Dialogue in Combat?

• Dialogue that will affect the outcome of any conflict or action counts as your action for the round, whether it be commanding a demon with Will or appealing to a fellow sorcerer with Humanity or just screaming to distract the security guard. Any other speech-while-acting or banter is just considered flavor. If it affects something, it's the action. If it's not the action, it doesn't affect anything. Period. [1]
  • Exception: If it's dialogue that you're describing to get Bonus Dice for roleplaying or tactics, it's not an action.
  • As stated above, commanding a demon to do something is a full action. However, you don't have to issue a command for every single action a demon takes -- demon's are individuals and generally more than willing to act on their own. (Cf. Issuing Commands)

Shooting into Melee?

If I, as the GM, decide that because two characters were tangled up struggling over the Macguffin, that a non-target character is also at risk from another character's gunshot into the middle of the fight - how do I handle it?

Given that you, as the GM, made this clear during the announcement phase, then the non-target player is under the same decision-set as usual: hoping to roll high enough for her groin-kicking that she'll subsequently have all her dice to avoid the bullet. In other words, it's the same old system as usual. In fact, if she rolls well, she might be able to roll those successes into dodging the bullet, since she'll be that much further clear of the intended target. [2]