What is the action economy?

[Eaglejarl]

I see the phrase "action economy" bandied around a lot here. I gather it has something to do with what a character can accomplish how quickly but I'm not really clear about the details or their implications.

I'm happy to RTFM if someone can point me to the FM. Any suggestions?

[Re'ozul]

Action economy refers to the standard set of actions a character is allowed in on round.

Usually that is swift-move-standard or swift-fullround with an indeterminate amount of free actions sprinkled in.

Even if you play gestalt, this set of actions stays the same.

Hence abilities to gain more actions such as Belt of battle, Celerity, Factotums 8th level ability etc are referred to as breaking the action economy as they give more actions in a given round and can sometimes be optimized to ludicrous amounts.

Factotum is the easiest example of that as its ability allows you to convert inspiration points to standard actions (usually used to cast spell like abilities or perhaps use magic items), therefore any way to gain more inspiration (often font of inspiration) increases that ability to such a point where a character may be able to do four times as much as another player.

[Flickerdart]

The action economy is the amount of available actions a character can "exchange" for doing things. For instance, a fighter has a very poor action economy because he needs full-round actions to make full attacks, of which he only has one. A wizard has a better action economy because he can quicken spells, which lets him use his swift actions in addition to his standards to do stuff every round. A psion can use schism or fission to manifest an extra power each turn, and so on. Generally, the casting classes are much better at action economy than the non-casters.

[Eaglejarl]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks, folks.

[AMFV]

It's like the regular economy, except everything is faster with more explosions. There is also roughly 60% more babes, everybody has a flattop or a mullet and smokes cigars constantly. Also there are frequently shootouts, Banes takeover would be seen as routine in this economy.

[Lanaya]

It's also often used to refer to the general failing of individual boss monsters, that they're getting one swift, one move and one standard action each round, whereas the PCs are typically getting four swift, four move and four standard actions. The PCs are just doing more of everything than the boss monster can, which can often lead to what the DM thought was a challenging, climactic encounter ending in two rounds as the boss is torn apart by a barrage of spells and attacks before its second turn.

[Soranar]

types of action a character can make each round

1 move (or a ''free'' 5 foot step)
1 standard

or a full round action

1 swift
unlimited free actions (usually limited by a DM through the ''a round is 6 seconds rule'', I usually only apply that to talking since talking PCs tends to get out of hand)

common sources of action economy (see Person man's list for a complete detail of each trick)

a mount can move for you
certain familiars can cast buffs on you , activate wands, etc
many maneuvers grant special abilities that activate as a swift action or replace the equivalent of a full round action (damage wise for example) for a standard action
a summon can act on his own thus letting you do other things (run away, flank, cast, etc)

many spells and powers grant extra actions

a handful of abilities and items grant extra actions

rule of thumb: a character with more actions each round tends to be of a higher tier (every tier 1 character breaks action economy, no exception)

[StreamOfTheSky]

While number of actions is a decent rubric, the quality also matters. A standard action that you can use to cast another spell is much more valuable than one in which you use to swing your sword again. This is why there are so few abilities to sacrifice your own action to give it to another, and why the DM should be wary of them. A martial giving his actions to the casters in the party so they can nova with their spells even harder can be pretty game-breaking, along with not very fun for the gimp martial himself. Of course, it's more likely the casters would obtain a cohort to exist solely to make them better than find another player willing to play a PC that exists just to give them more screen time.


It's also often used to refer to the general failing of individual boss monsters, that they're getting one swift, one move and one standard action each round, whereas the PCs are typically getting four swift, four move and four standard actions. The PCs are just doing more of everything than the boss monster can, which can often lead to what the DM thought was a challenging, climactic encounter ending in two rounds as the boss is torn apart by a barrage of spells and attacks before its second turn.

Alternatively, the DM might easily over-compensate for the action disparity and make the monster too powerful, so that while it only gets one set of actions, it can basically one-shot any PC each round.
It's just...really hard to balance a solo boss. You're better off using a "boss team," or if you must use a solo, giving him extra actions each round. In either case, not using all of that action economy on the same PC, otherwise you will eradicate him/her.

[Ramza00]

While not defining the exact term action economy per say, most people when they use that term are often talking about spells, items, feats, class options that enhance the number of actions/options your party has or hinders the enemy actions.

For example the spell solid fog covers 44 total 5 ft squares thus if it is cast on a group of enemies it can hinder multiple enemies. Targets in the center effectively lose 2 rounds (4 move actions) while targets on the edge lose at least 1 move action. Even if it is just the edge this is a good exchange for while the wizard may lose his standard action and a 4th level spell the other party members get a free round to buff or attack. Furthermore if cast on a group of 4 enemies such as goblins you can focus fire on each individual goblin that exits the fog for they usually exit the fog on different rounds due to to goblins being in different spaces originally and exit the fog one 5ft move action at a time.

[Red Fel]

It's also, as Re'ozul mentioned in passing, a major consideration when gestalting. Some classes make best use of their actions by doing things actively, usually requiring a move, standard, or full attack action. Blasters, uberchargers and King of Smack types fall into this category. Others can use swift or immediate actions to act reflexively, such as ToB counters, or use buffs outside of combat to free up their in-combat actions. Knowing which class features make a more active use of the action economy, and which ones spare it, can make a gestalt extremely efficient. (This is often referred to as the "active" and "passive" sides of gestalt.)