Breaking the action economy:
In DND, the true economy is how much you are capable of doing in a single round. Even the most powerful wizard is improved, because ultimately, 2 rounds worth of actions >>> 1 round worth of actions.
The following are allowed:
Modifying actions (turning swift to move to standard, etc)
Abilities that reduce actions (turning full round actions to standard, move actions as swift, etc).
Repeating Actions: Letting you double full attack, etc.
Providing something that would normally take an action for free or cheaper: I'm not sure if I want to include combat moves as free actions/swift actions/no actions/part of standard attacks in here. Trip is normally a standard action; a free trip attack on a standard attack action is still a standard action used. For now I'm skipping this sort of thing.
This will eventually turn into a handbook:
Items:Belt of Battle: MIC: 12000gp, 3 charges a day: 1/2/3 charges spent as a
swift action gain you another move/standard/full round action.
Chronocharm of the Horizon Walker: MIC: 500 gp, 1 charge day:
Swift action to gain you a move action for half your total movement rate.
Glyph Rune (Lesser, Greater): MIC page 162, 1000/4000 gp. Let you convert any spell into a glyph rune (lesser = below level 2, and greater = above level 5, so what the hell is up with that 3 level gap?). See glyph of warding description here:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/glyphOfWarding.htm. Can carry it fine until you attach the glyph to a surface. So the idea is you put it in a bandolier and open a bunch of bandolier pockets, or line the interior of a box with them, key them with your command word, then open the box. Get as many buffs as you want as a move action. Expect your DM to be moderately unimpressed.
Metamagic Rods: See appropriate metamagic effects below.
Rod of Many Wands: (Complete Mage 128, 27,000 gp) Allows the firing of up to three wands simultaneously as a full round action, at the cost of extra charges.
Bloodspike, Tempo: Magic of Eberron page 141, 150gp. Stab it into you (dealing 1 point of piercing damage), and take a move action expending the potion
as no action sometime within the next hour (or it dissipates, useless).
Feats:Travel Devotion, Complete Champion, pg 62. 1/day, for 1 minute, you can move up to your speed as a swift action (each round). You can not 5 foot step in rounds where you use this ability. Can also pay 2 turn attempts, or take the feat multiple times, for another charge.
Action Surge(ECS): allows you to spend 2 Action Points to get a free standard or move action
Requires the action point variantFEAT: Heroic Surge (Age of Mortals 50). Once per day per 4 levels, you get an extra standard action before or after your normal actions. Usable no more than 1/round.
Class Features:Eternal Blade Class Feature Level 10: Island in Time: Once per encounter, gain a full round action whenever you want as an immediate action. This does not effect your initiative. For example: Full round at init 15. Full round at init 14. Next combat round, full round (minus the swift action) at Init 15 again.
Ruby Knight Vindicator 7: Spend turn undead for swift action. Book doesn't limit it to 1/round, but a sane DM will.
Thrall of Demogorgan 4: BOVD, Page 68: Dual Actions: Twice day, take two full rounds worth of actions in the same round. (4 level dip also gets you 4 BAB, 2 caster levels, Fear, Hypnosis, and 2 NA. No hard Pre-requisites except 2 useless feats/4 BAB).
Swiftblade 9 (
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327): Perpetual Options (Ex): When hasted, you can choose to make an extra move or extra standard action under the effect of haste.
Factotum 8: Cunning Surge: Dungeonscape Page 15: Spend 3 inspiration points, gain extra standard action on your turn. Factotum gets 10 over 20 levels (5 at level 8), and inspiration refills each encounter. Font of inspiration feat (
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070606) lets you pump that up some more.
War Weaver 1-5: Heroes of Battle: Has a tapastry that lets you drop buffs on allies precasted into the tapastry (1-5, depending on class levels) as a move action.
Atavist 10: Races of Eberron Page 133. expend psionic focus, gain a standard or move action
Anima Mage: Tome of Magic page 50. free metammagic 3/day and immediate action spell 1/day.
Swordsage 20: Dual Boost, Tome of Battle: Use 2 boosts in a single round.
Spells:Lesser Celerity: Bard/Wiz/Sorc 2: PHB 2 Pg 105: Immediate action (interrupting others turn), take a move action. Dazed till end of next turn. Need a way to be immune to daze (In Surreal's list, look for "Ways to gain immunity to daze/stun")
Celerity: Bard/Wiz/Sorc 4: PHB 2 Pg 105: As Lesser Celerity, but gain a standard action.
Greater Celerity: Wiz/Sorc 8: PHB 2 page 105: As Celerity, but gain a full round action.
Time Stop: PHB: Wiz/Sorc/Trickery 9: Gain 1d4+1 rounds to act; possibly extendable or maximizable; can't traget creatures. Swiftblade 10 has an ability that produces this effect.
Persistent Time Stop: PHB/Complete Arcane Feat: Arguably gives you 24 hours in a single round. Semi TO, and DM may not allow that reading.
Snake's Swiftness: SPC Page 193: Dru 1, Wiz/Sorc 2: Standard action, close range, one ally makes an immediate ranged or melee attack. Does not stack with haste or haste like effects.
