How does one get a bonus action?

[Trandir]

As asked in the title.
I am asking for anything that grant a swift, move, standard or full-round action.
As in "how can I get a whole action to do whatever I want with it", this is different from optimizing action economy

Edit:
"What are the ways that a character can have bonus actions in a round? This means everything that grants acions in addition to the normal standard, move, swift actions one have at their disposal. An entire extra round qualify as well, effects like planar sheperd planar bubble used do alter the flow of time and so getting multiple rounds.
The optimisation of action economy has far more exemples and usually is less cheesy but as long as they just use that action to mimic what you can do with an action that takes more of your turn to perform it is not what this thread is looking for.
The method used to get the extra actions is confined to he span of a round so all the time between your turn and the beginning of the next one, if it gets more actions in that round it is valid."

[Particle_Man]

Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords has some nice manevuers for this sort of thing:

White Raven Tactics is the gold standard, giving your buddy a new place in the initiative order, effectively giving them an extra turn.
There is also a maneuver to grant all of your allies a move action.

Diamond Mind has one that lets you use a move action as a swift action, and a stance that lets you use a counter (usually an immediate action) without using up your immediate action. It also has a capstone maneuver that lets you take two sets of full attacks (so 2 full round actions).

There is a prestige class in the book that as a capstone lets you get an extra turn once a day (Eternal Blade, which is quite friendly to White Raven and Diamond Mind Maneuvers.

So you probably want an elf warblade/eternal mind to really abuse the action economy. Especially if you take leadership and your followers *also* have WRT.

Although you could go for the Jade Phoenix Mage prestige class via Wu-Jen/Warblade, get the spell Body Outside Body, and have all of your duplicates time White Raven Tactics on you so you can nova your spells.

Oh, the spell Time Stop gives you some free rounds, although you can't affect the world while using those actions.

[Biggus]

Quicken Spell
Multispell (ELH)
Belt of Battle (MiC)
Shapechanging into a Chronotyryn (FF) or Choker (MM)

Also worth mentioning: there are a number of relatively cheap items in the MiC which are useful to martial characters and which take swift or immediate actions to activate, which as many martial classes don't have any class features which use swift actions effectively grants an extra action. They're mostly in the clothing section.

[Allanimal]

The travel devotion feat from complete divine gives free move actions.

The 9th level swiftblade PrC class feature gives you an extra standard or move action when hasted.

[bean illus]

Factotum 8 gets cunning surge for an extra standard action. They can likely do it 2+ times per encounter.

A loose reading allows multiple times in a turn. UMD?

[Sutr]

A Ruby Knight Vindicator gets extra swifts off of turning.

[Asmotherion]

Quicken Spell
Multispell (ELH)
Belt of Battle (MiC)
Shapechanging into a Chronotyryn (FF) or Choker (MM)

Also worth mentioning: there are a number of relatively cheap items in the MiC which are useful to martial characters and which take swift or immediate actions to activate, which as many martial classes don't have any class features which use swift actions effectively grants an extra action. They're mostly in the clothing section.

Or Nagahydra.

Using Celerity line of spells.

incantatrix or cleric persisting time stop for a whole 14400 full round actions (24 hours worth of actions...that can't directly affect other creatures; still enough to cast-persist every single spell that qualifies; put your enemies in a series of control/damage over time AOEs and summon an army at the same time).

[Biggus]

Or Nagahydra.

Using Celerity line of spells.

incantatrix or cleric persisting time stop for a whole 14400 full round actions (24 hours worth of actions...that can't directly affect other creatures; still enough to cast-persist every single spell that qualifies; put your enemies in a series of control/damage over time AOEs and summon an army at the same time).

And I thought I was being cheesy by mentioning the Chronotyryn...

Oh yeah, a Marshal of 4th level or higher can grant move actions to allies.

[Troacctid]

I don't think the Action Surge (ECS) and Multitasking (SS) feats have been mentioned yet. You could also have an ally who is a squire of legend (CC) who follows Reikhardt.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Eldritch Sculptor [Epic] for Warlocks lets them fire off two Eldritch Blasts per round. Even if that EB is an Eldritch Glaive, a full-round action.

