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.
Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger
So yes, you are in fact picking an action to take. The fact that you are not spending your action on your turn to take that action does not make it not an action.
Its a complicated discussion to get into, that the PHB uses "action" to mean both your one-action-per-turn, but also specific actions like Dodge and Attack. It sounds like you're hung up on only recognizing one of those two meanings, and ignoring that "the Attack action" is always "the Attack action" even when it's being taken as a reaction.
It's a bigger conversation than I'm prepared to have in this thread, so I'll just leave it there. You aren't Readying a single attack, you're readying the entire Attack action itself.... but that Attack action is unlikely to give you anything more than a single attack off-turn, because all the features that are currently printed that would give you more attacks as part of an Attack action specify "on your turn" (see Claw Beast Barbarian, Gloomstalker, the Extra Attack features).
You can Grapple with a readied Attack (but not with a regular Opportunity Attack), because the attack replacement for Grapple and Shove don't specify "on your turn." "On your turn" in the feature is the magic language limiting multiple readied attacks, not that Attack is ever not Attack.
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.
Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger
So yes, you are in fact picking an action to take. The fact that you are not spending your action on your turn to take that action does not make it not an action.
That seems to be more action with a small A. I interpret that as picking from the list of available actions in the Actions in Combat section that would be an action were it not turned into a reaction by the Ready action. It's slightly clunky language I admit, but seems clear enough.
Remember, in regard to rules in 5e, "specific overrides general." The options you're choosing from would *generally* be Actions, if the *specific* condition of the Ready action did not render then Reactions.
Again, I don't think you can swing it so you get two actions on a turn without Haste or Action Surge.
So? If they mean Action, they always specify "If you spend your action on your turn to...". If they just talk about actions, they mean any type of action, including bonus action and reaction.
Semantics of what is considered "the Attack action" or not aside, i still stand by my original point that even if you count it that way and rule that a reaction on your turn still counts, I still consider that a technicality that doesn't help OP that much, because given the lack of things outside your own actions on your turn that could trigger your readied action, what's the point? Enemies aren't generally moving independently of their own turns on your turn to trigger readied actions, so the trigger is more likely just to be like "ok after I move to this square my reaction is triggered" and... at this point why not just use your action to attack?
With OP's example of the boots-on- the-ground melee fighter vs the 1000ft speed flying monster, the monster is not going to be in melee range to get hit by a readied attack that was readied and triggered all on the same turn, and if it was then there wouldn't have been an issue to begin with.
...I still consider that a technicality that doesn't help OP that much, because given the lack of things outside your own actions on your turn that could trigger your readied action, what's the point? Enemies aren't generally moving independently of their own turns on your turn to trigger readied actions, so the trigger is more likely just to be like "ok after I move to this square my reaction is triggered" and... at this point why not just use your action to attack? ....
If that monster has a reaction that lets it move away or teleport when approached, or is readying its own action to run away or teleport when approached and is relying on legendary actions to attack in between turns, then readying for your own action could be a way to slip your attack back into the stack before the DM can pull their tricks. "Okay, they ran away from me before I could attack last time, so all I got was a single Opportunity Attack instead of my full rotation... so this turn, I ready my Attack action to go off the second that enemy starts to move away from me!"
Cheesy, kind of gets into an Uno stack of reversals re: whether the monster or the player are wording their ready-ed actions to take precedence, whatever... I'm not saying that it's a common tactic, or one you'll take in every fight, but I've run into combats before that for whatever special reason (opening doors, etc.), it was useful to ready my Attack and trigger it on my own turn, rather than just using it the normal way, to avoid being interrupted.
Fair, but very niche. A lot of "if"s attached and by and large, I wouldn't put my melee players in a situation where they need to rely on it while ranged characters and casters are leaving them in the dust.
"Okay, they ran away from me before I could attack last time, so all I got was a single Opportunity Attack instead of my full rotation... so this turn, I ready my Attack action to go off the second that enemy starts to move away from me!"
But your Readied action occurs AFTER the trigger, so they'll have moved away from you before you can use your readied action.
