Reactions
The passive reactions, in the order they answer a hostile action — covers first, then pre-hit answers, then counters, then aid, then the answers to what the blow left behind — and one follow-up that answers an ally's launch rather than an enemy's blow. Each firing spends its PP cost from the reactor's purse (never more than 4 for the whole battle). The sequence itself is explained in Reactions & PP. PP costs and effects on these cards are drawn from the game's own data files.
Cover — before the blow finds its mark
Step in front of a threatened ally, taking half the blow. The blow resolves against the bodyguard instead — riders and all. One cover per blow; nobody covers themselves. Only for an ally in your column or beside you in your row: a shield across the formation is never offered the blow and is never charged for it.
Pre-hit — as the blow arrives
Turn an incoming physical attack aside entirely — every hit of it, even a three-strike flurry. The attacker still spends their AP; the defender spends 2 PP. A spell goes straight through, and Parry is never even offered against one, so it costs nothing and leaves the reactions written under it free to answer instead.
Spend 2 PP to negate a pure magic attack, including all its hits and accompanying effects. The attacker still spends AP. Physical attacks, mixed damage, and damage-free debuffs bypass it without spending PP, leaving later reaction rules available.
Harden against the incoming blow. The armor arrives before the blow resolves, so the hit that triggered it already lands softer.
Counter — after surviving
A counter answers only a blow that landed, hurt, and failed to kill. A miss draws no counter; neither does a parried blow, and the dead do not riposte. The counter is a full strike with the named skill — it rolls its own hit, crit, and guard, and its AP cost is waived.
Answer a survived blow with a heavy slash of your own.
Answer a survived hit with a snapped-off shot.
Aid — after an ally's wound
Answer an ally's fresh wound with a quick mend — before the enemy's next soldier moves.
Press the opening — after an ally lands a condition
These fire on an ally's blow, not an enemy's. When the blow puts a condition on a foe that the foe was not already carrying, and that foe still stands, one squadmate may strike it while the opening is fresh. Refreshing a condition the body already had is not an opening, and neither is a blow that kills. Like a counter, the answer is a full strike with the named skill and its AP cost is waived; unlike a counter, it costs PP.
When an ally's blow stuns a foe or seals its guard, step in with a heavy slash before it recovers.
When an ally poisons a foe, answer with a two-shot volley while the poison is still working.
When an ally poisons a foe, answer with a burst of fire on the same target.
A sweep that lands the same condition on several foes still buys exactly one answer, aimed at the first of them in strike order.
Spoils and resolve — after a body falls
The last two answers read the outcome of the blow itself. Neither strikes anybody; both dress the reactor where it stands.
Putting a foe down leaves you regenerating health for a couple of beats.
When a squadmate is killed, the survivor with this written steadies and hits harder for a couple of beats.
A body that dies to poison or burning between turns is not a kill for either of these — they answer the blow, not the tick.
Follow-up — answering a launch
The one reaction that fires on an ally's action, not an enemy's. When the ally acting immediately before this soldier launches a foe into the air (see Rising Cut), the soldier may spend their own turn — and the follow-up skill's AP — cutting it down.
When the ally acting just before you launches a foe, spend your turn cutting it out of the air. Free of PP, because it already costs the most expensive thing a soldier has: the whole turn, plus Sky Cutter's AP.
The grounded answer: no leap, just a heavy slash brought down on a body that cannot guard. Free of PP, like every follow-up.
Answer a launch from the saddle with a stunning blow, which may leave the foe unable to act on its next turn. Free of PP, like every follow-up.
Answer a launch by driving the buffalo's horns into the falling foe. Free of PP, like every follow-up.
A caster's answer: burst fire over the foe while it hangs. Free of PP, like every follow-up.
A launched foe also takes a little extra damage from every hit that lands while it is in the air, on top of losing its guard.
Reactions are trained by class: Fighters learn Riposte, Brace, Skyward Answer, and Press the Opening, Knights add Bodyguard and Rally, Hunters learn Return Fire and Follow the Venom, Clerics learn Mender's Reflex, and Witch and Wizard learn Magic Parry, inherited by Archmage, who also learn Ember Answer; Wizard also learns Kindle. Hedgeblade carries physical Parry, Skyward Answer, and Blood Up. Cavalier learns Ride Down and Bulwark Knight Hammer Down in place of the aerial answer neither can perform; Hornwarden learns Horn Answer. See the class reference.