It has recently come to my attention that the Extra Attack feature and a monster's Multiattack only works on the attacker's turn. This makes me furious because I'm planning a campaign centered around a monster with 1000 flying speed. I made the monster with the understanding that the players could ready their actions to attack it multiple times once it gets within range. Now it's just a no-fighter-allowed encounter, and I can't have that.
My predicament aside, I don't understand WHY Extra Attack and Multiattack can't be used with the Ready action. I don't fail to understand the rules explicitly preventing this, I just need to know what logic or balance dictates that these rules exist. It could be argued that this is a reaction, and there's simply no time to fit another attack in, or that to do so would allow a creature to do too much outside its turn. To demonstrate the absurdity of this, here's a list of things that can be made to fit inside one reaction, readied or otherwise:
All 4 attacks of a Level 17 spellcaster's eldritch blast
Readying a (leveled) spell (A) requires concentration, which breaks concentration on other spells, and (B) consumes a spell slot whether or not the spell is actually executed. If your flying monster doesn't fly into range within 6 seconds, that 9th level Scorching Ray fizzles into nothing and is lost. By contrast, the Fighter can Ready Action all day long with no consequences.
That said, Warlocks with Agonizing Blast throws a wrench into the works. However, it may be easier to nerf the Readied Action of the Warlock than to make an exception for Readied Extra Attack.
One major work around for your dilemma is to ensure that at least one player has access to the Sentinel feat, which will immediately drop the monster's speed to 0, and give the others a chance to attack on their turn. If your monster is Large or smaller, the players can Ready Attack(Grapple) to similarly drop the monster's speed to 0.
If you decide to allow Readied Extra Attack, you might consider adding a balancing mechanism akin to a spellcaster losing their spell. For example, using Haste as a template, you could have a fighter who uses Readied Extra Attack be fatigued for one round, which would make them temporarily vulnerable. (Or have them consume a Hit Dice to perform special maneuvers.)
I made the monster with the understanding that the players could ready their actions to attack it multiple times once it gets within range.
I've made a lot of mistakes in my 40+ years of rolling dice... A LOT! A ludicrous amount. A straight up embarrassing amount!! And designing _anything_ with the idea that the players will "do what I had in mind" is the single biggest mistake I have made (more than once sadly).
A 1000 ft movement speed is ludicrously fast. Many players would find an encounter with such a foe to be highly frustrating.
Yeah that’s like 115 miles per hour 😂
It's an absurd trait for a normal monster, for sure, but as the focus for the campaign, it's good to have something "exceptional".
The problem is that the OP is expecting their players to engage with an exceptional adversary in a mundane way. Alternatives would include traps, speed-based plot devices, vehicles/siege weapons, or confinement, etc...
There are an infinite number of ways to address the issue other than "Sit and Wait".
The fighter can still fire off multiple arrows, so long as your freakishly fast creature stays within a couple hundred feet, he can still do something. Sometimes a melee character needs to use their ranged weapon.
The fighter can still fire off multiple arrows, so long as your freakishly fast creature stays within a couple hundred feet, he can still do something. Sometimes a melee character needs to use their ranged weapon.
At that speed it could break line of sight every round quite easily. Also, unless the melee character is finesse based, they're not even likely to be carrying a bow, they'll probably be carrying some javelins.
Alright, I suppose it's only fair that Extra Attack gets this nerf if spells are this troublesome to ready. I had no intention for readied extra attack to be the only strategy available to the players, but the encounter I have planned is more difficult for not having that. I can't get into too many details since my players may find them here, but this monster is nearly unkillable for more than a few reasons, and the objective of the campaign is for the players to arm themselves with information to make a battle with this monster feasible.
The mechanical reason you cannot Ready a multiattack is that the Ready action takes whatever action you're prepping and turns that Action into a Reaction that you can use outside your turn. Extra Attack, on the other hand, only applies when you use the Attack Action on your turn; therefore a readied Attack Reaction outside of your turn would not be eligible.
The reason for this is balance. If you didn't need to Attack on your turn to get the full benefits of Extra Attack, then you would have almost no incentive to ever actually act on your turn when you could always do it whenever you wanted. It would majorly slow down combat, as the norm would just become "move, bonus action, and Ready" for your turn and then essentially the rest of the initiative order would all happen at once in a big disorganized tangle.
Where does it say that the Multiattack action cannot be readied? You can't ready Extra Attack because it isn't an action, it's a modification on the attack action, and while you can ready attack, the Extra Attack property won't apply unless the trigger fires on your turn, but Multiattack is a proper action and should thus be possible to ready like any other action (though it cannot be used with an opportunity attack because it's not a melee attack).
