Trailblazer san 10 Minute Rest Day, Action Points

joela · Sep 27, 2010

All things being equal, what impact would there be in a typical Trailblazer adventure if the standard “The 10 Minute Adventuring Day” was used? What about if there were no Action Points?

AdmundfortGeographer · Sep 27, 2010

Hmm, I'm about to head to bed (I can't believe I 'm still up on a worknight) but without the action points I can see adventures being more swingy. More critical saves missed especially.

joela · Sep 27, 2010

Eric Anondson said:
Hmm, I'm about to head to bed (I can't believe I 'm still up on a worknight) but without the action points I can see adventures being more swingy. More critical saves missed especially.

Threadjack: W00t! This is the first time in years that I've been notified via email when someone replies to one of my posts here on EN World. End threadjack.

Wulf Ratbane · Sep 27, 2010

No time to answer you from a mechanics standpoint-- but I can comfortably predict, "Less Fun" on both counts.

joela · Sep 28, 2010

Wulf Ratbane said:
No time to answer you from a mechanics standpoint-- but I can comfortably predict, "Less Fun" on both counts.

ValhallaGH · Oct 3, 2010

joela said:
All things being equal, what impact would there be in a typical Trailblazer adventure if the standard “The 10 Minute Adventuring Day” was used? What about if there were no Action Points?

Lots more character death (failed saves, unavoidable critical hits, unhealed damage going into fights, many expended spell slots going into fights, etc.). Fewer epic battles (fewer foes, weaker foes, less forced-awesome via action point abilities). Slower-paced adventures with a lot more time devoted to traveling. Probably other stuff, but I'm tired and just finished my session.

Good luck. And why do you ask?

Wulf Ratbane · Oct 3, 2010

ValhallaGH said:
Lots more character death (failed saves, unavoidable critical hits, unhealed damage going into fights, many expended spell slots going into fights, etc.). Fewer epic battles (fewer foes, weaker foes, less forced-awesome via action point abilities). Slower-paced adventures with a lot more time devoted to traveling. Probably other stuff, but I'm tired and just finished my session.

You really get it.

AdmundfortGeographer · Oct 3, 2010

I couldn't give ValhallaGH any XP until I spread more around.

That's an excellently distilled summary.

ValhallaGH · Oct 3, 2010

Wulf Ratbane said:
You really get it.

Eric Anondson said:
I couldn't give ValhallaGH any XP until I spread more around.

That's an excellently distilled summary.

Thank you, both.

Honestly, that's just the observations I've made by watching my players in my campaign.

The Cleric uses his AP to swap prepared spells, regain expended slots, and add to rolls / re-roll failures. Everyone else uses them to add / re-roll, to activate Action Point Enhancements, and to negate critical hits. They go through those things (action points) like candy on Halloween. I know when everyone has leveled because we'll see a lot of action points used that session, and then a dearth until they level up again. This has led to me using AP as a reward (being heroic, reminding me of DM stuff [especially to their detriment], good jokes, cool ideas, etc).
The Rest system has saved their butts a dozen or more times, keeps them from returning to town until they finish the mission, and keeps me from worrying that a given fight will be overwhelming due to attrition from other fights. Which frees me up to use Elites and Solos with frequency (about every 3rd fight is an Elite foe, though I'm starting to tone that back a bit for speed of play; every 25th or so has been a Solo), giving my bad guys enough staying power to show off what they can do.

So far, only one PC death, though by 3.5 rules I'd have killed the rogue at least three times, the cleric twice, and the other two would have been killed shortly after the first two. Without the rests, it would be even bloodier than if I were using 3.5 rules (both would just be turn-over city).

Hrothgar Rannúlfr · Oct 12, 2010

joela said:
All things being equal, what impact would there be in a typical Trailblazer adventure if the standard “The 10 Minute Adventuring Day” was used? What about if there were no Action Points?

I ran a couple of sessions with action points but with the standard 10min adventuring day, a few weeks back, with first level characters.

It was interesting. The players were on the edge of their seats the entire time because there really wasn't anywhere to reasonable camp for a whole night. Also, the plot forced them to keep going when they should have otherwised stopped to rest until healed up.

Even though it was fun, I can't see continuing playing that way without rolling up new characters on a regular basis. It's just too deadly. One critical hit away from death for almost anyone. In fact, one of the characters got his hand ripped off by some sort of gorilla (thanks to Paizo's Critical Hit Deck). The player didn't want to use his action point to negate the threat. And, because action points are new to him, I even offerred to let him use one after he found out the effects of the card. He still chose to have the hand severed.

It depends upon what you're looking for in your game, but not being able to restore hit points after a fight really slows down what the characters can accomplish in a day (or several, if they don't have a cleric/healer).

Next time, I'm going to bring in the 10 minute rest.