COMBAT STRUCTURE
Combat is made of ENCOUNTERS, ROUNDS, TURNS, and ACTIONS.
ACTION
An ACTION is the shortest length of time in RINGS. It’s enough time to make a SKILL roll, ATTACK, MOVE, HEAL, or any number of things. Different units (players, allies, or enemies) will have different types or numbers of ACTIONS they can take during their TURN, however everyone starts with THREE Actions per turn.
TURN
A TURN is a set of ACTIONS that a single unit in combat takes.
IF IT IS YOUR TURN, YOU MAY ALWAYS SKIP YOUR TURN. Once there is nothing else you want to or are capable of doing, your TURN ends.
Some combat abilities last until the end of a specific turn (your turn, a specific ally or enemy turn, etc). Anything that ends at the end of a turn ends at the end of the appropriate turn and not at the beginning of the next turn.
ROUND
A ROUND is a complete set of TURNS for everyone who wishes and is capable of taking one. Once the last player, ally, or enemy who can have a TURN completes theirs, the ROUND is over.
Some combat abilities last until the end of the ROUND. They end at the end of the ROUND and not at the beginning of the next one. (You may think this is splitting hairs, but if reinforcements show up for either side, you’ll be happy it got defined here.)
ENCOUNTER
An ENCOUNTER is the entirety of a turn-based combat scenario or for non-combat, a scene taking place in a distinct locale. It ends when one side (either team, ally, or enemy) is victorious. It is made of as many ROUNDS as you need to accomplish this. Theoretically, an ENCOUNTER could go on forever, but find a new game if your GM tries this.
Some combat abilities last until the end of the ENCOUNTER.
COMMUNICATING
“What if I want to communicate on the battlefield?”
You can do that as much as you’d like as long as it doesn’t have an impact on the rolls you make. For anything that has a roll or impacts a roll, it takes an ACTION. Otherwise, say whatever. Say something demoralizing to the enemy. Place bets on who wins. Worry if your fragile skeletal servants will survive.
Even if you shout something to an ally that would normally help them, such as “Duck!” you still can’t impact how well they or the enemy roll.
EXQUISITE VIOLENCE
RINGS is intended to be a very freeform system when it comes to the HOW of the beatdown. It doesn’t matter if you use a single dagger, a howitzer, a pack of small dragons, hopes and dreams, or a piano to attack – what matters is if you have to be close up or far away to do it and which stat it impacts.
Every character has two weapon sets and can swap between them freely. What matters is the STAT and the TACTIC. If you have a RANGED MIND piano, it will only ever be a RANGED MIND piano (unless you use Ring abilities or Wonderworks that allow you to temporarily swap the stat of a weapon) and you will only ever roll MIND + RANGED to attack with that piano.
The STAT and TACTIC are either chosen or preselected based on the weapon or Ring. Most Rings have a predetermined STAT and TACTIC, so be thoughtful when it comes to selecting your Rings. However, since you can have up to 10 Rings, this eventually gives you a lot of available combinations of STATS and TACTICS.
Weapon stats and tactics are chosen by the player at character creation, and then predetermined by the GM if you find new weapons in the field. You may also create and/or replace one new weapon set when you level up. You can only ever have two weapon sets available for use during a combat encounter, no matter how many you’re carrying on you or even if you break one (unless you have specific powers that say otherwise).