
melee attack against you.
Though casting a spell usually
requires a standard action, you can cast the spell and try to
touch the target as your readied action, so long as the spell’s
casting time is 1 action or less. (This is just like casting a spell
and making a touch attack as part of your regular action.) If the
spell has a longer casting time, you must first cast it and then
hold the charge until it can be delivered to pull off this
maneuver.


Now, according to this, you can threaten a natural weapon that attacks you if you Ready an action, even though the "creature" itself is outside your normal reach.

What is not covered by the FAQ quote is whether this only applies to delivering a touch spell, or if you can Ready an action to take a swipe with your longsword.

However, from the 3.5 Monster Manual, under "Hydra":

An opponent can strike at a hydra’s heads from any position in which he could strike at the hydra itself, because the hydra’s head writhe and whip about in combat. An opponent can ready an action to attempt to sunder a hydra’s head when the creature bites at him.

The implication is that the second sentence is an alternative to the first sentence - you can strike a head from any position in which you threaten the body, or you can Ready an attack against a head, even if you don't threaten the body.

So, by my reading, both the FAQ and the 3.5 Core Rules support the idea that a Readied attack against a natural weapon with Reach is possible.

-Hyp.
 

By which, it is easy to postulate that one can ready an action to sunder a reach weapon used against you, even if you do not threaten the wielder of tha weapon.

Makes sense, logical, and it seems to be (in a roundabout way) supported by the rules, too. ^_^
 

Pax said:
By which, it is easy to postulate that one can ready an action to sunder a reach weapon used against you, even if you do not threaten the wielder of tha weapon.

I'd have no problem with that at all.

-Hyp.
 


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