Action point per encounter

[BobTheNob]

My players love spending action points, and I am documenting a change to make the use of an action point a per encounter ability rather than a per milestone pooled ability. This will allow for more frequenct use, and players dont have to make the punishing decision whether to use or not, just when to use.

(Note : I am not of the school of thought that extra ways of using action points are required. I know alot of people are, but thats not the point of this thread. Im comfortable with what an action point gives you, I just think we can have it more often)

There are hickups to this change, such as options that allow increased pools of action points (Adroit Explorer) or multiple action point usage per encounter (Warchanter). In these cases, I am converting these abilities to a daily ability to spend an extra Action point in an encounter (i.e. twice in an encounter as a daily).

This has other impacts (Such as Legendry General, which still worked well, albeit differently) so....
a) General opion. What do you think?
b) Can you foree any Pitfalls?

Thanks

 

[Stalker0]

I did the same game. What I would up changing after a long period of playtesting was only allow 1 AP to be spent per round.

I was finding that my party could nova AP a little too well when the time was right, which upped the power too greatly.

At once per round, its still stronger, but the balance feels better.

The paragon paths are better...but frankly, they are PARAGON paths, I want them to be strong!

 

[BobTheNob]

Agreed, I will amend that only one action point may be spent on player turn.Thank you

 

[Nytmare]

Yeah, I stole Stalker's rules too, and they've worked swimmingly.

 

[Alisair Longreach]

I also have Action Point as an encounter ability. The primary advantages are that the players can make a cool combo maneuver once per combat and that a fiddly bit of accounting can be eliminated.

The disadvantages I have found is that some features of certain paragon paths and epic destinies have to be redesigned and rewritten but that is just some minor house rule fixes. A couple of players have felt that this change make Action Points lose their "specialness", reducing them to a boring "Use it or lose it" ability. A fellow DM don't like this change but he is a Carebear DM scared of power creep.

 

[Starfox]

You have my blessing.

I'm not using this rule, but don't think it would make a huge difference either way - I have non-action scenes frequently enough that my players almost have 1 AP/combat encounter anyway.

 

[john112364]

I do the once per encounter action point as well. I haven't noticed any real power creep. I do think it helps that we have a party of four rather than the recomended five, so this rule helps make up the "fifth man" somewhat.

 

[eriktheguy]

Quick question about the 'one action point per round' rule!
Can a player use one action point for an extra action and then another for a paragon path ability in the same round? I think technically this is allowed by the normal rules, so I don't see why a houserule should restrict it. My limit would simply be 'one action point to take an extra action per round'.

 

[BobTheNob]

With regards whether this change PP AP abilities, not at all. In terms of what they do and how they work they work exactly as before. The only difference is
a) You get to use 1 per combat
b) You dont have to get to milestones to earn them
c) They cant be "saved up"

Effectively, they become a one point per encounter. I just want players to be able to use them more often, thats all

 

[Nikosandros]

Agreed, I will amend that only one action point may be spent on player turn.Thank you

If you make AP a per encounter thing, wouldn't a character always have one at maximum?