Regarding the use of brain sweat to enhance an attack or if you prefer - using your noggin terminology. As I see it, again this is only my humble opinion, but as I see it the at wills act almost as a crutch or impediment to roleplay. Especially for newer players, the "combat flair" or little extra bonus benefit they provide make them an easy substitute to thinking about how to use basic attacks in creative ways. Basically what I am saying is if you view tactics as an individual players use of abilities, versus strategy as the party's cohesive use of abilities, the at wills as written become almost a default. I have seen this work for and against new players. For some who are still learning their abilities I have seen them try much more exciting, swashbuckling or tactical maneuvers just using a basic attack and asking - can I do / try this? (I always say yes, but...) For others who are still new I have seen them simply use Twin Strike (for example) every. single. round. ad nauseum. That in effect becomes their tactical choice. Now I know this is a player issue, and some players are just more creative than others. What I am trying to say though is, if I take some of that away, what happens then? Do players have to become a little more creative or daring? I think they very well might, it's been my experience from playing lots of 1e and 2e that you had to at least.
I think I see what you're saying now, so let me try to restate it to make sure I understand.
You're saying that you want players to come up with actions that are not covered by the rules (for example, "I throw a rope at the opponent's feet to trip him.) This is commonly referred to as "stunting." You think that reducing the number and power of the at-will options the rules give players will encourage players to come up with more "stunt" type actions.
This makes perfect sense, and is a perfectly legitimate style of play. However, your post was a little confusing, because you refer to "enhancing the effect of a basic attack," which isn't what "stunting" is about at all. Or are you talking about using a basic attack and adding an improvised "stunt" type effect to it? If so, you're basically bringing back at-wills, because most at-wills are essentially basic attacks with some extra effect thrown in, you're just allowing players to decide what that effect is on the fly. So it's just an at-will with more versatility. I'm interested to see how well it works - is it a problem to constantly adjudicate new stunts every round? Or do players tend to find a stunt that works and use it repeatedly?
If I'm completely misunderstanding what you're saying, then we might be able to understand easier if you give us a specific example of how a player would do the "exciting, swashbuckling, or tactical maneuvers" with a basic attack that you are suggesting.
With regards to the 2 Old school Wiz variants, both are good ideas. Both have some things I am thinking a lot about however. I don’t know if I like the idea of encounter refreshers for encounter powers or at wills that much for arcane casters. I may allow it but require an hour of study lets say. I don’t know yet. That of course introduces the random encounter factor which may be a fun idea.
I am definitely leaning towards a total daily use paradigm vs encounter or at will. That makes it a little more old school and also makes use of resources a little more interesting, simpler to track, and more old school imo. I both like and dislike the idea of MP because that gives back something to the players if you relegate a regain of MP through use of an action point lets say. The problem is now I am creating bookkeeping. If I use MP it’s almost definitely going to be a daily limit because that definitely eases bookkeeping.
Again, I really appreciate the help guys. You're all giving me a lot to think about even the dissenters. You have also pointed out things I may miss and I appreciate that.
Thank You!
Interesting. So you're focusing more on resource management at the extended-rest-cycle level rather than resource management at the encounter level. One problematic possibility I see with that is that it further increases the incentive to "nova" with everything once and then take an extended rest, unless you provide some sort of urgency or a time limit.
And for the requiring an hour of study to get back encounter powers, that's a perfectly easy rule to implement - just say short rests take an hour instead of 5 minutes. (Although are you planning on doing that only for arcane characters and not martial characters? If so it seems like just a "mage-gimping" rule that will make people avoid playing mages.)
