Does using the Step Up feat interrupt a readied action?
I move up to a caster and ready an action to attack him if he casts a spell. If he stays right there and casts I get an AoO for casting plus my readied action. If he casts defensively and succeeds I get no AoO but I do get my readied action.
What if he five foot steps?
He takes a 5 foot step Step Up triggers and I follow him, but does that interrupt or invalidate the readied action that I held to whack him?
I think you'll be okay.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/combat.html#_ready
You can take a 5-foot step as part of your readied action, but only if you don't otherwise move any distance during the round.
Since you can in general, I would think the feat wouldn't interfere. Also, if you break down the actions really a five foot step sets off the Step Up, and a spell sets off the readied. In the rules I don't see anything about performing AoOs or other immediate actions as keeping your readied action from going off.
As long as the condition you specify happens before your next turn, I don't see anything that prevents a readied action from happening.
Considering that Step Up/Following Step/Step Up and Strike replace the 5' step rule, I would think that also supercedes the readied action restriction as well.
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Yay, for complex, but likely scenarios!
I'd say the ruling is thus:
If you moved up to the caster prior to your ready, then you don't get the readied swing because you don't get the 5ft step that goes with your ready. If you began your turn next to him, you would get it because you didn't cover any distance (you could've used your move action for something else, like drawing a weapon though).
No matter what, you'd get your Step Up for 5ft, since that borrows your movement from your upcoming turn.
The bigger question is how GMs that know you have Step Up handle the meta-game around this. Are your character's anti-wizardry capabilities so renown that your adversary has heard of them? If so, they are really best served by simply provoking the AoO (or using Acrobatics) to move away 15ft or further and then cast their spell without fear of Step Up, the readied action, or a check to cast defensively.