Ready an action to Interrupt casting a spell


Rules Questions


Hi. Can a archer always interrupt a caster (with an ready action) of casting a spell, regardless of spell's cast time?

Thx.


Yup, that's what readied actions are for.

You don't necessarily interrupt though, you just force a concentration check: DC = 10 + (Damage dealt) + (Level of spell being cast)

So a 4th level wizard with 20 intelligence is casting scorching ray (2nd level spell), and a ranger uses a readied action and hits the wizard for 11 damage the concentration check DC = 10 + (11) + (2) = 23.

The wizard is rolling 1d20 + 4(level) +5(Intelligence modifier) = 1d20+9.

So in this example the wizard needs to roll a 14 or higher to pass, so has a 65% chance of losing the spell and a 35% chance that the spell goes off.

This is all regardless of casting defensively or using a quickened metamagic rod to cast as a swift action or whatever (the ranger has to be able to make the attack and hit etc).

LINK for reference.


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Yep. An arrow to the face is a pretty effective counterspell.


An archer build will usually be better off just unloading into a guy though. A dead caster doesn't need to be interrupted. It's a better strategy for those NPCs that use a bow but can only fire off 1 arrow a round.


Eh, I see this kind of thing said a lot, but if that caster survives 2 rounds then that's 2 spells you have to deal with (fireball, summons, enervation).
Meanwhile if you ready actions and your allies do full attacks you end up with as little as 0 spells you have to deal with.
If you can give up 25% of your party's action economy to deny an enemy 100% of their action economy then you win.


Agreed. If you don't know whether you can drop the caster in one hit, it is (sometimes!) better to just neutralize them via readied action. Even if they realize what you're doing, you have a good chance on at least wasting one or more of their turns getting out from under your threat.


What about Swift or Immediate Action casting times?

I see nothing in the rules about Readying an attack hence nothing against yet because such casting times do not provoke an Attack of Opportunity, I feel it wrong that they would trigger an action before they are resolved.

Just like with Attacks of Opportunity, the triggering action has to start to trigger the Readied Action.

For the sake of discussion, what happens if Annabelle Readies an Action to Attack Benedict if he begins to drop his torch? Does Benedict die with his torch in hand? - Dropping an item is a Free Action -
What about deploying an aura? - a Swift Action -


Injury: If you take damage while trying to cast a spell, you must make a concentration check with a DC equal to 10 + the damage taken + the level of the spell you’re casting. If you fail the check, you lose the spell without effect. The interrupting event strikes during spellcasting if it comes between the time you started and the time you complete a spell (for a spell with a casting time of 1 full round or more) or if it comes in response to your casting the spell (such as an attack of opportunity provoked by the spell or a contingent attack, such as a readied action).

There is no caveat for casting time, so it's just "if you take damage".

As far as "Can you ready an attack vs a swift action?" The answer is yes. There are plenty of actions that don't provoke AoOs that you can ready an action for. You can ready an attack "if he draws a weapon", "if he speaks", "if I see someone", etc (literally anything).

Remember a readied action isn't a bonus action like an AoO, it's the person's whole turn being used to interrupt something. It comes with the huge disadvantage of not allowing full-round actions, so no Rapid Shot, no Haste, no iteratkve attacks. If it didn't interrupt spells it'd be pretty useless.


Just a note for someone trying to avoid readied action attacks while casting. The feat conceal spell actually allows a way to avoid triggering readied actions. It's not a great feat and you have to roll to see if it works, but it does make such things possible.

The feat spellsong should probably work the same way as well, though it doesn't explicitly say so.


You can also avoid a readied trigger by doing something else (eg. If the archer interrupted your last spell and then readied snother action you could use your turn to do something other than cast - or walk behind a wall before casting).


Agénor wrote:

What about Swift or Immediate Action casting times?

I see nothing in the rules about Readying an attack hence nothing against yet because such casting times do not provoke an Attack of Opportunity, I feel it wrong that they would trigger an action before they are resolved.