[Mordaedil]

Celerity series or Arcane Spellsurge is also a good way to get some actions in.

[Dimers]

In psionics you have hustle, synchronicity and temporal acceleration. The feat Linked Power is especially good with those.

The contingency spell and Craft Contingent Spell feat in Complete Arcane give you the benefits of actions when they trigger.

If your concern is the ratio of your actions to enemies' actions, anticipate teleportation can be a delight!

Complete Adventurer feats Extraordinary Concentration, Improved Diversion, Mobile Spellcasting and Quick Reconnoiter all improve your action economy for specific things. I'm sure there are other similar feats, e.g. something to feint quickly, something to turn undead quickly. And Complete Scoundrel's skill tricks offer such opportunities too. But they don't actually give you actions.

[Biggus]

Imbue Familiar With Spell Ability (SpC) allows you to transfer some of your spells of up to 5th level to your familiar, which can then cast them in the same round as you cast other spells.

Edit: just noticed the edit to the OP. If you mean "I want a means of granting myself extra actions where I can decide what to do with the action at the time of use, which is usable by any class" you're pretty much down to the Belt of Battle. You can have several if you can afford it and swap them after each combat though.

If you meant something a bit broader than that, which of the suggestions made so far meet your criteria?

[Trandir]

Imbue Familiar With Spell Ability (SpC) allows you to transfer some of your spells of up to 5th level to your familiar, which can then cast them in the same round as you cast other spells.

Edit: just noticed the edit to the OP. If you mean "I want a means of granting myself extra actions where I can decide what to do with the action at the time of use, which is usable by any class" you're pretty much down to the Belt of Battle. You can have several if you can afford it and swap them after each combat though.

If you meant something a bit broader than that, which of the suggestions made so far meet your criteria?

Everything that just grant an extra action meet the criteria. It might be a capstone of a PrC obtainable only at level 20 or assuming the form of a monster a special quality that allow you do do 2 standard actions in a single turn.

All the advice like "if you use X action you get Y result that usually requires a longer action to perform" wile welcome are not what was asked. Haste is a prime exemple: you get twice the movement speed and one more attack so if you approach an enemy and attack it you are doing what usually requires 2 move action and 2 standard actions but you are not getting "extra action" you are getting more out of the usual ones.
Celerity on the other hand grant a exta standard action at your disposal do use as you like

[elosga]

Lots of interesting moves here will have to try

[Biggus]

Celerity on the other hand grant a exta move action at your disposal do use as you like

Celerity doesn't actually grant extra actions, it just allows you to act out of turn, although that's still very useful.

Be sure to get a Third Eye Clarity (or several) or the Favor of the Martyr spell to negate the dazed effect.

[Trandir]

Celerity doesn't actually grant extra actions, it just allows you to act out of turn, although that's still very useful.

Be sure to get a Third Eye Clarity (or several) or the Favor of the Martyr spell to negate the dazed effect.

Celerity
(Player's Handbook II)

Transmutation
Level: Bard 4, Sorcerer 4, Wizard 4,
Components:

This spell works like lesser celerity, except that you pull even more time into the present.
When you cast this spell, you can immediately take a standard action, as if you had readied an action.
You can even interrupt another creature's turn when you cast this spell.
However, after you take the standard action granted by this spell, you are dazed until the end of your next turn.

To me it seems that it grants an extra action and also you can do it whenever you want. You can already ready an action without magic to imitate this spell but Celerity allows you to take a standard action.

[The Viscount]

Marshal also will give you the ability to grant allies an extra move action, though limited times per day starting at level 4, so in most scenarios worse than doing it with maneuvers.

[bean illus]

In ...
Complete Adventurer feats Extraordinary Concentration, Improved Diversion, Mobile Spellcasting and Quick Reconnoiter all improve your action economy for specific things. ... .

Always love quick recon. Great fighter feat for a MAD martial rouge or scout type. It stacks with imp init for +6, and grants 2 free move actions/turn explicitly for listen + spot.

Almost never surprised, and nearly always first.

[Biggus]

However, after you take the standard action granted by this spell, you are dazed until the end of your next turn.


