ender_wiggin
First Post
I’m going to be running a campaign with only three players soon, and in the past my experience with 3-player parties is that they are little thin. Not that this breaks the mechanics; rather, by being a little careful (avoiding stuns/domination and very durable opponents) you can certainly make 3-player games exciting. But this time I’d like to be able to throw hell at them at not worry about it, or at the very least be a bit less scrupulous about encounter design. So, I started tinkering with a more expanded, more involved and complex action point system to give the group a stronger action balance. Any feedback is welcome.
Tenets:
1. Characters can now use more than one action point per combat, but still only one per turn.
2. The AP pipeline will be big enough so that players can use 1-3 APs per combat, depending on how epic the fight is. This means each player will get 4-5 APs per session to play with.
3. Any ability that says “Whenever you use an AP you get benefit X” will now become an encounter ability; that is, it becomes "once per encounter, when you use an AP you get benefit X".
4. APs are represented by a card drawn from a typical deck of playing cards. Different cards grant different additional bonuses. Cards are flushed at the end of the session (players lose any that they are holding). APs that are used are not recycled but added to a burn pile.
5. APs are not rewarded directly but instead through some kind of token. These tokens are persistent and can be hoarded between sessions. Tokens may be traded in for action points during short rests. In addition, they can be traded in when using the second wind ability. This allows players to hang onto to hard earned tokens if they are not needed, while tenet 4 discourages them from being hoarded too much.
Gaining APs:
Different GMs can do different things, but I plan on awarding tokens for anything a player that makes my experience at the table particularly enjoyable – including but not limited to: solid character development, rapport with one of my NPCs, interacting well with the setting, taking initiative with party action, etc. Doing any writing for the game is also worthy of one or more tokens. In addition, each player can award another player one token per session. This way, it’s not just feedback between me and the players, but even between players themselves.
Deck Bonuses
This is likely to change as I get more experience and ideas, but this is currently what the deck distribution looks like:
Spades: +2 to a single d20 roll made while using the AP.
Hearts: Can be passed to any other player.
Diamonds: Action can be delayed indefinitely (in escrow). The action can then be cashed in at any point until the end of combat, although if it is done so out of turn, the action must be a triggered action (and it must be triggered). Only one action can be held in escrow at a time.
Clubs: Can be returned for a token at the end of the session.
2-9: No additional bonus
10-K: Can use an encounter ability that has already been expended.
A: When using a class, PP, or ED ability slot, can use any other ability of the same type of slot. For example, when using Walking Wounded (a 5th level rogue daily), the character can instead use ANY 5th level rogue daily, within the boundaries of splat control.
Red Joker: Can pick any card from the remaining deck.
Black Joker: The GM draws a card, which can then be usable by any monster. Note that the player gets nothing.
If either joker is picked, the joker is subsequently returned to the deck, the burn pile is reintroduced, and the deck is immediately reshuffled. That way, both jokers are always in an unknown location in the deck.
Tenets:
1. Characters can now use more than one action point per combat, but still only one per turn.
2. The AP pipeline will be big enough so that players can use 1-3 APs per combat, depending on how epic the fight is. This means each player will get 4-5 APs per session to play with.
3. Any ability that says “Whenever you use an AP you get benefit X” will now become an encounter ability; that is, it becomes "once per encounter, when you use an AP you get benefit X".
4. APs are represented by a card drawn from a typical deck of playing cards. Different cards grant different additional bonuses. Cards are flushed at the end of the session (players lose any that they are holding). APs that are used are not recycled but added to a burn pile.
5. APs are not rewarded directly but instead through some kind of token. These tokens are persistent and can be hoarded between sessions. Tokens may be traded in for action points during short rests. In addition, they can be traded in when using the second wind ability. This allows players to hang onto to hard earned tokens if they are not needed, while tenet 4 discourages them from being hoarded too much.
Gaining APs:
Different GMs can do different things, but I plan on awarding tokens for anything a player that makes my experience at the table particularly enjoyable – including but not limited to: solid character development, rapport with one of my NPCs, interacting well with the setting, taking initiative with party action, etc. Doing any writing for the game is also worthy of one or more tokens. In addition, each player can award another player one token per session. This way, it’s not just feedback between me and the players, but even between players themselves.
Deck Bonuses
This is likely to change as I get more experience and ideas, but this is currently what the deck distribution looks like:
Spades: +2 to a single d20 roll made while using the AP.
Hearts: Can be passed to any other player.
Diamonds: Action can be delayed indefinitely (in escrow). The action can then be cashed in at any point until the end of combat, although if it is done so out of turn, the action must be a triggered action (and it must be triggered). Only one action can be held in escrow at a time.
Clubs: Can be returned for a token at the end of the session.
2-9: No additional bonus
10-K: Can use an encounter ability that has already been expended.
A: When using a class, PP, or ED ability slot, can use any other ability of the same type of slot. For example, when using Walking Wounded (a 5th level rogue daily), the character can instead use ANY 5th level rogue daily, within the boundaries of splat control.
Red Joker: Can pick any card from the remaining deck.
Black Joker: The GM draws a card, which can then be usable by any monster. Note that the player gets nothing.
If either joker is picked, the joker is subsequently returned to the deck, the burn pile is reintroduced, and the deck is immediately reshuffled. That way, both jokers are always in an unknown location in the deck.
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