A combat round in Guardians is 5 seconds long. That's it. Five seconds in which Jane can shield herself, cross the ash, and put a rapier through a gap in a greatsword's guard.

Three ideas run the whole show:

• AP fuels everything. Action Points are your budget of moments. Every action costs AP.
• Initiative is per action — not rolled once at the top of the fight. Every action gets its own initiative, and it's dynamic.
• Lowest acts first. Quick, cheap actions land early. Heavy, expensive ones land late. Naturally.

The old hands used to teach the round as five beats; the book walks it in six — Setup & Spotlight → Choose & Cost → Roll → Reactions & Effects → Resolve → Advance & Pass. The roll decides when; the world answers; only then does the blow land. We'll walk each beat, then you'll fight a round yourself.

Why this matters: Most games make you wait for “your turn.” Guardians makes the clock itself the battlefield: choosing a slow action is a real cost, because everyone faster slips in ahead of you.

🕷 Tela whispers: Five seconds. You'd be amazed what Jane fits into five seconds. Caiden once timed her. He regretted it.

📖 Core Rule Book — Combat v1.2, p. 15 (“Fast, readable, tactical. A round is 5 seconds. Initiative is dynamic and re-evaluated per action. AP fuels everything.”)

At the top of the round, everyone fills their pool:

AP per round = 10 + Chosen Speed Attribute + Action Skill

Your Chosen Speed Attribute is one of Dex / Int / Per, fixed at character creation (by Path or GM). It doesn't change mid-campaign unless a Path says so.

Then the table takes stock — the running time track:

• Banked AP from last round? It's subtracted from the first action you take this round.
• Clock ongoing effects, committed Mana, conditions, cover and position.
• Everyone declares intent: move, attack, invoke, operate, assist, defend.

Meet our sparring partners, straight from the book's example:

Guardian	Dex	Per	Action Skill	AP / round
Jane (rapier, Aether Shield)	5	9	5	10 + 5 + 5 = 20
Mylo (greatsword)	8	6	5	10 + 8 + 5 = 23

Why this matters: AP is rebuilt every round, but banking links the rounds together: spend light today, strike cheap tomorrow. The pool is a rhythm, not a wall.

🕷 Tela whispers: Watch the quiet ones who end a round with AP still in hand. They're not hesitating. They're loading.

📖 Core Rule Book — Combat v1.2, p. 15 (Core Loop of a Round); worked stats p. 17–18, 21.

Pick your action and note its AP cost. The core menu:

And you are not limited to one action. As long as AP remains in your pool, you keep acting — each action paying its cost and rolling its own initiative. With 18 AP and a light blade (weapon speed 1, so 6 AP a swing), you can strike three times — or strike once, drink a vial (10), and step 2 meters. The pool is the only limit.

Action	AP Cost
Unarmed attack	6
Armed attack	5 + weapon speed
Ranged attack	5 + weapon speed
Spell	5 + cast time (Snap 0 · Quick 1 · Standard 2 · Lengthy 3 · Ritual 4–5)
Move	1 m per AP
Defense stance	2 AP → +1 Defense (ends if you take any other action)
Drink vial	10
Use device	device speed

Feeling lucky? At the start of your turn you may declare the optional AP Roll — a d20 that modifies your action costs for this round. Once per round, declared before your first action. The GG may call a Tempo Shift that makes everyone roll for one round.

The AP Roll never modifies movement-by-meter or per-AP investments (like Defense stance). Reactions use your current round's AP Roll, if any.

🎲 At the table: Try the AP Roll and read the bands:

1	+3 AP — The cog grinds — every action costs 3 more this round. Rough.
2–4	+1 AP — A little friction — actions cost 1 more this round.
5–16	As listed — The round runs true. Costs exactly as the table says.
17–19	−1 AP — The gears catch — every action costs 1 less this round.
20	−3 AP — Perfect tempo! Every action costs 3 less this round. Spend it well.

Why this matters: Costs are the language of intent. A greatsword (weapon speed 3) swings at 8 AP; a rapier (speed 2) at 7. That single point is why the duelist keeps cutting in ahead of the brute.

🕷 Tela whispers: Textus rolls the AP Roll every single round. Archi never does. They've argued about it for two hundred years.

📖 Core Rule Book — Combat v1.2, p. 15–16 (AP Roll; Actions & AP Cost). AP Roll bands match the Quickstart card exactly.