Just like with Attacks of Opportunity, the triggering action has to start to trigger the Readied Action.

For the sake of discussion, what happens if Annabelle Readies an Action to Attack Benedict if he begins to drop his torch? Does Benedict die with his torch in hand? - Dropping an item is a Free Action -
What about deploying an aura? - a Swift Action -

A creature can ready an action against pretty much conditions. The readied action occurs the moment the creature (a) perceives that the conditions have occurred; and (b) decides to go through with the readied action.

A ready condition does not have to be someone's action--you can ready an action to occur "at the sound of the bell", for example--but in practice it often is. If the condition is someone else's action, it's rather difficult for a creature to perceive an action until it has begun, so in general that's when the readied action occurs.

Swift/immediate action spells are not instantaneous. They generate manifestations. They can be identified via Spellcraft. They can be counterspelled (via a special readied action, in fact). And they can be interrupted by a readied arrow to the face.

Even free actions can trigger readied actions. As soon as Annabelle notices Benedict dropping the torch, she can attack. That probably won't stop the torch from being dropped, though, unless Annabelle somehow saw him begin to drop it before it left his hand. In the heat of battle, noticing him begin to drop it (rather than noticing that he just dropped it) would likely be a fine enough detail to require a Perception check. If successful, Annabelle could make her attack--say, to disarm Benedict such that the torch ends up in Annabelle's hand. If not, she could attack Benedict, but the torch will still hit the kerosene.

Deploying an aura is usually a supernatural ability, and there's no indication that such abilities have manifestations before they activate, so a readied action would likely occur after the aura deployed--assuming that the aura has a noticeable effect, of course.


I didn't express myself correctly. I am aware of the rule, I do not like it. The idea of interrupting a Swift Action is something I find poorly designed.
Some things cannot be interrupted as the trigger for the interruption is the whole of the action. To go back to one of the simplest of them all, pushed far, « If Benedict speaks, I [Annabelle] shoot him. »
Assuming « speaking » pertains to making sounds with the vocal cords, regardless of meaning, Annabelle cannot prevent Benedict from making a sound, she can only strike after Benedict has started speaking, which is too late. By the time Swift Actions are perceived - and understood for what they are -, they are already over.

- This however is the Rules section of the forum hence discussing alternatives isn't an option. Here, I am only allowed to express my displeasure with this part of the rulebook^^ -

No one else feels somehow this way?


If the ranger uses Manyshot, does the wizard make one caster check, or one per arrow?


Kimera757 wrote:
If the ranger uses Manyshot, does the wizard make one caster check, or one per arrow?

Manyshot only affects a full attack, so you can't benefit from it when you ready an attack.

But in a situation where, say, a wizard concentrating on an ongoing spell gets plugged by an archer with Manyshot, both arrows are part of the same attack, so it's one roll.

Agénor wrote:
No one else feels somehow this way?

Not really. Readied actions are about as tactical as you can get in Pathfinder. I'm not about to take that away.

Besides, we're not really sure how long such spells take to complete, are we? A free/swift/immediate action could still take a second or two, if it didn't impede your ability to undertake other actions. Maybe some of them are only a fraction of a moment, but if we grant that much, we must grant the same in reverse: that loosing an arrow takes almost no time at all, too.


Agénor wrote:
I didn't express myself correctly. I am aware of the rule, I do not like it.

Fair enough.

It seems tonme like you're slightly misinterpreting what a readied action is (the fluff, not the mechanics).

Imagine our archer, say an 6th level Ranger with Rapid shot.

In 6 seconds he can fire 3 arrows (2 seconds each).

Each of these attacks requires the following:
1. Draw arrow
2. Knock arrow
3. Draw bowstring
4. Loose arrow

On average each of these steps takes 0.5 seconds (1/12 of a round) if you're firing 3 arrows per turn.

