RULEBOOK

Actions & Action Points

Each step of a round grants every combatant 1 AP. A round has 3 steps, so you receive 3 AP total — but one at a time, earned as the fight unfolds. Unspent AP is lost when the step ends. There is no banking, no saving, no “I’ll hold this for later.” Spend it or lose it.

What You Can Do

Every action has a fixed AP cost. Each step you receive 1 AP and spend it immediately, or hold it toward a multi-AP action that resolves when the cost is fully paid.

ActionAP Cost
Light weapon attack (dagger, short sword)1 AP
Medium weapon attack (longsword, mace)2 AP
Heavy weapon attack (greatsword, warhammer)3 AP
Defend1 AP
Distraction2 AP
Ranged attack (bow, thrown)2 AP
Move 1 square1 AP (2 AP in heavy armor)
Shield bash1 AP
Use item1 AP

Movement works differently from the rest: every character gets some free squares per round before paid movement kicks in. See Movement & Positioning for the full breakdown.

Defence

Defence is not a standing declaration. Spend 1 AP at any moment during a round to defend against an incoming attack. You wait, watch, and react.

How it works:

  1. An attack is declared against you. At any point during the round, spend 1 AP to defend.
  2. Roll Gift  + Defending or Gift  + Acrobatics .
  3. Your successes subtract directly from the attacker’s degree of success . No thresholds. No tiers. Flat subtraction.

Constraints:

  • No simultaneous defence. You cannot defend against multiple attacks that land in the same step. Limit your exposure through cover and mobility — don’t let yourself get surrounded.
  • Defending mid-action. You can defend while an action is in progress — as long as you still have AP to spare. A longsword attack started at Step 1/3 costs 2 AP total. If an arrow comes at Step 2/3, you can spend 1 AP to defend and still pay the final AP at Step 3/3 to complete the swing.
  • Forfeit when AP runs short. If you don’t have enough AP remaining to both defend and complete your action, you must choose. Abandoning the action frees that AP — but the forfeited AP is gone. The action does not pause, it ends.
  • Moving out of range. Stepping back to avoid an attack must happen during the movement phase at the start of that step — before the attack resolves. You cannot react with movement after a strike is declared.

No defence: Without spending AP, you still absorb damage through Physical Toughness and armor. But those are passive — they reduce what gets through, not what lands.

Example: Defending Without Forfeiting

Bran is mid-swing with his longsword (2 AP). He declared it at Step 1/3 and paid 1 AP. At Step 2/3, a crossbow bolt comes his way. He still needs 1 AP to complete the swing.

He has options. He can eat the bolt, or forfeit the swing and defend. But there is a third path: the longsword resolves at Step 2/3 when its cost is met. If the arrow also arrives at Step 2/3, Bran can pay the final 1 AP for the longsword and have no AP left to defend with.

He pays the longsword. The swing lands. The bolt also lands. Some rounds are like that.

 Example: Forfeiting to Defend

Bran is mid-swing with his warhammer (3 AP). He declared it at Step 1/3 and has paid 2 AP. He needs 1 more to complete. A crossbow bolt arrives at Step 2/3.

He forfeits. The 2 AP already spent disappears. He spends 1 AP to defend and rolls Body 4 + Defending 2: two dice, results 2, 4.

Die 1 (Body 4, rolled 2): 4 − 2 + 1 = 3 successes. Die 2 (Defending 2, rolled 4): 4 > 2, so 0 successes. Total: 3 successes.

The attacker had 4 successes. After Bran’s defence, the degree of success drops to 1. The bolt grazes him. The warhammer is still on the floor.

Tharis notes this is a vast improvement over last time, when Bran tried to intimidate the bolt.

Shield Bash

A shield bash trades damage for disruption. It costs 1 AP , rolls Gift  + Brawl , and does not deal damage. Instead, each success strips one point of FM from the target’s pool for the current round. The faster your opponent, the harder this hurts them.

How it works:

  1. Spend 1 AP and declare a shield bash against an adjacent target.
  2. Roll Gift  + Brawl and count your successes.
  3. Subtract that many FM from the target’s FM pool. The reduction lasts for the current round only — FM resets next round as normal.

