Power Points for powers - solves a lot of issues

Sadrik · Jan 27, 2009

Characters get their Prime Ability in Power Points (PP) to use powers. Paladin, Cleric, Warlock, and Ranger use the higher of their two Prime Abilities.

They also get 1 PP per character level.

For instance a 1st level Fighter with an 18 STR gets 19 PP.

Dailies cost 10 PP to use
Encounter cost 5 PP to use
At-will cost 1 PP to use

All but 2 PP are recovered after each encounter or after a "rest". So after 8 encounters a character would be -16 PP.

Use tokens or coins during play to speed up play.

Why-
Allows dailies to be used a bit more, a good thing considering combat grind and mitigates daily-swing-miss. Also makes at-wills not unlimited, a wizard will need a weapon eventually. Can use a power more than once per encounter or day.

Thoughts/additions???

keterys · Jan 27, 2009

Why would you want to limit the use of at-wills? *curious*

Sadrik · Jan 27, 2009

Some think that at-wills all day long get boring which in turn makes them not very special or interesting. Note that by this HR the at wills are valued 10 to 1 against dailies and 5 to 1 against encounters so they are pretty loose and free to be used. Additionally, you get almost all of your PP back after an encounter so they are virtually unlimited but not.

A quirky visualization is the wizard shooting a castle wall for half a day every round until it topples the wall, at least in this scenario there would be a finite cap on the number of at-wills. A low level 20 PP wizard could do a maximum of 20+18+16+14+12+10+8+6+4+2 = 110 at-wills per day. That is still virtually unlimited, possibly still too unlimited...

Minigiant · Jan 27, 2009

That could get broken in epic (50+ points). How is regained powers handled? Or achmages (10+ daily powers a day).

Sadrik · Jan 28, 2009

Agreed, possibly add only 1/2 level to PP rather than full level. So a 30th level guy with a 25 ability score would have 40 PP instead of 55 PP. Only 4 dailies in a single encounter. But quite a few over the course of the day.

Another solution, make it more than -2 PP after "recharging" after an encounter or taking a short rest. Possibly -5 PP or some other number that makes more sense. So after a short rest a 1st level character with 20 PP "recharges" with 15 PP.

Powers are just a "spells known" mechanic. So, the archmage's 21st level power could perhaps change to simply give them a bonus +10 PP (the cost of a daily).

Sadrik · Jan 28, 2009

Here is a mechanic for the recharging of the power points:

If you used one or more daily powers between your last recharge and now, then, you have -5 PP on your next recharge.
If you used no daily powers between your last recharge and now, then, you only have -2 PP on your next recharge.

Dailies draw on your personal power for the day more than other types of powers.

I didnt explicitly say this but after an extended rest you get all PP back.

keterys · Jan 28, 2009

Well, at a minimum I can say that a sustainable daily like Flaming Sphere, Stinking Cloud, or Bigby's Icy Grasp sure look a lot more appealing than using at-wills and that I think many melee/range types would use more basic attacks like charges so they can get in more encounters and dailies (basics + rain of steel is good times for a fighter, for instance)

Sadrik · Jan 28, 2009

Keterys excellent analysis, however brief, sustainable powers are at a premium under this system. It might make sense to, give a maintenance cost to powers. Possibly 1, 2 or 3 PP per round, in this way it won't make them the obvious powers to use and maintain throughout a combat.

Byronic · Jan 29, 2009

It's a nice idea but it needs a bit more balancing. Warlocks and Wizards would get heavily "nerfed" in this as they usually do not have any Strength or Dexterity. And it's not like they're the strongest classes available.

This gets even worse when you consider that the basic attack of a ranger (for example) would be about as strong as certain at wills.

Basic Ranged attack with Longbow is
1d10 + Dex

Eldritch Blast =
1d10 + Cha or Con

Actually the Longbow is better since it has 4 times the range >_>

You could make it a class feature that they can use their prime stat for ranged attacks though.

Charisma/Wisdom based Paladins/Clerics would get nerfed as well.

Zelc · Jan 29, 2009

I tried working on a mana point/power point system, and came across some problems. Check out this thread for the list. Basically, if you want a mana point system in 4E without significant problems, you have to be prepared to rewrite several (overpowered) powers, make it easier for elites/solos to shrug off conditions, and deal with the cleric healing powers in some way.

Also I would recommend having some sort of cost scaling in place so lower-tier powers aren't useless.