When you ready an action to fire you've already taken the first 3 steps - draw arrow, knock arrow, draw bowstring - and you're holding the bow at the ready. The time it takes you to release the arrow isn't enough to measure really (it's probably the shortest of the steps, and therefore less than 0.5 seconds). Even a swift-action spell will likely take longer.

Now this isn't going to work perfectly for everything (a 1st level barbarian readying an action do swing an earthbreaker would probably take a little longer) but those kind of distinctions bog the game down and ruin the pace of combat. Sometimes simplifying things is more important than 100% fidelity to physics.

Personally I love the way things like this can add to the tactics of a group, and it's really not hard to find a flavour to fit the mechanics if you try, eg:

Quote:

Grognar raised his hammer: "Don't you do it!" He warned.

Usador willed the power to come swiftly to strike this buscle-bound fool down with fire from the heavens. His eyes flashed with energy as - in a split second - he reached out his mind to the cosmos.
But Grognar had seen it coming. Even with all the power of a dying star at his beck and call, Usador was still trapped in the body of a frail old man. The great hammer "Volkstang" flashed, the canyon was shaken by a mighty "Boom!" - some say it was heard as far away as Balford - and the wizard was no more.

Sovereign Court

Grognar must have warned Usador before he readied his attack, because taking any action negates the readied action.

Ready Action wrote:
Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition.

IE, if you ready an action and then speak as a free action, you have taken another action and invalidated your readied action.

And by extension, if you take an Attack of Opportunity before you take your Readied Action(even against the same trigger, but you can choose your order of operations), the readied action fails to trigger.


Firebug wrote:

Grognar must have warned Usador before he readied his attack, because taking any action negates the readied action.

Ready Action wrote:
Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition.

IE, if you ready an action and then speak as a free action, you have taken another action and invalidated your readied action.

And by extension, if you take an Attack of Opportunity before you take your Readied Action(even against the same trigger, but you can choose your order of operations), the readied action fails to trigger.

1) AoO's are not actions (as the game defined term 'action'), and thus would not ruin the readied action.

2) I read the word action in "before your next action", not as the game defined term action, but really as more of a colloquial usage. And what they really mean is before your next turn.
2a) Though I can certainly see that maybe they did mean you wouldn't be able to take an immediate action. And if they really did mean the game defined 'action', then AoO's are definately allowed (see 1).
2b) Even if 2a is true, and thus technically by the rules even speaking would ruin your readied action, I'd never rule speaking as breaking your readied action - overly pedantic IMO.


Agénor wrote:

I didn't express myself correctly. I am aware of the rule, I do not like it. The idea of interrupting a Swift Action is something I find poorly designed.

Some things cannot be interrupted as the trigger for the interruption is the whole of the action. To go back to one of the simplest of them all, pushed far, « If Benedict speaks, I [Annabelle] shoot him. »
Assuming « speaking » pertains to making sounds with the vocal cords, regardless of meaning, Annabelle cannot prevent Benedict from making a sound, she can only strike after Benedict has started speaking, which is too late. By the time Swift Actions are perceived - and understood for what they are -, they are already over.

- This however is the Rules section of the forum hence discussing alternatives isn't an option. Here, I am only allowed to express my displeasure with this part of the rulebook^^ -

No one else feels somehow this way?

The bolded section is where I think we diverge. Swift action spellcasting is fast compared to standard action spellcasting, but it isn't instantaneous.


A Swift Action isn't instantaneous but nigh-instantaneous, when the interrupting action is usually a Standard one, which is why I dislike this rule.
That someone on the ready is able to interrupt a Standard Action is great game design but being able to interrupt, rather than react to, a snap of the fingers irks me.

The interrupting action becomes instantaneous rather than taking its usual length, this is poor game design when the durations of a swing, a series of swings or of casting various spells are at the core the mechanisms.

Obviously, a simple house rule is to allow actions to be interrupted only by actions no longer than they are. If the chosen would-be interrupting action is of longer duration, it still takes place, after.


If I wasn't clear in my last post, the thing I'm seeing differently is that you're not taking the entire standard action in response to the triggering action, just the final part of it.

