Combat Actions

Alright, time to steamroll through some mental roadblocks. Action time!

Pathfinder shares the same action system as 3.5 D&D, with full-round, standard, move, swift, and free actions. What I intend to do is to merge the standard and move actions into one type of action, the single action. So I would have double or full-round actions, single actions, swift actions, and free actions. Most actions are single actions, such as moving, making an attack, drawing or sheathing a weapon, drinking a potion, or readying a shield. Double actions include options like charging and running. Swift and free actions are unchanged. Spellcasting is a bit special; spell casting times will be given in actions, typically in the 1-4 range. These actions must be taken consecutively and without interruption—so you have to keep the spellcaster safe if they’re going to pull off their mega-spell.

One part I’m still unclear on is how multiple attacks will function. In its simplest form, a character can make two attacks—each a single action—per turn. This could present problems at the high end of play depending on the hit point system, as there’s no way to add additional attacks. On the low end, damage output is significantly increased compared to Pathfinder due to the option for the second attack.

Another possibility would be to make the attack action ‘non-repeatable’. A character could make however many attacks they get as a single action, and would have the other action free for a variety of options such as movement or improved defense. In this system, characters would default to a single attack and would gain additional attacks either as a function of tier or through a talent, probably requiring a prerequisite of a certain number of other combat talents. This makes the talent absolutely required for anyone who wants to be competent in combat, which seems problematic; on the other hand, anyone who wants to cast magic has to take the same core casting talents, so maybe that’s just something that’s built into my talent-based system. Having a talent like that might also open up the possibility for a mage talent that unlocks various metamagic-type abilities.

A third option, somewhat related to the first, is to have a double-action full attack. By default, this would be identical to making two single attacks, but certain talents would allow extra attacks or other variations. Alternatively, the third attack could be gained at a certain tier. I don’t think I want to allow more than three base attacks per round; since they’re all at the same bonus, that’s quite a bit of potential damage output. And while there’s less of a speed issue than in Pathfinder due to them all sharing the same bonuses, damage will take longer because of comparison to armor values, and I’d like to keep combat quick.

Of all of these, the non-repeatable attack is probably my favorite. It’s a little unfortunate in that it basically reintroduces the standard-move action combo, but I think options can be provided for the second action that will make combat more interesting. There might be some weird interactions with spellcasting as well—it shouldn’t be allowed as the second action after an attack, but some attack spells will require attacks. This will require a second look at how touch spells are handled, but should be resolvable. I still would like a way to give martial characters more attacks, and that will be difficult to do cleanly.