Readied action to move against Charge

[Yonman]

Suppose Opponent A charges Opponent B.
Opponent C readies an action to move if Opponent B is charged.

So if Opponent C moves in between Opponent A and B, what is Opponent A's Charge outcome?

[Arkat]

It seems to me Opponent A's charge could now be applied to Opponent C assuming Opponent A moved at least 10' before they got to Opponent C.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Overrun

As a standard action, taken during your move or as part of a charge, you can attempt to overrun your target, moving through its square. You can only overrun an opponent who is no more than one size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved Overrun feat, or a similar ability, initiating an overrun provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. If your overrun attempt fails, you stop in the space directly in front of the opponent, or the nearest open space in front of the creature if there are other creatures occupying that space.

The rules for overrun state it can be made as part of a charge. So, the charging character would make an overrun check, which would provoke an AoO if the character charging does not have improved overrun. If the charging character makes the check, he is able to move past you and continue the charge. If the overrun fails, the charging character stops in front of character C.

[Azothath]

comment: Readied actions are situational. If the foe knows you readied and changes tactics you likely wasted your action.

[Mysterious Stranger]

That assumes that your foe knows what the readied action and the trigger is. Just because you declare what the trigger and action are does not mean your opponents know that information.

It also depends on what the objective of the readied action is. If you are trying to prevent another target from being attacked and due to your actions, the protected target is not attacked you have accomplished your objective.

[Azothath]

Azothath wrote:

comment: Readied actions are situational. If the foe knows you readied and changes tactics you likely wasted your action.

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

That assumes that your foe knows what the readied action and the trigger is. Just because you declare what the trigger and action are does not mean your opponents know that information.

It also depends on what the objective of the readied action is. If you are trying to prevent another target from being attacked and due to your actions, the protected target is not attacked you have accomplished your objective.

okay - I'll reply

nope, you are reading into it and adding assumptions and requirements. Simply observing a creature prepare with an appropriate Perception check (if any needed) as the ready consumes an action is enough to lead the foe to the correct deduction that the other combatant prepared an action and thus he should change tactics.
The same is true for full defense, full/1r casting, etc and they all have rather unique observable actions which lead to better tactical responses. RAW requires specific skills like spellcraft otherwise it doesn't cover the particulars so it's left to the GM (another skill check) or the observer to deduce/induce.

Without getting into metagaming, tactics/strategy relies on INT/WIS, class, skills of the observer. In this case I don't think there's an usually high bar to make the tactical change based on simple observation.

[Mysterious Stranger]

At best you may get a general idea of what the action or triggering action is. You can probably figure out if the person is preparing to attack with a weapon, or cast a spell, but beyond that you will not get much detail.

For example, let’s say I prepare to attack if a specific character approaches a specific object or creature. You will not be able to figure out which character I am preparing to attack.

How much information you can gain is going to be up to the discretion of the GM.

[Diego Rossi]

Azothath wrote:

comment: Readied actions are situational. If the foe knows you readied and changes tactics you likely wasted your action.

To notice that someone had readied an action, I would use Sense motive, modified by some of the Perception modifiers (distance and environmental factors) and most of the Sense motive modifiers (guessing what a creature with alien anatomy is preparing is harder than guessing what a human will do).

Familiarity with the target skills will matter too (guessing what a Fighter is reading is easier than guessing what a guy with an unknown class is preparing).

Noticing that someone is preparing something should be relatively easy, guessing exactly what he wants to do is way more difficult.

To make an example:
A fighter wants to counter-charge anyone moving within 15' of a mage.
- noticing that a Fighter is staying ready to act should be very easy, maybe a DC 5;
- deducing that is ready to move is not much more difficult, maybe a base DCX of 10;
- guessing if he wants to interpose himself between someone moving and the wizard or if he instead wants to use a standard action Charge (possible because a readied action limits you to a standard action) is way more difficult. Maybe a 20 DC.

[Ju-Mo.]

Azothath wrote:

nope, you are reading into it and adding assumptions and requirements.

Not to be rude, but there are NO rules for observing a readied action.

At least non that I can think of.
So its ALL assumptions and GM-territory.

I´m on board with a sense motive check.
Perception would be, where is the creature, which weapon does it wield etc.
But what their intention are, is normally a sense motive check.

For the OP, there is no rule that tells you what will happen.
Overrun is a possibility (but would give Person C an attack of oppertunity unless A has improved overrun) and only works if C is no more than one size category larger than A.

If A doesnt wanna make an overrun maneuver, there is no rule for what will happen.
A GM can allow him to just stop (and wasting his whole turn), to target C with his charge attack (if he moved at least 10 feet) or even say well you moved a little bit, but you can stop before you hit C and even spend you sandard action as you see fit (if A moved less than his movement before his stopped).

For a GM-call I find it important to know, when did C interrupt A's Charge. Right at the start of the charge (before A moved his first 5 feet), nearly at the end of the charge (when A is only 10 feet away from B) or somewhere in the middle?

But as said, that purely GM territory and at least in my knowledge there are no rules for what happens if a charge action is interupted by an readied action.

[Toshy]

As others said, there's no RAW for a situation like this other than that a readied action interrupts the triggering action. So it will be mostly gm-fiat.

As GM I would take the actual situation in consideration:

What exactly is the trigger and the intention?
Act as soon as A moves in the direction of B?
Act if someone engages B in melee?
Intercepting A, before he reaches B?
Rushing to help B (therefor maybe getting in to flanking rather than intercepting)?

How far is everyone apart from each other?
Can C even reach A/B with a readied action, or would he need to have delayed his complete turn?
Is A or C closer two B?
Could C run towards A/B in a straight line or would he need to circumvent obstacles or enemies (therefore "unable two build up speed running" in a way that A would be)?

If C can reach A/B, but A would be already gone a few squares (like already beeing in a sprint towards B) I would maybe let A and C roll Initiative.
C wins?
C would be able to intercept and position himself between A and B and somethings like Overrun may occur.
A wins?
C would not be able to intercept, but reach A right after he reaches B and might be able to help in an other way or retaliate.

But those would only be my two copper pieces and any other GM might handle the situation differently.

[AwesomenessDog]

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Overrun

As a standard action, taken during your move or as part of a charge

Fairly sure this is just letting you take an overrun maneuver in place of your normal attack, given that "charge through" exists.

Charge Through wrote:

Benefit: When making a charge, you can attempt to overrun one creature in the path of the charge as a free action. If you successfully overrun that creature, you can complete the charge. If the overrun is unsuccessful, the charge ends in the space directly in front of that creature.

Normal: You must have a clear path toward the target of your charge.