An individual combatant is always in one of four states.
The combatant is free to declare an action. Consecutive Idle ticks count toward Stamina recovery.
The combatant is committed to a declared action during its preparation and execution ticks. Movement is an Acting action for the ticks required to reach the declared destination. When Acting completes, the action resolves or enters Holding.
The combatant maintains an action's active state after preparation is complete. Examples include holding a shield in front of the body, keeping a bow drawn, or sustaining a merged combo before release.
The action defines what can release, redirect, or end the hold.
The combatant recovers after an action resolves or a held action ends. By default, Cooldown equals the action's Acting period. When Cooldown ends, the combatant returns to Idle.
A combatant who is Acting, Holding, or in Cooldown cannot declare an unrelated action unless a skill or rule permits it.
Idle → Acting → [resolve] → Cooldown → Idle
└→ Holding → [resolve or end] → CooldownResolving is an event, not a character state.
A combo combines two or more actions through a learned skill or ability. Knowing the component actions does not itself grant the combo.
The combo skill defines its component actions, order, timing, Acting periods, Holding behavior, release, costs, and Cooldown transitions. Unless it explicitly changes a cost, every component pays its normal action-resource and tick costs.
A mage might merge Fire Bolt with an enlargement action. While the enlarged bolt is prepared but unreleased, the mage is Holding the combined action.
A reaction may interrupt another character's action when its rule permits. For example, a target may answer an incoming attack with a later-tick parry reaction.
Specific actions and skills override the default state timings and transitions when they explicitly say so.