Those who would prefer to look at the system without reading everything that went into it will be well served by skipping down to Integration.
First off, we need to define what modifiers are available. Note all cases of +n to damage can also be interpreted as +(n/2) per die to damage.
Extra Effort lets you trade in 1 FP for one of +2 on a defense, +2 damage on an attack, full Move instead of a Step, 1 extra hex of Reach, or +3 to hit, but only to negate the penalty for a Rapid Strike.
All Out Defense means forgoing an attack this round but gives +2 to Parry or Block, +2 to Dodge and half move, or lets you use two defenses against a single attack (Dodge and Block, say).
Defensive Attack means you suffer a -2 to damage but gives you +1 to Block or Parry (or +2 to avoid a Leg Grapple or a fall, when kicking) or lets you Parry with an Unbalanced weapon.
Committed Attack means you suffer a -2 to defense, the loss of the defense associated with the attacking weapon (Parry for a weapon strike or punch, Block with a shield bash, Dodge with a kick), and the loss of the ability to Parry, in exchange for a +1 to damage or +2 to hit. It also gives the option of taking a -2 to hit to get an extra Step.
All Out Attack means you lose the ability to defend outright. In exchange, you can move up to half Move and get a +4 to hit, +2 to damage, attack twice at no penalty, or an extra hex of Reach.
For Extra Effort, as Techniques, those are worth -4 to hit, -4 to hit, -5 to hit, -4 to hit, and -3 to hit, respectively. For Great Lunge, the effect is the same as taking a Step forward, attacking, and taking a Step back, for 2 extra Steps (because it still allows you to take your normal one) which are worth -4. The fact you can't take the Steps is balanced out by the fact that you don't Step - you can use this to strike a foe on the other side of a chasm. Overall, this works out to about a +4 to hit for 1 FP. Technically, that first one, as a Technique, would give you +2 on every use of that particular defense (say, Parry), while Feverish Defenses only gives you a +2 on one. This is worth further consideration, but let's keep going.
For All Out Defense, +2 Parry, Block, or Dodge is worth -4 to hit. Half move is arguably worth -3 - it's worth more than the -2 of Extra Step, but not as much as the -5 of getting full Move. -3 seems about right - half the penalty (round against the character, as is GURPS standard) for half the movement. By probability, getting two defenses is roughly equivalent to getting one at +2, so it's also worth -4 to hit. All Out Defense is thus worth +4 to hit for most uses, or +7 for Improved Dodge.
For Defensive Attack, that -2 to damage is worth +4, while the +1 to Block or Parry is only worth -2. Parrying with an Unbalanced Weapon isn't defined, but I'd be tempted to call it a -2 to hit. Kind of a raw deal - you're only getting a benefit from half of your damage penalty.
For Committed Attack, -2 to defense is worth +4 to hit. Loss of one defense and ability to Retreat is arguably worth +1. This is also a raw deal, as for +5 worth of penalties you can only get +2 to hit or +1 to damage (which is worth the same as +2 to hit).
For All Out Attack, half move is worth -3 (as noted above), and each Dedicated, Strong, and Long are worth -4. Double is with -4 if you use different weapons for each attack, -6 if you use the same. Overall, All Out Attack is worth around +7 to hit.
So, where do we go with this wall of text? First off, let's revisit those defense bonuses. We're rather consistently seeing them being traded in for less than they are worth - -4 for +2 to a single use (instead of -4 for +2 to all uses for the round) with Extra Effort, Improved Parry, Improved Block, and Double Defense are each worth roughly half what All Out Attack is worth, despite the fact the two All Out options should be equivalent, and similarly we see -4 traded for a +1 to Block or Parry with Defensive Attack. The solution here actually seems easy enough to me - we assume the Technique Design System is wrong about what defense bonuses are worth. Instead of -2 to hit being worth +1 to a defense for that round, -2 to hit is worth a +1 to a [i]single[/i] defense that round. Note this maintains parity with the rules for penalizing a foe's defenses - you only penalize the foe's defense against that one attack, not all of his defenses for the round. Getting a +1 to all uses of that defense for the round is worth -4.
