How do the real time with pause crowd see all the reaction abilities of 5e working?
Keep in mind many of them are based on finite resources so you cant have them just happen every time they /could/ be triggered. Also only 1 reaction a round, so 1 reaction every 6 seconds too.
Most of the RTWP games I've played included in the settings page instances when the game would automatically pause. It is during these paused times that a reaction could be done. These instances included: - At the start of each character's turn, - When a character was hit, (By changing this slightly, i.e. When an enemy attacks a character (rather than when hit), you could include reactions like "cast Shield".) - When an enemy was hit, (This could work for things like Sneak Attack that only happen once per round) - When a character critically hits, - When an enemy critically hits, - When a character is reduced to 0 hit points, - When an enemy is reduced to 0 hit points, - At the end of every round.
Other instances of pause could also be added like: - When a character rolls an ability check - When an enemy rolls an ability check - When a character begins to cast a spell - When an enemy begins to cast a spell (This could work for things like counterspell) - When a character provokes an opportunity attack - When an enemy provokes an opportunity attack
I remember playing Icewind Dale 2 and more recently Pillars of Eternity and setting the Pause setting to trigger on pretty much every instance. So that it played sort of like a Turn Based game, but that I did not have to control or micromanage EVERY single party member's actions EVERY single round. This was due to the fact that these games had decent AI settings that meant that they already had default actions every round based upon their own positioning, other party member positioning, their own own health, other party member health, and the enemy's health.
So Blindhamster, you asked how would RTWP work with Reaction abilities? In my mind, its simple. Give each individual character a single reaction each round (per the rules). Then include settings that pause the game for the most common triggers of reactions, namely those listed above. Its not that complicated, although in my opinion RTWP is only really worth it if you include decent AI settings for each class that automatically know when to use their reactions (spellcasters using counterspell or shield, rogues using sneak attack, etc).
