D20 modern Action points

[Evilusion]

Ok after reading D20 modern again I have to ask this question. If I remove the action point rule, does that break D20 modern?

Thanks

Evilusion

 

[ValhallaGH]

No, but it does make the heroes even less heroic.

 

[Stormborn]

The main issue is the fact that many of the advanced classes have abilities that trigger upon spending an action point.

For example, from the Gunslinger:

Bullseye
At 10th level, a Gunslinger becomes so adept at using the firearm to which he or she has applied Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus that the gunslinger’s attacks with that firearm can deal extra damage. With a successful attack, before damage is rolled, the gunslinger can spend 1 action point to deal +3d6 points of damage.

Without action points you will need to reformulate how those abilities work.

Why are you considering removing them?

 

[Evilusion]

Well after read the rules for it I just do not think of rolling 1,2 or 3d6 and taking the highest number and adding to to the total is all that great. Was think of just making the action point rerolls. Still does the same think but just reroll the dice completely. If I limit it to only rerolls of skills and to hit rolls and not damage I can see it working.

Any flaws there that I'm not seeing? I've really have not run D20 modern before.

Thanks

Evilusion

 

[ValhallaGH]

Well after read the rules for it I just do not think of rolling 1,2 or 3d6 and taking the highest number and adding to to the total is all that great. Was think of just making the action point rerolls. Still does the same think but just reroll the dice completely. If I limit it to only rerolls of skills and to hit rolls and not damage I can see it working.

Any flaws there that I'm not seeing? I've really have not run D20 modern before.

Thanks

Evilusion

That's both better and worse than they currently are.
Note that by defaul, AP have no effect on damage. There are a couple of class features that change this, but not many.

Pros: can actually make a difference when you roll that 2, or even that 1. More likely to be used due to having a larger influence on a given task.

Cons: players are likely to spend them even when they roll well, just for that extra chance at rolling 20. No ability to roll well, spend the AP, roll well again, and get a result that exceeds the result of a natural 20. Removing the ability to improve saving throws makes those even more luck dependant than they already were.

 

[Stormborn]

Well after read the rules for it I just do not think of rolling 1,2 or 3d6 and taking the highest number and adding to to the total is all that great. Was think of just making the action point rerolls. Still does the same think but just reroll the dice completely. If I limit it to only rerolls of skills and to hit rolls and not damage I can see it working.

Any flaws there that I'm not seeing? I've really have not run D20 modern before.

Thanks

Evilusion

If I were to do that I would still give out action points per the rules (5+1/2 level for base classes, 6+1/2 level for advanced classes) and say "An action point may be spent to reroll any d20 roll, before the results of the roll are known, or to activate certain class abilities. If you use a reroll you must take the second result even if it is lower."

Personally I am not sure how I feel about reroll v. add 1-6 points. I do think that the action points guarantee a better result, where as the reroll wouldn't. In my games what I experiance is that typically players get an idea of when action points help and when they do not. I often hear "Well, an action point wont help that....I fail." But sometimes they are wrong, and dont know it right away or ever, and sometimes they think they fail when they do not. I have not used the reroll mechanic in a game as of yet (we are saving Saga for the next campaign) so am not sure how it compares.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

I just use them like d20 Force points and allow the characters to add them together instead of picking the best one. Its worked well except for the time our worst roller rolled a 4 while spending an action point, well, it kept him from rolling for a critical failure.

 

[Armadillo]

If I were to do that I would still give out action points per the rules (5+1/2 level for base classes, 6+1/2 level for advanced classes) and say "An action point may be spent to reroll any d20 roll, before the results of the roll are known, or to activate certain class abilities. If you use a reroll you must take the second result even if it is lower."

Why abuse your players by requiring that they keep the lower roll?

The purpose of action points is to mitigate the randomness of the dice.

The reroll idea is interesting, though. I've always been underwhelmed by the "roll a d6 and add it to your result." Basically, that means that action points are only useful for when you've missed your target AC/DC by less than five points.

When I ran d20M, I expanded the uses of action points by allowing them to be used for a heroic surge, as in Star Wars, and for some purposes that I grabbed from other games.

 

[Stormborn]

Why abuse your players by requiring that they keep the lower roll?

Because thats how reroll systems work almost every time I have seen them implimented, such as in Star Wars Saga. And it does't punish the players, usually. They would not reroll at all if they were not pretty sure the first was a failure. Keeping the second one simply insures they don't expend the point needlessly, making them think more about how and when they use the limited resource.

A simple, but powerful, change to the Action Point system is to allow the players to keep the total result of die roll, not just the best. At higher levels it means that they will be used more often, but with much the same result since an action point is used to make a failed roll a success it simply means that players are willing to risk them on even lower original rolls. But since the number of them are limited it will not ultimatelly make a great difference in play, but might feel more heroic.

 

[Evilusion]

Yea I think I'm going to have to talk it over with my group. Personally I like the reroll option over using action points. You never know maybe they will like the action point option.

Thanks

Evilusion