Every player's turn is always 6 seconds no matter the combo of move, standard, swift,and or intermediate actions. Full-round takes the whole 6 seconds.
You are ONLY allowed 1 swift action per turn, if you use an immediate action it uses your swift action in the next turn. Free actions are unlimited use though, but should still be limited to only a few.
Howdy Folks
After having tried Pathfinder at PAX and enjoying it enough to buy the core rules book - I find there is enough excitement in my mixed bag of 1-2ed dnd players to make it worth trying to get everything translated to pathfinder.
So I'll be asking a lot of newbie "duh" questions.
The first is - And I may have just missed it - in combat, how long doe each action type take? I'm trying to grasp what exactly players can do in the 6 second round. Full round actions - thats kind of obvious. A basic move + standard, that seems pretty straightforward. And rather than get bogged into odd combos, I thought I would just ask how long each type takes.
Or is it a judgement thing?
I imagine that in most cases it will be pretty clear how many swift or free actions one could logically do. But I would like to have some kind of rule of thumb.
So typically a player would:
Move+standard (3 seconds each?)
Move+Move
full attack (full round)
Standard+???The last is where I get foggy. ANd how many swift/immediate/free actions one could manage in a perfect environment - 3? 4? more?
Anyhow. Thanks for any ideas or thoughts
Hey Welcome, you can only perform one swift action a round, I had a post on this here HERE
That is all I know for sure
the convension I use (which is not official) is standard = 3seconds, move = 2 seconds, and swift = 1 second.
You can only take 1 swift or immediate action on your turn, if you take an immediate action off your turn (which happens often for immediate actions) you may not take a swift action on your next turn.
With free actions they are not limited except by dm's reasonable discretion. For instance, drawing and knocking an arrow is a free action. You can do it for as many arrows as you can fire. This may be 1 arrow at 1st level, and maybe 6 arrows later on. You can also knock 2 arrows, and say something (talking is also a free action) but if you start reciting lines from shakespear, the dm has the right to cut you off.
Also, welcome to pathfinder and happy gaming!
Every player's turn is always 6 seconds no matter the combo of move, standard, swift,and or intermediate actions and free actions. Full-round takes the whole 6 seconds.
You are ONLY allowed 1 swift action per turn, if you use an immediate action it uses your swift action in the next turn. Free actions are unlimited use though, but should still be limited to only a few.
Okay so one swift per round. Number free actions per GMs discression.
How about other combos? It seems as if the "normal" act is two "half round slots" (move + standard) and that you can substitute most acts on a 1:1 (or more) basis:
Move+Move
Standard+move (or reverse)So then you could also:
Standard+Standard (more typically the full attack but maybe not)
swift+standardthen you can possibly(?):
swift+free+free+standardor am I overthinking it?
You're overthinking it. :)
Standard = Your most important action type during the round. Nearly every action-type ability you use will require a standard action. Can be traded down for a move action.
Move = Your movement action.
Swift = Few abilities use this action slot, and they always state when they do. It's usually things like super-quick spells and activating specific feats and such.
Immediate = Swift, but on someone else's turn. Again, the feat/ability/spell identifies it as such.
Free = Something that should, within reason, require no additional time from your round. The GM is to step it when it becomes unfeasible that you've taken so many of said action per round.
Okay so one swift per round. Number free actions per GMs discression.
How about other combos? It seems as if the "normal" act is two "half round slots" (move + standard) and that you can substitute most acts on a 1:1 (or more) basis:
Move+Move
Standard+move (or reverse)So then you could also:
Standard+Standard (more typically the full attack but maybe not)
swift+standardthen you can possibly(?):
swift+free+free+standardor am I overthinking it?
You can trade a standard for a move, but not the reverse. You cannot do 2 standard actions in 1 round. You can do 1 swift action regardless.
So, you can do A full round action + 1 swift + x free
A standard + move + swift + x free
2 moves + 1 swift + x free
You do not have to do all these, but you cannot do more then those. Also note the order you do the actions is unimportant. You can do a move then a standard or a standard then a move action.
Okay so one swift per round. Number free actions per GMs discression.
How about other combos? It seems as if the "normal" act is two "half round slots" (move + standard) and that you can substitute most acts on a 1:1 (or more) basis:
Move+Move
Standard+move (or reverse)So then you could also:
Standard+Standard (more typically the full attack but maybe not)
swift+standardthen you can possibly(?):
swift+free+free+standardor am I overthinking it?
You're overthinking it. :)
Standard = Your most important action type during the round. Nearly every action-type ability you use will require a standard action. Can be traded down for a move action.
Move = Your movement action.
Swift = Few abilities use this action slot, and they always state when they do. It's usually things like super-quick spells and activating specific feats and such.
Immediate = Swift, but on someone else's turn. Again, the feat/ability/spell identifies it as such.
Free = Something that should, within reason, require no additional time from your round. The GM is to step it when it becomes unfeasible that you've taken so many of said action per round.
better than my post above.
Okay so one swift per round. Number free actions per GMs discression.
How about other combos? It seems as if the "normal" act is two "half round slots" (move + standard) and that you can substitute most acts on a 1:1 (or more) basis:
Move+Move
Standard+move (or reverse)So then you could also:
Standard+Standard (more typically the full attack but maybe not)
swift+standardthen you can possibly(?):
swift+free+free+standardor am I overthinking it?
you cant standard+standard that is just a Full Round action
you cant cast 2 spells that take up a standard action or channel energy 2 times with standard+standard
the convension I use (which is not official) is standard = 3seconds, move = 2 seconds, and swift = 1 second.
This is a good way to look at it IF it helps you understand the concepts. Remember that it is an analogy of an abstraction though. For example, you are still limited to only 1 swift action per round (as others have stated), so you could not do [Standard (3 sec) + Swift (1 sec) + Swift (1 sec) + Swift (1 sec)].
The reality is that the abstraction is you get
1 Standard Action (can be traded for a move)
1 Move Action
1 Swift Action
unlimited Free Action (as long as the GM feels they can be completed during the 6 seconds of time... so no long speeches)
Just to throw in some more confusion there is also the 5-foot step. If you do not move (used your move action for something else like a full attack action) you can take a 5 foot step.
The 5-foot step is important because it gives you a little mobility still and because it doesn't provoke an Attack of Opportunity (not sure if you have gotten to those yet, so I won't go into them now).
Anyway... hope that helps. Like I said, Kolokotroni's break down of time is helpful if it helps you understand the concepts, but isn't an real breakdown of the actions, so don't get hung up on it when it doesn't work.
Sean Mahoney
