Sorry, no kobolds today. I'll try to have some ready soon. In the meantime, enjoy this concept sketch for an unecessarily complicated turn-based battle system!

Well, it's more frame-based, each frame representing a second or two of combat instead of an action or two. You are able to see a few seconds into the future, allowing you to coordinate your party members more effectively. Keep in mind that the actions your party takes may change the actions your enemies take a few frames down the line. So don't plan TOO far ahead...

Doing a Move adds Frames to a character's timeline. Different colors of frames indicate what the character is doing at that exact moment in time.

- Red Sword: ATCK. The character is dealing damage or applying a debuff this frame. Usually added by attack moves, but offensive spells do this too.
- Blue Shield: DFND. The characteris performing an action to defend themselves or buff an ally. Instructing your party to block or parry attacks adds these. Healing spells also generate DFND frames.
- Gray Dots: WAIT. The character is idle. They are in a good position to dodge or tank hits. Most damage a character recieves during a WAIT frame is cut in half. Or more, depending on stats. Sometimes, you want to add WAIT frames because it is not the right time to strike. WAIT frames are added by most moves that have a windup or wind-down.
- Yellow Bar: STUN. The character is in a state that makes them vulnerable. Maybe they're in the middle of a complicated move. Maybe they just got hit by a very heavy club. Maybe they're casting a spell and really, really need to not be interrupted. Whatever the cause, characters recieve extra damage from attacks during STUN frames.
- Green X: ACTN. There are no green tiles! Why would there be? We've covered all the basics of traditional JRPG combat. There is nothing else the player would need their characters to do.

A simple attack may consist of a WAIT, an ATCK or two (each dealing a small amount of damage to a single target). A heavy attack would swap out the WAIT for a STUN, while increasing the damage of each ATCK. It WOULD be risk and reward, but you can see the risks ahead of time.

The move we are asking our as-of-yet unnamed fighter to do in this example is "Parry", which consists of a WAIT and a DFND. If the user is attacked during the DFND, the attack will be deflected and a couple STUN frames added to the attacker's timeline. Setra (our monk / ranged attack) has some kind of heavy attack queued up, taking advantage of the STUN frames to deal critical damage. (which, on reflection, would definitely finish the palladin off. Oh well. Too late to change the sketch.) Raahi (our mage) is finishing casting a healing spell on the fighter, and then... doing something else...?

Considering the possibility of Dual Moves, which use up multiple party members' frames but do extra fun things. Frames where a character takes damage are lit red. Frames changed by your current choices are lit pink. Note that the enemy healer decides to start using a healing spell after their ally takes massive damage.

Understand the explanation? ( Yes ->Even Less )

That mysterious stat labeled Tp is here too... Not sure if it's staying, but I wanted to see if it would fit. Unfortunately it creates a big space on the enemy side of the timeline that I've filled in with enemy position. Another mechanic that may not stay.