Action Points and Feats

[James McMurray]

There's a spell that grants an extra action point per turn and removes the limit on spending. There's a feat that lets you spend action points for extra actions. Those two combined are the only problems I've ever seen with action points, although my experience with them isn't vast, so there may be more.

 

[Prophet2b]

If you run a very different game, my method might be quite a bad one for you.

That's kind of what I'm trying to figure out right now, actually. This will only be my second D&D campaign that I've DM'd, and the last time I allowed the players to get way too powerful in ways that were... well... broken and difficult. I will not make that mistake again, and I want to be a whole lot harder on them than I was last time. I'm also very big on the character-driven stuff - real roleplaying above dungeon crawls.

But because of the last campaign, me being "tougher" on them probably won't be as tough as you are on your characters.

I think I will have to experiment a little bit to get it right... Even if I don't do 3 per session, I do like the idea of action points on a steady basis, as opposed to the 5 + 1/2 level each time you level. That rule just doesn't quite sit right with me.

 

[Goreg Skullcrusher]

We ran an Eberron campaign once, and while it was enormous fun we found the action points to be more problematic than good. Without rehashing the old debate much, the Wizard in the party with Heroic Surge made short work of most encounters without much anything being done by the rest of the party. On top of that, effects requiring saving throws weren't thrown around with enough frequency to be very meaningful, as having effectively two chances to save made saving throw success rate very high.

Your game may vary. The DM didn't really anticipate such powerful characters.

 

[shilsen]

That's kind of what I'm trying to figure out right now, actually. This will only be my second D&D campaign that I've DM'd, and the last time I allowed the players to get way too powerful in ways that were... well... broken and difficult. I will not make that mistake again, and I want to be a whole lot harder on them than I was last time. I'm also very big on the character-driven stuff - real roleplaying above dungeon crawls.

But because of the last campaign, me being "tougher" on them probably won't be as tough as you are on your characters.

I think I will have to experiment a little bit to get it right... Even if I don't do 3 per session, I do like the idea of action points on a steady basis, as opposed to the 5 + 1/2 level each time you level. That rule just doesn't quite sit right with me.

It's definitely better to start off being stingy and get more generous, since the end result is players being happier. If you start off too generous and start to take away things you've given and rules you're using, players are more likely to be unhappy. So I'd suggest starting off with something like two action pts a session and no action point usage feats allowed yet, and then kicking it up later if you feel it's necessary. Also, I recommend telling your players right off the bat that this is an experimental phase with action pts and they should be prepared for some changes until you get it right.