So I am a first-time DM and while a lot of my sessions for my first campaign are homebrew, I am encountering a lot of confusing rules regarding reactions in combat. I am in another campaign at the moment, and the DM for that campaign told me that my rogue who has Uncanny Dodge as a reaction, must use his bonus action to prepare an Uncanny Dodge while in combat, and that he must do it every round if he thinks he might need it.
I understand one reaction every round in combat, but what I am struggling to understand is preparing a reaction with a bonus action? I've never seen that before and I can't find it specifically in the rules, so I thought I would come on here and ask how other DMs play with reactions in combat. Do you have your characters wait until they are attacked, let them uncanny dodge (if they remember it), and then move on? Or should you make them use their bonus action to prepare their reaction before-hand for each round regardless of if they actually need it?
Thank you for reading and imposing any wisdom you have on a newbie!!
There is no "prepare your reaction to use" in the game aside from the Ready Action (which doesn't use your BA, it uses your Action). You simply use it when a trigger happens. In the case of Uncanny Dodge, the trigger is getting hit by an attack.
You DM may have a reason for doing this, or they may be misunderstanding the rules. Either way, there is no RAW argument for what they are doing.
Yeah, you need to absolutely correct your DM on their incorrect interpretation of the rules. Rogues are a class which really needs their bonus action and reaction available, and there's no justification in the rules for using a bonus action to prepare a reaction.
If even after being corrected, your DM insists on his homebrew rules that require spending a bonus action on your turn to prepare a reaction, I would walk away from that campaign.
...must use his bonus action to prepare an Uncanny Dodge
Being new and only know 2024 rules, I have no idea what "prepare an Uncanny Dodge" even means? Where in the 2024 rules will I even find how to prepare?
This was what I was thinking, I think my DM just misunderstood the rules for reactions. I will bring this up with them at our next session and see if we can change how we play with reactions. Thank you for your help!
...must use his bonus action to prepare an Uncanny Dodge
Being new and only know 2024 rules, I have no idea what "prepare an Uncanny Dodge" even means? Where in the 2024 rules will I even find how to prepare?
My hypothesis is that the DM is confusing the rules for the Ready Action for general Reaction use and somehow also confusing the Action requirement with a Bonus Action.
Other than the above use there is no "preparing a Reaction", and that's really only in the colloquial sense. Mechanically, you aren't "preparing the Reaction", you are setting a trigger that allows you to use your Reaction if you still have it when the trigger happens.
Reactions are pretty straight forward. You get one at the start of your turn to use until the start of your next turn. Various things can trigger the use of your Reaction, like a hostile creature leaving your melee range. Using the Ready Action allows you to add a trigger yourself. Uncanny Dodge does not need to be readied.
Squibbled not sure if it helps, but there's an answer in the SAC for Uncanny Dogde. As you see, Bonus Action is not mentioned at all, it just expends a Reaction:
A use of Uncanny Dodge works against only one attack, since it expends your Reaction, and only if you can see the attacker. It works against attacks of all sorts, including spell attacks, but it is no help against a spell or other effect, such as Fireball, that delivers its damage via a saving throw rather than an attack roll.
That other DM is just plain wrong. Period. They are confusing a "Reaction" with a "Readied Action". You can use one reaction per turn. A readied action allows you to use your reaction on your turn for something you had pre-planned to do. But you can also use a Reaction on an enemy's turn as an immediate and instinctive counter to being hit by an attack.
During each round of combat, you might get hit by several attack rolls or by none at all. If you do get hit by an attack roll, you may instantly declare, "Reaction! Uncanny Dodge!", and you only take half damage from that one specific attack. You can only do that once per round, so try to save it for a big hit. And since this Reaction does not occur on your turn, when your turn does come up, you still have your full action, bonus action, and movement available.
Reaction
A Reaction is a special action taken in response to a trigger defined in the Reaction’s description. You can take a Reaction on another creature’s turn, and if you take it on your turn, you can do so even if you also take an action, a Bonus Action, or both. Once you take a Reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn. The Opportunity Attack is a Reaction available to all creatures. See also “Opportunity Attacks” and chapter 1 (“Actions”).
