I understand that with a readied action, you carry out you action in response to an enemy. e.g. If you ready an action to shoot a spellcaster as soon as he prepares to cast a spell.
However, what if you ready to shoot or hit the first person to come in a room? Sounds simple but let me explain.
You declare that you ready your action to attack the first person to enter the room. So let's say an orc enters the room as part of his move action and you shoot him. What happens to the orc's standard action? And how is this resolved in subsequent rounds? You have attacked halfway through it's turn but it should still get the rest it's turn right? But how does that work?
What happened in my game was that a PC opened a door (move action) so that he could immediately step back after (another move action). However, a bugbear had readied to hit the first thing that opened the door. So does he attack in the middle of the PC's turn???
Help?????
You can't ready an action outside of combat. Unless they had already rolled for initiative, and were moving in turns, then no one can ready anything. If the PC wasn't aware of the bugbear, and wasn't in combat, then the bugbear would get a surprise round to act.
If the combat had already started, and the PC moved through the door, and the bugbear, instead of acting on his turn, readied an action to hit the PC if he came back through the door, than he does just that as soon as the PC opens the door, because in order for this to work the bugbear gave up its "spot" in the initiative order to act when the PC takes their action.
So, I guess the answer would be, yes, the bugbear gets to hit him, as long as all of this is within the confines of a combat round.
Okay, but what I'm asking is where in the turn did the attack occur? The one walking into the room is still owed a standard action. Isn't he?
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You declare that you ready your action to attack the first person to enter the room. So let's say an orc enters the room as part of his move action and you shoot him. What happens to the orc's standard action? And how is this resolved in subsequent rounds? You have attacked halfway through it's turn but it should still get the rest it's turn right? But how does that work?
The orc is able to do whatever he wants with his standard action (assuming he survived the readied attack). He might decide to attack the person who just shot him or he might be bent on some other course of action, not caring about the shooter. Nothing really 'changes.' Now, if the orc had declared a CHARGE through the doorway, then he would obviously be forced to complete the charge attack (since the action had already started) but if he were simply moving, he could act as he saw fit. In subsequent rounds, you have to remember that readying an action does not change your initiative (only delaying does). The shooter's player, in the next round, could very well declare to shoot the NEXT thing that came through the door if he wished.
What happened in my game was that a PC opened a door (move action) so that he could immediately step back after (another move action). However, a bugbear had readied to hit the first thing that opened the door. So does he attack in the middle of the PC's turn???
This is a matter of 'can the creature do it?' If the bugbear was in a position to attack the character who opened the door, he would obviously complete the readied action. Because of the nature of readied actions, the bugbear's attack would occur BEFORE the PC could step back. Basically, a readied action puts the world on 'pause' until it is completed. If the bugbear were attacking with a melee weapon as his readied attack, the PCs step back could very well provoke an AoO from the bugbear for leaving his threatened squre.
Hope this helps!
Thanks, guys. I've just got to the rules and it's plain to see. Thanks.
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In subsequent rounds, you have to remember that readying an action does not change your initiative (only delaying does).
Readying an action does not change your initiative, but taking a readied action does:
Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the readied action. If you come to your next action and have not yet performed your readied action, you don’t get to take the readied action (though you can ready the same action again). If you take your readied action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round.
(Emphasis added.)
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Readying an action does not change your initiative, but taking a readied action does:
Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the readied action. If you come to your next action and have not yet performed your readied action, you don’t get to take the readied action (though you can ready the same action again). If you take your readied action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round.
You know, I knew that, but I must've gotten myself mixed up somehow. Thank you for the correction.
Thanks for the information on the initiative consequences- I had forgotten that as well. Additionally, I'll reiterate that readied actions cannot be taken outside of combat. I ran into this problem with a PC and NPC rogue; one entered the room with a readied action to attack the first creature he saw, the other had a readied action to attack the first thing in the room. Who's readied action came first?
The answer: Neither, because you can't ready an action out of combat. If you do, all you're doing is negating the chance of being surprised by that stimulus.
So, for example, the bugbear was preparing to shoot the first person through the door. There was no combat. This means that when someone comes through the door, the bugbear isn't surprised (although, if someone came up behind him, he still would be, because that's not what he was preparing for).
If the PC walks through the door and hadn't declared he was preparing anything, then he is surprised. The bugbear isn't, so he gets a surprise round, after which initiative is rolled.
If the PC walking in said that he was prepared to attack the first creature he saw, then he's not surprised, and neither is the bugbear, so initiative is rolled normally.
If two PCs walked in, one prepared and the other unprepared, then the prepared PC and bugbear get to act in the surprise round, while the other PC doesn't. Then initiative is rolled.
Assuming my PCs walk from the west into a big room with a lot of doors and a long corridor in the middle of the south wall. The room is list with an hooded lantern, but they have a bullseye lantern as well, as they're all humans.
They storm into the room and start scattering looking for enemies, when one of them just walks (still out of combat) just north of the long corridor where the bugbear Bruthazmus lurks with an arrow ready to shoot at the first person that comes into sight.
I assumed he could ready the action but as you mention here, you cannot ready an action out of combat.
I thought that he could hide in the concealment light as the hooded lantern has a small radius and Bruthazmus lurks just in the first area of shadow. But then I thought that my players have a bullseye lantern, so they could just tell me that they were directing the bullseye light south, and so Bruthazmus couldn't use his Hide skill.
The rules would suggest me that they simply roll for initiative, but my good sense tells me that a bugbear is standing in the bottom of a corridor with a nocked arrow, ready to shoot. The player that will cross the corridor's "aos" will probably stand in fornt of a dark corridor for a few instants while he's directing the light down the corridor. In my opinion this calls for a Perception roll, but I cannot think of what DC. What would you use?
EDIT: Opps I didnt notice this is not PFRPG. Sorry.
