Scenes are periods of improvisational acting and preparation, where second-by-second decisions are less important than maintaining a smooth flow of the dialog and narration. Scenes are divided into minutes, and an average scene should take around five minutes. Most extended actions occur at scene pacing; if an extended action takes longer than five minutes, the DM is allowed to simply say “a few hours later” and skip to the next scene, in which you’ve finished that action or something else interesting happens. Scene-based challenges are typically skill challenges, where your character’s skills determine how well you succeed and what happens next.
Action Description Blocks[]
Whenever these rules wish to describe an action that you may perform, they will use an action description block. An action description block looks like this:
The first line, in bold, is the name of the action - in this case, “Take a Drink”. This means that when you want your character to do this action, you tell the DM “I’m going to Take a Drink” so he knows what’s going on and can react appropriately.
On the same line, in parentheses, is the action’s type and keywords. This is two blocks, separated by an asterisk. The first block tells you when you can perform the action (in this case, at-will), how complicated the action is (in this case, it’s a minor action), and whether it’s an Action (which you can do any time on your turn) or a Reaction or Interrupt (which you can do on your or other players’ or NPC’s turns, but only in response to specific triggers).
The next lines will list special circumstances around performing the action, such as ‘Prerequisites’, ‘Requirements’, ‘Triggers’ or ‘Special’ blocks. A Prerequisite is something you need to have before you can even learn to do the action - in this case, taking a drink has no prerequisites. A requirement or trigger is a need that must be met before you can perform the action - in this case, it is a Requirement that you have a drink in your hand in order to take a drink, which makes perfect sense. A Special block just tells you some special rules or circumstances around this action that don’t fit into any other category, such as the fact that you can decide to stop taking the drink before it affects you if it tastes odd.
The next lines will list what happens when you perform the action. Each of these lines will say ‘Effect’, ‘Check’, ‘Target’, ‘Save’, ‘Success’, ‘Failure’, ‘Hit’ or ‘Miss’, and will be listed in the order that they occur. An ‘Effect’ block always happens when you perform the action; just read the line and assume that that effect occurs. A ‘Check’ or ‘Target’ line means that you must make some kind of check at this step, while a ‘Save’ means you must make a saving throw. ‘Target’ lines have you make a choice, usually selecting a particular creature or area, before making the check; the check’s DC will be based on the target that you choose. Finally, ‘Success’ and ‘Hit’ lines only occur if you succeed at the last check that you made, while ‘Failure’ and ‘Miss’ lines only occur if you didn’t succeed at the last check that you made.
Performing Actions in a Scene[]
Actions that you take within a scene can take anywhere between a few seconds and several hours. You can always perform any action during a scene; simply declare the action that you want to perform, and the DM will keep track of how long it will take to finish, and may ask you to describe how you’re performing the action. Remember that good descriptions and clever ideas are rewarded, but don’t drag down the game with florid prose that doesn’t advance the story or entertain the other players. Remember that everyone’s first goal is to have fun as a group.
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Effect: |
You perform any action listed in the Skill section. | |||
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Effect: |
You use a weapon for a non-combat purpose. | |||
Reacting to Actions in a Scene[]
If you want to react to an action in a scene, tell the DM that you want to react to it, and then describe the action that you want to perform in response. Within a scene, the precise order that things happen in isn’t usually important; if it is, the DM will likely have you make an Initiative check to determine if you can pull it off fast enough. The rules for initiative, and for other actions, will be given later.
Types of Scenes[]
Short Rest[]
A Short Rest is a Scene during which you are safe enough to catch your breath for five uninterrupted minutes. At the beginning of a Short Rest, you may spend any unexpended encounter pool to perform any per-encounter healing or utility feats.
During a Short Rest, you may choose to spend any number of healing reserves, regaining hit points equal to your heal value for each reserve that you spend. At the end of the Short Rest, you regain the use of all of your per-encounter feats.
Extended Rest[]
An Extended Rest is a Scene during which you are safe enough to sleep safely for at least six hours. At the beginning of an Extended Rest, you may spend any unexpended daily power or encounter pool to perform any daily or per-encounter healing or utility feats.
Whenever you take an Extended Rest, you regain a number of hit points equal to your heal value times your remaining healing reserves, then regain 1 point of lost Vitality if you have taken any Vitality damage. You then regain all healing reserves up to your current Vitality, and regain the use of all of your per-encounter and daily feats.