Immobilized creature doesn't want to pay; can he charge instead?

Question

Here is the situation that has come up often in our group:

1. A creature is immobilized(save ends) at the start of its turn. As no enemies are adjacent, its options are limited.
2. The creature readies a charge
3. The trigger chosen is "When I am not immobilized"
   • Note that Ready requires an action to trigger off of. For a while, we ruled that the trigger had to be something like, "When Bob tells me I'm not Immobilized." Talking is a free action, so that satisfied our inner rules lawyer. It got silly fast, and we went with this shorthand.
4. The creature processes its end of turn actions, saving half the time* and immediately charges an opponent.

Both characters and monsters have been doing this awhile. However it doesn't sit well with me, and some others in the group as it does nerf the Immobilized condition. We've agreed to play this way as we think it is how we interpret the rules.

Is this legal? Are we reading the rules correctly? Are we missing a rules clarification somewhere?

My group and I are very much "Rules as Written" players, so we aren't very interested in house rules to change it. Thanks for the suggestions though.

_{* ok, not exactly half, but that isn't the point here, nitpickers :)}

Answer 1

So my question would be how is the immobilizing being put onto the target? Is it something that is "until the end of the target's next turn" or "save ends". I personally don't count your turn over with until all of your actions have preformed. Since a readied action moves your place in the initiative order, I treat it just like a delay.

The rules for delay specify that harmful effects end when you ACT, while beneficial effects end when you DELAY. I think that because readied actions and delayed turns are very similar, you should apply that logic to the player's readied actions.

If the immobilizing effect was put onto the target from an power that said, "until the end of the caster's next turn", then I think you would have an argument for allowing what is happening. That is because the end of the effect isn't based upon the person who is readying the action, but instead is based upon who used the power in the first place.

In the end, I tend to just follow the rule of "is it too good to be true". These players were effectively making immobilizing useless in most cases, as the player was able to still move and attack and basically ignore the condition.

Answer 2

Your reading is correct

Rules as written, there is nothing preventing your groups actions.

As others have noted, it is a small stretch of a house rule to give ready and delay the same treatment with respect to AEOT effects, but though you could consider it "preemptive errata" with the thinking that WotC just has not seen fit to disco yet, it would be a house rule.

I would also note that it doesn't completely nerf immobilized, as you still can't use your move action to move, and you may not have your full selection of attack powers available to you on the charge.

Answer 3

There are two issues:

1. Unlike Delay, it doesn't explicitly say when (if) you get your End of Turn saving throw, but it makes sense to follow Delay's example and have it be Make Saving Throws after You Act:

   After you return to the initiative order and take your actions, you make saving throws against effects on you.

2. The action triggered by Ready an Action is an immediate action, which means you can't take it on your turn.