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mvincent wrote:

Not everyone would agree with that interpretation. Also, removing the ability to cover an area during combat (i.e. ready to "attack the first enemy I see coming around the corner") wouldn't seem to add fun or realism.

Not really. AoE powers target an area and you could have them trigger on when an enemy enters that area. The trigger is more open to general actions because it just says a triggering action. The target though says an intended target which in the case of an AoE power is the area not the monster.

After all watching an area and being ready to nuke it as soon as something enters it is one thing. It only takes a second to then finish off your power you were already primed to cast when compared to. Sitting there with bow drawn watching a whole area waiting for an enemy to show then when he does aiming at them and then firing.

This in my opinion is what Delay Turn is for. If you know the enemy is coming but don't wanna give up your turn to wait for a full init round you simply delay turn then when the monster comes around the corner and finishes it's turn you take your turn.

An intended target is not "I'll shoot this enemy, or this enemy, or this enemy. I'll let you know when the trigger happens." to leave the players options open. Those are the kind of things players have time to decide on their turns not in the brief moment it takes to do a readied action.

AbdulAlhazred wrote:

Except they will be able to do it every single time they come to a door, or a dozen other places. The surprise mechanism and initiative are THERE to determine who gets the jump on who. Characters are already immune to surprise in a 'door opening' situation. If the PCs surprise the monsters, then they can use their surprise actions to ready an attack. If they don't get surprise then quick reactions matter and the monsters may well come out of it pretty well.

There are more players then there are DMs at the table and the ultimate goal is to make sure the players have fun. If the players like feeling clever by readying a charge attack at every door then more power to them. It's about having fun. If the DM doesn't like this tactic well he's the DM! He can make it less advantageous. I had a DM were most dungeons have long hallways with few doors and those doors rarely had monsters right on the other side of them. They were usually opening into hallways that lead to a room with monsters.

Also think these are often old places made of stone. That means echos and doors that sqeek. So just because you open the door doesn't mean the enemy won't hear or see it, thus ruining the surprise factor.

AbdulAlhazred wrote:

There are other sorts of problems. Suppose the party opens a door, why would not the monsters have their bows all aimed at the door with actions readied? These things cut both ways.

Actually they could be readied. They usually aren't because it makes no sense from a roleplaying stand point. The players know they are about to spring on some bad guys, or at least assume they are. The monsters have been there for days, weeks, or etc. with nothing going on so their guard is down. This is why people always seem to get the drop on security guards. Because they have been their for so long they aren't really paying attention to what is going on anymore.

Now as for why they could be readied is simple. The might of setup an alarm trap for intruders. People often assume a trap's reaction has to be visible or have an immediate determent to the player. A simple pressure plate that activates a small bell in the room the bad guys are in when someone comes down the hall would suffice. The monsters hear it go off but because it's at the end of the hall behind a closed door the players don't. So the monsters take up positions to defend knowing someone is coming. And thanks to 4e new passive perception checks there is no need to roll anything to notify the players their was some trap to be noticed. If it is high enough though they can of course be alerted to the fact the pressure plate is there and thus avoid it.

AbdulAlhazred wrote:

The existing surprise mechanics provide a perfectly good way to use Ready WITHIN a combat situation to deal with setting up an ambush or a surprise attack. There just is not a need to give players another option that will generally just slow the game down by elaborating the door opening procedure even more than it is already. It won't add anything to the game IMHO.

I don't really see how it would slow down things that much as the player simply states the readied action they are going to do. They can't do a full round worth of action the most they could do is launch an attack or declare they are running into the room.

Also if you think like I do that when it says you need to pick an "intended target" this means a specific target. Not a general whatever enemy happens to be in range. Then it's rather difficult for the players to ready an attack since they have no intended targets. It's been established you can choose an invalid target in hopes that it will be valid when the trigger happens but that is still choosing A target. So the players can't really do much since they don't have any targets to choose from, even invalid ones, since they don't know what's in the room. Thus readying attack options is no really possible.

Now again things like AoE could work here I think. Because the player can declare they will say launch a fire ball 5 squares into the room when whoever opens the door. Since it has both a specific target and trigger then it's doable. And I think it's perfectly acceptable that someone would open the door and simply launch a fireball into the room to catch the people off guard. I don't think it's wise because they might not be hostile or if the creatures are clustered close to that spot. But it's certainly a valid ambush tactic.

AbdulAlhazred wrote:

It also starts to open up a whole other can of worms regarding other similar actions. Why wouldn't characters use their encounter long buff powers before entering combat for instance?

?? Umm how does it open up a new can of worms?

Encounter long actions could be used right before combat begins even without ready actions. It is been stated very clearly that you can use your powers at any time. Powers that last for a whole encounter have been stated that it is just a general time of about 5 mins. I have played in games where we were curtain the big boss was in the next room so everyone cast their encounter long buffs that weren't also attack based right before we went into the room.

Encounter is just a general term it doesn't mean that the second there is no hostile enemy standing there is ends. And it has been stated in examples from WoTC that an encounter long power could last longer then one encounter if you rush to the next fight and don't take a short rest. But you don't get the benefits of a short rest. People seem to assume the short rest is automatic and the second a battle finishes they get everything back and effects end.

But don't take my word for it.

PHB pg 58
If you use a power out of combat it last for 5 min unless otherwise noted.
PHB pg 278
Until the End of the Encounter: The effect ends when you take a rest (short or extended) or after 5 minutes.

So you see they can already use powers that last the whole encounter right before they go into a fight. And this is actually a very sound tactic. My groups often would "buff up" before a fight in 3x so it's not something new to 4e.

The real trick is knowing what your gonna be facing before you open that door. If it's a bunch of weak kobolds you wasted your dailies, since that's what most encounter long buffs are.

mvincent wrote:

Covering an avenue of approach (i.e. pointing your weapon at it) with a ranged weapon is a staple of both fiction and real-life tactics. I reckon most people envision readying with a ranged weapon as pointing your weapon at something. Conversely, delaying means to you are able to take any action in response to any stimuli... so you don't really gain anything by declaring that you are pointing a weapon at a certain area, ready for an enemy to enter.

Covering an approach is viable tactic And yes I suppose I should be a bit more clear. I don't think a player should be able to say any enemy that enters this general area (some large block of squares) I fire upon. Because covering an approach involves targeting a specific spot you think the enemy will come from and then opening fire. Also if the enemy is not in the spot you have take time to re-aim. Time which you often have in the case of a surprise ambush but not in the heat of battle. After all when the enemy first appears unless they are standing right where you are aiming you have to adjust which means he continues to move during that time and thus you loss the immediate reaction sense as well as the ability to stop them in their tracks.

All that being said I will refer back to the AoE example I used before by saying that you can target specific squares. The PHB pg 281 under the rules for attacking UNSEEN creatures states that you can declare an attack on a specific square in hopes there is a monster there. Thus I would say it is acceptable for a player to ready an attack with the following conditions.

Trigger: Monster enters this square.
Action: I attack that square.

This is a specific target according to the rules. My issue was the fact a player could basically declare large areas as target saying which ever target is "available". Because it's the same as saying as soon as I have a valid target I'm going to shoot. It does not start an intended target. It only states that an intended target is likely to appear at which point I will declare it as intended. Thus no intended target was set during the readying and thus you can't ready that action.