That fixes Feverish Defenses, most of All Out Defense, and Defensive Attack with balanced weapons. Note this means All Out Defense is actually worth +8, rather than the +7 of All Out Attack. It may be appropriate to have an unlimited boosted defense actually be -3.5 per +1, for a progression of -4, -7, -11, -14, etc. For Improved Dodge, well, I've never been that fond of it giving you half Move there anyway, so we'll just outright drop that (but note you can add it back in once we're done). For Defensive Attack with Unbalanced weapons, an easy out would be to say that retaining defenses with a Parry U weapon is actually worth -4, not -2. If you feel -2 is a more appropriate price, however, then you'll end up with +2 left over.
As mentioned in the linked thread, the +7 for All Out Attack could be standardized to a character with Parry 10 and Dodge 9. The character gets a +4 to attack by suffering a -2 to all defenses, gets a +1 for suffering a further -1 to all defenses better than Dodge (dropping everything to 7, the lowest you can go before risk of Critical Failure goes up), and finally gets a +2 for outright giving up the ability to defend, itself broken into +1 for giving the defense related to the attack and losing the ability to Retreat, and +1 for expanding this to giving up all defenses. A character with higher defenses can get a better rate - drop defenses as above until everything is at 7, then apply a further +2 for giving up all defenses. For example, a character with Dodge 10 and Parry 14 would get a +6 for dropping to Dodge 7 and Parry 11, +4 for dropping Parry down to 7, and +2 for giving up all defenses, for a total of +12. Ignore DB for these calculations - while using a Balanced sword with which you have a Weapon Bond gets you a better rate, lugging around a shield doesn't. For characters with defenses too low for a +7, simply give them a +7 for giving up defenses.
All Out Defense follows something of a similar trend. Work out the bonus the character would get for giving up defenses. This is what opting to give up attacks is worth, and is made in a staggered fashion - for a character who gets a +7, it's simply a damage penalty, -0.5 per die (-1 with 1d) per +1 to hit (-3.5 per die means no damage - or no attack - for +7). For those with higher defenses, subtract 7 from the bonus you'd get with All Out Attack. These additional points may be traded in equally following the -1 per die, -2 per die, and -3 per die, for -1 to hit, favoring penalties sooner rather than later. For our Dodge 10, Parry 14 character from above, he has +5 left over. His progression for boosting his defenses is -1 per die for +2, -2 to hit for +2, -1 per die for +2, -2 to hit for +2, -1 per die for +2, -1 to hit for +1, and finally -0.5 per die, reducing damage to zero, for +1, for his total of +12.
With all that out of the way, here's how I see things working out. First off, All Out Defense, Defensive Attack, Committed Attack, and All Out Attack are no longer their own maneuvers. Rather, each time the character chooses a maneuver, he may set his Combat Posture (better names welcome - this overlaps a bit too much with actual Posture; Combat Stance might be better, although that might overlap too much with the options from Gladiators). Combat Posture dictates what resources you are attributing to Attack, Damage, Defense, and Movement. Instead of the +n notation from above, let's make these their own points - PP (Posture Points) or AP (Action Points) would be ideal, but those abbreviations are already taken. I'm tempted to go with MP, for Maneuver Points (as you're dictating the nature of your maneuver for the round). You normally have 0 MP.
Attack: Every +1 to hit costs 1 MP, to a limit of +(skill/2-3), minimum +4. Every +3 for purposes of negating penalties other than those for using Deceptive Attack costs 2 MP. You may add one - and only one - extra yard of Reach to your attack for 4 MP.
Damage: Every +1 to damage costs 2 MP, to a maximum of +4 to damage for 8 MP. For characters who deal 2d-1 or greater damage, this is instead +0.5 per die to damage for 2 MP, to a maximum of +3.5 per die (double damage) for 14 MP. A character who injures a foe using an impaling attack may spend MP to tear the weapon out, increasing injury. This is a free attack, at -4 to skill, and costs 1 MP per +10% injury, to a maximum of +50%. For barbed weapons, this is instead +15% per MP, to a maximum of +75%. For swing impaling and barbed weapons, there's a further -3 penalty due to poor leverage, but dealing +50% injury automatically dislodges the weapon, leaving it ready for further action.