Otherwise all Readied actions will all have wording "when they begin to..." (such as "begin to cast a spell").
Because it allows using ready as an interrupt, and if they wanted ready to be usable as an interrupt they'd have just phrased it in a way that permits doing so directly.
Yeah, I’m not seeing a problem with Ready being used to interrupt (rather than merely react to) others actions. The cost is giving up action on your own turn, risking your trigger not coming to pass, and (for spells) consuming a spell slot and needing to maintain concentration. If the payoff to that is being able interrupt one specific action of your opponent’s that you anticipated... good for you, smart tactical play.
Sure there is. Is "X starts casting a spell" a valid trigger?
That is the exact trigger given for the spell "Counterspell", which is cast as a reaction.
No it isn't. The trigger is "you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell", and it doesn't wait for the triggering condition to complete, it interrupts the triggering condition. Reaction spells and powers can do things that ready cannot do (for example, Shield is cast as a reaction to being hit, but is able to prevent the hit from occurring, which would be impossible if it happened after the triggering condition).
And, vice versa, Ready can do things that Opportunity Attack can't do, as in the example of readying an Attack to Grapple, since you can't Grapple as an Opportunity Attack.
Don't fall into thinking of either a regular reaction or a Ready reaction as being "bigger" or "faster" than the other. In all situations, an action does what it says it does, not something more/less than what something else does by comparison. There's no limit on how granular the trigger for a Ready can be, other than the boundaries of what your DM will permit as an observable situation that gives you the invitation to notice it and take a reaction.
Shield is triggered when you are hit with an attack; it provides a magical bonus to your AC, potentially negating the attack. And since you can do things like Timestop, that let you take an entire extra turn before the round continues, why can't you use magic to negate the hit?
You can’t WHAT with Ready? Cast Shield (agreed, since Ready only works with spells of casting time 1 action), or cast other spells like Fireball with a custom trigger that you define to be identical to that of Shield (heavily disagree, where are you coming up with this bizarre limitation???).
You can’t WHAT with Ready? Cast Shield (agreed, since Ready only works with spells of casting time 1 action), or cast other spells like Fireball with a custom trigger that you define to be identical to that of Shield (heavily disagree, where are you coming up with this bizarre limitation???).
You can't Ready in a way where you can negate being hit; the ready is resolved after you have already been hit.
You can't Ready in a way where you can negate being hit; the ready is resolved after you have already been hit.
Source?
That just straight up is not a rule.
Ready: "When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger." If the trigger is being hit, the reaction occurs after being hit is already finished. So unless the effect you're triggering involves time travel, changing your AC has no effect because you have already been hit.
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The actual text of Ready specifies
So yes, you are in fact picking an action to take. The fact that you are not spending your action on your turn to take that action does not make it not an action.
Its a complicated discussion to get into, that the PHB uses "action" to mean both your one-action-per-turn, but also specific actions like Dodge and Attack. It sounds like you're hung up on only recognizing one of those two meanings, and ignoring that "the Attack action" is always "the Attack action" even when it's being taken as a reaction.
It's a bigger conversation than I'm prepared to have in this thread, so I'll just leave it there. You aren't Readying a single attack, you're readying the entire Attack action itself.... but that Attack action is unlikely to give you anything more than a single attack off-turn, because all the features that are currently printed that would give you more attacks as part of an Attack action specify "on your turn" (see Claw Beast Barbarian, Gloomstalker, the Extra Attack features).
You can Grapple with a readied Attack (but not with a regular Opportunity Attack), because the attack replacement for Grapple and Shove don't specify "on your turn." "On your turn" in the feature is the magic language limiting multiple readied attacks, not that Attack is ever not Attack.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
That seems to be more action with a small A. I interpret that as picking from the list of available actions in the Actions in Combat section that would be an action were it not turned into a reaction by the Ready action. It's slightly clunky language I admit, but seems clear enough.
Remember, in regard to rules in 5e, "specific overrides general." The options you're choosing from would *generally* be Actions, if the *specific* condition of the Ready action did not render then Reactions.
Again, I don't think you can swing it so you get two actions on a turn without Haste or Action Surge.
