Action Points!

[brunswick]

Hiya folks,

If I may ask a question, is there a limit to the number of Action Points a PC can accrue? I was running a game last Saturday and one of the players(!!) said that you (a PC) can only have a maximum of 2 Action Points at any time. I havent heard that rule before (unless I totally missed some section of the rules). The reason I decided to ask on here is because the player is normally spot on with rules, latest errata, etc., but I wasnt aware of this at all, if its true.

Is this correct?

Thanks,


Bruns.

 

[Mort_Q]

There is no set limit, only a practical one. You reset to one AP after an extended rest*, and gain one more every milestone (every two encounters). You can only spend one per encounter.



*some exceptions iirc (Human, PP)

 

[Black Knight Irios]

Hiya folks,

If I may ask a question, is there a limit to the number of Action Points a PC can accrue? I was running a game last Saturday and one of the players(!!) said that you (a PC) can only have a maximum of 2 Action Points at any time. I havent heard that rule before (unless I totally missed some section of the rules). The reason I decided to ask on here is because the player is normally spot on with rules, latest errata, etc., but I wasnt aware of this at all, if its true.

Is this correct?

Thanks,


Bruns.

No, you can have any number of APs. But you can spend only 1AP/encounter unless a specific feat/power/etc. allows you to spend more than one.

And the bumber of APs reset to 1 after an extended rest (again barring special rules).

 

[brunswick]

Thanks folks. That's kinda what I figured but the player is often right about 'new' changes so I thought I had missed something and wanted to double check.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

It's worth noting that as a matter of good resource utilization, playing as if there were a limit of 2 APs is not a bad idea, even though there is no actual limit. If it's the 4th encounter of the day, and you have 2 action points, then if you don't spend an action point this encounter, you will need to play for at least 5 more encounters before an extended rest to avoid wasting an action point. (If you play exactly 4 more encounters, than you will in a sense waste an action point, but wasting that one is unavoidable. Any time you take an extended rest immediately after a milestone you always waste an action point.) If you do spend an action point in the 4th encounter (again, assuming you entered that encounter with 2 APs), then you can avoid wasting any AP if you use one in every encounter for the next 2 or 3 encounters (with the unavoidable wasted AP if you play exactly 2 more), or if you spend an action point in three of the next 4 encounters, or 4 of the next 5. Of course, if you do play 4-5 more encounters, you'll need to have one encounter in there where you don't spend an AP.

So unless you are (A) very likely to play a whole lot more encounters and (B) have some reason to expect that this is a particularly bad encounter to use an action point in, you should spend an action point in any encounter where (A) you start the encounter with 2 APs and (B) you will hit a milestone at the end of the encounter.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

It's worth noting that as a matter of good resource utilization, playing as if there were a limit of 2 APs is not a bad idea, even though there is no actual limit. If it's the 4th encounter of the day, and you have 2 action points, then if you don't spend an action point this encounter, you will need to play for at least 5 more encounters before an extended rest to avoid wasting an action point. (If you play exactly 4 more encounters, than you will in a sense waste an action point, but wasting that one is unavoidable. Any time you take an extended rest immediately after a milestone you always waste an action point.) If you do spend an action point in the 4th encounter (again, assuming you entered that encounter with 2 APs), then you can avoid wasting any AP if you use one in every encounter for the next 2 or 3 encounters (with the unavoidable wasted AP if you play exactly 2 more), or if you spend an action point in three of the next 4 encounters, or 4 of the next 5. Of course, if you do play 4-5 more encounters, you'll need to have one encounter in there where you don't spend an AP.

So unless you are (A) very likely to play a whole lot more encounters and (B) have some reason to expect that this is a particularly bad encounter to use an action point in, you should spend an action point in any encounter where (A) you start the encounter with 2 APs and (B) you will hit a milestone at the end of the encounter.

Nice analysis. But remember as well once there are features/feats/powers/etc. that allow zAP/encounter with z>1 this analysis is rather worthless.

 

[Aulirophile]

Well, and there are eventually things that increase your AP generation rate. Currently gAP starts at 1 and then is set to 1 per 2 encounters, but if you have a daily that gives you an extra AP, gAP is 1+1+(1 per 2 encounters) which changes things again. So if gAP > 1 per 2 encounters, then z>1 just balances his analysis back to being true.

 

[Dice4Hire]

My rule of thumb is : Don't spend one in the first encounter and then spend one every other encounter you have one.

Not perfect, but basically it is sound.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

My rule of thumb is : Don't spend one in the first encounter and then spend one every other encounter you have one.

My rule of thumb is: Spend one any time the encounter looks potentially dangerous and you can get some real mileage out of it.

Even if it isn't strictly necessary, your party may well exit the encounter with a few extra surges, an extra daily power that otherwise would have been expended, a potion your opponent doesn't consume because it dies first, or a prisoner who doesn't get a chance to escape.

Also, don't forget that you will occasionally gain an AP back through a skill challenge. You don't necessarily have to kill off level+2 quantity of monsters twice to get a new AP.

 

[Festivus]

When playing my rogue, my rule is that if I have combat advantage on something, and my first attack doesn't kill it, do it again to double up the sneak attack values (slaying action feat is wonderful). I usually don't have more than one action point.

I am wondering if the player was saying there is a practical limit of 2, because really, you can't spend them beyond 2 without special circumstances.