-1 per die to damage is worth 1 MP. -2 per die to damage is worth 2 MP. Dealing no damage is worth 3 MP. Note you must actually be able to make an attack in order to claim MP for taking a damage penalty. If not using Technical Grappling, grapples cannot opt for reduced damage.
Defense: Every +1 to a single use of a defense costs 2 MP. Every +1 to all uses of a single defense during the coming round costs 3.5 MP (round final cost up). Every +1 to all defenses costs 7 MP. Using two different defenses against a single attack costs 4 MP. Using two different defenses against each attack during the coming round costs 7 MP.
Every -1 to all defenses is worth 2 MP, to a minimum of Dodge 7. If you have any defenses that are better than Dodge, every -1 to all defenses but Dodge is worth 1 MP, to a minimum of Dodge. Giving up the defense associated with the action you have taken this round (Parry for a sword strike, Dodge for a kick) and the ability to Retreat is worth 1 MP. Outright giving up all defenses gives 2 MP above the worth of reducing all defenses to 7 or lower, to a minimum of 7 MP.
Movement: Each Step beyond the first costs 2 MP, including Retreats; distance traveling this manner cannot exceed half Move. Normal movement up to half Move costs 3 MP. Normal movement up to full Move costs 7 MP. Sprinting, using Enhanced Move, or similar costs 10 MP. Changing posture by 1 step costs 7 MP, while doing so by 2 steps costs 14 MP.
Giving up the ability to Step and Retreat is worth 2 MP. Note you may not combine this with the Retreat-limiting Defense option, above.
Other Actions: If we're getting rid of maneuvers, we need the handle things like Concentrate, Evaluate, Ready, and Wait. Actions that call for Concentrate or Ready cost 7 MP - most characters will forgo an attack to use such. If they call for a roll (and I'm personally inclined to have Ready for weapons call for a roll against weapon skill), you may reduce the MP cost by penalizing the roll. This is typically -1 to the roll per -1 to MP cost, to a limit of -(skill/2-3), minimum -4, maximum -7. You may also be able to gain a bonus for spending extra MP, for +1 to the roll per +1 to MP cost, to a limit of +(skill/2-3), minimum +4. Some cases are different - for example, the Per/Observation roll for "Situational Awareness" (TS11) is at only -4 for a free action (0 MP), implying -2 MP per -1 to skill, to a maximum of -7 MP for -4 to skill. It may be appropriate to use the same trend for bonuses in this case - 2 MP cost per +1 to the roll, to a limit of +(skill/2+3), minimum +4.
Evaluate we'll handle in a bit (see Unspent MP, below). With Wait, you're basically just delaying your action in the turn sequence, so nothing special is needed here. Optionally, you could require the character to set his Combat Posture upon declaring a Wait - note this will prevent the character from being able to switch between Attack and All Out Attack (or, rather, their equivalents) based on what happens between declaring and activating the Wait.
Negative MP: A character cannot take any action that will drop him below 0 MP.
Getting Extra MP: At any time, a character may exchange FP for MP, at a rate of 1 FP becoming 4 MP. If using The Last Gasp, you may instead exchange AP for MP, at a rate of 2 AP becoming 1 MP. Additionally, Acrobatics or similar skills may be used once per round, at any point, in an attempt to gain an MP boost. Success gives MP equal to Margin of Success (minimum 1 MP), Failure costs MP equal to twice Margin of Failure. If you don't have MP to spare, you must make up for it by spending FP/AP or taking defense penalties. The GM may also allow you to suffer a fall, regaining 4 MP if you go from standing/crouching to sitting or kneeling/sitting to prone/supine, or 7 MP if you go from standing to prone/supine. Gained MP must be spent in a manner appropriate for the skill - for acrobatics, this might be reducing the penalty for a Acrobatic Attack, spending MP on an acrobatic stand, increasing Dodge, or similar.
Unspent MP: If you still have MP left at the start of your next turn, divide it by 3, dropping fractions. Each such MP must be assigned to a particular foe (typically all will be to the same foe, but splitting MP between foes is an option), and can only be used for Attack, Damage, or Defense against that particular foe. If those MP remain at the start of the following turn, they are lost, unless you assign more leftover MP this round; each additional MP stabilizes one other (so if you had a foe that you had 4 MP assigned to last round and you assign another 3 this round, 1 MP is lost and you have 6 MP assigned to him). This replaces the Evaluate maneuver.