Ready [Action]
You take the Ready action to wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you take this action on your turn, which lets you act by taking a 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 zombie 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.
When you Ready a spell, you cast it as normal (expending any resources used to cast it) 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 an action, and holding on to the spell’s magic requires Concentration, which you can maintain up to the start of your next turn. If your Concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect.
So I am a first-time DM and while a lot of my sessions for my first campaign are homebrew, I am encountering a lot of confusing rules regarding reactions in combat. I am in another campaign at the moment, and the DM for that campaign told me that my rogue who has Uncanny Dodge as a reaction, must use his bonus action to prepare an Uncanny Dodge while in combat, and that he must do it every round if he thinks he might need it.
I understand one reaction every round in combat, but what I am struggling to understand is preparing a reaction with a bonus action? I've never seen that before and I can't find it specifically in the rules, so I thought I would come on here and ask how other DMs play with reactions in combat. Do you have your characters wait until they are attacked, let them uncanny dodge (if they remember it), and then move on? Or should you make them use their bonus action to prepare their reaction before-hand for each round regardless of if they actually need it?
Thank you for reading and imposing any wisdom you have on a newbie!!
There is no "prepare your reaction to use" in the game aside from the Ready Action (which doesn't use your BA, it uses your Action). You simply use it when a trigger happens. In the case of Uncanny Dodge, the trigger is getting hit by an attack.
You DM may have a reason for doing this, or they may be misunderstanding the rules. Either way, there is no RAW argument for what they are doing.
Yeah, you need to absolutely correct your DM on their incorrect interpretation of the rules. Rogues are a class which really needs their bonus action and reaction available, and there's no justification in the rules for using a bonus action to prepare a reaction.
If even after being corrected, your DM insists on his homebrew rules that require spending a bonus action on your turn to prepare a reaction, I would walk away from that campaign.
Being new and only know 2024 rules, I have no idea what "prepare an Uncanny Dodge" even means? Where in the 2024 rules will I even find how to prepare?
This was what I was thinking, I think my DM just misunderstood the rules for reactions. I will bring this up with them at our next session and see if we can change how we play with reactions. Thank you for your help!
My hypothesis is that the DM is confusing the rules for the Ready Action for general Reaction use and somehow also confusing the Action requirement with a Bonus Action.
Other than the above use there is no "preparing a Reaction", and that's really only in the colloquial sense. Mechanically, you aren't "preparing the Reaction", you are setting a trigger that allows you to use your Reaction if you still have it when the trigger happens.
Reactions are pretty straight forward. You get one at the start of your turn to use until the start of your next turn. Various things can trigger the use of your Reaction, like a hostile creature leaving your melee range. Using the Ready Action allows you to add a trigger yourself. Uncanny Dodge does not need to be readied.
Squibbled not sure if it helps, but there's an answer in the SAC for Uncanny Dogde. As you see, Bonus Action is not mentioned at all, it just expends a Reaction:
That other DM is just plain wrong. Period. They are confusing a "Reaction" with a "Readied Action". You can use one reaction per turn. A readied action allows you to use your reaction on your turn for something you had pre-planned to do. But you can also use a Reaction on an enemy's turn as an immediate and instinctive counter to being hit by an attack.
During each round of combat, you might get hit by several attack rolls or by none at all. If you do get hit by an attack roll, you may instantly declare, "Reaction! Uncanny Dodge!", and you only take half damage from that one specific attack. You can only do that once per round, so try to save it for a big hit. And since this Reaction does not occur on your turn, when your turn does come up, you still have your full action, bonus action, and movement available.
Reaction
A Reaction is a special action taken in response to a trigger defined in the Reaction’s description. You can take a Reaction on another creature’s turn, and if you take it on your turn, you can do so even if you also take an action, a Bonus Action, or both. Once you take a Reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn. The Opportunity Attack is a Reaction available to all creatures. See also “Opportunity Attacks” and chapter 1 (“Actions”).
Ready [Action]
You take the Ready action to wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you take this action on your turn, which lets you act by taking a 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 zombie 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.
When you Ready a spell, you cast it as normal (expending any resources used to cast it) 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 an action, and holding on to the spell’s magic requires Concentration, which you can maintain up to the start of your next turn. If your Concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect.
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