When you're ready to act, the action gets its own initiative:

Action Initiative = d20 + Action AP (final) − Speed Bonus  ·  lowest acts first Speed Bonus = floor((Dex + Per) / 2) + Action Skill

Action AP (final) includes every modifier: AP Roll, banked AP, cast time, weapon speed. Heavier actions land later; faster characters cut in earlier — naturally. Ties: lower Speed Bonus, then higher Per, then roll-off.

Mark the order — but nothing has landed yet. Between this roll and the blow, the whole world gets a say. That's the next beat.

Try it: Jane readies her rapier (7 AP) while Mylo heaves the greatsword (8 AP). Both have Speed Bonus 12.

🎲 At the table: roll a d20 for each — Jane: d20 + 7 − 12 · Mylo: d20 + 8 − 12. Lowest total acts first.

Why this matters: This roll decides WHEN, and only when. Because AP feeds initiative, every choice you made in Beat 02 echoes here — the round's clock is built out of your intentions.

🕷 Tela whispers: Lowest first. It feels backwards for exactly one round, and then it feels like the only sane way anyone ever did it.

📖 Core Rule Book — Combat v1.2, p. 15–16 (Initiative per action; Speed Bonus).

Between the roll and the landing, the world answers — and this is the layer no handout printed.

• Reactions: some abilities let you act between turns. Reactions spend AP immediately and use your current round's AP Roll (if any).
• Effects tick: ongoing spells, committed Mana, hazards and conditions apply now — Shaken −1 AP · Staggered −2 AP · Stunned lose all AP · Prone (stand 4 AP).
• Saves: where effects call for them — Body (Str + Sta) · Reflex (Dex) · Mind (best of Int/Wis/Chr) → d20 + Save vs DC.

And the wall rises. Defense is a single target number, but it's built, not given — your defensive rolls add into it:

Dodge = (Dex + Martial skill) / 2 − armor bonus + Martial Dodge skill Parry = (Dex + Weapon skill + weapon bonus) / 2 − armor bonus + Weapon Parry skill

Dodge and Parry add to the Defense TN. Notice armor subtracts here — plate is hard to dance in. It pays you back in the next beat. In play you raise the finished number only via Defense stance or abilities.

Why this matters: One number keeps the table fast — but it's an earned number. Your Dodge and Parry are baked into the TN before the blow lands, and reactions mean the space between initiative and impact is alive.

🕷 Tela whispers: Archi treats “Reactions spend AP immediately” as a personal philosophy. Something is always left in reserve. Always.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 12 (Defensive Rolls); Combat v1.2, p. 16 (Defense & Saves); conditions quick list p. 20.

Now — and only now — the blow lands. An attack is:

d20 + Dex + Martial/Weapon Skill + specialties + mods  vs  Defense

Beat the wall and it's a hit. Then damage — and the formula follows the weapon, while armor (if stated) carves it down:

Attack	Damage
Melee	Weapon + Strength − armor
Martial (unarmed)	Weapon + Strength − armor
Ranged	Weapon − armor (no Strength behind a bolt)

The damage roll has moods of its own:

• Natural 1–4: half damage
• 5–19: normal damage
• Natural 20: roll your damage dice one additional time and add — do not double modifiers.

Watch it land — Mylo's greatsword falls on Jane. His attack is d20 + Dex 8 + Weapon Skill 4 against Jane's Defense 15 — a number her Dodge and Parry already built:

🎲 At the table: roll d20 + 12 against Jane's Defense 15. Beat it and it's a hit.

Why this matters: The same sword hits a bare duelist and an armored knight very differently — weapon, Strength, and armor all speak in the damage line. Resolution is where every earlier beat cashes out.

🕷 Tela whispers: The dice say hit or miss. The table says what it looked like. Both are true — Mylo remembers every scar and narrates them all.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 12 (Damage formulas); Combat v1.2, p. 16 (Damage Outcomes); Attacks & Defense, p. 19; example values p. 21.

Your action resolved — now pay its time:

• Add the action's AP to your initiative clock. Next to act is whoever now sits lowest on the track.
• When your AP runs dry, your round is done — but unspent AP isn't wasted: bank it. Banked AP is subtracted from the first action you take next round (minimum 1 AP after reductions).
• Defense stance persists into next round if you invested and then did nothing else — the bonus holds until you take an action. Stance bonus is capped by Dex.
• End-of-round checks: ongoing effects, hazards, morale, scene clocks — then the round turns, and AP refills.

