The Action Round

When things really start happening in a Mutants & Masterminds game, time is broken down into six-second segments called rounds (sometimes “action rounds”). A round isn’t very much time. Think of it like a page in a comic book, just long enough to go around the table once, with each hero doing something. Each character’s portion of the round is called their turn.

The things you can do on your turn are broken up into actions. There are standard actions, move actions, free actions, and reactions. During a round you can take a standard and a move action (or substitute an additional move action for your standard action) along with as many free actions as you wish and as many reactions as are called for.

==== STANDARD ACTIONS ====

A standard action generally involves acting upon something, whether it’s an attack or using a power to affect something. You’re limited to one standard action each round.

==== MOVE ACTIONS ====

A move action, like the name implies, usually involves moving. You can take your move action before or after your standard action, so you can attack then move, or move then attack. You cannot, however, normally split-up your move action before and after your standard action. Move actions also include things like drawing weapons, standing up, and picking up or manipulating objects.

==== FREE ACTIONS ====

A free action is something so comparatively minor it doesn’t take significant time, so you can perform as many free actions in a round as the GM considers reasonable. Free actions include things like talking (heroes and villains always find time to say a lot in the middle of a fight), dropping something, ending the use of a power, activating or maintaining some other powers, and so forth.

==== REACTIONS ====

A reaction is something you do in response to something else. A reaction doesn’t take any significant time, like a free action. The difference is you react in response to something else happening during the round, perhaps not even on your turn. Reactions don’t count against your normal allotment of actions and you can react as often as the circumstances dictate, but only when they dictate.

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