AP Recovery: If using The Last Gasp, a character may spend MP to attempt to recover AP. Spending 1 MP allows an HT-8 roll. Each additional MP is a +2 to this roll. A typical character who eschews offense, defense, and movement in order to rest has 16 MP to spare (7 for not attacking, 7 for not defending, 2 for no movement), which is sufficient for an HT+18 roll! The roll - and subsequent AP gain - occurs at the start of the character's next turn.
Stunning Fun: Optionally, a character who is Stunned may, instead of the normal effects (cannot move, cannot attack, -4 to all defenses), be treated as having -20 MP, needing to take appropriate penalties to bring this up to at least 0. The character always has the option of simply being treated normally for Stun.
Adjusting Combat Posture: A character can change his Combat Posture between turns, so long as doing so wouldn't have had a negative effect on his previous actions. The exchange rate is poor, however - every MP is worth half its normal effect. For example, a character who intended to attack but wasn't able to (say, his movement activated a Wait that prevented him from reaching a target) could claim the 7 MP he would have had he opted to not attack at all, repurposing them to defense or similar. Additionally, when the character succeeds at an action, before final resolution he may opt to reduce his MoS - every -3 to MoS is equivalent to taking a -1 to the roll. For example, a character who succeeds at an attack with MoS 9 could drop this to MoS 0 and regain 3 MP (provided he could have taken a -3 to the attack).
Spending MP between turns uses the normal rate, but can typically only be used for improving defenses (either directly or by taking a Retreat). MP gained by sacrificing FP or AP also uses the normal rate.
What About Range?
All of the above looks at things in terms of melee, but how should ranged combat work with Combat Posture? First off, the Combat Posture system should be used in conjunction with Take Aim. That has Aim basically following the same trend as attacking, above, so we can just replace one with the other without serious issue. Even if not using that system, making Aim the equivalent of an unrolled Ready or Concentrate would be fine.
For All Out Attack, first off that's basically indistinguishable from the melee version at extreme close range, so we're good there. At longer range, what do we get out of it? A +2 to hit (+1 normally, but I'm using Take Aim here), half Move, and (if using Tactical Shooting) the ability to benefit from an Aim. Now, we should note here that Move and Attack is different with ranged weapons than with melee - the penalty is equal to the weapon's Bulk, minimum -2. Instead of our -3 (3 MP) from above, that implies half Move would suffer half Bulk, minimum -1. A "typical" ranged weapon is probably Bulk -4 or Bulk -5 (carbines and assault rifles), although this varies with TL (most bows and crossbows hover around Bulk -6, most carbine/rifle-type beam weapons hover around Bulk -3 or Bulk -4). Regardless, the 3 MP charge for movement would be enough to negate up to Bulk -8, so we're good there (yes, we're letting the same MP spent for movement serve to negate the penalty for movement here, but that's kind of how Move and Attack works above anyway). The next 2 MP are only getting us a +2 to hit, implying that being able to benefit from Aim is worth 2 MP. Alternatively, if you don't want to have any sort of extra charge to benefit from Aim, simply halve the bonus you get from investing MP in the attack.
All that in mind, here's how things look for ranged attacks.
Attack: Every +1 to hit costs 1 MP, to a limit of +(skill/4-1.5), minimum +2. Within melee range, simply use the same progression as melee. Every +3 for purposes of negating penalties other than those for using Prediction Shot costs 2 MP. If attacking after a successful Aim, benefitting from this costs 2 MP. Note attacks in melee range may suffer Bulk penalties (which you can buy off, as above) and do not have the option of benefitting from Aim.
Damage: This follows the same progression as melee. However, those rules only apply with thrown weapons and similar (such as those launched with slings), unless playing a highly cinematic game (where dealing extra damage from a gunshot is fluffed as striking a vulnerable sublocation).
Defense: This follows the same progression as melee.