You absolutely can ready Multiattack. You can also ready Attack. The reason you only get one attack during that readied Attack, is because the Extra Attack feature itself specifies "on your turn." If you Ready an Attack that triggers on your own turn, it will indeed benefit from Extra Attack, since it's on your turn.
I know that the original poster said they understood that already, but some of the comments seem to be losing sight of that. The "why" of this is because that's the way the rule is printed. Analysis of the intentions or balance considerations behind it is pointless, even JC can't really be trusted to tell you "why" the rules are what they are. They just are.
Yes, Chicken_Champ is correct. No one on this forum is qualified to answer OP's question of why the rule is the way it is, although it should be pointed out that OP is incorrect, and you can ready Multiattack just fine.
If what SuperParkourio really wants is an assurance from us that it's ok to houserule Extra Attack to work with Readied Actions: you certainly have my permission. The only warning I'll give you is that you still can't ready a Bonus Action, so various other features your PCs may have also can't be Readied, like if your Fighter specializes in Two-Weapon Fighting - and, barring a PC having a special action to the contrary, there's no way to Ready both an Action and movement.
You absolutely can ready Multiattack. You can also ready Attack. The reason you only get one attack during that readied Attack, is because the Extra Attack feature itself specifies "on your turn." If you Ready an Attack that triggers on your own turn, it will indeed benefit from Extra Attack, since it's on your turn.
That's a bit of a technicality. Yes you can ready an action on your turn to be triggered on your turn, but how often is it that the 100-speed monster is going to enter melee range to trigger your readied attack on *your* turn? In the context of OP's question it doesn't really help much. Also, Extra Attack requires not just for it to be on your turn, but for you to use your Action for the Attack action, which you cannot do if you used your action to Ready something even if it is triggered on your turn.
Misquoting features can certainly lead to mistakes!
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Other than that quick fix... I dunno man, Ready let's you take Attack, or plenty of other actions, as a reaction (be that reaction later on your turn, or on another turn), once a trigger condition is satisfied. That just is what it is, I don't get where you're coming up with an implication that Ready doesn't ready actions.
Misquoting features can certainly lead to mistakes!
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Other than that quick fix... I dunno man, Ready let's you take Attack, or plenty of other actions, as a reaction (be that reaction later on your turn, or on another turn), once a trigger condition is satisfied. That just is what it is, I don't get where you're coming up with an implication that Ready doesn't ready actions.
It doesn't though, it just turns actions into reactions. You only get 1 action per turn unless you're hasted or action surging. If you already used that one action to use the Ready move, then the other thing you do if it happens to trigger on your turn isn't also an action, it's a reaction. Extra Attack is not triggered by reactions (again, see Attack of Opportunity), only actions.
That's... really not supported by any written rule text, and I think if you think about it more, will probably result in any number of undesirable consequences. For instance.... Dwarven Fortitude, you would want a dwarf to only be able to use that if they Dodge as an action, and not as a bonus action if they're a monk? Nah man, no good, and no source for that unwritten rule.
It doesn't though, it just turns actions into reactions. You only get 1 action per turn unless you're hasted or action surging. If you already used that one action to use the Ready move, then the other thing you do if it happens to trigger on your turn isn't also an action, it's a reaction. Extra Attack is not triggered by reactions (again, see Attack of Opportunity), only actions.
Extra Attack is triggered by the Attack action. If you had a feature that let you take the Attack action without spending your action, and was not otherwise limited (e.g. Haste specifically is limited to a singleweaponattack), and it occurred on your turn, Extra Attack would apply to it.
That's... really not supported by any written rule text, and I think if you think about it more, will probably result in any number of undesirable consequences. For instance.... Dwarven Fortitude, you would want a dwarf to only be able to use that if they Dodge as an action, and not as a bonus action if they're a monk? Nah man, no good, and no source for that unwritten rule.
The most Common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, firing an arrow from a bow, or brawling with your fists. With this action, you make one melee or ranged Attack. See the “Making an Attack” section for the rules that govern attacks.
Certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature of the Fighter, allow you to make more than one Attack with this action."
Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on Your Turn, which lets you act using your Reaction before the start of your next turn. First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your Reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include “If the Cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the Goblin steps next to me, I move away.”
When the trigger occurs, you can either take your Reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one Reaction per round.
When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your Reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a Casting Time of 1 action, and holding onto the spell’s magic requires Concentration. If your Concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking Effect. For example, if you are concentrating on the web spell and ready Magic Missile, your web spell ends, and if you take damage before you release Magic Missile with your Reaction, your Concentration might be broken."
Above is where I see the rules regarding Attacks as actions taken in combat and how the ready action results in reactions supported in the text. These are copied from the section in the PHB detailing Actions in Combat, and it explicitly lists the Attack action and the Ready actions as Actions, leading me to the conclusion that a character with only one action per turn would not be able to use their action to ready an attack and benefit from Extra Attack on the same turn.
