New Player - Action Dice
Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 12:01 pm
Hi, new player. I just bought the book and have been leafing through it, but something has immediately jumped out at me as explained rather poorly.
Action Dice.
According to page 77, "A character has one or more actions each round, expressed as action dice [...] Each round, a character or monster may move its normal speed and do one thing for each of its action dice." (bold mine). Okay, so far so good: you get a number of actions equal to your action dice, and you effectively perform actions by "spending" action dice, from what I can tell.
So what kind of actions can you do? The rulebook states:
"All characters can take another movement for their actions."
Okay, so if I have 3 action dice, I can move up to 4 times (including the one free move I have per round)?
"A warrior can make an attack for each of his actions, rolling a d20 for the first one and a different die for the second."
Ummm .... does that mean the second action die can only be used if the first one is an attack, and it can only be used for an attack? Or could he move twice, and then attack with his second attack die? Or move once, attack with his first attack die, and then move again? And what about the third action die gained at 10th level? Even the Warrior's Action dice on Page 42 (unnumbered?) only mentions a second action die.
"A wizard can attack or cast a spell with the first die and can only cast a spell with the second action die."
This is more explicit that the second action die can only be used to cast a spell, but with the same level of explicitness it says that the first die can only be used to attack or cast a spell (no extra movement, despite what the first item says).
"And so on, according to class descriptions."
All the class descriptions seem to be "attack, and maybe one other thing, like cast a spell". But what if they want to spend an action in a round doing something other than attacking, like jumping over a chasm? Only the Thief seems to be allowed to use action dice for "any normal activity", according to the class descriptions. On page 78 it lists a bunch of activities that also take 1 action, but apparently none of the classes but Thieves are allowed to spend an action die to do them? Three of the listed activities say that they can be included as part of a movement action. Does that include the free move you get every round? What's the point of it being listed as 1 action if it can be included in a free action? Is there a limit to how many can be done in a free action?
I must say, I am quite flummoxed at how poorly defined just performing an action is in this game. Is there some primer I am missing?
Action Dice.
According to page 77, "A character has one or more actions each round, expressed as action dice [...] Each round, a character or monster may move its normal speed and do one thing for each of its action dice." (bold mine). Okay, so far so good: you get a number of actions equal to your action dice, and you effectively perform actions by "spending" action dice, from what I can tell.
So what kind of actions can you do? The rulebook states:
"All characters can take another movement for their actions."
Okay, so if I have 3 action dice, I can move up to 4 times (including the one free move I have per round)?
"A warrior can make an attack for each of his actions, rolling a d20 for the first one and a different die for the second."
Ummm .... does that mean the second action die can only be used if the first one is an attack, and it can only be used for an attack? Or could he move twice, and then attack with his second attack die? Or move once, attack with his first attack die, and then move again? And what about the third action die gained at 10th level? Even the Warrior's Action dice on Page 42 (unnumbered?) only mentions a second action die.
"A wizard can attack or cast a spell with the first die and can only cast a spell with the second action die."
This is more explicit that the second action die can only be used to cast a spell, but with the same level of explicitness it says that the first die can only be used to attack or cast a spell (no extra movement, despite what the first item says).
"And so on, according to class descriptions."
All the class descriptions seem to be "attack, and maybe one other thing, like cast a spell". But what if they want to spend an action in a round doing something other than attacking, like jumping over a chasm? Only the Thief seems to be allowed to use action dice for "any normal activity", according to the class descriptions. On page 78 it lists a bunch of activities that also take 1 action, but apparently none of the classes but Thieves are allowed to spend an action die to do them? Three of the listed activities say that they can be included as part of a movement action. Does that include the free move you get every round? What's the point of it being listed as 1 action if it can be included in a free action? Is there a limit to how many can be done in a free action?
I must say, I am quite flummoxed at how poorly defined just performing an action is in this game. Is there some primer I am missing?