Action points to monsters an NPCs

[Particle_Man]

I give action points to PCs (because they think they are cool) but not to NPCs or Monsters (because I am too lazy to fiddle with them as DM).

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm thinking of a new rule: Any monster or NPC that I spent more than half an hour making gets an action point.

That's exactly the reason why I asked.

I thought it was most common to give them only to the PCs, but if you give them to the important monsters/NPCs, they can be a tool to prevent insta-kills (like save-or-die spells or vorpal accidents) from spoiling a climatic encounter.

But I wonder about what are the possible problems:

- players may be pissed off because their best weapons never work on BBEG?
- clunky situations where a PC and an NPC try to use action points at the same time to neutralize a deadly attack, then to neutralize the neutralization, then to...

 

[Mark]

PCs only in my game where action points are concerned.

 

[Festivus]

Only PCs would get them from me. The NPCs all get DM Fiat/Fudge power, so I don't really need them.

The problem I see with giving APs to NPCs is that they have no reason to not blow them all in one fight, where the PCs need to budget them.

 

[Shade]

I've been using them for "boss monsters" and "champions" for awhile now, and haven't seen any negative effects. If anything, they help prevent the anticlimatic situation where the BBEG is toast after the first spell goes off due to rolling a 1.

 

[adwyn]

I allow players who are out of APs to spend a freebie once per session but doing so adds one AP to a pool that can be used by any NPC or Monster.

So far the only time I've abused it is when I burned 5 Aps in one combat on behalf of an unleveled goblin who exploited a once in a lifetime opportunity in the middle of combat to steal an artifact while the distracted party's attention was focused on the BBEG and could only watch.

 

[Imp]

I said PCs only in the poll, but let me amend that. If I'm running an NPC member of the party, and I want him to be an equal member of the group and not a disposable mook, I'll give him action points.

Otherwise I just don't want to give myself even more bookkeeping.

 

[jeffh]

PCs, certain "boss monsters", and members of a certain homebrew character class. The latter two groups don't get anywhere near as many as PCs, but then, they typicaly only have one encounter in which to use them. Two, tops.