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Today it's time for the next article covering our Combat System, and today we'll be diving in-depth into what you can all do when it finally becomes your turn in initiative!
During Combat the game changes to a turn based battle mode, much like you're used to from 1e, other TTRPGs and of course the Video Games!
Everything a creature does while in this turn based mode falls under one of the following action types:
In any given round of Combat, you will have a certain number of Activations, typically ranging from 1-3 per round. For more info see part 1
During each of your Activations you may perform either 1 Complex Action or 2 Simple Actions, and these two are the predominant action types within the system and will therefore see used the most.
A Simple Action is something that is relatively quick to perform often without much thought behind it. You are able to take 2 Simple Actions each Activation, but if you take even 1 you are unable to take a Complex Action in that same Activation.
Complex Actions meanwhile are as the name describes; more complicated. Almost all offensive attacks are Complex Actions, and similarly when taking a Complex Action during your Activation, you are unable to take any Simple Actions during the same activation.
Finally for our 3 basic action types we have Free Actions, as the name implies these actions are the easiest to perform as they require very little focus or effort to execute. Free Actions often are part of other Actions or have some kind of specific Trigger associated with them, and do not "cost" any part of your Activation to use. Free Actions can be activated as many times as long as you meet the requirements for activation, whether from a certain Trigger, PP cost or otherwise.
Free Actions resolve after the action that triggered them, or if used as part of another action; it will resolve at the point it was initiated.
Besides our 3 basic action types we have 3 slightly more complicated action types covered up next:
Priority Actions allow you to immediately take your turn upon declaration. When you declare a Priority Action you will skip your next Activation in combat to perform the declared action as if it was your turn right away. Priority is always defined on an action with the [Priority X] Trait, where X ranged from 1 to 7 and indicates the Priority Level. The level determines in what order Priority Actions resolve in case multiple of them are declared at the same time, starting from the highest Priority Level and then counting down till the lowest one. If Priority Levels are tied, then the Speed stat will be used as a tie-breaker, and if you somehow manage to even tie that up, the current initiative order will be the final tie-breaker.
Interrupt Actions are a type of Priority Action that has an associated Trigger to use, and can only be used as a Priority Interrupt Action alongside that Trigger, and thus just like Priority Actions will force you to skip your next Activation when used. They are denoted by the [Interrupt X] Trait which functions the same as the Priority equivalent. The difference with Interrupt actions is that they do not grant you your full Activation; meaning you can only take the declared Interrupt Action. This means you can't move during the resolution of your Interrupt Action. Interrupt Actions always resolve before the Action that triggered them.
And last but not least, we have Delay Actions, which are telegraphed actions. Similar to Priority Actions these Actions have a level, ranging from 1-3, denoted by the [Delay X] Trait. The Delay Level indicates how many activations from any creature in the round must resolve before the declared action can resolve, and will always resolve before the end of the round. Delay Actions can only ever be used during your own Activation.
During your Activation, you can declare any Complex or Simple Action as a Delay Action. When doing so, you designate the Delay Level (1-3) yourself, or you may instead specify a specific Trigger for the action to become an [Interrupt 1] instead.
If the Delay Action becomes an Interrupt Action, you still have to skip your next activation as if it was a regular Interrupt Action, similarly if the trigger does not occur before the start of your next Activation (not including the skipped activation, as this one will never 'start'), the action will fail to resolve.
The Trigger you specify can be as general as "Anything that enters range will be targeted and attacked" or more specific like "When a pink ball-like creature comes around the corner of that bus, I will attack them with this Action." to suit your own needs.
The distance you can walk, fly, swim, climb, and more is determined by your Movement Score and Movement Types. Whenever you take an action, or on your Activations, you can spend Movement as a free action.
Each Movement Type represents a different mode of movement. To cover a few examples, Overland encompasses all traditional on-ground movement (walking, running, etc.), Swim includes all in-water movement, and Fly covers anything in the air (including what 1e separated out as levitation, which is now covered by the [Hover] tag).
Keep in mind that Movement is a per round resource. That means if you spend all of your Movement before the round ends, you cannot use any more until the next round, even if you have multiple activations! For example if your Movement resource is 10m per round and you have two Activations, if you spend all 10m of Movement on your first activation, you will not have any leftover movement allowance on your second activation.
When you use a Movement Type to move, you deduct 1 from that Type for the remainder of the round, as well as 1 from any Types that are as high or higher than that Type. To illustrate, let’s take Charizard as an example, which has the Overland and Fly Movement Types, with Movement Scores of 10 and 15 respectively.
On its first activation, if Charizard moves 3m using its Overland movement, both its Overland and Fly are reduced by 3 (to 7 and 12). But if it decides to then move 4m using its Fly movement, only Fly is reduced (to 8), leaving Charizard with 7 Overland and 8 Fly to use for the rest of the round.
So the easiest way to remember your maximum Movement per round is by taking the highest Movement Score from all your Movement Types.
If you find that your movement is insufficient in a given round, you can choose to Rush.
Rush is a Simple Action that can add to the Score of a Movement Type you possess for the rest of the round, essentially a gamble to ensure that you can “sprint”. By succeeding at a Skill Test with the Skill associated with the Movement Type you wish to add to (Running for Overland and Fly, Climb for Burrow, Swim for… Swim), you gain +1 to that Movement Type’s Movement Score for every degree of success rolled for the remainder of the Round.