D&D 5E Eberron Action Points for 5E (my conversion)

[Mercule]

Posted here (http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1147), since the conversion library explicitly says "adventures".

Looking for feedback. I have a framework for Dragonmarks that's been working okay for a couple sessions, now. I'll post those, when I get them written up.

A couple of notes:
1) I don't particularly care for the Lucky feat and don't plan to use it. I could see there being a bit of stacking issue, if both were allowed in the same game.
2) I was tempted to put the hit die feature in a separate feat. Not sure it's powerful enough, on its own, but it may be too powerful with the base action point rules. (Thus, the desire for feedback.)

 

[Jester David]

It seems to have more in common with the 3e action point than the 4e version that gave you an extra action.
The later would certainly be much more potent in 5e...

A d4 seems kind of small. That's really a +2 on average. Advantage (which is what inspiration effectively is) can grant as much as a +5 if an average roll is needed, and is closer to a +3. So it's almost always superior to go for the inspiration.
Just adding a d6 and not having the inspiration option might be better.

 

[Raith5]

I dont know much about Eberron, but I think action points should not require a feat but be a general option for a campaign seeking to emulate cinematic play. Personally I would tie them to 1 per short rest (to give an incentive to push forward).

 

[Mercule]

I'd forgotten about the 4E action points, since I sat most of that edition out. My source material is definitely the 3E setting book, which I think is best matched by a die roll adder. The inspiration/advantage seems much more in the flavor of 5E, though.

I struggled with d4 vs. d6. That's definitely one of the things I plan on watching, in play. The biggest factor in my putting it together, this way, is that the d4 gets rolled after you know your score, while advantage must be declared before rolling. I'd expect most folks to go with advantage when it's a tough DC/AC, and use the d4 as a safety net for mid-to-low DC/AC that they just barely miss. It's always nice to have that ace up your sleeve. I'm actually okay with a minor nudge toward using action points as an inspiration pool, though. I seriously considered just doing that, but wanted to ensure it was a suitable replacement for Lucky and wasn't subject to DM whim or forgetfulness.

The other two factors in choosing the d4 over d6 were 1) that's what Bless gives, which is as good a guide as any to start with, and 2) I never wanted the Battle Master fighter to feel like action points stole his thunder -- the class feature should be clearly better, in its arena, but the feat is free to be more versatile.

 

[Mercule]

I dont know much about Eberron, but I think action points should not require a feat but be a general option for a campaign seeking to emulate cinematic play. Personally I would tie them to 1 per short rest (to give an incentive to push forward).

Eberron is supposed to be very pulp action friendly, which is why it had action points baked in. If it wasn't for wanting a way to permit 1st level characters to have Dragonmarks, in Eberron, I probably wouldn't make it a feat, either, just a rules module. It was a really nice trade off to balance what should be a feat-level ability, though.

Could you explain what you mean about tying it to the short rest? I can't see a way to do so without encouraging more short rests, not fewer, which is the complete opposite of how I read "push forward". I definitely agree with encouraging longer days, which is where the hit die bit comes from.

 

[Raith5]

I come from a 4e background - I only dabbled with the 3.5 take on APs. So I am used to APs being a complete extra action (we use APs in social contexts and for extra movement in my 4e campaign) and them being an encounter resource. That said I can see the attraction for the extra 1-4 or 1-6 rather than the action.

I realised after I posted that some of your uses of APs required more than 1 point. But I just think that 1 AP per short rest provides one less incentive to call for a long rest. I also think I quite like the idea of a HD recharge mechanism - but this could be a separate gaming module. I guess I see some value in these ideas not being tied together if that makes sense.

 

[delericho]

Looking for feedback.

Well, to be honest I was never a fan of the 3e implementation of Action Points. We've been using them, effectively, as Advantage Points for a good while now. So I approve of the second option in your list of three.

As Jester Canuck says, offering a +1d4 as one of the options is weak, especially if taking Inspiration instead is an option - in almost all cases, Inspiration is the way to go. I'm curious: why didn't you stick with the 3e mechanics - where you add 1d6 at 1st level, or the best out of several d6 at higher levels? That comes closer to matching the Inspiration option and means the conversion is closer to the original.

(That said, my biggest issue with the 3e rules was that APs refreshed per-level. I'm glad to see that gone.)

2) I was tempted to put the hit die feature in a separate feat. Not sure it's powerful enough, on its own, but it may be too powerful with the base action point rules. (Thus, the desire for feedback.)

I'd leave it as-is. 5e feats are supposed to be quite powerful.

 

[KarinsDad]

I struggled with d4 vs. d6. That's definitely one of the things I plan on watching, in play. The biggest factor in my putting it together, this way, is that the d4 gets rolled after you know your score, while advantage must be declared before rolling. I'd expect most folks to go with advantage when it's a tough DC/AC, and use the d4 as a safety net for mid-to-low DC/AC that they just barely miss. It's always nice to have that ace up your sleeve. I'm actually okay with a minor nudge toward using action points as an inspiration pool, though. I seriously considered just doing that, but wanted to ensure it was a suitable replacement for Lucky and wasn't subject to DM whim or forgetfulness.

The other two factors in choosing the d4 over d6 were 1) that's what Bless gives, which is as good a guide as any to start with, and 2) I never wanted the Battle Master fighter to feel like action points stole his thunder -- the class feature should be clearly better, in its arena, but the feat is free to be more versatile.

I think your reasoning is sound. D4 makes more sense.

 

[Astrosicebear]

Posted here (http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1147), since the conversion library explicitly says "adventures".

Looking for feedback. I have a framework for Dragonmarks that's been working okay for a couple sessions, now. I'll post those, when I get them written up.

A couple of notes:
1) I don't particularly care for the Lucky feat and don't plan to use it. I could see there being a bit of stacking issue, if both were allowed in the same game.
2) I was tempted to put the hit die feature in a separate feat. Not sure it's powerful enough, on its own, but it may be too powerful with the base action point rules. (Thus, the desire for feedback.)

Inspiration is essentially the same mechanic. I would say a character can accumulate an additional Inspiration/action point every 4 levels. And just expand on what inspiration can do without a feat. Allow the feat to add even more, increase die size, etc.

 

[bganon]

I would also come in on the "d4" side for action points. It seems small, but it stacks with advantage and presumably just about everything else. And since you can only have one inspiration "token", Inspiration won't always be an alternative.

The healing thing sounds interesting but it's basically doubling daily healing at low levels. Maybe for Eberron-style play that's OK, since it takes out some of the lethality. I'm not sure.