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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DanMcS" data-source="post: 2526933" data-attributes="member: 6530">I'm trying to revise the way free, swift, reactions, and immediate actions work to make them fit well in my head, basically.  Free actions are from the core, swift and immediate actions are from the expanded psionic handbook, among others, and reactions are what MnM calls free actions that can be taken outside of your turn.  I thought it a useful piece of terminology.An action's type tells you how long the action takes to perform within the framework of the combat round. There are seven types of actions: standard actions, move actions, full-round actions, swift actions, free actions, reactions, and immediate actions.As your turn in a normal round you can perform a swift action, a move action, and a standard action, plus a reasonable number of free actions. Outside your turn, you may perform immediate actions and reactions. No actions can be performed if you are flat-footed, stunned, or otherwise unable to act.Standard, move, and full-round actions function normally.Free ActionsFree actions consume a very small amount of time and effort. You can perform one or more free actions during your turn. However, there are reasonable limits on what you can really do for free, as judged by the DM.Swift ActionsA swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action. You can perform one swift action per turn without affecting your ability to perform other actions. In that regard, a swift action is like a free action. However, you can perform only a single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take. You can take a swift action any time you would be able to normally be allowed to take a free action, ie, typically during your turn at some point.A quickened spell is a swift action.ReactionsA reaction consumes a very small amount of time and effort, and can be performed even outside your turn, typically in response to someone else's action or another event. Using a reaction on your turn is the same as using a free action.Uncanny Reactions: (old Uncanny Dodge) You can perform a reaction even if you are flat-footed.Immediate ActionsMuch like a swift action, an immediate action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action. However, unlike a swift action, an immediate action can be performed at any time—even if it’s not your turn. Typically this is in response to some event. You don't have to perform an immediate action if you don't want to, and you cannot if you are flat-footed or otherwise unable to act.Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as using a swift action. Using an immediate action outside of your turn uses up your swift action for your upcoming turn, and you cannot take another immediate action or swift action until after that upcoming turn.Combat Reflexes: You may take a number of additional immediate actions per round equal to your Dexterity bonus, without using up your upcoming swift action. These extra immediate actions can be taken even if you are flat-footed.Now, if you're using a system that differentiates dodges and parries (Conan does so, as does the parry system from dragon magazine, as do <a href="http://www.wakinglands.com/htm_files/the_combat_variant_page.htm" target="_blank">these</a> alternate rules), you say that dodging is a reaction, and parrying and AoOs are immediate actions.  So someone can parry a couple of times, but if they are facing a lot of attacks, they'll have to try to duck some of them.  I'm planning to use this with a dodge/parry and armor as DR system myself.If you're not using such a thing, you probably don't have to worry about this, though it is somewhat useful for spellcasters with immediate spells and combat reflexes.If you're using a system with feats that can be taken multiple times for increasing benefit, like (as I understand it), Iron Heroes, Spycraft 2.0, or MnM 2.0, then make combat reflexes a feat that can be taken a number of times up to your Dex bonus, each instance grants 1 spare immediate action.</blockquote>

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