Setting Spears against a Charge...

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I'd probably allow a raging barbarian to ready an action to set a spear for a round, maybe 2. More than that, however, and I'd say no. Must... Start... Attacking... Stuff!!!!

 

[IcyCool]

I never said I wouldn't allow a Barbarian to use certain useful "thinking and tactical" maneuvers in combat, just that it seemed silly to me, thematically speaking. I will say that the most entertaining barbarian I've ever seen was "back in the old days" of 3.0 core. After a near TPK (four out of six low-level characters died), one of the players wanted to bring in a barbarian, Landor. The DM told him up front that while he was raging, he couldn't snap himself out of it, and that the DM would tell him what he saw. This lead to the halfling rogue in the party getting cut down while fighting against goblins, among other difficulties.

Basically, we'd prepare by having the bard or cleric memorize a hold person, calm emotions, or enthrall spell for the occaisional rampaging barbarian.

It also lead to one of our more commonly used phrases, "Rage Landor, RAGE!"

All I'm saying is, if the "Rage" ability wasn't meant to be near-mindless death and destruction, they should have called it "Adrenaline Surge", or something of that nature.

<snip>While raging, a barbarian cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except for Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, and Ride), the Concentration skill, or any abilities that require patience or concentration<snip>

"Grunthok the Angry RAGES! Now Grunthok is king of the high jump!" Yeah, silly. BYMMV.

 

[Arctic Juggernaut]

Let me check on this, but I don't think there is any requirement that the butt be placed on the ground...


Nope. All setting a spear means is that you're getting ready to impale the charger when he gets close enough. You don't have to plant the butt in the ground.

Point taken - and thanks for not being too hard on the new guy and his cinematic assumptions.

 

[shilsen]

All I'm saying is, if the "Rage" ability wasn't meant to be near-mindless death and destruction, they should have called it "Adrenaline Surge", or something of that nature.

I personally don't think that's necessary, but I do think that many players unfortunately get hung up on names in the rules. Often enough, the name of an ability is simply a flavorful one and/or refers to one of a few possible takes on it. A fighter with the Iron Will feat doesn't usually end up with a Will save which fits the name, but "Moderately Improving Your Will" would have been a lousy name for a feat

Since the original poster has been answered and the thread has been well and truly hijacked, here's a question for everyone - how specific do you require players to be in saying that they are readying a spear against a charge? Does the player have to say "I am readying my spear against a charge", in which case any attackers who move up without charging aren't affected (other than by AoOs as appropriate)? Or can the player say "I'm readying my spear to attack the first person who comes into range", and if that target happens to be charging, the PC gets the double damage for readying (but is out of luck if the first target isn't charging and a subsequent one is)?

 

[Saeviomagy]

Since the original poster has been answered and the thread has been well and truly hijacked, here's a question for everyone - how specific do you require players to be in saying that they are readying a spear against a charge? Does the player have to say "I am readying my spear against a charge", in which case any attackers who move up without charging aren't affected (other than by AoOs as appropriate)? Or can the player say "I'm readying my spear to attack the first person who comes into range", and if that target happens to be charging, the PC gets the double damage for readying (but is out of luck if the first target isn't charging and a subsequent one is)?

The second. You don't need to be that specific, or readied actions become a waste of time.

Furthermore, NOT taking a readied action is perfectly legal - so the PC can ready against people entering his range, and then just not take his action if he's actually waiting for the second (or third or whatever) guy to come.

 

[Felix]

Point taken - and thanks for not being too hard on the new guy and his cinematic assumptions.

No worries. Sometimes the cinema is so obvious that it's hard to remember that the rules didn't quite say it that way.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Now it is also stated that he "can't use any abilities that require patience or concentration". That's the point where it's up to the GM to decide if a) readying an action is an ability (only a technicality if you ask me) and b) if it's actually already in the definition of beeing patient to wait for someone to charge if you expect him to (for example since he's holding a lance and riding a horse, which usually is a pretty good clue). I would not let him ready the action for 2 or more rounds in a row so that he just keeps waiting, but once: no problem there! If you diallow it, you would also have to deny him a refocus and wait (which both are intentionally waiting, beeing patient in the same ways that the ready action is).

"Waiting until you see the whites of their eyes" is readying to meet a charge, and an act that requires patience.

If I were the sort of DM that always paid strict adherence to the rules, I wouldn't allow a raging barbarian to ready. It seems pretty straightfoward to me that readying requires the patience to wait until just the right moment to act. It's a reaction, rather than an action.

But since I'm not that sort of DM, I allow it. Readying isn't going to break my game, so if a barbarian wants to stand his ground, huffing and puffing, while the blackguard bears down on him, it's all right with me.

 

[Saeviomagy]

"Waiting until you see the whites of their eyes" is readying to meet a charge, and an act that requires patience.

If I were the sort of DM that always paid strict adherence to the rules, I wouldn't allow a raging barbarian to ready. It seems pretty straightfoward to me that readying requires the patience to wait until just the right moment to act. It's a reaction, rather than an action.

But since I'm not that sort of DM, I allow it. Readying isn't going to break my game, so if a barbarian wants to stand his ground, huffing and puffing, while the blackguard bears down on him, it's all right with me.

I think the key thing in all of this is remembering that the guy is readying for all of 6 seconds. Do you honestly think that a barbarian is unable to wait for 6 seconds? If he's even waiting for that long - remember; you can move AND ready an action in a round.

 

[Felix]

...paid strict adherence to the rules...

Uh... where does it say in the rules that someone raging can't ready? I thought that the folks who were arguing that he couldn't ready while raging were doing so on a flavor basis...

 

[Starglim]

Uh... where does it say in the rules that someone raging can't ready? I thought that the folks who were arguing that he couldn't ready while raging were doing so on a flavor basis...

The rules state that a raging barbarian can't use abilities that require patience.

I'd allow it, for flavour, in combination with tactics like circling or taunting the enemy to come closer, or psyching up with a wild yell for a massive blow against a large creature charging at him. Yep .. some kind of utterance would help.