Action Point Ideas I would love to see!!

[CleverNickName]

We tried using action points a while ago, but nobody at the table really liked them all that much. Everyone felt that APs were just one more stat that they had to memorize rules for and keet track of on their character sheet. And there were a lot of rules to memorize, and bookkeeping for APs didn't always make a lot of sense.

Even though they might be core in 4E, I don't plan to implement them in my game unless they are SIMPLE to use.

 

[DogBackward]

I use the Unearthed Arcana AP, with two major changes. First, you get an AP pool of your Charisma bonus, plus 3, plus 1/2 your level. Your AP recharge at the rate of 1/day, which eliminates the per-level deal, which I've always seen as a problem.

Then, I removed the nigh-useless +1d6 mechanic. Instead, you can spend one 1 AP before the roll to roll two dice and take the highest result, or spend 2 AP after the roll to reroll it, and take the new result.

I include feats to increase the daily AP recharge to 2/day, to allow you to add +1/2 your level to a given d20 roll, and other effects. One of my favorites is Heroic Threat, which requires Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization and BAB +6; if you spend an AP to roll two dice on an attack roll with your Weapon Focus weapon group, and both dice hit your target's AC, it's a critical threat. I'm working on versions of that feat for skills and such as well, granting extra effects if both dice succeed.

It's worked really well so far.