# Forum > Gaming > Roleplaying Games > D&D 5e/Next > Player Help Banishment question

## dnd2016

So, we have a small dragon banished. We are healing, buffing, getting in position with 8 rounds to go on the 1-minute duration spell. What is our best course of action? We will end the spell right after the dragon's turn. Can we ready our actions and get a free round in so to speak, and then resume normal initiative, skipping his turn on the readied action round?

Thanks

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## 5eNeedsDarksun

The dragon wouldn't be surprised (unless the DM rules it, and I think that'd be very unlikely) so it would act in any round of combat.  You could certainly ready actions using the normal rules (and your reactions).
Edit: if the dragon returned after it's initiative (the Banishment started after its initiative) it would have the same option to ready an action.

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## dnd2016

> The dragon wouldn't be surprised (unless the DM rules it, and I think that'd be very unlikely) so it would act in any round of combat.  You could certainly ready actions using the normal rules (and your reactions).
> Edit: if the dragon returned after it's initiative (the Banishment started after its initiative) it would have the same option to ready an action.


Ok. so, combat as usual. Best case is we all get to go before he does if we end the spell right after his turn, right?

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## 5eNeedsDarksun

> Ok. so, combat as usual. Best case is we all get to go before he does if we end the spell right after his turn, right?


Seems like a decent strategy to end the spell after his turn and hope he doesn't ready an action.

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## dnd2016

> Seems like a decent strategy to end the spell after his turn and hope he doesn't ready an action.


So, it can't take actions. Do readied actions count?

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## JNAProductions

> Seems like a decent strategy to end the spell after his turn and hope he doesn't ready an action.


Doesn't _Banishment_ leave you incapacitated?

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## kazaryu

> Doesn't _Banishment_ leave you incapacitated?


yes, banishment leaves you incapacitated. 

for the OP. yes, if your DM allows you to use initiative order as a trigger for readied actions, then you can all ready actions, end concentration and all take your readied actions. from there initiative would continue from just after the dragons turn. effectively allowing everyone to get a single action *and* an entire turn in before the dragon gets its next turn. 

However, that is all contingent on the DM allowing you to abuse initiative like that. Personally, i'd only count on getting the free round of actions, since there's no reason for the characters to be aware of initiative, and the readied actions are the only things hard codified in the rules. so if you get the extra full round as well, i'd just treat it as a bonus/the DM being kind.

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## Unoriginal

> So, we have a small dragon banished. We are healing, buffing, getting in position with 8 rounds to go on the 1-minute duration spell. What is our best course of action?


Few questions that need to be answered before we can answer that:


- What kind of dragon, and what age category? (I'm assuming the "small dragon" part isn't literal)

- Where is the fight taking place?

- What's your party composition and levels?

- What kind of equipment do you have?

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## 5eNeedsDarksun

> yes, banishment leaves you incapacitated. 
> 
> for the OP. yes, if your DM allows you to use initiative order as a trigger for readied actions, then you can all ready actions, end concentration and all take your readied actions. from there initiative would continue from just after the dragons turn. effectively allowing everyone to get a single action *and* an entire turn in before the dragon gets its next turn. 
> 
> However, that is all contingent on the DM allowing you to abuse initiative like that. Personally, i'd only count on getting the free round of actions, since there's no reason for the characters to be aware of initiative, and the readied actions are the only things hard codified in the rules. so if you get the extra full round as well, i'd just treat it as a bonus/the DM being kind.


Question: as I read the spell it's somewhat unclear if the incapacitated condition applies to creatures who go back to their plane.  Does incapacitated apply in all cases, or just the demi-plane?

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## Chaos Jackal

> Question: as I read the spell it's somewhat unclear if the incapacitated condition applies to creatures who go back to their plane.  Does incapacitated apply in all cases, or just the demi-plane?


The spell does say "while *there*, the target is incapacitated" in regards to the demiplane specifically, while no such mention of any sort is made in the second paragraph. My take would be that it's not incapacitated if it ends up in its native plane. And while common sense has a tendency to not apply to such things, it would be unreasonable if it was. The demiplane is specifically harmless, but a creature's native plane, more often than not, not so much. So what, you'll send a demon back in the Abyss and they'll out of commission for up to a minute? That demon's gonna get eaten, literally.

There's likely some clarification or a Crawford tweet or whatever on the matter, but I don't have time to look it up right now. Though it probably doesn't relate to the task at hand anyway.




> So, it can't take actions. Do readied actions count?


Readying an action is an action in and of itself. An incapacitated creature cannot ready actions.

As to what your best course of action is overall, buff up if you think you need it and/or can afford the slots/features, summon stuff, whatever. Take up optimal positions so everyone can target/hit the dragon, make sure you're not in formation to be hit by its breath (if it survives) and prepare to wreck its face. If you're still in initiative, ready actions to do whatever you wanna do immediately after the dragon reappears, then proceed with the initiative order.

Do note that, if you're not considered to still be in combat and thus acting under initiative, you cannot ready actions, at least by RAW. Reacting to an event and when you do it is precisely what initiative is for, after all. But since you mentioned rounds left I assume you're still in initiative, so buckle up.

Oh, and one more thing. You can drop concentration on a spell at any point, without any action or reaction, even during someone else's turn. So if you want to have everyone take their readied actions and then double up with their normal turns before the dragon gets to move, you can actually decide that. Just end the _banishment_ right after its turn ends and smack it twice with everyone.

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## 5eNeedsDarksun

> The spell does say "while *there*, the target is incapacitated" in regards to the demiplane specifically, while no such mention of any sort is made in the second paragraph. My take would be that it's not incapacitated if it ends up in its native plane. And while common sense has a tendency to not apply to such things, it would be unreasonable if it was. The demiplane is specifically harmless, but a creature's native plane, more often than not, not so much. So what, you'll send a demon back in the Abyss and they'll out of commission for up to a minute? That demon's gonna get eaten, literally.
> 
> There's likely some clarification or a Crawford tweet or whatever on the matter, but I don't have time to look it up right now. Though it probably doesn't relate to the task at hand anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> Readying an action is an action in and of itself. An incapacitated creature cannot ready actions.
> 
> As to what your best course of action is overall, buff up if you think you need it and/or can afford the slots/features, summon stuff, whatever. Take up optimal positions so everyone can target/hit the dragon, make sure you're not in formation to be hit by its breath (if it survives) and prepare to wreck its face. If you're still in initiative, ready actions to do whatever you wanna do immediately after the dragon reappears, then proceed with the initiative order.
> ...


I agree on your ruling on not using the incapacitated condition in some cases, which was the reason I got muddled on this one.  Yes, in this case (unless the dragon specifically did come from another plane) it could not ready an action.

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## Demonslayer666

Depends on how your DM handles it.  I would most likely have combat stop (and stop going by rounds).  I'd have combat start over once the spell was dropped.  I would likely give the party advantage on initiative since they could prep for when it dropped.

If initiative is kept, your strategy is solid, and you should be able to ready actions since combat has not ended.

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## kazaryu

> Question: as I read the spell it's somewhat unclear if the incapacitated condition applies to creatures who go back to their plane.  Does incapacitated apply in all cases, or just the demi-plane?


nope, incapacitated is only for creatures that were banished to a demi-place, which is what i presumed happened here. if thats not the case, then the dragon *might* be able to prepare an action, but it also doesn't know when it'll shunt back, if ever so...

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## nickl_2000

It doesn't have to be your turn to release concentration on a spell.  So it's super easy to make sure that you release concentration right after the dragon's turn.

Then everyone but the PC who's turn it is can use the required action and then you can ask point on it before it goes again.

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