Actions are the way in which Units take part in Battles. On your turn, you will choose your actions carefully and spend any required Stamina to activate them.
- Attack: Use an attack with or without an equipped weapon. Basic attacks cost 1 Stamina, or 2 Stamina if it’s a two-handed weapon or a versatile weapon held in two hands.
- Technique: Use a technique that your character knows, such as one that deals damage to multiple enemies or inflicts a foe with an injury. Unless otherwise noted, each technique can only be activated once per turn, although different techniques can be used on the same turn as long as you have the Stamina to activate them.
- Magic: Charge a spell that you know. If you have enough Stamina to complete the spell, it’ll be cast immediately. Casting a spell that requires more Stamina than you have available will charge the spell across multiple rounds, leaving you vulnerable until the charge is complete.
- Move: Moving allows you to move your figure a number of spaces up to your Speed. Using this action costs 1 Stamina. You can use this action up to three times on your turn. Using this action also allows you to stand up from prone, though you can’t move when you do. Additionally, you can move while prone, though your Speed is reduced by 2 to indicate that you’re crawling.
- Guard: When you take the Guard action on your turn, spend 1 Stamina and roll Strength, Agility, Intelligence, or Will. Doing so will increase your associated defensive prowess by the result until the start of your next turn. For details, see the Core Rules section. You can use the Guard action once per turn.
- Item: Use an item from your pack on yourself or an adjacent ally, change weapons, or interact with the environment. Using the Item action costs 1 Stamina, but you’re limited to doing so once per turn. Some interactions with the environment (such as pushing a statue, disarming a trap, or powering a magical orb) can cost more Stamina, multiple Item actions across multiple turns, or have other requirements as indicated by the DM.
Other than the actions listed above, there are two special types of actions that can be used any time, including on another party’s turn.
- Reaction: You can perform as many reactions as you can afford, even if it isn’t your turn. You can only perform reactions in response to something else happening as listed in the reaction’s effect text. Reactions generally cost Stamina, but not always. Reactions can be used multiple times per turn unless otherwise noted.
- Free Action: Anything that doesn’t cost Stamina and isn’t categorized as any of the above action types is considered a Free Action. Free Actions include things like falling prone, dropping weapons on the ground, and speaking in battle (limited to a few quick words only). You can also perform role-play actions such as a quick weapon flip to intimidate an enemy or impress an ally, blowing a kiss to a friend, or humming a battle tune to inspire allies. Unless an ability or spell is listed as a Free Action, actions of this type should not grant or require a roll of any kind.
Using Actions
For a list of basic actions and exact rules for them, see that page.
Attacking
To make an attack, simply declare a target in range (melee range means adjacent to you) and roll the damage dice for the attack. Add any appropriate bonuses (such as your Strength value for most melee weapons), and hopefully the damage exceeds the target’s Armor value. If it does, and the target didn’t use some kind of reaction to prevent the attack or reduce the damage, your attack inflicts a wound.
But that’s not all — attacks can inflict a Critical Hit (also called a Crit). If any of your damage dice for the attack roll the maximum, such as an 8 on one of the 2d8 damage dice you roll as part of making a basic attack with your greatsword, your attack is a Critical Hit. For that greatsword, you add an extra 1d8 damage to the attack on a Crit. Unfortunately, this extra damage can’t trigger a Crit of its own.
Thanks to that Crit in this situation, you really nailed that thug! Let’s say your attack did 23 damage against his Armor value of 3. You’ll notice there’s 20 points of excess damage there. This means you inflict more than one wound — in fact, you inflict two with your attack. 20 or more points of excess damage after everything is reduced by Armor and Resistances inflicts two wounds, 30 or more inflicts three wounds, and so on. With stronger attacks as you level up, you can really pump out the damage and inflict massive wounds to your foes. You may have to use more than just basic attacks to do so, however.
Reactions
What if your enemy doesn’t want to be hit by your greatsword? They can try to evade your attack. If they do, it won’t matter how much damage you deal, or even if you roll a Critical Hit — your attack will be negated. In this situation, you’ll have to roll Accuracy and compare the result to their Evasion. Accuracy for players is an Agility roll increased by your Evasion value. Outrolling or tying the enemy’s Evasion value means your attack hits and everything goes through as intended.
Reactions such as this can change the flow of battle immensely from moment to moment. All units can use the Evade reaction, players included. When you try to evade as a player, you’ll make an Evasion roll measured against the enemy’s Accuracy value. Same rules as Accuracy rolls apply — you’ll need to meet or beat the Accuracy value to win the Evasion roll and negate the enemy’s attack.
There are plenty of other reactions in the game that all have their own unique rules. Here are a few examples:
- Block – While you have a shield equipped, roll Strength in response to being attacked and add the result plus your shield’s block value to your Armor value against that attack. Costs 1 Stamina. Available to anyone with a shield equipped.
- Parry – While a melee weapon is equipped, roll Strength in response to being attacked in melee and reduce the damage of the attack. If the attack fails to inflict a wound, you can immediately make a free attack of your own against the unit. Costs 2 Stamina.
- Warrior’s Prowess – Once per round when you attack and fail to inflict a wound, you can use this reaction for 1 Stamina to reroll your damage with your attack. This is an example of a reaction that isn’t made in response to an enemy’s action, but in response to your own. Warrior’s Prowess is available to anyone with two levels in the Warrior class.
Guarding
Spending Stamina to defend yourself isn’t only done in response to enemy attacks. You can forego a bit of offense on your turn to bolster your defenses on the subsequent enemy round. Once per round, you can use the Guard action to do so.
When you use the Guard action, choose one of your Core Stats — Strength, Agility, Intelligence, or Will. Roll the associated Stat, and the result will boost one of the following:
- If you rolled Strength, boost your Armor value by the result until the beginning of your next turn.
- If you rolled Agility, boost your Evasion value by the result until the beginning of your next turn.
- If you rolled Intelligence, boost any skill-based reaction rolls by the result until the beginning of your next turn.
- If you rolled Will, boost all of your Resistances by the result until the beginning of your next turn.
For purposes of Guarding with Intelligence, skill-based reaction rolls in this case are rolls from any reaction learned through one of your Skill Trees. You can find more information on these by navigating to the Skills section.
Casting Spells
Use the Magic action to cast spells in Battle. See the Magic section for more information on this type of action.