Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="seebs" data-source="post: 6774897" data-attributes="member: 61529">This is ridiculous. Let's get the text of the rules here so people can look at it (PHB p. 193):First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include "If the cultest steps on the trapdoor, I'll pull the lever that open it," and "If the goblin steps next to me, I move away."When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes, or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.(end quoted material)For what Noctem says here to make any sense at all, we have to assume that the writers did not imagine that this text would suggest that such stated triggers and responses would work, only that you would be allowed to declare them. But in fact, when the cultist steps on the trapdoor, you then wait for the cultist's move to complete, and then pull the lever. This is even worse for the goblin case, because the goblin's move isn't over until the goblin's used up all their movement; they could attack you, knock you down, and then keep moving, because your movement can be split up with attacks interspersed. So if you have to wait until the goblin's actually completely done moving before attacking it, you can't do much of anything. That said, the rules for opportunity attacks do say that you can interrupt movement, and since movement can be an action, that gets us the explicit statement that you can interrupt a thing. See page 195, under opportunity attacks:To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack interrupts the provoking creature's movement, occurring right before the creature leaves your reach. (emphasis mine)So we have an absolutely unambiguous statement, in the rules, that a reaction can interrupt at least one kind of action.We also have counterspell, which says:You attempt to interrupt a creature in the process of casting a spell.It has a casting time of "1 reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell".So we have two examples in the rules of interruptions of actions, at least, and the trigger examples certainly seem to suggest that interruptions of actions, as opposed to triggers, are possible with a readied action.</blockquote>

Verification