Melee attack on flying drop down monster

[BeefGood]

Flying monster about 20feet up uses part of movement to drop down, attacks someone, and uses rest of movement to fly back up out of reach. A different character, no flight, wants to rush in and smack the monster while it is near the ground. how to do this? I think it requires the Ready action. Character states "if the monster drops down I will rush over and smack him." But I'm wondering about the rule that usually the trigger is completed before the reaction. Is "the monster drops down" an appropriate trigger?
Also can the player both move to the drop down location, AND attack, as part of the Readied action?

[PhoenixPhyre]

Flying monster about 20feet up uses part of movement to drop down, attacks someone, and uses rest of movement to fly back up out of reach. A different character, no flight, wants to rush in and smack the monster while it is near the ground. how to do this? I think it requires the Ready action. Character states "if the monster drops down I will rush over and smack him." But I'm wondering about the rule that usually the trigger is completed before the reaction. Is "the monster drops down" an appropriate trigger?
Also can the player both move to the drop down location, AND attack, as part of the Readied action?

I'd allow the trigger, but you can only ready a move OR an attack on a readied reaction.



First you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it.

The phrasing makes it clear that this is the exclusive OR. Dropping down is a perceivable circumstance; the monster a) moves 20 ft, b) attacks, c) moves 20 ft. Remember that movement is not an action.

[Sirdar]

I would definitely allow a 5-15 feet movement in addition to the attack. The flier sweeps down and you try to intercept. I think it is a great use of the Ready action and it keeps the flow of the fight going.

Screw the movement OR attack rule and go for the rule of cool in this case.

[willdaBEAST]

Personally I'd allow the movement and attack if the flying creature was the only hostile enemy in combat. Realistically everyone would be scanning the sky watching to see what it would do. If there are ground based opponents as well, I'd allow a triggered attack, but probably not movement in conjunction with it (the PC's attention would be split between immediate threats and threats from above). I envision this a bit like a foul ball in baseball. If you're in the outfield and the batter sends the ball arcing extremely high in the air, you can run to catch it while keeping your eyes locked on it since you know there aren't any obstacles on the field.

The attacked target should get an opportunity attack as the flying creature swoops by and I would describe the arc that the flying creature takes, allowing for any other PCs nearby to get opportunity attacks if they are close enough to it. I think PCs would generally be able to tell what direction the flying creature will be coming in from, so if they want to set up a reaction to intercept that, I would give them some details on what they might perceive as the likely arc of the swoop. Maybe include a perception roll to see how successful they are at predicting the flight path.

[Laurefindel]

Yeah, attacking a swooping opponent seems to me one of the few moments where a "ready" mechanics is needed in D&D. IMO, it needs to allow that.

I'd allow full move and a single attack as a readied action, provided that the character did not move during its turn.