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<blockquote data-quote="kugelkj" data-source="post: 5144896" data-attributes="member: 84988">Excellent discussion.&nbsp; I don’t think allowing players to take combat actions out-side of combat is a “best practice” and here is why:Players want to do this so they don’t have to burn an action in combat.&nbsp; Once you start allowing this sort of thing, it opens the door to lots of other possibilities.How about:Activating a stance power before combat beings?Using a power on yourself or ally that grants temporary hp?Using a healing power on yourself or an ally that also grants a buff?More concretely:In another thread (sorry no reference) someone was discussing using Defensive Healing Word on each ally during a short rest to allow them a +X bonus to all defenses against the next attack targeting them... in the next encounter.&nbsp; Does that sound reasonable? Not to me.As a DM, combat actions have an effect (use power to attack, move, defend, heal, etc…) at the cost of an action, which in combat is a scarce resource.&nbsp; Outside of combat, the time a PC spends taking these actions is immaterial.&nbsp; From my perspective, players are simply trying to reduce the cost to their PCs for taking actions they wouldn’t otherwise consider taking.&nbsp; IMHO, that means the cost is significant to the players and should not be ignored by the DM… even if it isn’t going to break the delicate parity (beware: sarcasm) between PC and enemy.&nbsp; All of that said, the “say yes” principle applies and I find that resolving these sorts of pre-combat actions in the surprise round to be very appealing.&nbsp; It applies an already existing set of rules and lets players who would not normally access those rules (low perception and slow PCs) to so do.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kugelkj, post: 5144896, member: 84988"] Excellent discussion. I don’t think allowing players to take combat actions out-side of combat is a “best practice” and here is why: Players want to do this so they don’t have to burn an action in combat. Once you start allowing this sort of thing, it opens the door to lots of other possibilities. How about: Activating a stance power before combat beings? Using a power on yourself or ally that grants temporary hp? Using a healing power on yourself or an ally that also grants a buff? More concretely: In another thread (sorry no reference) someone was discussing using Defensive Healing Word on each ally during a short rest to allow them a +X bonus to all defenses against the next attack targeting them... in the next encounter. Does that sound reasonable? Not to me. As a DM, combat actions have an effect (use power to attack, move, defend, heal, etc…) at the cost of an action, which in combat is a scarce resource. Outside of combat, the time a PC spends taking these actions is immaterial. From my perspective, players are simply trying to reduce the cost to their PCs for taking actions they wouldn’t otherwise consider taking. IMHO, that means the cost is significant to the players and should not be ignored by the DM… even if it isn’t going to break the delicate parity (beware: sarcasm) between PC and enemy. All of that said, the “say yes” principle applies and I find that resolving these sorts of pre-combat actions in the surprise round to be very appealing. It applies an already existing set of rules and lets players who would not normally access those rules (low perception and slow PCs) to so do. [/QUOTE]

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