[RPG] Do you get Extra Attacks when you ready an attack and use it in your own turn

dnd-5ereadied-action

It's the same as this question, but the Readied Attack Action is used in your own turn, so all the answers for this other question, as well as its dupes, aren't valid any more, as they are based on the fact that the Extra Attack only works in your turn. This comes from this answer, where this Readied Attack Action is used to hit an enemy while you fall, which arguably wouldn't be possible using the Attack Action. This means you are attacking during your turn using the readied attack.

The Ready Action states

Sometimes 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.

The Extra Attack feature states

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack Action on your turn.

So, my doubt is: being a reaction, does it still count as an Attack Action? The reason I'm confused is that a reaction is not exactly an action, for example, reaction spells can't be used as actions or vice-versa.

Clarifying: I know you can use your readied action in your own turn, which is what is covered here if I didn't miss any thing. The question is about the nature of the attack you are using in your turn. If you ready an attack and use it in your own turn, does it count as an Attack Action or just an attack? I.e., does it trigger Extra Attack (and any other features that trigger when you "take the Attack Action") or no?


Extra argument for the confusion: readying a spell is clearly different from the Cast a Spell action, as it takes concentration and spends the spell slot even if you don't use the spell at all.

Best Answer

Yes

Ready action requires (emphasis mine):

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 general rule is 1 Action per turn, but then specific rules can override that (e.g. Action Surge, Haste, etc.). I believe that Ready is another specific rule that overrides this as well because while you are using your Action to Ready, what you are really doing is using your Reaction to move your Action to another time.

Attack vs. attack (or does action have a meaning here?)

Upper case and lower case a have a meaning in the PHB, with the former being the Action described under Actions in Combat in the PHB.

When Ready asks you to choose your action, you use the actions listed there. The cases described in the PHB are "Use an Object" and "Movement" for the Ready (since you can only do one.)

In the case of this question, the Action that is being taken is Attack.

Attack Action on your turn

If you take the Attack action on your turn, then it comes with all the fun stuff that happen on your turn. This includes Extra Attack (which typically doesn't happen on a Ready whose trigger occurs NOT on your turn.)

In contrast, you can look at another reaction: Opportunity Attack. In this instance, the language does not say to take an action but to simply make a melee weapon attack. The difference is in the use of Action in the phrasing for Ready.

Actions vs attacks

The language in Ready is to choose the action. Actions are a defined term in the rules under Combat->Actions in Combat.

At other times, there is other language used when specifying melee/ranged/melee weapon/ranged weapon attacks. The language in Ready does not say to Ready an attack (lowercase a), it says to ready an action.

There are also several referenced examples of Ready Action and Extra Attack/Multiattack that reference the On your turn as the important qualifier. Had they not intended a Ready attack to be the Attack Action, then the discussion would have ended there and not referenced the turn requirements.

There are also other specific examples of more than one action on a turn that override that general rule: Cunning Action, Haste, Action Surge, etc.

Intent Support from Jeremy Crawford

The action choice intent (emphasis mine) is also provided by Crawford:

The Ready action lets you ready any action you can take, including Attack, but Extra Attack is on your turn.

Not only has he clearly stated that you take an Action, and that Action can be Attack (uppercase A), but that Extra Attack only functions on your turn.

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