Crazy martial power source houserule

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Yeah, Ideally I would like to make changes to the way each power source works, to give them more flavor, and have them equal but different.

I'm not really married to any of the ideas. The combat tempo one seems fun, but it's gimmicky. I think it would only work if the powers were made with that in mind.

There have been many ideas. I like that "combat tempo" idea, too, but I think it's "gimmicky", too.

I am not sure I would want to use healing surges for too much stuff, either. It leads us back to "15 minute adventuring days" to an extreme. Potions get it "right" - you spend a healing surge to get you benefit so you take less damage from attacks.

I think Action Points might be a good way. There are Paragon Pathes that allow you to spend action points to regain encounter powers. Just give these paragon pathes a different power and make this a general ability. In addition, you might allow players to spend an action point + encounter power of equal or higher level (which usually means higher) to regain one daily power.

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I also like the idea to have a guiding "power source" subsystem. (Though I always warn that this makes balancing stuff harder.)

For example:
- Martial characters can re-use one encounter power after they have expended all others. (Only once per encounter.)

- Arcane characters get one daily slot extra. The slot can only be filled with a different daily power then all others (utility or daily attack). (Non-Wizards need the ability to learn one extra daily power or utility. They can retrain this power as usual).

- Divine characters can regain one daily power by praying during a short rest. To do so, they must make a Religion Check DC 10 + level of the power.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Not to be too gamist, but if you allow your martial characters to be that much more effective than any others, then why would anyone choose any other power source?

Player 1: I'm going to be a fighter, because I'll always have access to my best powers!

Player 2: I'm going to be a warlord, because I'll always have access to my best powers!

Player 3: I was going to be a wizard, but my powers are balanced against theirs, so I'm going to take a ranger instead.

Looks like an all-martial power campaign to me.

 

[Lakoda]

I like what ImperialParadox is getting at with an idea of momentum in regards to powers. I don't think such things need to be limited to martial only. To me, it seems as though the concept of Milestones is a good example of this already.

I've seen a lot of people wanting a more "organic" (for lack of a better term) way to use their daily powers while retaining that "alpha-strike" option. On the heals of IPs tempo idea you could use power point kind of system. After every short rest a character receives a number of power points and as they string things together and build tempo/momentum they start earning back more points. Yes, it rewards luck but it's also kind of cool (I think).

 

[ImperialParadox]

Not to be too gamist, but if you allow your martial characters to be that much more effective than any others, then why would anyone choose any other power source?

Player 1: I'm going to be a fighter, because I'll always have access to my best powers!

Player 2: I'm going to be a warlord, because I'll always have access to my best powers!

Player 3: I was going to be a wizard, but my powers are balanced against theirs, so I'm going to take a ranger instead.

Looks like an all-martial power campaign to me.

As I've mentioned a few times, I realize the other powr sources would have to be balanced against any changes made to the martial classes. My plan wasn't to change a few classes without examining the others.

 

[ImperialParadox]

I like what ImperialParadox is getting at with an idea of momentum in regards to powers. I don't think such things need to be limited to martial only. To me, it seems as though the concept of Milestones is a good example of this already.

I've seen a lot of people wanting a more "organic" (for lack of a better term) way to use their daily powers while retaining that "alpha-strike" option. On the heals of IPs tempo idea you could use power point kind of system. After every short rest a character receives a number of power points and as they string things together and build tempo/momentum they start earning back more points. Yes, it rewards luck but it's also kind of cool (I think).

Hmm, what if you did something along the lines of keeping the at-will, encounter, and daily setup as it is, but added the martial tempo thing to it. In this case, martial tempo would be a point system that you can cash in to regain access to your powers. Maybe you earn a martial tempo point whenever you crit, or perhaps whenever you miss on a natural one, or whatever, and you can cash in so many points to regain a power. Sure it's a random element, but I don't necessarily mind that, since you have the base setup to fall back on.