Combat

Determining Initiative
When combat begins, roll initiative with a choice of a Mental Grit or Physical Finesse check. Whoever has the most successes goes first. If there's a tie, another check is made between those who tied.

The Round and You
Each round, you receive two actions to use during your turn. You also get one immediate action per round. Immediate actions are taken during someone else's turn, and are typically reserved for opportunity attacks. Certain items also use an immediate action for their effects.

Delaying

During your turn, you may decide that you're not ready to act yet, and may delay an action. When you delay, you put yourself on standby. At a later point in the round, you can announce that you are going to take your action- Even if you interrupt another player's turn. When you act, all other activity is put on hold until your action is resolved. Once your action has taken place, the initiative order continues as normal. You may delay your action into the next round, but if you do not take it by the time your next turn begins, you lose it. If you take your delayed action during the next round, then you lose an action from your actual turn that round.

Attacking and Defending

When attacking, the attacker rolls a check with the appropriate skill, and the defender rolls either their passive defense or their active defense if they've readied it. The attacker deals one increment of damage for every Degree of Success over the defender. Damage increments are defined by weapon, and are listed in their entries.

Armor reduces the total damage taken from each attack by a fixed margin, but can never reduce damage to less than 1/4 heart. Shields can be used for active defense and reduce damage by an additional value listed in their description. Unlike armor, a shield is capable of reducing damage to 0.

Opportunity attacks
When a creature or character attempts to move or use a ranged attack or spell while adjacent to an enemy, they provoke an opportunity attack. The enemy can use a basic Melee attack as an immediate action. You can only make opportunity attacks against creatures that are adjacent to you, even if your weapon can reach farther for a normal attack.

Forced movement and movement taken while under active defense do not provoke attacks. Using a spell only provokes an attack if its target is something other than the caster or an area centered on them. Ranged attacks always provoke attacks, even from the creature being targeted by the attack.

Actions in Combat
Attack (Single action): Roll a check with the relevant skill to attack someone with your weapon, opposed by the target's defense. Each success deals one damage increment to the target, as defined by your weapon. Ties count as successes for your opponent, and unopposed dice count as normal successes.

Recover (Single action): Must be used after attacking with a Heavy melee weapon before you can move or use the weapon again. You can take other actions, such as making an unarmed attack or dropping your weapon.

Load (Varies): Prepare ammunition for a ranged weapon. Ranged weapons that launch projectiles must be loaded before you may use them to attack. Some weapons can be loaded as a free action, while others may take an action to load, and still others may take more than one action.

Passive Defense (Non-action): Used whenever you're attacked, unless you've readied a form of active defense. Roll your choice of Physical Grit or Physical Finesse to oppose your opponent's attack. Ties count as successes for you.

Active Defense (Single action): Ready a defense against a specific opponent. Whenever that opponent attacks you before your next turn, you use one of the following defenses in place of your passive defense to oppose the attack. Regardless of which one you choose, ties count as successes for you. In addition, when you take an Active Defense action you may move up to half your speed as part of the action. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks. Any move actions taken during your turn after readying Active Defense are made at half speed, but do not provoke opportunity attacks. Total Defense (Double action): Same as active defense, but the defense you ready is applied to all attacks against you until your next turn; you do not need to choose a specific opponent.
 * Unskilled Active Defense: This uses your normal Passive Defense roll, but has all the other normal characteristics of an Active Defense.
 * Shield defense: Roll a Block check to defend. Additionally, you gain the damage reduction benefit of your shield for any damage taken from the attack. Even if the attack deals no damage, it still makes contact with your shield, which may be important for electrified attacks and similar effects.
 * Acrobatic defense: Roll an Acrobatics check to defend. Additionally, you may move one space as a free action, plus one space for each success you score over your attacker's successes. This movement does not negate the attack you're defending against, and it does not provokes opportunity attacks.
 * Other active defense: Certain techniques may allow you to take other forms of active defense; these options are detailed under the technique that grants them.

Move (Single action): Move a number of spaces up to your Speed.

Sprint (Double action): Move a number of spaces up to twice your Speed. When using this action, you do not provoke opportunity attacks for the first square of movement.

Stand Up (Single action): Get back on your feet from a prone position.

Shove (Single action): Roll Physical Power against an enemy within arm's reach, opposed by your enemy's Physical Power or Physical Finesse (their choice). Ties count as successes for you. For each success you score, push the opponent back 1 space; modifiers for forced movement based on Mass apply to this movement. If you scored at least two more successes than your opponent did, the opponent is also knocked prone at the end of the shove. Charge (Double action): Move a distance up to twice your Speed, but no less than two increments, in a straight line at an opponent. When you reach the opponent, you may make either a shove or a normal Melee attack against that opponent. When you make a charge, you take a -1k1 penalty to all defense rolls until the beginning of your next turn, including defense rolls made against opportunity attacks you may provoke during your charge.
 * When using a shove as part of a charge, you get a +1k1 bonus to your Physical Power roll, and if you score more total successes than your opponent, you may opt to push the opponent 1 square out of your path and continue the charge (though you cannot attack or shove if you encounter a second opponent in the path of your charge). When shoving an opponent out of the path of your charge, Mass-based modifiers apply to the distance moved, and the opponent is still knocked prone if you score at least two more successes than your opponent.

Grapple (Single action): Roll Physical Power against an enemy within arm's reach. The enemy opposes your roll with its own passive defense, or acrobatic defense if it has readied it. If you score more successes than the opponent, you begin grappling that creature. Ties count as successes for you. You must have a hand free to attempt to grapple a foe.

Break a Grapple (Single action): Roll Physical Grit or Physical Power against an enemy that has grappled you, opposed by that enemy's Physical Power. If you score more successes than the opponent, you end the grapple and may push the enemy one space in a direction of your choice (modifiers for forced movement based on Mass Category apply).

Escape a Grapple (Single action): Roll Physical Finesse against an enemy that has grappled you, opposed by that enemy's Physical Power. If you score more successes than the opponent, you end the grapple and move up to one space in a direction of your choice.

Move While Grappling (Double action): Roll an opposed Physical Power check against the creature with which you are grappling. If you and your opponent are of different Mass Categories, add +2k2 to the heavier creature's roll for each Mass Category it is larger than its opponent. If you score more successes than the opponent, you and the opponent both move one space for each success you score. You may not move more than half your Movement in this way. You may not attempt this action against a creature that is significantly larger than you.

Conditions
Burning: A Burning creature has been set alight and continues to burn until the flames are extinguished. The flames typically deal 1/4 heart of damage to the creature per round, though certain sources might be more powerful. Extinguishing the flames takes a double action that can be taken by the target or an adjacent creature. Dazed: A Dazed creature has been disoriented by a powerful shock, taxing action, or other reason. It can take no actions until the effect ends.

Downed: A Downed character has been reduced to 0 hearts, and is incapacitated. They fall prone immediately upon being downed, and can take no actions. They are helpless and unaware of their surroundings. If a Downed character takes enough damage to bring it to negative half their hearts, they are killed. For further information, see Death and Dying, below.

Frozen: A Frozen creature is encased in ice, rendering it immobile and making it brittle. It can't move or take any actions requiring movement. It gains 1/2 heart of damage reduction against Piercing and Edged damage, but takes an extra 1 heart of damage from Crushing, Fire, and Force-based attacks.

Helpless: A Helpless creature is unable to defend itself. It can't use its defense to oppose attacks against it.

Grappling: A Grappling creature can't use active defense, magic, or any item requiring the use of both hands. It only has access to items it was wielding when it became grappled, and cannot store or retrieve items. It cannot attack creatures other than the one it is grappling, and can only use unarmed attacks or weapons with the "Brawling" descriptor for this purpose. It cannot move normally, though it can attempt to move while grappling (see above).

A creature that is significantly larger than the creature it is grappling is exempt from the above restrictions, but adds the grappling creature's Mass to its own and reduces its Speed by the same amount. However, it can't attack any creature grappling it unless it initated the grapple.

The creature that initiated the grapple may end it at any time as a free action, but the other creature must either break or escape the grapple.

Paralyzed: A Paralyzed creature cannot take actions requiring physical movement of any kind, and is also Helpless.

Slowed: A slowed creature is being restricted from moving as quickly as it normally can. It loses a number of points from its Speed attribute until the condition ends. A creature reduced to Speed 0 or lower cannot move.

Stunned: A Stunned creature has been momentarily disoriented by a sudden shock. It loses one action on its next turn, after which the condition ends.

Death and Dying
When a player is reduced to 0 hearts, he or she is knocked unconscious or similarly incapacitated. The character gains the Downed condition and is unaware of his or her surroundings.

A downed character can normally be revived through the use of healing magic, potions, a Medicine check, or a full eight hours of rest.

Using a healing potion to revive a downed character while in combat requires a double action to give it to the character. The Downed character is only healed for half as many hearts as the potion would normally restore.

Most creatures are simply killed when reduced to 0 hearts, though players may choose to incapacitate rather than kill their targets if they wish. Friendly and neutral NPCs are generally Downed rather than killed when reduced to 0 hearts.

A dead character is, well, dead. It's generally not possible to bring them back through conventional means, and the means by which such an act is possible are generally not easy... Or pleasant.