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Reactions & PP

A soldier's turn is not the only time they act. Reactions are answers given off-turn — a shield stepped in front of an ally, a blow turned aside, a riposte delivered before the attacker has lowered their arm. They are written on the writ like rules, and paid for from a separate purse.

Screenshot · A Bodyguard reaction firing
Passive · Bodyguard — she steps in, taking half the blow.

PP — the passive purse​

Each soldier carries Passive Points beside their AP: granted at the muster, never more than 4 — most soldiers carry two or three — and spent one reaction at a time. Every reaction has a PP cost; when the purse is empty, the soldier stops answering. The purse must last the whole battle — which makes when a reaction is allowed to fire (its When conditions on the writ) as important as which reaction it is.

The order of answers​

When a hostile action is declared, the answers come in a fixed sequence — always the same, never doubled up:

  1. Cover. Squadmates of the threatened soldier are polled, quickest first. The first willing Bodyguard steps in and becomes the one the blow actually falls on — taking only half of it. One cover per blow, and nobody covers themselves. Cover has a reach: a bodyguard only answers for an ally in its own column or beside it in its own row. A shield on the far side of the formation is never offered the blow, costs nothing, and leaves the reactions written under it free to answer — so where a shield stands decides who it can protect.
  2. Pre-hit. The soldier about to be struck may answer before the blow resolves: Parry turns the attack aside entirely — it simply misses, though the attacker's AP is spent all the same — while Brace stiffens their physical defense so this very hit lands softer. Parry answers steel and nothing else: against a spell it is never offered, spends nothing, and steps out of the way of whatever reaction you wrote beneath it. Enemy casters are the answer to a line that leans on it. Magic Parry, granted by Witch and Wizard and inherited by Archmage, instead negates an attack dealing only magic damage, including its accompanying effects. Physical, mixed-damage, and damage-free actions bypass it without spending PP. Both parries cost 2 PP; Hedgeblade keeps physical Parry.
  3. The blow resolves. Hit, crit, guard, armor — as always.
  4. Counter. If the defender was struck, hurt, and still stands, they may answer in kind: Riposte swings a heavy slash back, Return Fire snaps off a shot. A miss, a parried blow, or a killing blow draws no counter — the dead do not riposte.
  5. Aid. If real damage was done and the defender lives, their squadmates may answer the wound: Mender's Reflex closes it on the spot.
  6. The opening. If the blow put a new condition on a foe who still stands, the attacker's squadmates may pile on: Press the Opening, Follow the Venom, and Kindle each strike that same foe with a named skill while the condition is fresh. Refreshing a condition the body already carried is no opening, and a foe who fell to the blow offers none either.
  7. The kill. If the blow put a foe down, the one who struck may take something from it — Blood Up leaves them regenerating for a beat.
  8. The fall. If the body that fell was one of yours, their squadmates may answer the loss: Rally stiffens the survivors' attack.

Three laws keep this honest:

  • Reactions never chain. A counter cannot be covered, parried, or countered in turn. One action, one round of answers, done.
  • The stunned and the fallen never react. A reaction is a choice, and neither can choose.
  • A sweep is never covered. A skill that fans over a row, a column, or the whole field catches everyone at once — each soldier it strikes answers for themselves, in a fixed order.

The follow-up​

One reaction spends more than PP. When a skill launches a body — Rising Cut throws its target off its feet for a beat — the ally holding the very next turn may answer with Skyward Answer: they give up that whole turn, and the AP Sky Cutter costs, to strike the hanging target — who cannot guard while airborne. Other callings answer the same moment with their own weapon: Hammer Down, Ride Down, Horn Answer, Ember Answer. The reaction itself is free; the turn is the price.

A hanging body is worth striking twice over. It cannot guard, and every hit that lands while it is in the air also deals a little extra damage — enough that giving up a turn to finish a launch beats simply attacking. The follow-up's own blow is cut back a share for being the second blade of the beat, so the two roughly cancel. A target that guards the launching blow with a heavy shield stands firm and is not thrown, so there is nothing to follow up. A body is only thrown once per lap of the turn order, and if the next turn belongs to anyone else — an enemy, the launcher's own next lap — the moment simply passes.

Writing reactions​

On the writ, reactions live below the rules, marked When instead of If — when I am struck and still standing, answer with Riposte; when an ally takes a wound, answer it at once. Like rules, they can carry conditions: a Own PP 2 Or More gate keeps a cheap reflex from draining the purse you were saving for Parry, and a HP Below 50% filter makes a mender answer only wounds that matter.

A soldier can only be given the reactions their class has trained — the editor's + Add a Reaction button offers exactly those. Every reaction, its cost, and its trigger is listed in the reaction reference.

PP is a budget, not a habit

A soldier who answers every blow empties the purse on the first few things that happen to them. The strong play is choosing which moments of the battle deserve an answer — and writing the When conditions that pick them.