I also don't really see where Dwarven Fortitude comes into it. As a Dwarf Monk, if I really do need to heal then I think it's worth trading my action for a free heal since it's not compatible with the bonus action. That's called a trade-off, and sounds worth what you're getting if you really need to heal more than you need to whack something with your quarterstaff.
I don't see how you can justify a ruling that something that's not an action counts as an action for...reasons. I don't see that supported anywhere in the text and it sounds like a house rule.
It has recently come to my attention that the Extra Attack feature and a monster's Multiattack only works on the attacker's turn. This makes me furious because I'm planning a campaign centered around a monster with 1000 flying speed. I made the monster with the understanding that the players could ready their actions to attack it multiple times once it gets within range. Now it's just a no-fighter-allowed encounter, and I can't have that.
My predicament aside, I don't understand WHY Extra Attack and Multiattack can't be used with the Ready action. I don't fail to understand the rules explicitly preventing this, I just need to know what logic or balance dictates that these rules exist. It could be argued that this is a reaction, and there's simply no time to fit another attack in, or that to do so would allow a creature to do too much outside its turn. To demonstrate the absurdity of this, here's a list of things that can be made to fit inside one reaction, readied or otherwise:
Readying a (leveled) spell (A) requires concentration, which breaks concentration on other spells, and (B) consumes a spell slot whether or not the spell is actually executed. If your flying monster doesn't fly into range within 6 seconds, that 9th level Scorching Ray fizzles into nothing and is lost. By contrast, the Fighter can Ready Action all day long with no consequences.
That said, Warlocks with Agonizing Blast throws a wrench into the works. However, it may be easier to nerf the Readied Action of the Warlock than to make an exception for Readied Extra Attack.
One major work around for your dilemma is to ensure that at least one player has access to the Sentinel feat, which will immediately drop the monster's speed to 0, and give the others a chance to attack on their turn. If your monster is Large or smaller, the players can Ready Attack(Grapple) to similarly drop the monster's speed to 0.
If you decide to allow Readied Extra Attack, you might consider adding a balancing mechanism akin to a spellcaster losing their spell. For example, using Haste as a template, you could have a fighter who uses Readied Extra Attack be fatigued for one round, which would make them temporarily vulnerable. (Or have them consume a Hit Dice to perform special maneuvers.)
A 1000 ft movement speed is ludicrously fast. Many players would find an encounter with such a foe to be highly frustrating.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Yeah that’s like 115 miles per hour 😂
I've made a lot of mistakes in my 40+ years of rolling dice... A LOT! A ludicrous amount. A straight up embarrassing amount!!
And designing _anything_ with the idea that the players will "do what I had in mind" is the single biggest mistake I have made (more than once sadly).
...cryptographic randomness!
It's an absurd trait for a normal monster, for sure, but as the focus for the campaign, it's good to have something "exceptional".
The problem is that the OP is expecting their players to engage with an exceptional adversary in a mundane way. Alternatives would include traps, speed-based plot devices, vehicles/siege weapons, or confinement, etc...
There are an infinite number of ways to address the issue other than "Sit and Wait".
The fighter can still fire off multiple arrows, so long as your freakishly fast creature stays within a couple hundred feet, he can still do something. Sometimes a melee character needs to use their ranged weapon.
At that speed it could break line of sight every round quite easily. Also, unless the melee character is finesse based, they're not even likely to be carrying a bow, they'll probably be carrying some javelins.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
My impression is that the rules do this to encourage people to stop mucking around and just take their turn on their turn.
Alright, I suppose it's only fair that Extra Attack gets this nerf if spells are this troublesome to ready. I had no intention for readied extra attack to be the only strategy available to the players, but the encounter I have planned is more difficult for not having that. I can't get into too many details since my players may find them here, but this monster is nearly unkillable for more than a few reasons, and the objective of the campaign is for the players to arm themselves with information to make a battle with this monster feasible.
The mechanical reason you cannot Ready a multiattack is that the Ready action takes whatever action you're prepping and turns that Action into a Reaction that you can use outside your turn. Extra Attack, on the other hand, only applies when you use the Attack Action on your turn; therefore a readied Attack Reaction outside of your turn would not be eligible.
The reason for this is balance. If you didn't need to Attack on your turn to get the full benefits of Extra Attack, then you would have almost no incentive to ever actually act on your turn when you could always do it whenever you wanted. It would majorly slow down combat, as the norm would just become "move, bonus action, and Ready" for your turn and then essentially the rest of the initiative order would all happen at once in a big disorganized tangle.
