Readying an action before combat

Question

Suppose the party suspects that combat is imminent, and some of the PCs ready actions (attack nearest hostile creature, attack first thing that moves). Then combat erupts. Some of the PCs are considered Surprised (for instance, because the attack came from enemies they weren't expecting).

When do the readied actions take place?

• Before or after initiative is rolled and gaining any Warlord initiative bonus such as shifting?
• During surprise round turns? If so at the PC's initiative or at the mob's initiative?
• Or do they wait to trigger until the PC is no longer Surprised?

Is it possible to be Surprised while you have a readied action?

Also, what's the PC's initiative order after this? Can the PC wind up at a higher position than was rolled?

Answer 1

Here's my take on the situation you have described:

Readied Actions are meant for use in Initiative Order only.

Quote from Wizard's FAQ @ their community forum:

'On your turn, you spend a standard action to ready an action. You then choose a target (if applicable), a triggering circumstance, and a specific action to ready. When/if the trigger action takes place, and it's legal for you to perform the action, you perform the action as an immediate reaction to the trigger action. Then you change your place in the initiative order so that you take your turn before the creature who triggered your readied action.'

Your PCs cannot get around rolling Initiative just by saying "I'm going to attack the nearest hostile I see." Generally that's what everyone is going to do in combat, hence why we roll for Initiative. If you allow these out of combat Readied Actions, your PCs will always have readied actions like that set up and it will severely impact how your encounters will need to be designed from now on.

So, you cannot ready an action outside of combat. That fact should simplify much of issue you are dealing with.

Quick notes on Readied Actions: A Readied Action is an Immediate Reaction. It is not an Immediate Interrupt, so the enemy gets to complete its Triggering Action before the Readied Action happens. Also, when you change your position on the Initiative Order due to a Readied Action you can wind up in a higher position than you initially rolled.

On surprise:

It is possible to be surprised even when you are expecting a fight. Your PCs (especially that Rogue or Assassin) would want a chance to sneak up on an alert/ready to fight band of enemies, wouldn't they? The monsters get that same consideration. That's why we have the Perception skill and the Stealth skill.

Answer 2

If the PC's are readied, I wouldn't have a surprise round. They are specifically looking for an enemy to show up, and these are heroes we're talking about, with better-than-human reflexes.

Here's how I would run the combat.

1. Roll initiative, but do not start the combat until the monster appears.
2. Take turns as normal. This means that any PC's that act before the monster could ready an action.
3. Start the combat on the first monster's turn. This triggers the readied actions, and any readied PC's would take their actions before the monster can do anything.
4. Continue turns as normal.

This makes it so that your initiative score (a measure of your reflexes and luck) determines whether you react before the monster gets an action or not.

Answer 3

I'm predicating this answer on the theory that the action system (standard, move, minor; in initiative order) only makes sense in combat, and that out of combat you just "do stuff". I'm not certain that there are rules to support this interpretation.

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With that notion in mind, out of combat you can't "ready an action" in the same sense as doing so in combat.

You can declare that you are on the lookout for enemies. In which case, you should get a better chance of observing unexpected enemies (though perhaps should not be able to roll diplomacy, bluff or the like against the creature being interacted with)

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Or if you prefer (and I wouldn't) you could roll initiative at the very begging of the encounter, before it's clear that combat will erupt and try to run the social part of the encounter within the framework of the combat round.

This second option, however, has the disadvantage of both introducing some difficulty with regards to the monsters that attack by surprise (do they get a surprise round in the middle of combat?) and prevents players with "at the start of an encounter" style abilities from being able to use them properly.

Answer 4

Here's what I consider to be the case:

1. You can only ready actions in combat. Outside of combat you're not in initiative order, everyone acts "whenever".
2. Surprise rounds only happen when you're unaware of your opponent and they're aware of you. In a surprise round, only the "aware" creatures go -- and they only get one action and can't use APs.
3. You can't ready an action against being surprised. The only way to avoid being Surprised is to spot the enemy before they attack, with a good Perception roll (or high enough passive perception) or some other means of detection like an alarm ritual.