Can you ready movement? (witch bolt spell)

[Red Bear]

one of my players, a wizard, uses the spell "witch bolt" and after he has hit says "I ready the action of moving towards my target if he moves away from me". How should I deal with this? technically he cannot do this, right? because readying something consumes an action, also can you ready a movement in general? what do you think, should I allow him to do this somehow?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Witch bolt costs an action to cast or trigger, so you can't Ready an action on the same turn (unless you have some ability like Action Surge or possibly haste). However, in general, I would allow someone to Ready a 'move', on the principle that it's actually a Dash action.

[Aett_Thorn]

I AFB right now, but I'm pretty sure that you can only Ready "Actions", and movement isn't an Action. I'd allow it with a Dash Action, as said above, but agree with them that you can't cast a spell and ready movement, since they are both Actions.

Edit -. That said, Witch Bolt is a pretty pathetic spell, so there's probably some way that you could allow this to make it at least somewhat feasible.

[ad_hoc]

Witch Bolt is one of the worst spells in the game.

The solution here is to suggest a different spell to the player. Let them swap it out for something that is at least decent.

[alchahest]

on subsequent turns you can ready an action to dash, though.

[Easy_Lee]

He can't do it by the rules, but there's not really a practical, realistic reason why he shouldn't be able to chase the person. Incidentally, this is exactly why Witch Bolt is a terrible spell.

[Ninja_Prawn]

on subsequent turns you can ready an action to dash, though.

Only if you choose not to trigger the ongoing damage from the spell. It costs an action every turn to get the damage out of it. Yeah, it's that bad.

[ad_hoc]

He can't do it by the rules, but there's not really a practical, realistic reason why he shouldn't be able to chase the person. Incidentally, this is exactly why Witch Bolt is a terrible spell.

It's not the only reason.

1d12 is pitiful damage for a 1st level spell.

Considering miss chance that's an average of what? 3-4 damage?

Compare to Magic Missile which does 10.5 damage on average.

[Demonslayer666]

As DM, I would allow the wizard to "save" his move to later move with the target of the Witchbolt spell, but I would limit it to walking speed, and only what he dind't use that turn already.

As has been stated, this is normally against the rules since Witchbolt requires an action to maintain it and any other action cancels the spell (Ready an Action is also an action).

[Submortimer]

I AFB right now, but I'm pretty sure that you can only Ready "Actions", and movement isn't an Action. I'd allow it with a Dash Action, as said above, but agree with them that you can't cast a spell and ready movement, since they are both Actions.

Edit -. That said, Witch Bolt is a pretty pathetic spell, so there's probably some way that you could allow this to make it at least somewhat feasible.

Important thing to remember: the Dash action only increases your movement speed, it does not, in and of itself, allow you to move.

Now, the book's definition of what you can do with a readied action is vague:


ReadySometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.
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. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I'll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the goblin steps next to me, I move away.”
When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.
When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and holding onto the spell's magic requires concentration (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Concentration). If your concentration (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Concentration) is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect. For example, if you are concentrating (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Concentration) on the web (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Web) spell and ready magic missile (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Magic_Missile), your web (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Web) spell ends, and if you take damage before you release magic missile (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Magic_Missile) with your reaction, your concentration (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Concentration) might be broken.


However, right in there, it mentions "moving away from the goblin", so movement IS an acceptable use of the Ready action.

A concrete part of this, though, is that Ready is an Action, meaning you do either this OR your cast Witchbolt (always a bad idea). After that, you need to use your Reaction to use the readied ability.

Since Witch Bolt says "the spell ends if you use your action to do anything else", you cannot use the ready action and maintain Witch Bolt (again, always a bad idea).

[Tanarii]

You can choose to Ready to move up to your speed instead of Readying an Action, per the rules for Ready.
(Note this is not readying an action. There is no action for moving.)

As others have already pointed out, this doesn't do any good in the case of Witch Bolt.

[Kane0]

Sure, just ready to Dash. Or however you want to word it, you're still trading your action now in order to move up to your speed as a reaction later.

Should probably still fix Witch Bolt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?538804-BAM-Houserules-and-Homebrew) though.

[Specter]

I just feel like WotC needs to come out and say 'sorry for Witch Bolt guys'.

[Tanarii]

I just feel like WotC needs to come out and say 'sorry for Witch Bolt guys'.
Make sure to tack on True Strike when you start the petition. :smallwink:

[Kane0]

Plus arguably blade ward. And why not Flame Blade and Mordenkainen's Sword while we're at it?

[ad_hoc]

Plus arguably blade ward. And why not Flame Blade and Mordenkainen's Sword while we're at it?

Blade Ward is fine.

It's safer than Dodge (which is an underrated action itself) and it synergizes well with Armour of Agathys.

[Specter]

Make sure to tack on True Strike when you start the petition. :smallwink:


Plus arguably blade ward. And why not Flame Blade and Mordenkainen's Sword while we're at it?

True Strike - True dat!
Blade Ward - it has niche uses, so sure, whatever.
Flame Blade - I find it good, actually. The damage is simple, but it's one spell slot to concentrate on for up to 30d6 damage.
Mordenkainen's Sword - burn it and bury it.

[Aett_Thorn]

Eh, Flame Blade has plenty of things that just don't make it work as well as it should. Attacks with it take a special type of action, meaning that if you somehow have Extra Attack and this spell, it doesn't work (compare to Shadow Blade from Xanathar's which basically is a fixed version of this). It takes Concentration and is a melee-focused spell, which if you're a RAW-loving Druid, you should only be in Hide Armor, decent Dex and a Shield for a max AC of 16. The damage scales rather poorly, too, given all of the drawbacks.

[Tanarii]

Flame Blade is fine. As long as you define 'fine' as "only worth using for levels 3 & 4". After level 5 you might as well use a cantrip.

[Easy_Lee]

Flame Blade is fine. As long as you define 'fine' as "only worth using for levels 3 & 4". After level 5 you might as well use a cantrip.

I only know of one saving grace to flame blade: it's usable while wildshaped. Therefore, with a permissive DM, a druid could theoretically turn into a grasshopper or similar and wreck an orc camp with it. Theoretically.

In reality, it seems so few DMs appreciate tactics like this that it'll probably just get the druid squashed.

[Vaz]

You can only ready an action, not movement, and unless the action specifically lets you move, then sadly not. Readying Dash does not work, because all that does is increase your speed, but does not actually allow you to move as part of that action.

[Tanarii]

You can ready movement, as was already referenced (twice) up thread.
"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. "