Basics of A-Actions and B-Actions
Characters perform two actions every round, an A-Action and a B-action.
Usually the A-action is casting a spell or making an attack and the B-action is usually
a dodge or parry maneuver.
A-actions can be anything that can be reasonable done within 30 seconds. B-Actions can be anything other than casting a spell or making an attack.
A-actions occur during a character's initiative order. B-actions occur at any point in the round that they make sense occurring.
Even if your character goes last in initiative, you can use your B-action to dodge or parry as an attack is made against your character. But once you declare a B-action to dodge or parry, you cannot change it.
If your character's A-action is to shoot an arrow, and your B-action is to load the arrow, then of course the B-action occurs before the A-action regardless of when your character's initiative is.
You can forgo your A-action to take a second B-action. You forgo casting a spell or making an attack, but you can act twice out of normal intiative order.
Movement in Combat
You do not have to declare every bit of movement.
If your character is making an attack roll, the attack isn't
just swinging your sword or axe, but it includes jockeying for position with the enemy combatants. Same things for a dodge or parry. A defensive roll covers more than just the moment the attack is swung.
Each combat round is about 30 seconds. Some light movement, feints, and the like are "free". If your character wants to make a more noticeable and specific movement, then you have to give up your A-action or B-action to do it, or at least part of it, see split dice pools below
Talking in Combat
Talking in combat between allies during combat is free...within reason. You can throw insults and the like at your opponents. This is also free...within reason.
Employing psychological tricks during combat are another matter. If you want to intimidate, trick, or bribe enemies into changing their actions, then you need to make a social dice roll of some sort. And if you make a social roll, such as Charisma + Intimidation or Manipulation + Subterfuge or any other hypothetical social roll, you need to give up your A-action or B-action to do it. Or split your dice pool and give up part of an action to do it. See split dice pools below.
Splitting Dice Pools
Basic Dice Rules says tiy can splitting a dice pool to take two actions simultaneously. You do not have to split a dice pool to take a separate A-action and B-action. In this case you get two actions for free.
But you can split an A-action into
two A-actions or split a B-action into
two B-actions.
Let's say you are an archer and want to shoot your bow and dodge an enemy attack. The A-action covering Dexterity + Archery to shoot the bow, and the B-action covers the Dexterity + Dodge roll to avoid an enemy attack.
But if you start the round with your character's bow unload, you have to pull an arrow and nock it before firing. You don't have to roll any dice in order to load an arrow but it does count as taking multiple actions. So in order to load an arrow, fire the arrow, and dodge enemies all in one round, the PC must take a multi-action penalty on either the A-action attack or the B-action dodge, player's choice.
Taking two actions normally means you two-dice on your first action and three-dice on your second action. If one of your two action doesn't require a dice roll (such as nocking an arrow or drinking a potion) and the other rolls actual dice, the dice roll only takes a two-dice penalty even if occurs second.
Double Attacks
If you split your A-action to attack twice, you can attack two different opponents or you can choose to attack the same person twice. The latter is a viable tactic for wearing down an opponents pools of dodge or parry successes and can let a character with six or more dice in their combat pool to mathematically gain a few bonus dice. A viable strategy for overwhelming an opponent's defenses but it also increases the mathematical odds of a character botching an attack roll.
Full Defense
If you sacrifice your A-action for a B-action, you can make two dodge or two parry rolls. You roll the dice pool twice and add the successes together. If either roll botches, all successes are lost that round.
Full Defense is usually a desperation play to buy time. If you do it round after round,
eventually your enemy will managed to hit you unless your allies save you in the meantime.
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