Action Point Ideas I would love to see!!

[Stalker0]

WOTC has mentioned that action points are going to become standard in 4e. I think its a great idea, and I hope to see some of the following when they are created.

1) Per encounter "cinematic" action points. Connecting action points to your level never works well because not everyone levels at the standard rate. Further, anytime you give out action points per day or per session or per adventure it encourages hording. You might only get 1 action point per encounter, but its just for that encounter so you had better use it!! These action points should encourage players to do neat things, perhaps they only get the bonus if they describe their actions in a cinematic way.

2) Charisma influences action points in some way. Charisma is the "inner power" stat, so I think this is a perfect sphere to use it with. This way charisma becomes a useful stat for any class, and it allows social characters to influence social or regular combat.

3) Any "save your life" action points should be made into a different pool. In this case, perhaps you are given 1 action point per level or session or adventure, etc. You can have the ability to save your hero, but it should be much more limited than the cinematic action points mentioned in 1. This also allows a person to spend their regular action points doing cool things instead of fretting about losing the ability to save themselves if they die.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I would like to see action points do something significant. The "Add a bonus that might or might not help you" AP system in Eberon was, in my not so humble opinion, the least cool possible implementation of action points I have ever witnessed. You might waste one on a roll that had already succeeded, you might waste one on a roll that didn't succeed even with it, you might help a roll succeed that wouldn't have otherwise, but it was a standard roll that you normally got with or without the action point. Ugh and double ugh. So here are some things action points will allow in my next game.

1) Act for one round as if you have a feat or (limited list of) class ability that you do not, or use an ability in a non standard way. You think this is the moment when the rogue snaps and does a screaming charge to double handed power attack with his dagger? Burn those action points.

2) Take an immediate action in exchange for a penalty to actions the following round, penalty determined by the kind of action it would normally be. An alternative to readied actions which is both more dramatic and more effective, but costs a resource. Villain you were expecting to duke it out suddenly cuts and runs, and you don't want to let him get away? Burn the action point and cut into his path to trip him! You might be flatfooted on his next (cranky) action, but so be it!

3) Luck rerolls. Nothing like a 1 at a dramatic moment, eh? Roll with it or AP away. But you'll know you failed before you use the AP and it will allow a whole new roll, not a possibly meaningless bonus.

I think I'll also introduce a "flop sweat" rule with them. If you fail an action you used an action point for, you fail dramatically. Nothing like making that dramatic extra effort and landing on your face. As long as the players would have fun with it, it might be an added oppertunity for descriptiveness.

(Cheating death will actually be part of a different pool of points called Plot Points, And so hoarding APs due to death worries won't be a concern...)

 

[hong]

Stalker0 is right on the money.

 

[Dragonblade]

I had a house rule that I came up with that was loosely based on the concept of Fate points (originally inspired by my good friend, SHARK!).

Anyway, to eliminate the video game feel of Raise Dead and True Resurrection, those spells were removed from the game. Instead characters had a pool of Fate points that they started out with and that could be increased after completing major story goals, or when deemed appropriate by the DM. The pool of Fate points was kept low, usually around 5 per character though there was not a hard rule. Basically the DM gave out more if the PCs were down to 1, and gave out less if the PCs were already at 5 apiece.

A Fate point could be spent to completely eliminate the effect of any failed save (thus mitigating Save or Die deadliness in a world without resurrection). Likewise, a Fate point could be used to completely eliminate the damage from a single attack as if the attack had missed instead (usually used to block that attack that would otherwise kill you). This was to compensate for the fact that characters could not be raised.

The other thing I used Fate points for was for magic item creation. Instead of spending XP, you would spend Fate points based on the XP cost of the magic item. I don't remember the exact conversion rate off the top of my head. But this rule really worked out well. It kept magic item creation suitably rare, but there wasn't any XP penalty. I also liked the mystical explanation that permanently warping reality and binding magic into an item had a sort of mystic backlash on your character by increasing your chance of death (by running out of Fate points early in a tough combat).

I hated the XP cost because I like to keep parity in PC level advancement. Any game mechanic that results in adjustment of XP or reduction of character level should be dropped from the game, IMO.

Anyway, as long as WotC stays away from any "per level" action point refresh mechanic, I'll probably be satisfied.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

That's not a bad idea, Stalker0.

 

[FireLance]

An action point idea originally posted in the thread on creative spellcasting:

Allow a player to spend an action point to make a "bet" with the DM that can bend the rules or change the way that they normally work. With a limited pool of action points, the players won't be able to change the rules often, and because the use of an action point already marks it as an exceptional case, players won't expect the rules to work this way normally. The player and the DM should also work out the specific details of the "bet": the stakes, the payoff or consequences (if losing the stakes is not enough), and the success condition/probability of success before the dice are rolled, so that both sides are aware of the potential upsides and downsides.

So, if a player wanted to blind an opponent with a 0-level light spell, the DM might offer him the following bet: spend an action point, cast the spell, and if the opponent fails a Fortitude save, he is blinded for 1 round.

Similarly, if it is dramatically important for a PC to drop an opponent with a single shot from his bow (to help the party intimidate a large group of enemies, for example), the DM could agree to allow it if he spent an action point and rolled three natural 20's in a row.

 

[brehobit]

I prefer to run action points as refreshing after a "break". The break generally needs to be a week or two of taking a breather (nights on the town, sitting in prayer, studying, whatever.)

This enforces downtime, which is something I like as a GM. It makes modules like RHoD pretty unworkable, but frankly I've learned that I greatly dislike watching PCs go up in power that fast in game-time. It just doesn't make sense to me (I can now raise the dead, but last week I couldn't and this whole time we've been doing nothing but fighting and traveling.)

It also means that the party gets a feeling of being "stretched out". Too many days (and days) of having people trying to kill you can wear down even the greatest of warriors....

And finally, I found that _my_ players would start spending action points like water when they were really close to next level. Obviously the "action points per encounter" thing would solve that to _some_ extent, but people would still start spending them at the end of fights just because. Seems it would slow things down quite a bit...

Mark

 

[GlassJaw]

Stalker0 is right on the money.

I definitely don't want to see AP's tied to an ability though.

 

[Nyeshet]

I'd prefer a much toned down action point system.

One idea I had a while back was that when a PC is taking an action where success is not a given - ie: they need to roll at least a 10 or 11 to have a chance of success, they could voluntarily choose (prior to rolling) to give themselves a -1 to their roll. Whether they succeed or fail the roll, this 1 pt is now set aside, a karmic point that they could add to a later roll to increase their chance of success. So they take a risk of failure so as to give themselves a better chance of success at a later task. I haven't had a chance to test it out yet, but I think it has potential.

For the more major things that APs can do (feat emulation, etc) - perhaps several such points could be used to do such (4 karmic pts burned to emulate a feat they meet the pre-reqs for, perhaps?).


But I doubt we will see anything like that in 4e.

 

[The_Universe]

I prefer my Action points to be powerful...and I think they need to refresh more often than "when you level."

The current (Eberron) implementation doesn't have a lot of influence on the game balance, sure...but they're also terribly underwhelming, tending to offer extremely minor benefits, if any at all. Despite their minimal value, the refresh time encourages players to horde them, rather than using them to enhance the drama or the action...which, to my mind, is what they should be for.

I'm hoping, at the very least, that the rules for Action Points have a GM Fiat mechanic similar to Mutants and Masterminds'. Need to fudge a roll on behalf of an NPC or a monster? Give the appropriate PCs an Action point.