Can someone explain to me why reactions are so critical to 5e gameplay? It seems to play fine without them, and I don't remember reactions in BG1+2 (but I might not have fully utilized everything.) It just seems like what people are describing might slow combat down even more (yikes) and make the game all choppy. Why are reactions so essential (genuine question, not sarcastic belittling)?
I'm going to add further to what I've already said in my previous post, there is a rather subtle effect that the lack of proper reactions has on character building. Builds at the moment are very individualistic. Since defensive tactics are currently rather lacking, your primary sense of progression is generally in hyper investment of offense instead, and there's not a whole lot to consider in that department for teamwork purposes right now, beyond 'gang up on something and hit them as hard as you can'. Maybe higher level spells and abilities might cover for this, but I don't see this shifting to any meaningful degree without at least ready actions being implemented.
For example, take this video of a Solasta fight that I recorded over a year ago, back when the game used to be in Early Access. Effective use of reactions basically enabled me to perform a lot of counters during the enemy turn, to the point where my party was reacting during enemy turns almost as much as they were acting during their own turns. The major tactic I utilized to end the fight was to have the whole party back off out of the darkness cloud to lure the boss into a wall of readied attacks and my own Spirit Guardians aura, a concept that currently doesn't exist in BG3 due to the lack of ready actions.
(Also treat it as a preview of how much Shadowheart is going to wreck everything within breathing distance once she gains access to the Spirit Guardians spell - though I am curious to see how that spell would look like for her, since the appearance of the spell actually changes depending on your alignment. Could be a plot point with profound impact if you see that spell changing during the course of the game.)
Also, consider this concept: Ever notice how healing spells in BG3 feel a bit weak? That's because DnD is a system that places greater importance on preventing damage than restoring it. What do reactions do? They generally revolve around prevention and countering. The concept of reactions is one of the crucial pillars that ties the balance together.
