Using Ready to get out of the way ?

[Rashak Mani]

I'm sure this has been asked before... but could I ready an action to run out of the way of a charging monster ? This effectively means I can keep dodging out of the way of a bigger monster round after round ?

Yesterday I was sure the dragon was going to charge me... I had just grabbed this super strong Dragon Bane bow. Could I have made a ready action of "I will run sideways when he charges" ?

How does this work... because Ready should occur just before the monsters action... and so he could change his action ? If my ready is set to happen when the dragon is 30 feet away during the middle of his charge ?

 

[Darklone]

Stuff like this allows the silly manoever for a polearm twink to ready a 5ft step back and an attack as soon as the enemy attacks him... So the other guy closes, wants to attack but no, the polearm dude evades and hits him...

Your ready question sounds much more sensible to me.

 

[Rashak Mani]

The same could apply to readying a "Get out of the way of the Dragon Breath"....

 

[Darklone]

Wizard readies to cast D-Door on himself and two archers as soon as the dragon breathes... wohoo.

 

[Shin Okada]

I think you can declare "I move when the dragon come within 30ft from me." Then the dragon charges, come close to you, they you move. I think the charge fails. I am not sure if the dragon stops at there, or goes to the original destination, or can choose either of them. As a DM, I will say that the dragon foes to the original destination.

I can't see why this is wrong. You had a chance to move first (that means you could shot). Then you didn't and spent your turn to ready that movement. And, this tactics is somewhat risky, as you are never sure if the dragon actually charges, or even come closer to you. He/she may cast a spell, use its breath weapon, fly away, and such.

 

[0-hr]

Readied Actions can get really out of hand if the DM does not keep things under control - the rules are just a bit too open ended.

Except in special cases, I would only let a readied action go off when someone else has announced their intention to begin something (like starting a spell or a charge) or between actions after that. I would not let them go off mid-action; there just isn't time in the middle of combat to make that precise of a call (and it often leads to silliness anyway).

So in this case, the PC could move away when the dragon announced it's charge (in which case the dragon could then re-target and charge the new location) or the PC could move away after the dragon has moved up to it's speed, or he could move away after the dragon has moved up to twice it's speed (though you may as well have delayed in that case since your not really interrupting anything).

If the dragon could get to the PC with a single move, then he'd get the attack (you should have run at the first hint of motion). If the dragon required a doulbe move in order to make the attack, then the PC could indeed run away "mid-charge" and foil the move. The dragon would have just completed a move action (a charge minus the attack is just a move or double move) and so would sill have standard action left at that point.

This of course is IMO.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I'd say you can do this and the charging foe would go to where you were, not where you are, so this would work. If it were any other way, there would be no point to readying a weapon against a charge, the foe could just abort the charge as soon as you do. The way I would rule it is that the foe declares his action of charging you (in your current location). This would trigger your readied action of move to X. Foe would compete his action of charging and you are not there anymore.

Its a nice move, but it does not gain you much unless you are just trying to delay your foe while others do things...or you are a bullfighter.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Its a nice move, but it does not gain you much unless you are just trying to delay your foe while others do things...or you are a bullfighter.

Delaying a big foe is quite worthwhile... especially by drawing him away. Avoids full round attacks too. Since most DMs are too lazy to have multiple small or medium foes... we see many encounters versus 1 big baddie.

 

[Shin Okada]

As a DM, I rarely run a fight against single big foe. Maybe just once in an adventure at best. As my "one adventure" tend to be long, it means once per 2 or 3 sessions.

But anyway, while that tactics may work sometimes, not always. A PC can never be sure if that dragon charges. If not, that PC just waste a turn. So that tactics already have enough drawback. Is it that an abusive move? I don't think so.

 

[Ovinomancer]

In the orginial case, ie a character readies an action to move if the dragon comes within thirty feet, as long as the dragon is further that thirty feet away and declares a charge action, then the character would be able to move out of the way and the dragon could not redirect to the character. This is because during a charge action, the creature/character perfroming the charge MUST move in a straight line (barring feats). So, the dragon charges, gets within thirty feet, activates the character's readied action, the character moves away from the charge line, and the dragon is screwed. The dragon can redirect his charge to another target within his charge line and movemnet and not lose his action, however, but may not change his charge line.

Along these lines, if the character readies an action the move if the dragon moves toward him, and the dragon starts to move, this triggers the character's readied action. Since the dragon has not technically moved, it may then redirect the charge to the character's new location.

If the dragon chooses to make a move action to close to the readied character, then the ready action takes place at the stated point, but the dragon may also change direction and continue to close. This would be the best tactical action for the dragon, and, given the average intellegence of dragons, the one it would most likely take. Unless, of course, you managed to really tick it off...

As far as the abuse of readied actions goes, a character gives up an action in order to prepare a readied one, so any potential abuses end up being self regulating in the end. The example of the reach fighter reading to step 5 ft and attack when he is attcked will work once, then he has to waste his next action to move away and reset the readied action to do it again. While he is preventing the enemy from closing, he is giving up any multiple attacks he may have, and is risking the enemy doing the 'fool me once' tactic and just ignoring him. This tactic is also not helpful for the rest of the party, who are left out in the cold as the fighter runs off to set his trap the second time. It also doesn't work well against multiple opponents.