Also from a game-design perspective your house-rule would discourage creative, tactical play, which is thebopposite of what we want usually.


The house rule would prevent some tactics that I find break the spirit of the rules regarding the passage of time. Maintaining the spirit of the rules is also something we usually want. Two things we care bolster, when one is at the detriment of the other, I ask myself where I put the priority. I understand why the authors have chosen otherwise, I disagree with their choice.

How are you not taking the whole Standard Action in response to the trigger?
Annabelle decides that if Benedict casts a spell, she'll interrupt Benedict by casting Magic Missile, hoping it will disrupt the casting. Things happen, Benedict casts Feather Fall out of turn, as an Immediate Action. When this happens, Annabelle gets the choice of going through or not with her prepared action, which is casting a normal Standard Action spell. It isn't releasing a held charge.
Having Benedict splat a few meters below bothers me.

Edit: The second paragraph is a genuine question about the trigger being about the final part of the readied action. Re-reading myself, I've found it could be seen as a dry tone, this is not the intent. I care for a good discussion, come in good faith and until shown otherwise assume the same on others' end^^


Well if you read how wizards prepare spells, the 1 hour prep time at the beginning of the day is actually pre-casting most of the spell...

(This may be from a different edition, but it's what I remember and I *think* it's cannon in pathfinder.)

For a wizard to cast fireball actually takes longer than 1 standard action. However the wizard can pre-cast 90% of the spell in the morning (during his 1-hour spell-preperation time), then do the last hand gesture, the last word and the last bat-poop as a standard action. These are the last parts of the ritual that creates a fireball.

When said readies an action to cast the fireball he takes the bat-poop out and says the magic word, and readies his hand to do the last gesture. If the readied action triggers he points his finger and shoots a fireball. If not then the spell doesn't trigger and he has to start again.

This flick of the fingers (or final word, or whatever you want to flavour the last part of your spell-casting ritual) could absolutely beat a quickened spell - or other swift action.


(Also I don't think you *choose* to trigger a readied action. If the trigger occurs then your action goes off whether you want it to or not. I'm prepared to be proven wrong here though)


Agénor wrote:

The house rule would prevent some tactics that I find break the spirit of the rules...

How are you not taking the whole Standard Action in response to the trigger?

It seems like this is one of those cases where a rule doesn't feel realistic enough in a specific way to satisfy, which leads to an over correction and even more unsatisfactory situations. But maybe I'm reaching into it.

In regards to how you don't take a whole standard action: see arrow example. You're not drawing an arrow, knocking it and loosing it; you're just doing the last bit. How long does it take to move your finger a quarter an inch? Longer than it takes to cast a spell with a free action? I guess you could argue that. But the rules don't support it as they currently are, and you get so many rich, interesting and tactically satisfying situations if you follow the rules as they stand here.

You're concerned about how what's normally a standard action can interrupt what's normally a faster action. But the readied action already goes against several other established rules.
The way I see it, the act of *becoming ready* is a standard action. The action that you ready must be a standard action under normal circumstances, but once you've taken the action to ready it, it becomes a free action.


I understand what you are saying, there are counter examples numerous enough for me to find the rule awkward at best.
For every wizard preparing the bulk of the spell in the morning, there is a sorcerer casting the same spell from scratch. Shooting with an arrow also means following the target in the middle of combat, target aware of you, trying to dodge your fire, not static in the least bit, it isn't a simple release, adjustments have to be made prior, this is what being ready is about, and adjustment have to be made at the moment of firing. A readied action is not instantaneous.
There are enough cases where making a Readied Action interrupt another action makes as there are that don't make sense.
Rules-wise, a Readied Action isn't a free action, it is a Standard Action that interpositions itself in the midst of the initiative flow.

Why would a character not be able to decide to abort the action once the trigger happens? They are sentient with volition, not an If-Then algorithm. Mistakes happen in real life but I don't think this is covered in the rules besides fumbles.

