Actions (行動*)? are a sub-mechanic to turns in combat. Sometimes, they are also referred to as "turns," but for the sake of distinguishing the two, the subject of the article will be called "actions."
Overview[]
Actions refer to how many times a combatant can act in a turn. By default, they can all act once during their turn, after which it will switch to the opposition's turn. However, there are scenarios where it is possible to have more than one action per turn.
In the Shin Megami Tensei series, the Press Turn system allows the party to act more times via blinking icons.
In the Persona series, the party can exploit One Mores in the same fashion. In Persona 5, there is also access to Baton Pass, which lets the user give away their turn to someone else, powering them up in the process. The Burn damage and Despair SP loss will activate at the end of every action. In Royal, Disaster Shadows can act every time they are targeted with an attack. If enraged, they may take another action in a row. Some enemies (like Savage Shadows or Junya Kaneshiro) can naturally act twice per turn, but will only take Burn damage once.
Because how timer-based buffs, such as Tarukaja, are based on the number of "turns," not "actions," multiple actions artificially extend the timer of these buffs, letting the user exploit the skill more times.
In Soul Hackers 2, Ringo can cast a Commander skill to increase the number of actions one of her allies can use.
There are various scenarios where enemies can increase their action count:
- In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, several enemies have access to the skills Beast Eye and Dragon Eye, which grant them 2 and 4 more Press Turns respectively. Because of this, it is possible for the enemy to play their turn endlessly depending on circumstances.
- In Shin Megami Tensei V, during one of Lucifer's phases, he can cast Contempt of God, which grants him 2 turn icons to his next turn.
- In Persona 5, Suguru Kamoshida acts twice per turn, but in the case of a successful special order, his first turn will be blocked, as he is "dejected". Masayoshi Shido can increase his number of actions per turn with Tyrant's Glare.
- In Royal, provoked Disaster Shadows may use Indignant Revenge to take up to 4 actions in a row.