COMBAT TURN SEQUENCE
Combat in Shadowrun proceeds in a set sequence known as the Combat Turn. Each Combat Turn is 3 seconds long (so there are 20 Combat Turns per minute). Th e Combat Turn attempts to mimic real combat, resolving issues such as who acts first, who is faster on the draw, what happens when one character punches another, and so on. During the Combat Turn, each player—starting with the fastest—takes turns describing his character’s action and rolls dice to see how well he performs it. The gamemaster describes the actions and reactions of the nonplayer characters, as well as the final outcome of all actions.
Combat Turns may be broken up into a series of Initiative Passes if any characters have the ability to take extra actions in a Combat Turn. The point during each Combat Turn when a specific character can act is called an Action Phase.
1. ROLL INITIATIVE
Determine Initiative for all the characters, critters, spirits, intrusion countermeasures, and anything else involved in the fight (see Initiative). The order of Initiative Scores from high to low determines the order in which the action will take place.
Note that wound modifiers affect the Initiative Score (see Initiative and Damage).
2. BEGIN FIRST INITIATIVE PASS
Characters involved in the combat now take their actions sequentially in the first Initiative Pass, starting with the character who has the highest Initiative Score. This character is the acting character .
If more than one character has the same Initiative Score, they go at the same time.
3. BEGIN ACTION PHASE
The acting character now declares and takes his actions, according to the steps below.
If another character has delayed an action (see Delayed Actions, p. 134) and wishes to act during this Action Phase, he must declare it here. That character chooses whether to act before, aft er, or at the same time as current acting character.
A. Declare Actions
The acting character declares his actions for the Action Phase. He may take two Simple Actions or one Complex Action. Alternately, the character can choose to delay his action until a later Action Phase in that Combat Turn (see Delayed Actions, p. 134).
The character may also declare one Free Action during either this Action Phase or on any subsequent Action Phases in the Combat Turn. Likewise, any character who has already acted in the Combat Turn prior to this Action Phase and still has his Free Action left may declare it at this point if he chooses.
B. Resolve Actions
Resolve the actions of the acting character.
4. DECLARE AND RESOLVE ACTIONS OF REMAINING CHARACTERS
Move on to the character with the next highest Initiative Score and repeat Step 3. Continue this cycle until the actions of all characters have been resolved for that Initiative Pass.
5. BEGIN NEXT INITIATIVE PASS
Once all of the characters have acted and the all of the actions have been resolved for the fi rst Initiative Pass, Steps 2
through 4 are then repeated for characters who get a second Initiative Pass due to implants, magic, or other abilities. This cycle is repeated in full for characters who get a third pass, and then for those who get a fourth pass (if any). No character can act in more than 4 Initiative Passes in a Combat Turn.
If a character was wounded in a previous Initiative Pass, wound modifiers may affect his Initiative Score on this and any subsequent passes.
6. BEGIN A NEW COMBAT TURN
Begin a new Combat Turn, starting again at Step 1. Continue repeating Steps 1 through 6 until the combat ends.