Also, if a Readied Action is instantaneous, how come it can be interrupted - by yet another Readied Action?


No one ever said a readied action is instantaneous. I said that, when you break down what the rules represent, the action that has been readied (in common language: it has been prepared or largely completed ahead of time) is essentially a free action.
But an action that takes very little time upon it's conclusion (again: because most of it has already been completed) can be interrupted by a similar action, because they both take up such a small amount of time.

It's an abstraction. I mean, the whole 6-second combat round is an abstraction.

And maybe it's awkward in some cases (I doubt it's anything near 1:1). But that's just a matter of adjudication and narrative. And furthermore, it leads to what is hands-down the smartest, most complex and most mechanically satisfying part of the game.
So even if I'd found that the readied action lead to weird situations (I haven't), I'd consider it a price well worth paying.


Agénor wrote:
For every wizard preparing the bulk of the spell in the morning, there is a sorcerer casting the same spell from scratch.

Right, but now you get that casting a spell is a series of actions. The wizard might take time in the morning and then do the last few actions later, but the sorcerer still has to take a few actions. With our fireball the sorcerer has eschew meterials, so he only needs the verbal and somatic components. Maybe he says the verbal component as he readies the action, then all he needs to do is point for the spell to trigger.

Agénor wrote:
Shooting with an arrow also means following the target in the middle of combat, target aware of you, trying to dodge your fire, not static in the least bit, it isn't a simple release, adjustments have to be made prior, this is what being ready is about, and adjustment have to be made at the moment of firing.

But the same could be said of the quickened spell. I didn't include this in the steps to fire an arrow because it's something that happens simultaneously with all the other steps. It's also so fast that it wouldn't really factor it in. If we DO factor it in then that quickened fireball still needs a word, a gesture and for you to grab some bat-poop from your bag of infinite-ingredients AND for you to aim/track/etc against a moving target.

Agénor wrote:
A readied action is not instantaneous.

Neither is a swift action. It's just fast enough that it doesn't interrupt your full-round-action. It still takes enough effort that you can only do one swift action every 6 seconds.

Agénor wrote:
Rules-wise, a Readied Action isn't a free action, it is a Standard Action that interpositions itself in the midst of the initiative flow.

Neither is a swift action.

Remember that the readied action took their standard action in their normal space in the initiative. Later on when it triggers you're assuming they take another standard action for the trigger to take effect. This would give them 2 standard actions within the round.

Agénor wrote:
Why would a character not be able to decide to abort the action once the trigger happens? They are sentient with volition, not an If-Then algorithm. Mistakes happen in real life but I don't think this is covered in the rules besides fumbles.

I might be wrong, but I thought that's what it said in the rules. I remember there being something about "be specific" - If you ready an action to "attack the next person to come through the door", then you friend comes through the door, then you attack your friend. Specifying "next orc" helps, but then you don't get to trigger when the ogre comes through. I could be mis-remembering the rules though, so we can forget this one.

Agénor wrote:
Also, if a Readied Action is instantaneous, how come it can be interrupted - by yet another Readied Action?

It's not instantaneous, but neither is a swift action, or even most free actions. Even something as fast as dropping your weapon can be measured in time, but measuring that accurately in a game is not conducive to fun.

(Also what you're describing is a mexican stand-off, which is great. Why would we not want that to be allowed by the rules?)


I want a Mexican standoff to be described by the rules, what I do not want are situations bordering on the absurd being allowed by the rules.
I like the duel at high noon or the iai-jutsu face-off, when each of the actions of the participants are of roughly comparable durations.

Annabelle readies an action to roundhouse kick Benedict to prevent Benedict from blinking his eyes.
Since free actions are interruptible, the rules allow for this situation.