You get to take a standard action, but then you're unable to act for your whole next turn, unless you have immunity to being dazed.

[Trandir]

You get to take a standard action, but then you're unable to act for your whole next turn, unless you have immunity to being dazed.

Yes, Yes and Yes
What is your point?

[Mordaedil]

It's worth noting Celerity has a lesser and greater version, both granting a move action, where the lesser does not grant a standard action.

I think his point was that unless you have a way to negate the stun, you are effectively just getting to act earlier in the turn and aren't given an extra turn per say.

Of course you can mess with this by having your action granted cast time stop or similar.

[Biggus]

Yes, Yes and Yes
What is your point?

I think we may be talking at cross purposes here.

My point is that celerity doesn't grant you an extra action unless you have a way to negate the daze effect, instead it enables you take an action when it's not your turn, but you then lose your whole next turn being dazed.

You said "to me it seems that it grants an extra action" so it appeared you disagreed with that.

[Trandir]

It's worth noting Celerity has a lesser and greater version, both granting a move action, where the lesser does not grant a standard action.

I think his point was that unless you have a way to negate the stun, you are effectively just getting to act earlier in the turn and aren't given an extra turn per say.

Of course you can mess with this by having your action granted cast time stop or similar.

Ohhhhhhhhhh I see.


I think we may be talking at cross purposes here.

My point is that celerity doesn't grant you an extra action unless you have a way to negate the daze effect, instead it enables you take an action when it's not your turn, but you then lose your whole next turn being dazed.

You said "to me it seems that it grants an extra action" so it appeared you disagreed with that.

And this again is about the action economy. I'll have to reformulate better the OP question.

What I was asking is: "What are the ways that a character can have bonus actions in a round? This means everything that grants acions in addition to the normal standard, move, swift actions one have at their disposal. An entire extra round qualify as well, effects like planar sheperd planar bubble used do alter the flow of time and so getting multiple rounds.
The optimisation of action economy has far more exemples and usually is less cheesy but as long as they just use that action to mimic what you can do with an action that takes more of your turn to perform it is not what this thread is looking for.
The method used to get the extra actions is confined to he span of a round so all the time between your turn and the beginning of the next one, if it gets more actions in that round it is valid."

Ok now it should be clear right? I hunderstand that celerity in practice allow you to trade your whole turn for a standard action that you can use whenever you want and unless some very specific item or abilit it always require this trade but if we isolate that specific round you are doing one move, one swisft and two standard actions so getting a "bonus" action in that turn

[Troacctid]

Doesn't matter if you're dazed if you just killed all the enemies with double actions.

[Biggus]

What I was asking is: "What are the ways that a character can have bonus actions in a round? This means everything that grants acions in addition to the normal standard, move, swift actions one have at their disposal. An entire extra round qualify as well, effects like planar sheperd planar bubble used do alter the flow of time and so getting multiple rounds.
The optimisation of action economy has far more exemples and usually is less cheesy but as long as they just use that action to mimic what you can do with an action that takes more of your turn to perform it is not what this thread is looking for.
The method used to get the extra actions is confined to he span of a round so all the time between your turn and the beginning of the next one, if it gets more actions in that round it is valid."

Ok now it should be clear right? I hunderstand that celerity in practice allow you to trade your whole turn for a standard action that you can use whenever you want and unless some very specific item or abilit it always require this trade but if we isolate that specific round you are doing one move, one swisft and two standard actions so getting a "bonus" action in that turn

Ahh, how do you get extra actions within a single round, regardless of whether it costs you actions in later rounds? Gotcha.

Oh yeah, thought of another one: Boots of Temporal Acceleration (MiC p.79). Basically a 2-round Time Stop once a day. Unsurprisingly, not cheap at 43,000GP, but the only way I know to get Time Stop without casting or UMD.

[Rebel7284]

There are certainly more effects that turn one type of action into another than those that give you more actions. Swift/Immediate -> move/standard.

Also note that a lot of the spells and powers that grant or upgrade your actions can be twinned/repeated for more actions. Once you get immunity to Daze effects, a Twinned Celerity can be more powerful than Time Stop itself!