What do the Pathfinder action symbols depict (concretely)?

[Pathfinder Way]

Hi, I’m new to Pf2, and I’m enjoying it.
My question is this: I understand what the action symbols “mean”…and yeah, the “arcing arrow” shape of the Reaction symbol is intuitive…yet I’m stumped on what those diamond shaped blobs—and the diamondy stuff inside them—is supposed to actually depict.

Yeah I realize that two diamondy blobs = two actions, and three diamondy blobs = three actions; and a hollow-ish diamondy blob = free action. But what “image” are the icons supposed to depict?

If they were simply diamonds (solid for Action, hollow for Free Action), I’d “get it”, but, artistically, what image is the diamondy stuff inside the diamonds supposed to evoke?

[Captain Morgan]

I think they are arrows. It makes it easy to describe turns over texts, among other things. Like Sudden Charge >> quick reversal > for example.

[WatersLethe]

I've always thought of them as just... symbols. A stylized token icon, not representing anything in particular but also being distinguished enough from a basic diamond shape that it's easy to recognize at a glance.

I can't recall what the symbol was during the playtest, and I don't have my playtest book handy, but if they were different then we might be able to tell intention based on the evolution.

[Pathfinder Way]

Captain Morgan wrote:

I think they are arrows.

Oh, I see you might be right. They don't look as "arrow-y" as they could though. A 90-degree angle isn't very arrow-like; and they have no shaft. But yeah okay.

Quote:

It makes it easy to describe turns over texts, among other things. Like Sudden Charge >> quick reversal > for example.

Oh, I hadn't thought of how Buhlman may have crafted them to have basic text equivalents. Good idea.

[Pathfinder Way]

WatersLethe wrote:

I've always thought of them as just... symbols. A stylized token icon, not representing anything in particular but also being distinguished enough from a basic diamond shape that it's easy to recognize at a glance.

Well, since one responder thinks they're arrows, and another thinks they're just modified "distinguishable" diamonds, I feel relieved knowing that I'm not the only one who wonders this.

Quote:

I can't recall what the symbol was during the playtest, and I don't have my playtest book handy, but if they were different then we might be able to tell intention based on the evolution.

Hmm, good idea!

[nephandys]

Captain Morgan wrote:

I think they are arrows. It makes it easy to describe turns over texts, among other things. Like Sudden Charge >> quick reversal > for example.

I've always seen them as arrows too.

[breithauptclan]

I just see them as abstract symbols. They just need to be distinct from other things in the game.

And there are unicode symbols that are close enough to work for text-based things like PBP too.

◆ ◇ ↺

[Dubious Scholar]

They stack nicely to make condensed 2/3 action icons, etc. I just thought of them as being stylized nicely for that stuff.

[keftiu]

I've always read them as pretty compact arrows.

-> one Action, ->-> two Actions, etc.

[Claxon]

I always read them as arbitrary symbols for actions, reactions, and free actions.

[Ascalaphus]

I think they're modeled a bit as "play" and "rewind" buttons on your typical music player, but just distinctive enough that you can trademark them.

[Temperans]

I always saw it as "action orbs/gems" from video games.

[Ashbourne]

Ascalaphus wrote:

I think they're modeled a bit as "play" and "rewind" buttons on your typical music player, but just distinctive enough that you can trademark them.

We could use a pause button for holding an action.

The Record button for anything you have to add to your character sheet.
The Stop button for your end of turn.
and the eject button could be used to change adventures.