So? If they mean Action, they always specify "If you spend your action on your turn to...". If they just talk about actions, they mean any type of action, including bonus action and reaction.
Semantics of what is considered "the Attack action" or not aside, i still stand by my original point that even if you count it that way and rule that a reaction on your turn still counts, I still consider that a technicality that doesn't help OP that much, because given the lack of things outside your own actions on your turn that could trigger your readied action, what's the point? Enemies aren't generally moving independently of their own turns on your turn to trigger readied actions, so the trigger is more likely just to be like "ok after I move to this square my reaction is triggered" and... at this point why not just use your action to attack?
With OP's example of the boots-on- the-ground melee fighter vs the 1000ft speed flying monster, the monster is not going to be in melee range to get hit by a readied attack that was readied and triggered all on the same turn, and if it was then there wouldn't have been an issue to begin with.
If that monster has a reaction that lets it move away or teleport when approached, or is readying its own action to run away or teleport when approached and is relying on legendary actions to attack in between turns, then readying for your own action could be a way to slip your attack back into the stack before the DM can pull their tricks. "Okay, they ran away from me before I could attack last time, so all I got was a single Opportunity Attack instead of my full rotation... so this turn, I ready my Attack action to go off the second that enemy starts to move away from me!"
Cheesy, kind of gets into an Uno stack of reversals re: whether the monster or the player are wording their ready-ed actions to take precedence, whatever... I'm not saying that it's a common tactic, or one you'll take in every fight, but I've run into combats before that for whatever special reason (opening doors, etc.), it was useful to ready my Attack and trigger it on my own turn, rather than just using it the normal way, to avoid being interrupted.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Fair, but very niche. A lot of "if"s attached and by and large, I wouldn't put my melee players in a situation where they need to rely on it while ranged characters and casters are leaving them in the dust.
But your Readied action occurs AFTER the trigger, so they'll have moved away from you before you can use your readied action.
Otherwise all Readied actions will all have wording "when they begin to..." (such as "begin to cast a spell").
Trigger definitions are vague enough that that may be legal, assuming you can perceive what you're using as a trigger.
Sure there is. Is "X starts casting a spell" a valid trigger?
Yes? Why wouldn't it be?
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Because it allows using ready as an interrupt, and if they wanted ready to be usable as an interrupt they'd have just phrased it in a way that permits doing so directly.
Yeah, I’m not seeing a problem with Ready being used to interrupt (rather than merely react to) others actions. The cost is giving up action on your own turn, risking your trigger not coming to pass, and (for spells) consuming a spell slot and needing to maintain concentration. If the payoff to that is being able interrupt one specific action of your opponent’s that you anticipated... good for you, smart tactical play.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
No it isn't. The trigger is "you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell", and it doesn't wait for the triggering condition to complete, it interrupts the triggering condition. Reaction spells and powers can do things that ready cannot do (for example, Shield is cast as a reaction to being hit, but is able to prevent the hit from occurring, which would be impossible if it happened after the triggering condition).
And, vice versa, Ready can do things that Opportunity Attack can't do, as in the example of readying an Attack to Grapple, since you can't Grapple as an Opportunity Attack.
Don't fall into thinking of either a regular reaction or a Ready reaction as being "bigger" or "faster" than the other. In all situations, an action does what it says it does, not something more/less than what something else does by comparison. There's no limit on how granular the trigger for a Ready can be, other than the boundaries of what your DM will permit as an observable situation that gives you the invitation to notice it and take a reaction.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
You can. You just can't do it with Ready.
You can’t WHAT with Ready? Cast Shield (agreed, since Ready only works with spells of casting time 1 action), or cast other spells like Fireball with a custom trigger that you define to be identical to that of Shield (heavily disagree, where are you coming up with this bizarre limitation???).
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
You can't Ready in a way where you can negate being hit; the ready is resolved after you have already been hit.
Source?
That just straight up is not a rule.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Ready: "When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger." If the trigger is being hit, the reaction occurs after being hit is already finished. So unless the effect you're triggering involves time travel, changing your AC has no effect because you have already been hit.