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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 3875215" data-attributes="member: 1457">I think it'd help, conceptually, if you wrote each action on its own 3x5 card and arranged them in initiative order.Here's my attempt, using text. Actions:[Cast Fireball], [Move Ranger Wicket]ROUND 1Ranger Wicket's Turn: Ready [Move Ranger Wicket] if wizard casts a fireball. Go ahead and put that card on the table, because it hasn't yet occurred.Wizard's turn: [Cast Fireball]. Put that card on top of the other card.When executing the actions in the round, it at first looks like this:[cast fireball][move ranger wicket]However, since Ranger Wicket readied an action, his action takes place before the wizard's. So instead, put Ranger Wicket's card on top of the wizard's. The actions of the round are therefore executed like this:[move ranger wicket][cast fireball]In other words, the DM says "he's casting", ranger wicket says "my readied action goes off", and then the DM says "okay, go ahead and take a move before he casts. Done? Okay, now he casts, and he includes you in the AOE. Boom."Net effect: no difference at all. Ranger Wicket should have just moved. The key thing to remember is that the Ready action lets you preempt someone else's action. But it does not let you interrupt someone else's action. You can't ready to move "after the wizard casts, but before the fireball pellet reaches me". The Ready mechanic can't do that. You have to preempt the entire [cast fireball] action. What Ranger Wicket is looking for, I think, is a feat or ability that grants an immediate action if he's targeted by a spell. Immediate actions can interrupt someone else's action.-zPS: it is possible to use Ready defensively. Like, for example, if there is a low wall right in front of you and you say "I ready an action to drop prone if the archer shoots at me". The DM declares that the archer targets you, your readied action goes off and you drop behind the wall, and the archer can't target you any more because he just lost line of sight. His action is effectively wasted, because he can't shoot, and he can't decide to do something else.PSS: And, since it's cool to flee with explosions going on all around you, the DM and players can (and should!) agree on the spot to houserule the Ready action for this one encounter. But be aware, that'd definitely be a houserule.</blockquote>

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