"Readied" weapons and AoOs [Archive] - Wizards Community

"Readied" weapons and AoOs [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
citizencoyote
06-12-07, 10:11 AM I think D20 Modern has something about "readied" weapons, but I'm not sure if DnD does. Here's a situation. Say you are dual-wielding a whip and a dagger. Whips are reach weapons that don't threaten and provoke AoOs, like a ranged weapon would. Standing 10' from your target and using a full attack, you use the whip to trip him, then take your 5' step and stab him with your dagger.

Assuming your target has no way of standing without provoking an AoO from you, would you be able to make that AoO since you are holding a weapon that threatens (the dagger)? What if you didn't have iterative attacks, and only tripped him with the whip, then moved in (i.e., no stabbing)? Does it matter what hand you are holding the weapons in; i.e., can you only make AoO with a weapon held in your main hand? Finally, does DnD even use the concept of "readied" weapons, making this whole series of questions moot?
jaelis
06-12-07, 10:26 AM Well, that's all kind of basic to the combat system. We can explain it a bit, but reviewing the combat section of the PHB will help a lot.

First, you can take an AoO whenever someone provokes one, as long as you are threatening them. In your example, the dagger threatens and the whip doesn't, so if you are holding the dagger and adjacent to your enemy, you get an AoO. It doesn't matter what hand you're holding the dagger in, (though some DMs will impose a penalty if it's in your off hand.) You don't need to do anything special to get that attack, but you're normally limited to only one per turn. So in some sense, your weapons are always ready.

Second, you can do a special thing called readying an action. If you want to hold your normal attack until your opponent does something in particular, you can take your turn to ready an attack against him. That is separate from taking an attack of opportunity. For instance, if your opponent is prone at the start of your turn, you could ready an action to attack him when he tries to stand up. If he then tries to stand up on his own turn, he would trigger two attacks: one from your readied action, and one from the attack of opportunity. So they are really separate things. It's important that readying is always a standard action, so if you've attacked once already with the whip, you couldn't ready an attack with the dagger, because you don't have a standard action left to take.

So yes, dnd has the concept of a readied weapon, in at least two different senses.
Vegepygmy
06-12-07, 11:49 AM Assuming your target has no way of standing without provoking an AoO from you, would you be able to make that AoO since you are holding a weapon that threatens (the dagger)?Yes.

What if you didn't have iterative attacks, and only tripped him with the whip, then moved in (i.e., no stabbing)?No difference.

Does it matter what hand you are holding the weapons in; i.e., can you only make AoO with a weapon held in your main hand?No, it doesn't matter (in 3.5).

Finally, does DnD even use the concept of "readied" weapons, making this whole series of questions moot?I wouldn't use the word "readied," as it is too easily confused with the Ready action. The preferred term is probably "wielded."
citizencoyote
06-12-07, 12:44 PM I should have been more clear what I meant by "readied" weapons. Situations where you have a ranged weapon in one hand and a melee weapon (be it a knife or fist) in the other are rare in DnD, but very common in D20 Modern. In the D20 Modern Bullet Points on Wizard's site, they clarify that the last weapon you used is the one considered wielded for making attacks of opportunity. In other words, if you fired a pistol and then someone next to you provoked an AoO from you, you could *not* attack them regardless of what kind of weapon you were using in your offhand (be it a fist, knife, whatever), nor could you pistol whip them. You were "readied" for ranged attacks, not melee, in other words.

So this was not a question on readied actions, but whether or not DnD had a similar rule to Modern. My bad for using confusing terms. At any rate, thanks for the answers, that's all I needed to know.

:tiphat:

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
citizencoyote 06-12-07, 10:11 AM	I think D20 Modern has something about "readied" weapons, but I'm not sure if DnD does. Here's a situation. Say you are dual-wielding a whip and a dagger. Whips are reach weapons that don't threaten and provoke AoOs, like a ranged weapon would. Standing 10' from your target and using a full attack, you use the whip to trip him, then take your 5' step and stab him with your dagger. Assuming your target has no way of standing without provoking an AoO from you, would you be able to make that AoO since you are holding a weapon that threatens (the dagger)? What if you didn't have iterative attacks, and only tripped him with the whip, then moved in (i.e., no stabbing)? Does it matter what hand you are holding the weapons in; i.e., can you only make AoO with a weapon held in your main hand? Finally, does DnD even use the concept of "readied" weapons, making this whole series of questions moot?
jaelis 06-12-07, 10:26 AM	Well, that's all kind of basic to the combat system. We can explain it a bit, but reviewing the combat section of the PHB will help a lot. First, you can take an AoO whenever someone provokes one, as long as you are threatening them. In your example, the dagger threatens and the whip doesn't, so if you are holding the dagger and adjacent to your enemy, you get an AoO. It doesn't matter what hand you're holding the dagger in, (though some DMs will impose a penalty if it's in your off hand.) You don't need to do anything special to get that attack, but you're normally limited to only one per turn. So in some sense, your weapons are always ready. Second, you can do a special thing called readying an action. If you want to hold your normal attack until your opponent does something in particular, you can take your turn to ready an attack against him. That is separate from taking an attack of opportunity. For instance, if your opponent is prone at the start of your turn, you could ready an action to attack him when he tries to stand up. If he then tries to stand up on his own turn, he would trigger two attacks: one from your readied action, and one from the attack of opportunity. So they are really separate things. It's important that readying is always a standard action, so if you've attacked once already with the whip, you couldn't ready an attack with the dagger, because you don't have a standard action left to take. So yes, dnd has the concept of a readied weapon, in at least two different senses.
Vegepygmy 06-12-07, 11:49 AM	Assuming your target has no way of standing without provoking an AoO from you, would you be able to make that AoO since you are holding a weapon that threatens (the dagger)?Yes. What if you didn't have iterative attacks, and only tripped him with the whip, then moved in (i.e., no stabbing)?No difference. Does it matter what hand you are holding the weapons in; i.e., can you only make AoO with a weapon held in your main hand?No, it doesn't matter (in 3.5). Finally, does DnD even use the concept of "readied" weapons, making this whole series of questions moot?I wouldn't use the word "readied," as it is too easily confused with the Ready action. The preferred term is probably "wielded."
citizencoyote 06-12-07, 12:44 PM	I should have been more clear what I meant by "readied" weapons. Situations where you have a ranged weapon in one hand and a melee weapon (be it a knife or fist) in the other are rare in DnD, but very common in D20 Modern. In the D20 Modern Bullet Points on Wizard's site, they clarify that the last weapon you used is the one considered wielded for making attacks of opportunity. In other words, if you fired a pistol and then someone next to you provoked an AoO from you, you could not attack them regardless of what kind of weapon you were using in your offhand (be it a fist, knife, whatever), nor could you pistol whip them. You were "readied" for ranged attacks, not melee, in other words. So this was not a question on readied actions, but whether or not DnD had a similar rule to Modern. My bad for using confusing terms. At any rate, thanks for the answers, that's all I needed to know. :tiphat: