Activations & Card Timing

V2 status: Default card timing and flexible card-funded activations approved. Specific Reaction abilities and card-specific action costs remain open.

Default timing

Players normally use cards during their own activation, while they are the active player. This applies to using a Skill through Play, Burn or Discard.

Exception: A card may specify a different timing. Reactions are an established example of off-activation use. Class Skills, Level cards and other card effects may also override normal timing.

A card’s explicit timing takes precedence over the general activation-only rule.

Parting Blows is an established automatic attack triggered as a Reaction when a character attempts to leave Engaged, whether by voluntary Disengage or forced movement, unless an effect explicitly prevents it (for example an applicable Safely Disengage). It resolves before the movement succeeds, while the character is still Engaged. If it incapacitates a voluntarily Disengaging character, they remain Engaged and the movement card is not refunded. For forced movement, the imposed move still completes after Parting Blows, even if the target is incapacitated by that Hit; the target pays no movement card. Applicable defensive Reactions and mitigation can apply; this Hit has no individual attacker for counterattacks or Thorns. See Position & Movement.

Burning before actions and during Reactions

During their own activation, players may Burn cards before performing other actions to prepare their Current Attributes. They may combine the Attribute adjustments from multiple Burns, subject to the rules for their duration.

Burning is not normally permitted as a Reaction. A player cannot Burn another card in response to an incoming attack, an Attribute Challenge or some other event outside their own activation merely because they have a card in Hand.

Explicit exceptions can grant reactive Burning. Class Skills, Level cards or other effects may specify when and how a player can Burn outside their activation. For example, a future Rogue ability might permit a Burn in response to an Agility Challenge; this is a design example, not an approved Rogue ability.

Already-active Burn modifiers remain in effect until their normal reset. Keep those Burned cards face up in front of the player so everyone can see the adjustments. An Attribute bonus established earlier in a Round can therefore affect a later Reaction or Challenge, even though the player cannot normally Burn a new card at that moment. When the modifiers expire, the cards go to Discard, or to Exhaust if specified. See Card Commitment & Burning.

A card allowing a Reaction does not automatically grant permission to Burn additional cards in that Reaction. Such permission must be explicit; the details of individual Reaction cards will be settled as we review them.

Design direction — not yet a general rule: special abilities granting reactive Burns may commonly send the Burned card to Exhaust instead of Discard, reflecting the strain of responding without preparation. We will determine the cost on each exception-granting ability; do not automatically Exhaust every reactive Burn.

During their activation a player may freely Discard any unwanted cards from Hand without using an action or gaining a Skill or Burn effect. Discarding can also pay a card cost for another action, commonly an Equipment attack or Skill. See Card Commitment & Burning.

There is no fixed universal limit on the number of actions in an activation. A player or GM unit may take as many legal actions as they can afford through cards and any other stated requirements. Specific Skills or Equipment can still restrict what is permitted. See Rounds & Activations.

Hand management

Cards remaining in Hand are retained between activations and Rounds. At the start of each Round, all players and the GM refill their Hands before anyone activates; players normally draw to five.

To change a hand, the player may freely Discard unwanted cards during their activation, or use cards normally by Playing or Burning them. Free Discarding does not immediately draw replacements.

See Hand Size & Round Refills and Card Commitment & Burning.

Open design points

• Action eligibility: the number of actions is limited by what the unit can afford and legally perform, not a universal quota. Exact card-specific costs, repeat restrictions and movement conditions remain to be reviewed.
• Reactions: their precise timing windows; which abilities explicitly permit reactive Burns and whether those Burns Exhaust; whether payment Discards are allowed outside an activation; and any limit on the number of exception-granted Burns.
• Card exceptions: specific Class Skills, Level cards and other effects may break normal timing.
• Freeform play: how the activation principle applies outside structured turns.