Where does it say that the Multiattack action cannot be readied? You can't ready Extra Attack because it isn't an action, it's a modification on the attack action, and while you can ready attack, the Extra Attack property won't apply unless the trigger fires on your turn, but Multiattack is a proper action and should thus be possible to ready like any other action (though it cannot be used with an opportunity attack because it's not a melee attack).
You absolutely can ready Multiattack. You can also ready Attack. The reason you only get one attack during that readied Attack, is because the Extra Attack feature itself specifies "on your turn." If you Ready an Attack that triggers on your own turn, it will indeed benefit from Extra Attack, since it's on your turn.
I know that the original poster said they understood that already, but some of the comments seem to be losing sight of that. The "why" of this is because that's the way the rule is printed. Analysis of the intentions or balance considerations behind it is pointless, even JC can't really be trusted to tell you "why" the rules are what they are. They just are.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Yes, Chicken_Champ is correct. No one on this forum is qualified to answer OP's question of why the rule is the way it is, although it should be pointed out that OP is incorrect, and you can ready Multiattack just fine.
If what SuperParkourio really wants is an assurance from us that it's ok to houserule Extra Attack to work with Readied Actions: you certainly have my permission. The only warning I'll give you is that you still can't ready a Bonus Action, so various other features your PCs may have also can't be Readied, like if your Fighter specializes in Two-Weapon Fighting - and, barring a PC having a special action to the contrary, there's no way to Ready both an Action and movement.
That's a bit of a technicality. Yes you can ready an action on your turn to be triggered on your turn, but how often is it that the 100-speed monster is going to enter melee range to trigger your readied attack on *your* turn? In the context of OP's question it doesn't really help much. Also, Extra Attack requires not just for it to be on your turn, but for you to use your Action for the Attack action, which you cannot do if you used your action to Ready something even if it is triggered on your turn.
Misquoting features can certainly lead to mistakes!
Other than that quick fix... I dunno man, Ready let's you take Attack, or plenty of other actions, as a reaction (be that reaction later on your turn, or on another turn), once a trigger condition is satisfied. That just is what it is, I don't get where you're coming up with an implication that Ready doesn't ready actions.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
It doesn't though, it just turns actions into reactions. You only get 1 action per turn unless you're hasted or action surging. If you already used that one action to use the Ready move, then the other thing you do if it happens to trigger on your turn isn't also an action, it's a reaction. Extra Attack is not triggered by reactions (again, see Attack of Opportunity), only actions.
I see. So you think that Attack-Action Version is mechanically distinct from Attack-Reaction Version, and that features that interact with "the Attack action" only work with Attack-Action Version.
That's... really not supported by any written rule text, and I think if you think about it more, will probably result in any number of undesirable consequences. For instance.... Dwarven Fortitude, you would want a dwarf to only be able to use that if they Dodge as an action, and not as a bonus action if they're a monk? Nah man, no good, and no source for that unwritten rule.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Extra Attack is triggered by the Attack action. If you had a feature that let you take the Attack action without spending your action, and was not otherwise limited (e.g. Haste specifically is limited to a single weapon attack), and it occurred on your turn, Extra Attack would apply to it.
"Attack
The most Common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, firing an arrow from a bow, or brawling with your fists.
With this action, you make one melee or ranged Attack. See the “Making an Attack” section for the rules that govern attacks.
Certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature of the Fighter, allow you to make more than one Attack with this action."
"Ready
Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on Your Turn, which lets you act using your Reaction before the start of your next turn.
First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your Reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include “If the Cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the Goblin steps next to me, I move away.”
When the trigger occurs, you can either take your Reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one Reaction per round.
When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your Reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a Casting Time of 1 action, and holding onto the spell’s magic requires Concentration. If your Concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking Effect. For example, if you are concentrating on the web spell and ready Magic Missile, your web spell ends, and if you take damage before you release Magic Missile with your Reaction, your Concentration might be broken."
Above is where I see the rules regarding Attacks as actions taken in combat and how the ready action results in reactions supported in the text. These are copied from the section in the PHB detailing Actions in Combat, and it explicitly lists the Attack action and the Ready actions as Actions, leading me to the conclusion that a character with only one action per turn would not be able to use their action to ready an attack and benefit from Extra Attack on the same turn.
I also don't really see where Dwarven Fortitude comes into it. As a Dwarf Monk, if I really do need to heal then I think it's worth trading my action for a free heal since it's not compatible with the bonus action. That's called a trade-off, and sounds worth what you're getting if you really need to heal more than you need to whack something with your quarterstaff.
I don't see how you can justify a ruling that something that's not an action counts as an action for...reasons. I don't see that supported anywhere in the text and it sounds like a house rule.