How do action points encourage me to take on more encounters?

[korjik]

The five minute adventuring day is a bad DM problem not a game system problem. The whole point of playing an RPG is so that the brain running the game can let the bad guys adapt. Otherwise, you are just playing an analog MMORPG.

Action points work to extend the day by giving extra options. Action points are gained by extending the day, and can be the cusp that decides to go another fight.

 

[FadedC]

As others have said, action points don't discourage you from resting if it's possible to do so. That's something that's up to the DM and the story. What action points do accomplish is to help make it possible for the players to handle more fights without dying, which makes it easier for the DM to tell more complicated or cinematic stories.

In pretty much every edition of D&D players would rest and continue at full strength when doing so was a valid tactical option. DMs would try to stop that by using story reasons to force the players to continue. However this only worked as long as players had the ability to continue. In 3e in particular it was quite possible for one tough fight to deplete the party of every resource they had, making any future combat suicidal. No amount of story can prevent the need for a rest here.

The action point system is one of many ways 4e attempts to give characters the ability to handle multiple fights by giving them some renewable resources. If the players have the option to rest without consequence they will most likely still take it. But it makes it easier for the DM to not give them the option to rest.

 

[inati]

I recall reading a Q&A with one of the developers describing how they changed Action Points into only once an encounter because it became a meta game of saving up actions points and blowing them all at the end. So they placed the limitation of only one action point usage per encounter. However, it seems that by doing so, they eliminated the appeal of accumulating more than one action point in the first place. It's a neat mechanic, but I'm seeing very little incentive of pressing on versus taking that extended rest for daily power recharges.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Our old DM used to say: "you can´t rest right now, you are not tired... or better, you can rest, but you can´t sleep." The only difference in the new edition is, that sleep and extended rest are not mechanically synonymous.

APs, as already mentioned, award players for pushing on instead of finding reasons, why resting is appropriate after travelling a distance of 100 yards each day...

 

[Jack Colby]

Huh. I forgot you were only supposed to use one AP per encounter. We've been running it so the PCs can use as many as they want and guess what? There's still not an incentive to push on. It's a neat little perk, not much more.