If the sorcerer started casting the spell by saying the verbal component as he starts delaying the action, he would be susceptible to losing the spell, through damage or abortive ways, during his casting which would last from the initial initiative at which he decided to ready an action until he throws the fire bead or he would be holding a charge. This isn't the case.
The rules don't say that part of the action is performed before the trigger happens. The entirety of the readied action happens once triggered.
Until the trigger happens, the character with a readied action isn't doing anything more than normally defending itself and threatening foes.
If the action is prepared ahead of time, what if the trigger doesn't happen? What of spells that started being cast for example? Why aren't they lost?

Is the action being readied visible and known to people around the character having readied an action? From the way you, MrCharisma and Quixote, describe narration of readied actions, it would be obvious. It isn't the case, a character readying an action is indistinguishable from a character not acting for any other reason, delaying his turn for example.

Readied actions aren't the most mechanically satisfying part of the game, we wouldn't be having this discussion otherwise^^


Quote:
Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition.

That’s permissive language. If you “may” do something, you also “may not”. I don’t even see any text preventing you from waiting until a later trigger to do your action as long as it is before your turn.


Melkiador wrote:
Quote:
Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition.
That’s permissive language. If you “may” do something, you also “may not”. I don’t even see any text preventing you from waiting until a later trigger to do your action as long as it is before your turn.

There you go, I stand corrected.


Agénor wrote:
I want a Mexican standoff to be described by the rules, what I do not want are situations bordering on the absurd being allowed by the rules.

90% of the rules allow obsurd things. Quickened spells themselves can involve a phrase, a gesture and a material/focus component (and again, you have to find that bat-poop in youbcomponent poiluch in that time). How is that more believable than someone kicking within 1 second (which I' pretty sure I can do)?

Agénor wrote:
Readied actions aren't the most mechanically satisfying part of the game, we wouldn't be having this discussion otherwise^^

Honestly I've never seen anyone else who has a problem with it. If you want to change it in your home games it won't have anything to do with us, but if you want justification from us the onus is on you to argue the case, not on us to argue why the rules-as-written work well.

(Sorry if this is coming off as hostile, I'm obviously just not on the same page.)


- no hostility perceived on my end, you good buddy^^ -

Other rules have absurd cases as well, the nigh-infinite and always excellently ordered component pouch abstraction is a prime example.
However, two wrongs don't make a right. The existence of several other poor parts in rules cannot be on its own a justification for accepting yet another poor rule.

I have argued the case.
As said above, having an action ready not being noticeable from delaying means the readied Standard action happens faster than a Swift Action.
Otherwise, using the example of the archer wanting to interrupt spellcasting, the wizard could realise what the archer is up to then try to trigger the firing with fake chanting - speaking is a free action - to then cast without fear of interruption. This doesn't happen, it should be common practice would the readied action start before the trigger, it isn't even rare practice.

From there, the two actions start at the same time, the action of the current character initiative-wise and the previously-readied action that has been triggered.
A Standard Action reaching completion before a Swift one when both were started simultaneously doesn't sit will with me. Allowing delaying one's turn to later take an interrupting action that would reach completion a hair before the current one when both are of similar length is great game design.

The abstraction of initiative has it that characters acting later get to react to what happened previously in the turn. The system goes to great lengths to describe the possible type of actions from a strongly-defined set, one cannot trade a Standard Action for a second Swift one for example. If a Standard Action is quicker in execution than a Swift one, why all the fuss about defining which is which?

- Some other systems have inverted initiative action declaration, those that will act last speak their intent first at the top of the round, giving characters with higher initiative the opportunity to do something about it -


old 3.0 tactics that still apply :

for the one reading to interrupt
- my wizards like to ready a magic missile for when the other caster try to cast. i get to use my spells he (usually) doesn't. and no to hit roll needed.

for the caster's
- casting a swift spell might lose it, but then ur more then ready to use your REAL spell. so cast feather fall (immidiate action) to grab all them aoo\readied attack then (if your still alive) cast the big dominate person\cc etc.

on a side note. beside magic missile. pathfinder's pit spells are also great if you know he'll fail the save .as even if he doesn't lose his concentration he would probably won't have line of sight to you.


