What can you do on a Delay?

[RigaMortus]

Our group plays that when we are in combat, you can only talk when it is your turn, so that no one metagames for others, or tells each other what to do (ie "You go there, and I will flank on my turn"). So I am wondering, when a character Delays their turn, are they allowed to do anything? Any sort of free action? Speaking or giving orders?

Also, what sort of action is it it one character wants to pass an item to another character? Example:

Character A is on init 12 and wants to pass his torch to Character B
Character B is on init 15.
Characters are 15 feet away from one another.
It is currently Character A's turn

How is this played out?

My guess:

Character A tells Character B he intends to give him a torch, and then moves 15 feet towards Character B.
Character A then "Readies" until Character B takes the torch.
Next round, Character B goes and as a Move-Equiv takes the torch from Character A. This trigger's Character A's "ready action" and he uses his Move-Equiv to pass it to Character B.

Is this about right? Is there any other way (or official way) to do this?

 

[Silveras]

Our group plays that when we are in combat, you can only talk when it is your turn, so that no one metagames for others, or tells each other what to do (ie "You go there, and I will flank on my turn"). So I am wondering, when a character Delays their turn, are they allowed to do anything? Any sort of free action? Speaking or giving orders?

The part about not speaking gets more into "table rules" than the "game rules", I think.

However:

Speaking is generally a Free Action, which is something you do on your turn.

On a delay, you do not do anything, as you are "putting off" your turn. Delay is used, typically, if you want to force someone else to act before you. If your spellcaster, for example, wants to wait until the enemy combatants have all acted, s/he can choose to Delay until they have all gone (unless one or more of them Delays as well; you can get into a Delaying "bidding war", but the one with the original best initiative will ultimately win).

So, on a Delay, you are saying "make my turn come later", and can do nothing.

Also, what sort of action is it it one character wants to pass an item to another character? Example:

Character A is on init 12 and wants to pass his torch to Character B
Character B is on init 15.
Characters are 15 feet away from one another.
It is currently Character A's turn

How is this played out?

My guess:

Character A tells Character B he intends to give him a torch, and then moves 15 feet towards Character B.
Character A then "Readies" until Character B takes the torch.
Next round, Character B goes and as a Move-Equiv takes the torch from Character A. This trigger's Character A's "ready action" and he uses his Move-Equiv to pass it to Character B.

Is this about right? Is there any other way (or official way) to do this?

That sounds about how the solution was worked out in another thread.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Speaking is generally a Free Action, which is something you do on your turn.

Speaking is an exception.

Free Actions
Speak
In general, speaking is a free action that you can perform even when it isn’t your turn. Speaking more than few sentences is generally beyond the limit of a free action.

-Hyp.

 

[Silveras]

Speaking is an exception.

Free Actions
Speak
In general, speaking is a free action that you can perform even when it isn’t your turn. Speaking more than few sentences is generally beyond the limit of a free action.

-Hyp.

Argh ! I knew I should not have tried to make an example.

However, the point about Delay stands... because you are "putting off" your turn, you cannot do most things because it is "not your turn". You *can* speak, not because you can specifically speak while delaying, but because you can speak "while not your turn".

 

[dcollins]

That was changed in 3.5. If one were playing under 3.0 rules, Silveras would be correct.