Actions (Rules) (Player Core)

You affect the world around you primarily by using actions, which produce effects. Actions are most closely measured and restricted during the encounter mode of play, but even when it isn't important for you to keep strict track of actions, they remain the way in which you interact with the game world. You'll need to track your actions carefully in an encounter. At the start of each turn you take in an encounter, you regain 3 actions and 1 reaction to spend that round. (Regaining your actions is described in detail here.) You can spend your actions in many different ways. There are four types of actions: single actions, activities, reactions, and free actions. Single actions can be completed in a very short time. They're self-contained, and their effects are generated within the span of that single action. Activities usually take longer and require using multiple actions, which must be spent in succession. Strike is a single action, but Double Tap is an activity in which you use both the Aim and Strike actions to generate its effect. Reactions have triggers, which must be met for you to use the reaction. You can use a reaction anytime its trigger is met, whether it's your turn or not. Outside of encounters, your use of reactions is more flexible and up to the GM. Reactions are usually triggered by other creatures or by events outside your control. Free actions don't cost you any of your actions per turn, nor do they cost your reaction. A free action with no trigger follows the same rules as a single action (except the action cost). It must be used on your turn and can't be used during another action. A free action with a trigger follows the same rules as a reaction (except the reaction cost). It can be used any time its trigger is met. Action Icon Key These icons appear in stat blocks as shorthand for each type of action. As a player, you'll usually see the icon in an action's header (such as in a basic action, skill action, feat, or spell). In a creature stat block, or a feat that gives you a new action in addition to other benefits, the icon will appear in the running text. For examples, see the formatting of rules. Single Action Single Action Two Actions Two-Action Activity Three Actions Three-Action Activity Reaction Reaction Free Action Free Action In-Depth Action Rules These rules clarify some of the specifics of using actions. Simultaneous Actions You can use only one single action, activity, or free action that doesn't have a trigger at a time. You must complete one before beginning another. For example, the Double Tap activity states you must Aim and then make two ranged Strikes, so you couldn't use an Interact action to open a door in the middle of the Strikes. Free actions with triggers and reactions work differently. You can use these whenever the trigger occurs, even if the trigger occurs in the middle of another action. Subordinate Actions An action might allow you to use a simpler action— usually one of the Basic Actions—in a different circumstance or with different effects. This subordinate action still has its normal traits and effects, but it's modified in any ways listed in the larger action. For example, an activity that tells you to Stride up to half your Speed alters the normal distance you can move in a Stride. The Stride would still have the move trait, would still trigger reactions that occur based on movement, and so on. The subordinate action doesn't gain any of the traits of the larger action unless specified. The action that allows you to use a subordinate action doesn't require you to spend more actions or reactions to do so; that cost is already factored in. Using an activity isn't the same as using any of its subordinate actions. For example, the quickened condition you get from the haste spell lets you spend an extra action each turn to Stride or Strike, but you couldn't use the extra action for an activity that includes a Stride or Strike. As another example, if you used an action that specified, “If the next action you use is a Strike,” an activity that includes a Strike wouldn't count because the next thing you're doing is starting an activity, not using the Strike basic action. Speaking As long as you can act, you can also speak. You don't need to spend any type of action to speak, but because a round represents 6 seconds of time, you can usually speak at most a single sentence or so per round. Special uses of speech, such as attempting a Deception skill check to Lie, require spending actions and follow their own rules. All speech has the auditory trait. If you communicate in some way other than speech, other rules might apply. For instance, using sign language is visual instead of auditory.