In some circumstances, a character might want to delay some or all of their actions and take them later in the Initiative order.

Holding a Turn

When a character’s turn arrives in the Initiative order, they can choose to hold their turn instead of taking it. To hold a turn, they voluntarily reduce their own Initiative check to a lower number. They can specify the new number when they start holding, or they can leave it undefined until they decide to take their turn.

A character Holding a Turn can take it just before or just after another character’s turn. Once a character starts their turn, they cannot be interrupted by a held turn—although someone could interrupt them with a reaction instead.

When a character takes a held turn, their Initiative check becomes fixed at its new place in the Initiative order for the rest of the combat. If they hold their turn until the next round starts and take the held action before their next turn would have arrived in the Initiative order, their Initiative check rises to that new number for the rest of the combat.

No character gets to take two turns in the same round, and they don’t ever regain the time spent holding. If two or more holding characters want to act at the same time, the character who began holding first gets to go first.

Reserving an Action

Instead of taking a standard or movement action on their turn, a character can choose to reserve that action and use it later with their reaction. They simply state the action they plan to take and the conditions that would trigger them to take it.

The reserved action must be one the character could carry out with the action reserved. For example, they cannot reserve a movement action to make an Attack. That requires a standard action instead.

If the trigger conditions are met before the character’s next turn starts, they can use their reaction to take the reserved action. If they do not have a reaction available—because they already used it or for any other reason—they cannot take the reserved action.

The reserved action takes place immediately when the trigger conditions are met, interrupting the turn of whoever is currently acting until the reserved action is complete. The reserving character’s place in the Initiative order does not change.

Example: Captain America is working his way into a Hydra Headquarters when he’s spotted. On his move, he races around a corner, out of sight, and then stops. His player declares that he’s reserving his standard action to punch anyone who comes around the corner after him.

It’s possible to have more than one character want to resolve a reserved action at the same time. When that happens, have all involved characters make a new Initiative check that only applies to this sequence of actions. There are no bonus rounds for this.

Example: In the middle of a brawl, the Mandarin grabs Sharon Carter, holds her before him and threatens to disintegrate her. Captain America tries to talk the Mandarin into letting Carter go. Captain America, the Mandarin and Carter all reserve their standard action during this dialogue.

The Mandarin decides the time for talk is over and tries to Attack Carter. All three characters involved make a new Initiative check. They come up:

• Sharon Carter: 19
• Captain America: 18
• Mandarin: 15

Carter goes first and elbows her way free of the Mandarin, Diving to the ground. Captain America hurls his shield at the Mandarin and knocks him out. The battle is over before the Mandarin gets to take his reserved action, so his Attack never happens.