Movement: This follows the same progression as melee. However, if both moving and attacking, add 8 to the weapon's Bulk score, treating any result greater than 0 as 0. If moving half Move, apply half the remainder as a penalty to the character's attack. If moving full Move, apply the full remainder as a penalty to the character's attack.
Wait, Let Me Grab my Sword First
An oddity of the system is that, at high skill levels, a character using his favored weapon is better at dodging, noticing threats, or even casting spells. Similarly, a character with a high enough defenses gets a larger bonus for out-of-combat actions than other characters. To avoid this, it is appropriate to limit what MP can be spent on, based on where it came from. It's also more appropriate to set the points a character gets for, say, not making an attack to his highest combat skill, such that a skilled swordsman doesn't have worse situational awareness when he doesn't have a sword in hand.
What MP from a given source can be spent on is up to the GM, but here are some ideas. First off, any combat skill or defense is legitimate to use MP gained from penalties to it to enhance Situational Awareness. Also, For melee combat skills, penalties to Attack or Damage can be used to enhance any defense, but enhancing Dodge against ranged attacks is only half as effective. For ranged attacks, penalties to Attack or Damage can be used to enhance Dodge against ranged attacks, but enhancing any other defense (including Dodge against melee) is only half as effective. In either case, they can pay for Movement freely (a more skilled combatant can move a bit more freely). For MP gained from reducing Defense, those gained from only reducing defenses higher than Dodge can be used for Attack or Damage with melee attacks only, or for Movement. Those for reducing all defenses can be spent freely for Attack, Damage, or Movement. Note such limitations only apply to those gained beyond the minimum 7 for each category.
Integration
All of the above has Combat Posture feel more like something added in, rather than something that's an innate part of things. Instead of having characters reshuffle MP, what if we had them start each round with a set amount, and have them spend them on what Combat Posture they'd prefer? Here's how I see it working out. Note some numbers have been shifted slightly from the above, simply to make things work out a bit more easily.
Starting MP: Characters start with 20 MP. High Dodge increases this - add MP equal to 2x(Dodge-9), minimum 0. High combat skills and defenses can give an additional bonus, but this MP is only usable for certain uses. Melee MP and Ranged MP are linked - spending one automatically spends the other for the same purpose (but these do not stack), even if such a use isn't available.
Melee MP: The character has Melee MP equal to the sum of (Skill/2-7), minimum 0, based on his highest melee skill, and the lower of (Defense-9) and (Defense-Dodge), minimum 0, based on his highest Block or Parry, ignoring modifiers for gear, DB, etc. Such MP can be spent on Attack, Damage, and Defenses, but only for (and against) melee attacks. It may also be spent on Readies for weapons of the appropriate skill. It can also be used for Movement and Awareness.
Ranged MP: The character has Ranged MP equal to (Skill/2-7), based on his highest ranged skill. Such MP can be spent on Attack, Damage, and Defenses, but only for (and against) ranged attacks. It may also be spent on Readies for weapons of the appropriate skill. It can also be used for Movement and Awareness.
Acrobatics MP: Once per turn, at any point, a character may attempt to use Acrobatics or similar to gain additional MP. On a Success, the character gains 2x(MoS), minimum 1, MP. On a Failure, the character loses 2x(MoF) MP. Gained MP can be spent to negate Attack penalties for Acrobatic Attack, to enhance defense (in the manner of Acrobatic Dodge), or for Movement. Lost MP from a Failure can be reclaimed by lowering the character's Posture - going from standing/crouching to sitting/kneeling or sitting/kneeling to prone/supine recovers 4 MP, while going form standing/crouching to prone/supine recovers 8 MP. If a character has already allocated his MP for the round when making this attempt (such as for an Acrobatic Dodge), lost MP is taken from Defense. If falling prone/supine and losing the ability to defend is insufficient to offset the MP loss, the character suffers a pratfall and must roll against HT+5 - Success means he is Stunned, Failure means he is rendered unconscious. An already Stunned character (see later) doesn't get a roll here, and is simply rendered unconscious.