Agénor wrote:
- no hostility perceived on my end, you good buddy^^ -

Thanks buddy (I like the word buddy).

I think you and I just aren't seeing it the same way. And hey that's ok. Even if we couldn't come to a consensus about this it's good to occasionally be reminded that there's an alternative perspective.

Now the question is: Did we actually answer the OP's question? (Seriously I can't scroll to the top until after I click "submit".)


Agénor wrote:

- no hostility perceived on my end, you good buddy^^ -

Other rules have absurd cases as well, the nigh-infinite and always excellently ordered component pouch abstraction is a prime example.
However, two wrongs don't make a right. The existence of several other poor parts in rules cannot be on its own a justification for accepting yet another poor rule.

I have argued the case.
As said above, having an action ready not being noticeable from delaying means the readied Standard action happens faster than a Swift Action.
Otherwise, using the example of the archer wanting to interrupt spellcasting, the wizard could realise what the archer is up to then try to trigger the firing with fake chanting - speaking is a free action - to then cast without fear of interruption. This doesn't happen, it should be common practice would the readied action start before the trigger, it isn't even rare practice.

From there, the two actions start at the same time, the action of the current character initiative-wise and the previously-readied action that has been triggered.
A Standard Action reaching completion before a Swift one when both were started simultaneously doesn't sit will with me. Allowing delaying one's turn to later take an interrupting action that would reach completion a hair before the current one when both are of similar length is great game design.

The abstraction of initiative has it that characters acting later get to react to what happened previously in the turn. The system goes to great lengths to describe the possible type of actions from a strongly-defined set, one cannot trade a Standard Action for a second Swift one for example. If a Standard Action is quicker in execution than a Swift one, why all the fuss about defining which is which?

- Some other systems have inverted initiative action declaration, those that will act last speak their intent first at the top of the round, giving characters with higher initiative the opportunity to do something about it -

If instead of readying a standard action I were to ready a swift (or free action) does it suddenly become more believable that I can interrupt someone else's swift action?

If no, then I'm not sure where your complaint about timing around the triggering action comes from.

If yes, then it sounds like you want different results depending on what type of action is readied. One could certainly make house rules around that, but that seems overly complicated to me.


I mean, if you want to get crazy, there's always the Combat Reflexes maneuver stack. Nothing like having two combatants provoke attacks of opportunity until you have to reverse-resolve ten alternating disarm/trip/whatever attempts in not-an-action time. But that's just how the abstraction works.


Pathfinder is a very poor reality simulator. The rules are generally based more on fun and ease of use than on how realistic they are.


To the OP, per the rules as written, yes, the archer can interrupt the caster, regardless of the spell's casting time.

We probably shouldn't make too much of a fuss about this, or they will take it away, because martials can't have nice things.

It's not just a tool for martials to use, a caster can ready a spell to interrupt the archer from firing an arrow... but casters can do whatever they want, so this isn't as vital to casters as it is for martials.

A lot of times readied actions are a martials only choice to combat casters, so please don't take this away...


- Sorry for the delay, I was travelling, with a poor connection and little access to my computer -

Anyways, all has been said^^

@bbangerter, yes, being able to interrupt a Swift with only a Free or a Swift/Immediate would sit quite well with me.

@Melkiador, Pathfinder being a poor physics engine is the umbrella in which my specific complaint lodges itself^^

@MrCharisma, it always is a pleasure reading you and interacting with you!


Since the OP said 'always' there are conditions or circumstances that could prevent Perception or the ability to take effective action and thus break the activation of the triggering condition.
Yeah, it's nitpicking, but in a game with magic and multiple actors conditions can change dramatically after the readied action and triggering condition have been declared.

There is also game flow in a two actor situation.
Percieving that the first actor has prepared an action the second actor can change tactics. There needs to be careful consideration of metagaming. Also what the target considers the trigger to be and what the rules actually say. Spellcasting, wand use, scroll use, potion use, etc... it gets tricky in just a few seconds of live play as each actor seeks a tactical advantage.

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