I don't quite understand milestones

[Rith the Wanderer]

I mentioned the same thing further up in the thread and you chose to ignore it and just respond with more snarkiness. That's not even etting into the fact of how obvious the problem is. When the issue of trivializing the encounters comes up and I'm sure it will, I can tell you a very easy fix to balance the problem. You can just make the action point usable once per encounter. Wait a second...

They're not going to use them on easy to normal encounters... so where else would they use these horded points besides difficult encounters to make them easy?

Our group tends to use them to be dramatic. Most of us are fairly non-optimized, and just like to do things that seem interesting and fun(this is not to imply that this is the best way to play DnD, I would say out of all of us I am the most optimizing player). Thus, the action points usually come out when somebody is unconcious or about to go down and they want to run in and heal or tank or generally do something action-like. If this seems like it's describing your group, you might like this house rule. If not, well then its less likely to work out to be more fun.

I can definitely see it being a problem in a group that wants to save them all up and use them all together to end an encounter in a couple of rounds. I am not trying to say that this is how the rules should have been, or that everyone should use this house rule. Its been fun for us so far.

That said, RAW I have to agree that the intention is the every other rule. The variability rule seems like it doesn't affect much as long as its after a really hard encounter (on an average game day of 5 encounters, you'd normally end up with 3 to use over those five encounters, if one is particularly resource draining adding in that extra 1 action point can help keep the party going the rest of the day). Also if for some reason you end up with an extra long day (there is no opporunity to rest anywhere) or you made something harder than you intended it to be, an extra action point may be able to prevent character deaths.

 

[helium3]

This is a good example of why parsing text to get at the RAW is kind of a pointless exercise.

If the RAW interpretation were the correct one, the rules would simply say "you get an action point after every encounter except for the first one that occurs after an extended rest."

Why would you write the "after two" verbiage if the above was what they meant.

As I understand it, even in the legal profession (where RAW actually matters) there's still a lot of talk about the "intent" of the law.

 

[No Name]

It's completely possible that I jumped the gun and it's a DM trying to get clarification and if that's the case I do apologize to the OP.

Thanks, but apologies aren't necessary. I have really thick skin (it's +5) and I don't get offended easily.

My intention wasn't rules lawyering, I'm more of a rules as intented type. And I really want to avoid a TPK. I'm not exactly comfortable with the system yet.

And also thanks to everyone for the replies.

That said, I wanted to jump in and add that milestone awards are highly flexible. The section "Varying Action Point Awards" has DMs considering the milestoneworthiness (making up words is fun) of encounters. It encourages that milestones be connected to encounter difficulty, using the "every two" as a baseline.

Action points every other encounter sounds good, with the possibility of a Rule 0. I like it.

 

[Kordeth]

The brief summary of milestones in the PHB might be a little hazy, but the DMG has full rules for milestones and they are crystal clear:

For every two encounters the characters complete between extended rests, they reach a milestone.

 

[LEHaskell]

To paraphrase Ozziewolf: "1,2" done .... at 2 uninterrupted encounters you get your milestone and reset the counter.

Also if you rest, reset the (counter).

You could go: encounter 1 (1), rest (0), encounter 2 (1), encounter 3 (2). Tada, encouter 3 is when you hit the milestone!

Based on the language in the DMG quoted by neobolts above:

If the characters complete multiple encounters
without resting, they reach milestones. “Reaching a
milestone” means completing two encounters without
taking an extended rest. For every two encounters
the characters complete between extended rests, they
reach a milestone."

that wouldn't be right -- a short rest would NOT reset the counter. An EXTENDED rest would reset the counter, eliminate any unused action points and grant you one new action point.

Thus, you start the day with one action point. Encounter one, nothing changes. Encounter 2, you gain an action point. Encounter three, nothing happens. You take a short rest, nothing happens. Encounter four, you gain an action point.

It's worth noting that the DMG also suggest mixing up the frequency -- if you have two easy encounters in a row, you might require a third before granting the party an action point; or two difficult encounters in a row might each grant an action point. On average though, party's should gain action points about every other encounter during their adventuring day.

 

[jeffh]

This is a good example of why parsing text to get at the RAW is kind of a pointless exercise.

If the RAW interpretation were the correct one, the rules would simply say "you get an action point after every encounter except for the first one that occurs after an extended rest."

Why would you write the "after two" verbiage if the above was what they meant.

As I understand it, even in the legal profession (where RAW actually matters) there's still a lot of talk about the "intent" of the law.

Yeah, what he said. If the actual intended rule were what the OP suspected, this would be a very unnatural and roundabout way of expressing it.

 

[Pbartender]

So you guys can save up all of your action points and then unload on a boss and kill him before he even gets a turn?

A better house rule might be...

"There is no limit to how many action points can be used during an encounter. However, you can spend no more than one action point per round."

That would allow players to save up their action points, and use them multiple times per encounter, without allowing them to spam action points in the first round of combat.

 

[Storm-Bringer]

The brief summary of milestones in the PHB might be a little hazy, but the DMG has full rules for milestones and they are crystal clear:

For every two encounters the characters complete between extended rests, they reach a milestone.

And yet, that still describes the original post.

#1 & #2 - Milestone
#2 & #3 - Milestone
#3 & #4 - Milestone

It is only 'crystal clear' to you, because you are using an a priori answer. You already know the answer you want, so the rules describe that perfectly. But they also describe the situation in the original post. I'm not sure why "milestones are achieved on even numbered encounters" would have been passed over by the editors, or even "For every other encounter the characters complete between extended rests, they reach a milestone."

Simply because the rules can be read a certain way to support the answer one wants doesn't mean they can't also be read another way, which may be no less accurate.

 

[Rith the Wanderer]

A better house rule might be...

"There is no limit to how many action points can be used during an encounter. However, you can spend no more than one action point per round."

That would allow players to save up their action points, and use them multiple times per encounter, without allowing them to spam action points in the first round of combat.

We do use that rule. It does still allow for spamming in the first couple rounds, depending on amount of action points, it just tends not to happen.

 

[Stogoe]

Like ozziewolf, I'm burnt out on all the bad-faith willful misinterpretation of rules around these parts. I wish there were an easier way to tell the people with real questions from the people who are twisting interpretations to make a point.