Trading FP for MP: A character can exchange FP for MP at any point, at a rate of 4 MP per FP. This replaces the normal rules for Extra Effort in Combat. If using The Last Gasp, you may instead exchange AP for MP
Stunning: A character who is Stunned has a base 6 MP, rather than 20, and is at -2 to all defenses. He can still spend (and acquire, from Acrobatics or FP/AP) bonus MP normally, however. This allows him to attempt clumsy attacks or defenses, or stumble away at half Move.
MP may be spent as follows.
Attack: Making an attack costs 6 MP, which allows an attack at -4 or -(skill/2-3) to skill, whichever is worse. Each additional MP gives a +1 to attack, to a maximum of +4 or +(skill/2-3) to base skill, whichever is better, for melee attacks; ranged attacks are limited to a maximum of +2 or +(skill/4-1.5), whichever is better. MP can also be spent to reduce or negate penalties other than those resulting from use of Deceptive Attack, Setup Attack, Predictive Shot, or similar - every 2 MP negates up to -3 in penalties. Penalties for hit locations and similar are still limited to 1/2 the initial penalty being negated, however. For melee attacks, you may add one - and only one - extra yard of Reach to your attack for 4 MP (optionally, use "A Matter of Inches," with each step above Average being -1 MP to cost, each step below Average being +1 MP to cost). For a ranged attack to benefit from a previous Aim, you must spend an additional 2 MP.
Note the above is a one-time cost - to get additional attacks, use Dual Weapon Attack, Rapid Strike, etc, at the normal penalties. MP invested to reduce penalties can eliminate these as well.
Damage: If making an attack, damage can be improved. Every 2 MP is +1 or +0.5/die to damage, whichever is better. Additionally, melee impaling weapons that strike a target can be purposefully wrenched out to cause additional damage. This costs at least 1 MP and calls for an attack roll, at -4 relative to the first. This can be defended against normally, with a successful defense meaning the weapon is pulled out without further injury, but the defense suffers the full Shock penalty of the initial injury. Swing impaling weapons are harder to do this with, due to poor leverage, calling for an additional -3 to skill (total -7). Barbed weapons are also harder to remove, suffering the same -3. Every MP results in 20% of the initial injury being suffered as the weapon is pulled out, to a maximum of 60% for 3 MP. For barbed weapons, this is instead 30% per MP, to a maximum of 90% for 3 MP. For swing impaling and barbed weapons, dealing 60% or more injury prevents them from being stuck in the target.
The character can regain some MP by dealing less damage. This is 1 MP for -1/die, 2 MP for -2/die, and 3 MP for causing no damage. A no damage attack can be a tap (for delivering touch effects) or a Feint or similar.
Defense: Being able to defend costs 6 MP, which sets all defenses at 7 or Defense-2, whichever is worse. Increasing defenses follows a stepwise pattern. Every 2 MP negates -1 to all defenses from the above until Dodge reaches its normal state. Once Dodge is at its full value, every 1 MP negates -1 to all other defenses from the above until they are full. Following this, you may improve defenses, at a rate of 2 MP per +1 to a single use of a defense, 4 MP per +1 to all uses of a given defense, or 8 MP per +1 to all defenses. You may also spend 4 MP for a single use of a Double Defense, or 8 MP to make all defenses for the round Double Defenses (a Double Defense is where you get to roll two different defenses against a single attack).
Movement: You get a free Step or Retreat. Each additional Step costs 2 MP, to a maximum of half Move (the GM may extend this to full move for chambara and similar games). Simply moving up to half Move costs 6 MP, while moving up to full Move costs 10 MP. If making an attack with a ranged weapon, half Move results in an attack penalty equal to half Bulk, while full Move results in an attack penalty equal to Bulk. Changing Posture costs 10 MP to go a single step (prone->kneeling, kneeling-crouching/standing), 20 MP to go two steps (prone->crouching/standing).
Awareness: If using Situational Awareness from Tactical Shooting, the default is -4 to the roll for 0 MP (a glance). Every 2 MP is worth +1 to this, to a maximum of +8 or (skill/2+1), whichever is better. "Skill" here is the best of Perception, Observation, Per-based Soldier, and Per-based Tactics.
Recovery: If using The Last Gasp, it costs 2 MP to attempt to recover AP. This allows for an HT-4 roll. Each additional MP is a +1 to this roll.