Shield bash does not deal damage and does not reduce the target’s AP. It disrupts movement only. Against a skirmisher who relies on FM to stay out of reach, a good bash can ground them in place long enough for your allies to close in.

Example: Shield Bash

The skirmisher has been spending every step dancing out of range. Bran has had enough. He steps in with his shield (1 AP) and puts his full weight behind it.

He rolls Body 4 + Brawl 3: two dice, results 2, 4.

Die 1 (Body 4, rolled 2): 4 − 2 + 1 = 3 successes. Die 2 (Brawl 3, rolled 4): 4 > 3, so 0 successes. Total: 3 successes.

The skirmisher loses 3 FM this round. Their pool drops from 3 to 0. They are not going anywhere.

Tilly, who has been waiting for exactly this moment, stops waiting.

See Shields for the full shield bash entry and shield stats.

The Prepare Mechanic

Before combat begins, a character can spend time preparing with a relevant skill. A prepared character rolls 3d6 instead of the normal 2d6 — an extra die on their first roll.

How it works:

  1. Choose a preparation skill that is relevant to the action you plan.
  2. The GM must approve that the preparation skill is genuinely relevant.
  3. The preparation skill must be different from the skills used in the main roll.
  4. Prepare happens before combat begins . Once the fight starts, there is no time to study — you work with what you prepared.
  5. One preparation per action. You cannot stack multiple preparations.
  6. When you act, roll 3d6 — your usual Gift + Skill pair plus the preparation die.

The third die follows the same evaluation rules as the others. If the preparation die rolls a 6, it contributes −1 to your total, just like any other die. Preparation helps the odds. It does not guarantee anything.

Example: Preparing to Strike

Before initiative is rolled, Bran studies the guard captain. The captain keeps shifting his weight to his left — Bran counts it. Again. Then once more, mouthing something under his breath. The GM accepts Alertness as his preparation skill, since reading a target’s stance is distinct from swinging the hammer. Combat begins. Bran swings his warhammer (3 AP, heavy attack).

Bran rolls 3d6: Body + Melee + Alertness preparation. He has Body 4, Melee 3, Alertness 2.

Results: 3, 5, 6.

Die 1 (Body 4, rolled 3): 4 − 3 + 1 = 2 successes. Die 2 (Melee 3, rolled 5): 5 > 3, so 0 successes. Die 3 (Alertness 2, rolled 6): always −1, so −1.

Total: 2 + 0 − 1 = 1 success. Not his best moment. The Alertness die betrayed him. Bran swings anyway — he committed the 3 AP at declaration. The captain barely has to move.

Tharis, who watched the entire preparation with genuine hope, says nothing.

Worked Examples

Example: Splitting AP Between Actions

Tilly has a dagger (1 AP). The round has three steps. Each step grants her 1 AP. She spends each one the moment it arrives.

Step 1: 1 AP arrives. Stab. Step 2: 1 AP arrives. Stab again. Step 3: 1 AP arrives. Third stab. Three attacks, one per step.

She did not declare Defence at any step. If anything hits her this round, she eats it. Three stabs felt worth the risk.

The guard she was fighting had the same thought. He was wrong first.

 Example: Accumulating AP Across Steps

Bran wants to swing his longsword (2 AP). He does not have 2 AP yet — nobody does at the start of Step 1. He has 1 AP.

Step 1: Bran declares the longsword attack and pays 1 AP. The swing is in motion. Step 2: the second AP arrives. He pays it. The attack resolves — right now, mid-step, the moment the cost is met.

He has 1 AP left at Step 3. He spends it on a second swing. A dagger attack (1 AP) — quick, one-handed, while the enemy is still reacting to the longsword.

Two attacks. One round. The enemy had been expecting three.

For how AP declarations and resolution are ordered within a round, see The Round . For movement costs and free squares, see Movement & Positioning . For the Distraction action in detail, see Distraction . For full weapon damage values, see Weapons .