Combat and Action Economy
The combat framework is intentionally modular. Hand-to-Hand Style files describe combat training and progression. Combat Move files describe maneuvers. Weapon Proficiency files describe weapon training. The Rules Profile and Environment tell the GM how initiative, actions, defenses, damage, movement, and special cases work in the selected Palladium game and edition.
What the Character can track
The Character schema can expose initiative, strike, parry, dodge, automatic dodge, damage bonuses, disarm, entangle, pull punch, roll with impact, ranged or thrown modifiers, attacks or actions remaining, next-melee action debt, and other derived combat values. A World does not have to use every field. It should populate the definitions and formulas that are actually part of its rules.
One action economy is not universal
Do not assume a universal number of attacks per melee or a universal cost for defending. Different Palladium titles and editions can vary in their untrained baseline, Hand-to-Hand progression, automatic defenses, ranged-defense rules, movement, and timing. The System therefore separates the machinery from the values.
When the World defines a melee round, initiative procedure, attack order, defense cost, or carry-over penalty, follow that data. When a Hand-to-Hand Style adds an attack or unlocks a move at a particular level, let the style definition drive the Character's computed totals. When a special ability grants automatic dodge or changes an action cost, apply the explicit exception rather than changing the base System for everybody.
Strike, defense, and special moves
A Combat Move can define whether it is offensive, defensive, reactive, free, action-consuming, conditional, or otherwise special. It can carry damage information, required training, target restrictions, and World-specific notes. The label alone is not enough. A file named Dodge does not prove that every Palladium game spends the same action to use it.
Weapon Proficiencies work the same way. The System provides a dedicated type because weapon training is mechanically distinct from an ordinary percentile Skill in many Palladium games. A World decides which proficiencies exist, what bonuses they grant, how those bonuses advance, and whether an untrained character can use the weapon without proficiency bonuses.
Combat state must persist
If an encounter uses attacks remaining, initiative, ammunition, armor durability, temporary penalties, or next-round debt, those values must live in writable state rather than only in narration. The GM should update the Character or an encounter-state file when the rule says the value changes. That is how a multi-turn fight stays reliable even when the conversation is long.
Specific beats general
An O.C.C., R.C.C., creature, robot, power armor, martial art, supernatural ability, spell, psionic power, weapon, or other explicit rule may override the generic combat procedure. Those exceptions belong in the World definitions. The System's job is to make them representable, not to erase them.
If a combat result depends on a rule the World has not configured, stop at the missing rule rather than improvising a number from another Palladium game.