Ready an action to cast a summon nature's ally spell?

[qlawdat]

So I have gotten into a 3.5 game after having played pathfinder for a while. I seem to remember some rule that you could do something along the lines of casting most of a spell and holding the last bit until you wanted to cast it. So you could essentially ready an action to cast a summon natures ally if you had time to cast most of it before the trigger for the readied action occurred. Is this a rule or did I make it up/am thinking of another rules system? Thanks.

[Zombimode]

So I have gotten into a 3.5 game after having played pathfinder for a while. I seem to remember some rule that you could do something along the lines of casting most of a spell and holding the last bit until you wanted to cast it. So you could essentially ready an action to cast a summon natures ally if you had time to cast most of it before the trigger for the readied action occurred. Is this a rule or did I make it up/am thinking of another rules system? Thanks.

There is no such rule to my knowledge. You can ready a standart, move or free action. Summon Natures Ally has a casting time of 1 round and thus cant be cast with a readied action.

[Squidfist]

Readying a spell, from what I understand, simply means you hold your standard action to cast, and are ready to cast the spell in response to a certain action.

So you don't actually cast part of the spell making it faster when you actually decide to manifest it, you simply stand around prepared to cast a spell, and when your action is triggered, you take the standard action as normal to finally cast your spell.

And as pointed out above, summon is a full round cast, further complicating it.

[Oscredwin]

Casting most of the and holding the last bit sounds like the fluff about spell preparation to explain Vancian spell casting. I don't remember where it's from (PhB, 2nd ed?) but you're doing most of the casting that morning and the "last bit" for SNA is the 1 round you cast in combat.

[Chronos]

You could ready the "start a full-round action" standard action, and use that to start casting the spell, but you would then need to also spend your standard action in the next round to finish casting the spell, at which point it would finally go off. I can't really see any situation where this would be beneficial.

[Zombimode]

You could ready the "start a full-round action" standard action, and use that to start casting the spell, but you would then need to also spend your standard action in the next round to finish casting the spell, at which point it would finally go off. I can't really see any situation where this would be beneficial.

No, per RAW you dont have this option.

[qlawdat]

Wow, lots of responses. Thanks. I was kind of sure I had made it up, and it is tough to find rules that don't exist. Thanks everyone.

[Jeraa]

No, per RAW you dont have this option.

By RAW, yes you do.


Start/Complete Full-Round Action

The "start full-round action" standard action lets you start undertaking a full-round action, which you can complete in the following round by using another standard action. You can’t use this action to start or complete a full attack, charge, run, or withdraw.

Nothing preventing you from using it on a spell.


A spell that takes 1 round to cast is a full-round action. It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began casting the spell. You then act normally after the spell is completed.

A 1-round casting time spell is a full round action. As a standard action, you can start a full-round action in one round, and finish it as a 2nd standard action in the next round.

[Zombimode]

By RAW, yes you do.

Interessting. I stand corrected.

[Squidfist]

By RAW, yes you do.



Nothing preventing you from using it on a spell.



A 1-round casting time spell is a full round action. As a standard action, you can start a full-round action in one round, and finish it as a 2nd full round action in the next round.

This is sorta confusing. I'm guessing the "finish it as a 2nd full round action in the next round" is a typo, and you mean standard, in which case- it should be clarified that a spell's casting can't be interrupted, so you'd need to finish casting that spell as the first action of the following turn. It's essentially just moving your 6 second cast from ON your turn to start at 50% of your turn and finish at 50% of the next, if I understand correctly.

Because as it reads now, it looks like I can move, prepare, then move, and finish, which makes very little sense.

Good to know, but doesn't really help OP ready a summon.

[nedz]

You might be thinking about touch spells, which you can cast and then hold the charge with ? This lasts until you hit someone, dismiss it or cast another spell.