Beyond level 30?

[DandD]

Aha, so no multi-class penalty and no favoured class anymore either, got it.

 

[Ahglock]

OMG, that is the awesomest typo ever, I'm totally using that. I'll write up my house rules like so:
"Either point buy or random rolling can be used, whichever leads to greater statisfaction."
or
"After determining the possible scores, they can be rearranged until the player is statisfied."

You get the idea.

I had to read his post way too many times in order to find the typo. If I had read the rest of your post it would of been a bit easier to find.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

It sounds very intruiging to be able to retrain your character as you go along.

I am forever coming up with character ideas, and then wanting to change my mind three or four games into a campaign - and it's aggravating for other players, I appreciate. So the idea of a character you can genuinely change and grow through a campaign without sacrificing power is one that really appeals to me.

 

[Li Shenron]

The problem with that is that sessions can vary wildly, both among groups (playing time per session can range from ~3 hours out of ~4 on the clock in an evening -- which is what I do, to all-day on a weekend, to the occasional crazy 12+ hour things that sometimes happen to college kids, to PBP games which don't have any formal 'sessions' at all) and within groups (because a combat-heavy session is going to use more action points than a combat-light one, almost inevitably). So I'm not sure how you build mechanics for it.

You just make the amount of action points decided by the Dm instead of fixed.

You know, like point-buy.

This way your Dm can officially choose what is best for the group. It also may include 0 as a perfectly valid option within the default rules.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

The problem with that is that sessions can vary wildly, both among groups (playing time per session can range from ~3 hours out of ~4 on the clock in an evening -- which is what I do, to all-day on a weekend, to the occasional crazy 12+ hour things that sometimes happen to college kids, to PBP games which don't have any formal 'sessions' at all) and within groups (because a combat-heavy session is going to use more action points than a combat-light one, almost inevitably). So I'm not sure how you build mechanics for it.

I agree. True20 uses Conviction Points (basically Action Points) which regenerate at a rate of 1 per day. Almost certainly superior to per session and DEFINITELY superior to per level.

 

[drothgery]

You just make the amount of action points decided by the Dm instead of fixed.

Even if you're okay with explicit DM fiat for a core mechanic (if SWSE is any indication, lots of stuff will run off of force action points), that's still not a good idea. How does it work for convention games, or electronic games?

 

[teitan]

It's an interesting question. BECMI is the only edition of D&D ever to have a proper end point. After level 36, you become an Immortal aka a god.

A level 1 god.

Yes and no. AD&D supported unlimited play, there wasn't a top level and extrapolation of the level charts and progression was pretty simple. We played to level 36+ in AD&D. Not because we were power gamers but we genuinely loved our characters.

 

[Li Shenron]

Even if you're okay with explicit DM fiat for a core mechanic (if SWSE is any indication, lots of stuff will run off of force action points), that's still not a good idea. How does it work for convention games, or electronic games?

Same way as they deal with rolling abilities vs point-buy, I guess

 

[Henry]

OMG, that is the awesomest typo ever, I'm totally using that.

I can't get no...
stat-is-fac-tion
This PC will...
suck at action
So I roll
and I roll
and I roll
and I roll
I CAN'T GET NO..

DUH DUH DUH...

STATIS-FACTION!

NO NO NO....

HEY HEY HEY!

 

[Flynn]

Even if you're okay with explicit DM fiat for a core mechanic (if SWSE is any indication, lots of stuff will run off of force action points), that's still not a good idea. How does it work for convention games, or electronic games?

How about something based on the projected duration of the session, such as one action point per hour of the session, plus a final modifier for the session as a whole? The standard seems to be 5 + half character level for 4 hours, but I would suggest the following for a "per session" approach:

Nbr of Action Points = One per session hour, plus one-quarter of your character level

This can be pre-calculated based on expected session duration, or start with one plus one-quarter of your character level, and give the PCs a new action point every hour that the session runs, if you don't know how long you'll be at the table when you start.

Thoughts?

With Regards,
Flynn