Aim: If using Take Aim, resolve this as an attack (but with no option for a Damage component). If not, Aim costs 10 MP.
Concentrate: For actions that require a roll, treat this much like Attack, above. You also have Concentration MP (usable only for actions related to the relevant skill) equal to (Skill/2-7), where skill is the actual skill being used. For actions that require multiple rounds of Concentrate, followed by a roll, you must spend at least 6 MP each round on Concentrate, and roll based on the average MP spent (it's easiest to just maintain the same cost each round, however). For actions that don't require a roll, Concentrate costs 10 MP.
Evaluate: Every 3 MP spent on Evaluate negates -1 in penalties from Feints, Deceptive Attacks, etc from the target in question over the round, and also give you an additional 1 MP to spend only against that target next round. Such Evaluate MP are limited to the greatest of Melee MP, Ranged MP, and Dodge MP.
Ready: As Concentrate, above. If Fast-Draw reduces this to a free action, it costs 0 MP.
Wait: A character can opt to delay his turn with a specific trigger, as usual. Optionally, he must dictate his Combat Posture (where he is spending his MP) upon declaring the Wait.
Redistributing MP: A character can reclaim "overspent" MP and spend it elsewhere (typically on either Defense or Evaluate, but Awareness may also be an option). If the character was prevented from using some amount of MP, he can reclaim up to half of it. If he did use it, but had a higher MoS than needed, he can reclaim up to a third of the excess. Note this latter option essentially retroactively drops your effective skill, so you may not want to do it if you expect to make further rolls against that skill, and you can only reclaim points based on your lowest such roll during the round.
Let's run an example character through the paces. He's a rifle-toting TL 5 mage named Jack, with ST 13, HT 12, Dodge 11 and Move 7. His best melee skill is Spear 16 (for bayonet fighting), his best ranged skill is Guns(Longarm) 18, he has Acrobatics 14, Path of Energy 20, and Fast Draw (Ammo) 18. His best Awareness skill is Per-based Soldier, at 14. He also has Bayoneteer (no Guns penalty for having an attached bayonet), Combat Reflexes, Ritual Adept, Ritual Mastery (MTC Shot), and Quick Reload (Muzzleloading Rifle). He could also have a Hold Spell Perk (letting him finish gathering energy for a ritual, then wait to actually cast it, rather than doing so immediately), but I think that functionality is balanced enough to be the RPM default.
He starts with 24 MP (20 base, +4 for his high Dodge). He has Melee MP 2 (1 for high skill, 1 for high Parry) and Ranged MP 2 (for high skill). When using Path of Energy, he has Concentration MP 3 (for high skill), or 4 if using it with MTC Shot.
At base, Jack can attack with his bayonet at skill 11 or his rifle at skill 12 for 6 MP, defend at 7 for 6 MP, or move up to 4 yards for 6 MP. If not spending anything on Awareness, he rolls against 12 there. He can attempt to recover AP with a roll against 8 (HT-4) for 2 MP. He can add up to +10 (+5 from base) to his attack with the bayonet for 10 MP, or +12 (+6 from base) to his attack with the rifle for 12 MP. He can boost both Dodge and Parry to 11 (base Dodge, Parry -1) for 8 MP, boost Parry to 12 (base Parry) for another 1 MP, after which he uses the normal (2 MP per single +1, 4 MP per outright +1 to single defense type, 8 MP per +1 to all defenses). And so on.
Let's say Jack is in a long battle, and has exhausted his supply of MTC Shot Charms (MTC Shot is a 30 energy ritual that enhances the burn of gunpowder, markedly increasing damage). He gets behind some cover and starts loading a normal bullet while gathering energy for MTC Shot. Reloading with Fast Draw is going to take him 12 seconds. Of his base 24, he spends 6 on Concentrate, 6 on Ready, and 12 on defense. He spends all 4 of his Concentrate MP on Concentrate, boosting it to 10, and both points of Ranged MP to boost the Ready to 8. As there's no equivalence for his Melee CP, those are functionally wasted. He continues this for 5 rounds without issues, calling for a roll against MTC Shot. With only 10 MP invested in it, he's rolling against an 18. He gets a 10, gathering 8 energy.
