Free Action, Swift Action and other issues of description

[Atoch]

Hi!

So, I was “testing” (Ver. 1.42) the new Spirit Animals in the tutorial … and I had some difficulties to understand what happened or what was supposed to happen during the fights using the new Spirit Animals.

D&D 3.5 normally knows two very fast actions: “Free Actions” and “Swift Actions”

KotC2 on the other hand knows only “Free Actions”- technically.



Well, the activations of the new Spirit Animals are still called “Free Actions” - but they act like “Swift Actions” i.e. a second activation of a Spirit Animal in the same round is possible but takes a “Move Action” and a third activation needs a “Standard Action”. This doesn’t look like a bug and is probably intended.

Here an incomplete list:

“Free Actions” as free actions in KotC2:
- Activation Rage (since ver.1.42 no further restrictions afaik)
- 5-foot-Step (specific limitation: no further movement)
- Swift Combat Manoeuvrer (Greater Trip,…) (specific limitations: only one Swift Combat Manoeuvrer per round - according to the in-game-help; I didn't test it)

“Free Actions” as swift actions in KotC2:
- Activation Spirit Animals
- (Activation Rage before ver.1.42 ?)
- ?

This means e.g. that, if you have the feat “Greater Bullrush”, you can use “Bullrush”(feat) → 5-foot-Step → Activation “Bull” → “Bullrush” (Spirit Animal) → Full-Round Attack

But if you activate two Spirit Animals → only a “Standard Action” is left.
_____

Also: The description of “Scorpion” should mention that you only get the additional attack - if you use the “Full-Round Attack” action!
(The above statement should explain why you will not get an additional attack with “Scorpion” if you activate another Spirit Animal in the same round)

Also: It would be lovely, if the description of the “Bull” mentioned that the additional “Bullrush” stacks with the feat “Greater Bullrush”.

Also: Description “Elephant”:

"The Difficulty Class” is based on your Constitution.

This probably means: The Difficulty Class of the Elephant is: 10 + Con. Modifier + half character level

[BlueSalamander]

This means e.g. that, if you have the feat “Greater Bullrush”, you can use “Bullrush”(feat) → 5-foot-Step → Activation “Bull” → “Bullrush” (Spirit Animal) → Full-Round Attack
But if you activate two Spirit Animals → only a “Standard Action” is left.

Yes, that's how it works in KotC 2.

Only the first Free Action you take is actually free. Swift combat manoeuvres work similarly, as only one use of a combat manoeuvre will be free.

They are named differently specifically to allow you to make use of both a free action and a swift combat manoeuvre for free during your character's turn.

Barbarian Rage is now an action that takes no time at all, so it won't affect your available free action or swift combat manoeuvre.

The description of “Scorpion” should mention that you only get the additional attack - if you use the “Full-Round Attack” action!
(The above statement should explain why you will not get an additional attack with “Scorpion” if you activate another Spirit Animal in the same round)

Sure, I will add that to the help entry for Scorpion.

It would be lovely, if the description of the “Bull” mentioned that the additional “Bullrush” stacks with the feat “Greater Bullrush”.

Yup, I will add that too.

This probably means: The Difficulty Class of the Elephant is: 10 + Con. Modifier + half character level

Yes, the Elephant spirit animal is a breath weapon, so it follows the rule for breath weapons. You get information about all of the DCs in the help entry for Saving Throws.

Cheers