Maybe I'll forgot something, but after doing an intensive search on the manual i don't find any reference to how the reaction cards & the active defence works.

I suppose the reaction cards automatically triggers when the requisites are met, but... What about the active defence? It must be declared on the player's turn or it works like a reaction card? Where is the reference for that?

Nowhere is the answer I am afraid, some bad work on FFGs part. Basically when a player is attacked they can activate one or more of their active defences to give their opponent's role black dice. They then put recharge tokens on those cards as per the card.

Cheers

Iain

The rules are on the action cards themselves, if you look at, for example, parry, it says: When a character is targeted by a melee attack .....

There is no outside mechanic that tells you when a card may be used as a reaction, you have to look at the specific card, the same is true of some other actions, off the top of my head, the trivial knowledge action, it may be used when a character in the same engagment preforms and action, it is meant to be used on someone elses turn, only because thats what the card says.

BCA said:

Sorry, been playing D&D for too many years, to may be used when a character in the same engagment makes a skill check, or whatever the proper term is.

I still need to get used to the new terminology.

Thanks, Iain! Much clearer now

The rules are on the action cards themselves, if you look at, for example, parry, it says: When a character is targeted by a melee attack .....

Maybe, but the rules of the defensive mechanics it's not so clear. The rulebook says that the active player selects a card, play it and etc,etc. The idea transmited all along the book is that the player plays only in her turn, put an exception without any explanation is quite confusing (especially when other topics are overexplained).

See FAQ, page 2, Actions: Reactions & Immediate Use

a simple question about action basic defensive cards:

Why is it you have to recharge a basic defensive action card? recharge 2.
A simple attack needs no recharge why does an active defense?
I suppose characters during the turn either defend or attack + a manoeuvre depending on the situation?
If I decide to block this turn is my block active during all the phase until everyone has had an action npcs and pc enabling me
to sustain several attacks?
Should a normal basic defense not be available every turn like a basic attack?

Or perhaps I missed something in the rule book thats really possible. Also due to my poor english.

You can use as many active defenses against a single attack as you have available, but each use only works against one attack. As for why they recharge, it is what makes them variable. If you could use them every round against every attack, might as well not have them at all and just make everyone defense 2 + armor (or 3 with a shield).

The FAQ clears up the confusion with defensive cards that has the reactive trait. You play them as a reaction to an attack, you can use as many as you have against the same attack and they don't count as an action.

Gallows said:

wait wait here,
you mean that I could use several defenses for one acttack? DO I understand well? Surely not.
Can u tell me what are the defenses please with the reaction status. Went thru the actions cards could not find some?

Yes, geekoo. The FAQ it's very clear, you can use a parry and a block (or any other) in the same turn, BUT it let you uncovered in the next one (when the defensive actions are recharging). That's the reason behind the rate of recharge.

Max-Steel said:

You mean that I can parry or block several attacks in a round but surely not one attack with different defensive actions... I cant block and dodge for example the same attack that seems illogical.
Also I have a slight problem: Why could a character not parry or block every turn instead of attacking? I dont really like that recharging for basic defensive actions. You have none for basic attacks...

What frightens me a little in the system here is that you are telling me that during my activation in the turn I could do an offensive action and parry/block several time in the turn as a reaction + 1 manoeuvre?

Don't be frightened. One extra challenge die if you have advanced parry isn't that much and if you use them all you'll be exposed completely next round.

geekoo said:

If the players seem to want to exhaust the block and parry actions immediately, during the same round, the GM could choose to just tickle the PCs at first to make them waste the reaction cards (supposing the GM doesn't have to declare the action about to be performed, just the target) and save the more deadly attack actions for the next round when the PCs reaction cards are recharging. That ought to keep them on their toes..

Turrican said:

ok for that but why does a basic defense has to recharge for 2 rounds? I do not understand that.
Every round you should at least be able to defend once...
Why could I not parry every round? Because if u can do basic attacks every round you should be able to defend urself every round also.
I do not understand the concept of this.

I do understand your explanation but its the rule for me that is bizarre.

You are assumed to be defending yourself even if you don't use one of the basic defense cards. You're not just standing there letting the guy hit you. The purple challenge dice by default is what represents your normal defense, plus your armor, plus any basic defense cards you play.

Using dodge and parry against the same attack certainly does make sense. When you're sidestepping to dodge a blow your weapon arm is still free and you will likely attempt to deflect the blow in the opposite direction from whence you came.

Also, it's a game which features combat that is very abstract. Do the abstract ranges bother you? I bet they do. Does the fact that if you can only perform one maneuver, even if you don't perform your action bother you?

If you're looking for sheer realism you should seek out an RPG with that as its goal. Maybe GURPS.

If you place 2 token on the card and discard one at the end of the turn, you can actualy block every 2 round. You can also use Fatigue to get rid of the remaining token so the you can block every round...

Exhausting combat, but you can block every round...

I've just red the rules not played yet... tell me if i'm wrong