Choosing an Action

When it is time for a character to select an action for the round, the action is chosen independently without selecting a movement category beforehand. For example, if a warrior chooses to attack, there is no need to declare whether this is a no-move attack or a half-move and attack. The player simply announces that his warrior intends to attack.

This allows some flexibility in the system so that the ebb and flow of battle does not thwart the characters’ actions each round. By waiting until a character’s action phase occurs to determine how much movement is needed to perform a chosen action, much of this problem is eliminated.

Still, there are times when characters may be prevented from completing their action by a change in their situation. A spellcaster may have his spell interrupted, or a fleeing character may find himself trapped with no place to run. When a character’s action is prevented by an enemy’s interference, the action is lost for the round and the character can take no other action for that round.

On the other hand, characters may sometimes start an action and then think better of it. A character may begin a charge and then pull up short when he realizes he is about to run into a hedge of pikes, or a character who had planned to fire a crossbow may suddenly recognize his target as a potential ally.

At that point, a character can choose to either hold or abort a combat action when his action phase arises. Holding an action simply involves delaying the intended action for one or more action phases.

For example, Tyar the Glorious wins initiative and declares that he will attack (because there is an orc in front of him). Tyar would normally perform his attack on the average phase, due to his long sword. However, on the fast phase Twillo the Sly, Tyar’s thiefly companion, successfully kills the orc with a backstabbing attack. Tyar sees an ogre that will most likely advance during the average phase, but only after Tyar is elligible to take his attack (since Tyar won initiative). Tyar decides to hold his attack until the slow phase so that he can attack the ogre after it advances.

A character may also choose to abort his planned action in favor of another. There are some limits to the new choice of actions, and the character’s turn automatically bounces to immediately after the very slow phase of the combat round. It is treated like an extra phase and is resolved normally in all respects. See the individual action choices for more details.

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