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Question: If I ready a daily or encounter power to trigger on a certain condition. Such as the fighter power Sweeping Blow with a condition such as to trigger when 3 or more enemies are adjacent to me. If that condition never triggers do I still expend the power?
I know I lose the action, but it seems harsh to lose both the action and the power (I realize this is a rare case, and probably a poor example, but I can see it coming up with other powers as well).
You do not lose the power. The standard action to ready gives you the opportunity to make an immediate reaction later on in the turn. You don't lose powers that are never used.
Think of readying as converting a power from "standard action" to an "immediate reaction," with the trigger you specified.
Some more details:
This does burn your immediate action for the round. Using a readied action is an immediate reaction, and you only get one of those per full combat round. This can be kind of rough on classes that rely on immediate actions for other things, such as the fighter.