He continues on, but when he rolls an 8 against his Awareness 12, he notices a sorcery-twisted, misshapen husk of a man charging him with an oversized sword. Rather than fight with his back to the wall, he temporarily stops reloading, keeps spending 10 MP (6 base + 4 Concentrate MP) on his ritual, spends 2 base MP for an extra Step, spends 12 (10 base +2 ranged) on Defense (this also means he automatically spends his 2 melee MP on defense), and the remaining 8 base on an attack, charging and thrusting at the creature at skill 13. He scores a hit, but it bats his weapon aside and steps in with a swing. He burns 1 FP, spending 2 MP on getting a +1 to this Dodge, and 2 MP on getting an extra Step, which he uses to Retreat, for an effective Dodge 14, letting him get out of the creature's way. Some bullets are hitting the ground near him, so he knows he needs to end this quickly and get back to cover before his foes decide to aim first, so he eschews defense this next round - he still spends 10 MP on Concentrate, but spends 10 MP (8 base + 2 Melee) on his attack, 6 to increase damage, 2 to rip the bayonet out for still more damage (assuming a hit), and 2 to negate -3 of the penalty to stab the thing in its exposed neck. That's an attack at 19 (he makes it -4/-2 Deceptive, for skill 15), with a success dealing 1d+6 (3d-1) damage and allowing for an attack at 15 (assuming no Deceptive Attack), with success dealing a further 30% of initial damage. He rolls a 7 on his attack The target fails its defense, and he rolls for damage - 12. This becomes 24 injury, and he rolls against 15 (opts against going deceptive), rolling an 11. MoS 4 is less than his MoS 8 above, but is enough to reclaim 1 MP (dropping it to MoS 1, the previous to MoS 5), which he promptly reinvests to boost the damage from ripping the bayonet out to 45% (an extra 10 injury). Thanks to the -4 from shock, the creature fails its defense against this, and suffers a further 10 injury. It fails its Death Check markedly, and the GM rules Jack very nearly decapitated it ripping his blade out. Jack uses the free step remaining in his maneuver to get back into cover.
The rest of his time reloading and gathering energy is uneventful - on second 10 he rolls a 9, gathering 9 energy. On second 14 (he lost 2 seconds killing his attacker) he finishes reloading - as each second he spend actually reloading was with 8 MP, he rolls against 16 to reload, and succeeds - his rifle is ready for shooting. Without reloading eating up his concentration, he puts the 6 base MP from reloading into Concentrate, boosting effective skill to 24, and the 2 melee/ranged CP into Defense, boosting Dodge and Parry to 11. He gets another roll against Path of Energy, which spent 4 seconds of the last 5 with skill 18, 1 second with skill 24, for an average of skill 19, which gets reduced to 18 for being the third gathering attempt - a 12 means 6 more energy (running total is 23). Figuring he'll have the spell ready soon, he changes things up again - 12 (8+4) in Concentrate, for skill 20, 14 (12+2) in Defense, for 11 Dodge/Parry, and 4 in Awareness, boosting that to 14, so he can try to find someone worth shooting. By the end of those 5 seconds, he's located an enemy mage protected by more of those misshapen men, and is ready to roll to gather again. Effective skill is 19 (again, -1 for beyond beyond the 3rd gathering attempt), and he rolls a 10 - enough to complete the ritual.
With the ritual ready to go, he takes aim at his target. He spends 14 (12+2) on Defense, for Dodge/Parry 11, and 12 on Aim, letting him do so at full skill (minus half range). He succeeds, and rolls well enough that he gets his full Acc (4) against the target. He's in a decent defensive position, and he has his eyes on a high-value target, so he eschews defenses for the follow up attack. He needs one last Concentrate to finish his ritual, and also needs an Attack to actually fire the weapon. 10 MP (6+4) is enough for the Concentrate, putting him at skill 18. He spends 16 (14+2) MP on Attack, 6 to get to attack, 6 to boost skill to full (18), and 2 to benefit from Acc (+4). Against a target 20 yards away (-10), that's an effective skill of 12. He rolls an 11 and the enemy mage - who failed to notice Jack taking aim at him - is struck by that magically-enhanced bullet and collapses to the ground.