From the book's own table: Jane banks 4 AP in Round 1. In Round 2 her rapier attack (7 AP) costs just 7 − 4 = 3 AP — she strikes almost before Mylo's guard is up.

Why this matters: Banking is the round's memory. Discipline now becomes tempo later — the fight rewards Guardians who think one round ahead.

🕷 Tela whispers: And then it all begins again. The round is a wheel. You'll hear Textus say the whole portal is.

📖 Core Rule Book — Combat v1.2, p. 15–16 (Banking AP; Defense stance persistence); Round 1→2 banking shown in the example, p. 21–22.

Round One, straight from the book. Jane: 20 AP · Defense 15 · AR 2 · rapier (weapon speed 2) · Aether Shield (cast time 1, +3 Defense for 1 round). Mylo: 23 AP · Defense 13 · AR 1 · greatsword (weapon speed 3). No AP Roll this round.

Mylo is already committing to an armed attack — 8 AP, so his initiative is d20 + 8 − 12. What do you do?

Choose Jane's first action:

▸ Cast Aether Shield (6 AP)

The book's own opening move. Cast time 1 → AP 5 + 1 = 6. Your initiative is d20 + 6 − 12 against Mylo's d20 + 8 − 12 — the lighter action tends to land first, and if it does, his greatsword meets Defense 18 (15 + 3 shield) instead of 15.

🎲 At the table: roll a d20 for each — Jane (cast, 6 AP): d20 + 6 − 12 · Mylo (attack, 8 AP): d20 + 8 − 12. Lowest total acts first.

▸ Rapier attack (7 AP)

Steel answers steel. Weapon speed 2 → AP 5 + 2 = 7. Your attack is d20 + Dex 5 + Weapon Skill 4 = d20 + 9 against Mylo's Defense 13. On a hit: 1d6+2 damage, minus his armor 1 — melee damage is Weapon + Strength − armor.

🎲 At the table: roll d20 + 9 against Mylo's Defense 13. Beat it and it's a hit.

▸ Defense stance (invest 10 AP)

You plant your feet and read his shoulders. Every 2 AP buys +1 Defense — 10 AP buys +5, capped by your Dex 5: exactly at the cap. Mylo now needs to beat Defense 20. If you do nothing else this round, the bonus persists into the next — and your remaining AP banks toward a lightning-fast first strike.

🎲 At the table: roll d20 + 12 against Jane's Defense 20 (15 + 5 stance). Beat it and it's a hit.

Why this matters: There is no wrong door here — that's the lesson. Shield, strike, or stance all obey the same three ideas: AP is the budget, initiative is per action, lowest acts first.

🕷 Tela whispers: The first time Jane fought Mylo, she picked the shield. The second time, she didn't need to. That's what training grounds are for.

📖 Core Rule Book — Example Combat: Three Rounds (Jane vs Mylo), p. 21–23. All numbers as printed.

That's the whole engine of a Guardians fight:

• Round: 5 seconds. AP per round = 10 + Chosen Speed Attribute + Action Skill.
• Per-action initiative: d20 + Action AP − Speed Bonus, lowest acts first.
• AP Roll (optional): 1: +3 · 2–4: +1 · 5–16: as listed · 17–19: −1 · 20: −3. Never touches movement or per-AP investments.
• Act while you can: as long as AP remains, you keep acting — three strikes, or strike + vial + step; every action rolls its own initiative.
• Bank AP: subtract from your first action next round.
• Damage: nat 1–4 half · 5–19 normal · nat 20 rolls extra damage dice (no doubled modifiers).
• The wall: Dodge and Parry add to your Defense TN (armor bonus subtracts from them); armor reduces damage — melee/martial deal Weapon + Strength − armor, ranged deal Weapon − armor.

Next on the track: AP & Tempo — a live calculator that mirrors the printed Quickstart card, number for number. Build your own Guardian's action economy and see the round from the inside.

Take the paper with you: the one-page Quickstart card (PDF) is this lesson folded for the table.

🕷 Tela whispers: You did well. I watched the whole time. I always do.

📖 Quick Reference — Core Rule Book, p. 17; One-Page Combat Reference (Player Handout), p. 19–20.