Snake's Swiftness, Mass: SPC Page 193: Dru 2, Wiz/Sorc 3: Standard action, medium range; ally and allies within 20 foot burst of target get snake's swiftness.
Teleport Spells + Quicken: Move appropriate distance as swift action, saving your movement.
Eyes of the Orcale: Cle 6/Wiz6/sorc6/Wujen 6: Dragon Magic page 66/67. 1 round/level till expended, gain +2 (+3 if dragonblooded) insight to reflex saves/ac, and can ready a single standard action at the end of your turn, regardless of actions taken. Readying the action ends the spell.
arcane spellsurge Sorc7. Dragon Magic: turns all your standard action spells to swift action, full rounds to standards, and anything higher to one round less
Evard's Menacing Tentacles from PHBII gratns 2 free tentacle attacks/round,
Cloud of Knives from PHB2, grants a free flying dagger attack/round, and
Lord of the SKy DragonMagic lets a character use a Swift Action to make a ranged electric attack.
Metamagic:Quicken Spell (PHB) --- Cast a spell as a swift action.
--- Note: There are numerous actions that mimic this ability, including sudden metamagic quicken, rods of metamagic, quickcast (Duskblade class feature), various abilities allowing casting during various attack manouvers (Daggerspell mage), and this ability for certain spells or schools (Abjurant Champion (extend spells lower than 3) and Swiftblade (Haste Spells)).
Repeat Spell Complete Arcane Page 83: +3 bonus --- Spell cast gets repeated at the same target the following round as no action.
Rapid Spell, Complete Divine Page 83, +1 bonus: Full round spells become standard action.
Twin Spell, Complete Arcane Page 84: +4 bonus --- Spell gets cast a second time at the same target immediately as no action.
Tome of Battle Maouvers:White Raven Tactics: White Raven 3: Give "an ally" (if your DM lets you use it on yourself, be happy) a turn on your init count -1
Moment of Alacrity: Diamond Mind 6: Boost, swift action: Improve your initiative count by 20. Can act back to back if lower on the initiative pole than enemies by less than 20.
Quicksilver Motion: Diamond Mind 7: Boost, swift action: Gain a move action.
Time Stands Still: Diamond Mind 9: Full attack, initiate this manouver to gain another full attack.
Sudden Leap: Shifting Defence: Tome of Battle: Setting Sun 5, Stance: 5 foot step with every missed attack as immediate action, consumes AoO.
Order forged from Chaos: Tome of Battle: White Raven 6: Move action to initiate, allies within 30 feet immediately take move action.
Shadow Blink: Tome of Battle: Shadow 7: Swift action, Teleport 50 feet through shadows.
Psionics:Anticipatory Strike: It's like Psionic White Raven Tactics, except you can only affect yourself with it.
Sense Danger: Let's you manifest any power as an immediate action during the surprise round or first round of combat as long as the nomral manifesting time isn't longer than 1 standard action and it costs 1 power point.
SynchronicitySynchronicity is my favorite action granter, ever.
thats because it grants readied actions, the Lords of all Actions. readied actions are taken in response to an event. normally this must be specified when you ready the action, but this is not required with synchronicity. this means these actions can be taken at ANY point during the duration. including during your opponents turn. This is like an immediate action, except you can quite easily have more of them, and they have the size of a standard action.
quickened synchronicity costs 7 pp. thats like a fourth level power, which makes it like celerity, without daze, and it can be abused much more easily(linked power).
also, you can persist it, to have an "Oh fuck" trigger ready that doesn't require you to not be flatfooted.
Hustle:
Schism:Truename Magic(ToM):Quicken Utterance: use utterances as a swift action as long as you can make your Truespeak checks
Temporal Twist: one free attack
Temporal Spiral: one extra move action
Racial Features:Choker, Quickness: d20 SRD: Quickness (Su): Gain an extra standard action or more action during each round.
Someone please give me a way to get SU traits of creatures.Druid Choker: Take the feat Abberant Wildshape(LoM). Then take the feat Assume Supernaral Ability(SS), which allows you to take the supernatural(Su) powers of any creature you wildshape/polymorph etc. into. Now you can wildshape into Choker for instant action economy.
Elan Choker: Because Elans are already Abberations, a simple Alter Self spell with the Assume Supernatural Abilities feat gives them Choker fun potentailly at 1st level with the right feats.
Chronotyryn, Fiend Folio Page 33. Large Magical Beast (Extraplanar). Dual Action (Su): Get 2 full round actions (including 2 five foot steps) per round.
Sharn: Look this creature up.
Minions:Familiars: Numerous tricks about getting familiars to use UMD skill, etc, all let your familiar act productively on your turn.
Followers/Cohort (Leadership, Thrallherd): Gain actions on your behalf. Check here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20071015201036rn_1/forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-763024Animal Companions: Fight on your behalf.
Other Tricks:Avoiding/Mitigating Sleep: Does not make any action faster, but allows you to act more in a day, abstractly.
planes with the timeless trait.:
demiplanes with a different time ratio:
More things that do:
Modifying actions (turning swift to move to standard, etc)
Abilities that reduce actions (turning full round actions to standard, move actions as swift, etc).
Gaining new actions.