An ACTION is the smallest unit of time within a combat encounter in RINGS.
Every player turn has three ACTIONS, and you can use (or not use) these as you see fit.
ACTIONS can be taken in any order and in any number or combination. You can MOVE and then RECOVER and then ATTACK and the next time you have a turn, you can MOVE, MOVE, and RESUSCITATE. The order you declare your ACTIONS is the order they occur in. No takebacks without GM approval.
You don’t have to take all of your ACTIONS if you don’t want to. This goes for players, allies, and opponents.
If you fail at an ACTION, you still use up that ACTION. You don’t get mulligans. (Unless you use LUCK)
ACTION TYPES
ATTACK
An ATTACK is a STAT + TACTIC roll made against a target/set of targets (you can ATTACK an ally or another character, but they may not be your friend after that). You say who you’re targeting, the GM determines if you can do that or not, add or subtract any MODIFIERS, and then you roll.
Attacks can be made using either weapons or Rings.
MOVE
How you get around. SPEED is equal to 3 + MOVE SKILL. This is the number of spaces you can move when you take a MOVE ACTION. You can also move a number of spaces from 0-maximum SPEED. Yes, you can take a MOVE ACTION and not go anywhere but will have counted as a MOVE. Some effects may SLOW you, in which case you would move at your SPEED (3+MOVE SKILL)/2, rounded up. If you are IMMOBILIZED, you can’t move at all.
If you move less than your potential number of squares, you can’t save those for later. They expire immediately as the MOVE Action ends.
EXAMPLE
You have a MOVE of 5 (3 + 2 in MOVE SKILL). You decide to MOVE 3 to get close to an enemy to ATTACK. You cannot MOVE 3, ATTACK, and then MOVE 2 without spending your third ACTION on the second MOVE. No splitting MOVEs.
HEAL
Every character has multiple ways to recover HP depending on your Rings, Origin, Wonderworks, etc. All of these have different systems, so declare the appropriate one and take the relevant HEAL ACTION. You can only heal once during an HEAL ACTION. You may, of course, use multiple HEAL per turn as long as you spend an ACTION on each.
You may HEAL other units (characters, allies, or opponents) if the type of HEAL ACTION allows.
USE A SKILL
You can use Skills in combat! Just like out of combat, you would roll the relevant STAT + SKILL. Detect a trap, COERCE someone into backing down…there’s a million different ways you can use your Skills to impact combat. One roll = one ACTION. Some uses of Skills may require multiple rolls – this is up to your GM. They’ll tell you how many ACTIONS you need to accomplish a particular task.
RESUSCITATE
Every player and ally has access to this ACTION. With RESUSCITATE, you can bring someone (even an opponent) back from KNOCKED OUT. This is a melee ACTION, so you have to be adjacent to them. If you use RESUSCITATE, they are no longer KNOCKED OUT and have 1 HP, regardless of their previous HP total prior to being KNOCKED OUT. Any status effects that were on them previously are also cleared.
[EXTRA SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT THIS ACTION: If you have units who are KNOCKED OUT at the end of the encounter, there is enough time to use RESUSCITATE on all of them as long as one character or ally is capable of doing so. This is also true for non-combat situations. Even if they have to immediately flee, it’s a very simple ACTION. The game assumes you will not leave people dead if you have the choice. GMs: don’t abuse this. Let them get up.]
EXAMINE
This ACTION gives you insight into the opponents you come across. EXAMINE automatically succeeds (unless the opponent has a POWER that blocks EXAMINE, but this is rare). It targets a single opponent with each ACTION. The GM will then tell you:
- TYPE (and a name if the opponent has one)
- HP total (current, not maximum) and number of LAYERS
- Strongest STAT
- Weakest STAT
- Any POWERS
This information is considered shared to the entire team plus any allies unless the PLAYER using EXAMINE decides to keep it secret. Don’t know why you would do that, really.
SURRENDER
If you get an opponent to surrender, they will stop fighting you. How you accomplish this depends on the Skill you choose to use. Will you intimidate them with COERCE? Form a bond through CONNECT? This is a contested roll.
An opponent that has SURRENDERED will not take any hostile actions or support their allies, but may take any other action, such as healing, defending themselves, or moving.
If a SURRENDERED opponent is attacked by an ally, the SURRENDER state immediately clears and the opponent may resume all possible actions.
[NOTE: A SURRENDERED opponent counts as a temporary ally for the purpose of persistent attacks, auras, dangerous terrain, etc. Any current effects will immediately cease – walking through dangerous terrain won’t harm them, DoTs will be cleared – and the SURRENDERED opponent may be healed by the team and their allies.]
[ANOTHER NOTE: If an opponent voluntarily SURRENDERS, they cannot clear this state themselves by attacking. Only by being attacked can a SURRENDERED opponent resume attacking.]
CONVINCE
For all the monster tamers out there. This is a special ACTION type that can only be used after a successful SURRENDER roll against a specific opponent which has not been attacked by an ally in the interim. This will use the same STAT + TACTIC as the successful SURRENDER roll and is contested. You do not have to use CONVINCE immediately after SURRENDER, however the selected target must still be under the effects of SURRENDER.
The target becomes an ally until the end of the encounter for all intents and purposes unless attacked by the team or their allies. They count as an ally for all ACTIONS or encounter effects.
At the end of the encounter, the CONVINCED opponent will go their own way automatically unless the opponent wishes to continue as an ally. This is entirely up to the opponent, but roleplay may be used to help convince them to join.
THREATEN
A player or ally who uses THREATEN gets the attention of all opponents within 10 squares. All of them. THREATEN lasts until an ally uses THREATEN on the same opponent – there can only be one active THREAT at a time for any opponent. When THREATENED, an opponent must include the user in an attack or operate at a [User LVL/3] dice penalty.