Fanaelialae
Legend
Some of my players like Daily powers, some don't care for their limited usage. As their DM, I'm constantly fiddling with various mechanics in a hopeless, never ending quest to keep all of them happy all of the time.
The latest idea I've come up with has to do with changing daily attacks so that they are no longer strictly limited to once per day. The reason for this being, one of the main complaints I hear about dailies is that they don't feel like a significant part of the character since they're rarely seen (unlike at-wills and encounters which are used in every encounter).
Limit Breaks
- Daily attack powers become Limit Break powers instead.
- Limit Break powers require an Activation roll before they can be used, similar to a Recharge power except that Limit Break powers begin each encounter Uncharged and can only be used once per encounter. A Limit Break can only be used if it is Charged.
- If a character has at least one Uncharged Limit Break, at the beginning of his turn that player rolls an Activation die (1d10). On a maximum roll of the Activation die (10), one of that character's Limit Breaks becomes Charged, and therefore usable. Note that the player only rolls one Activation die when granted an Activation roll, regardless of how many Limit Breaks the PC has.
Additional Ideas
- In order to grant greater access to dailies for harder fights, players can make an Activation roll any time their PC is bloodied or knocked to 0. To push fights that are a foregone conclusion, you could allow a PC or all PCs to make an Activation roll when a non-minion is bloodied or killed (I lean toward the group option because, although it is more powerful, the former option favors Strikers quite a bit). Other criteria might also grant an extra Activation roll, such as expending the last of your Encounter powers, being hit by nasty conditions like stun or dominate, or granting all PCs an Activation roll when a comrade dies.
- Obviously, this approach means that the availability of dailies is largely determined by luck. While that can't entirely be helped, it might be somewhat mitigated by allowing a player to use a standard action to Charge a Limit Break. A second action of the appropriate kind is required to use the power.
- Players might, at their discretion, be allowed to designate some Daily attack powers as Daily attack powers (rather than Limit Break powers). This allows those dailies which are highly conditional (of which there are a few, though not many) to be available whenever such triggers arise, at the cost of being usable only once per day. A more extreme approach might be to allow any Daily attack or utility power to be designated as either Daily or Limit Break when selected. I hesitate to suggest it though, since a cleric who prioritized having Cure X Wounds in every fight could make a party last far beyond their intended encounter day.
- Of course, since some dailies have borderline gamebreaking effects if usable at whim (surgeless healing), it's probably best to restrict their use to encounters only. Alternatively, it might be up to the DM to determine whether a Daily would be okay to use more than once per day (and therefore available as a Limit Break). In that case, it might be okay to say that out of combat a PC can use a Limit Break with 5 rounds of preparation.
Obviously, this system would need a lot of playtesting before it could be considered balanced (if it can be balanced at all). My initial choice of a d10 for the activation die assumes roughly 10 combats per level, which makes it likely that each PC will have an opportunity to open an encounter with a daily once per level. The terminology could probably use a bit of sprucing up as well.
One thing I like about it is that this system effectively eliminates encounter nova. While my players are pretty good at avoiding the 15 minute workday, it can be a little annoying when they manage to scrounge enough dailies to completely decimate what was intended to be a difficult boss encounter.
From a fluff perspective, Limit Breaks could be described as gathering enough magical energy for a big spell or analyzing an opponent's technique for an exploitable weakness.
The latest idea I've come up with has to do with changing daily attacks so that they are no longer strictly limited to once per day. The reason for this being, one of the main complaints I hear about dailies is that they don't feel like a significant part of the character since they're rarely seen (unlike at-wills and encounters which are used in every encounter).
Limit Breaks
- Daily attack powers become Limit Break powers instead.
- Limit Break powers require an Activation roll before they can be used, similar to a Recharge power except that Limit Break powers begin each encounter Uncharged and can only be used once per encounter. A Limit Break can only be used if it is Charged.
- If a character has at least one Uncharged Limit Break, at the beginning of his turn that player rolls an Activation die (1d10). On a maximum roll of the Activation die (10), one of that character's Limit Breaks becomes Charged, and therefore usable. Note that the player only rolls one Activation die when granted an Activation roll, regardless of how many Limit Breaks the PC has.
Additional Ideas
- In order to grant greater access to dailies for harder fights, players can make an Activation roll any time their PC is bloodied or knocked to 0. To push fights that are a foregone conclusion, you could allow a PC or all PCs to make an Activation roll when a non-minion is bloodied or killed (I lean toward the group option because, although it is more powerful, the former option favors Strikers quite a bit). Other criteria might also grant an extra Activation roll, such as expending the last of your Encounter powers, being hit by nasty conditions like stun or dominate, or granting all PCs an Activation roll when a comrade dies.
- Obviously, this approach means that the availability of dailies is largely determined by luck. While that can't entirely be helped, it might be somewhat mitigated by allowing a player to use a standard action to Charge a Limit Break. A second action of the appropriate kind is required to use the power.
- Players might, at their discretion, be allowed to designate some Daily attack powers as Daily attack powers (rather than Limit Break powers). This allows those dailies which are highly conditional (of which there are a few, though not many) to be available whenever such triggers arise, at the cost of being usable only once per day. A more extreme approach might be to allow any Daily attack or utility power to be designated as either Daily or Limit Break when selected. I hesitate to suggest it though, since a cleric who prioritized having Cure X Wounds in every fight could make a party last far beyond their intended encounter day.
- Of course, since some dailies have borderline gamebreaking effects if usable at whim (surgeless healing), it's probably best to restrict their use to encounters only. Alternatively, it might be up to the DM to determine whether a Daily would be okay to use more than once per day (and therefore available as a Limit Break). In that case, it might be okay to say that out of combat a PC can use a Limit Break with 5 rounds of preparation.
Obviously, this system would need a lot of playtesting before it could be considered balanced (if it can be balanced at all). My initial choice of a d10 for the activation die assumes roughly 10 combats per level, which makes it likely that each PC will have an opportunity to open an encounter with a daily once per level. The terminology could probably use a bit of sprucing up as well.
One thing I like about it is that this system effectively eliminates encounter nova. While my players are pretty good at avoiding the 15 minute workday, it can be a little annoying when they manage to scrounge enough dailies to completely decimate what was intended to be a difficult boss encounter.
From a fluff perspective, Limit Breaks could be described as gathering enough magical energy for a big spell or analyzing an opponent's technique for an exploitable weakness.
