| HydrophobicFish |
TL:DR... Can you ready an action against someone NOT doing something, and can you walk around doing nothing with an action readied against something as vague as "If they suprise me."
I have a campaign I am DM'ing, and one of my players is... a bit trigger happy, I suppose you could say.
Last night's session, they were explorting a crypt, and he announces "I'm readying a spell." Then they encounter a handful of NPC's who basically say "you shall not pass." the PC's and NPC's argue back and forth, and then suddenly the player who readied a spell says "That's it, all these guys need a reflex save, I cast fireball."
Me: "Okay, roll initiative, and do the fireball during your turn."
Him: "No, I readied an action."
Me: "Against what!?"
Him: "Against them not letting us pass."
Me: "That's not how readied actions work."
Him: "Yes it is."
Me: "Fine, then all of the NPC's have an attack readied too."
Him: "You can't do that, that's metagaming!"
And we argued about it for several seconds. My question, who is right, and why? I've reviewed the RAW, and it's clear, but kinda vague... It implies you can ready an action and since it's outside of combat, it can change pretty quickly and easily. However, being able to walk around and say "If I see something, fireball it." or "If they DON'T do something, fireball them" seems kinda silly.