I don't quite understand milestones

[Lost in Thyme]

For every two apples you pick, I will give you $1.

You have picked 10 apples. How much money do I give you?

Cheers!

I'll go with $45 please.

nCr(10,2)=45.



Now give me your money.

 

[Cryptos]

While the apples are fascinating, I think I'll reserve the right to pick and choose milestone moments. To me, "milestone" means you achieved something plot-centric. Even mildly so. I wouldn't want to pace my adventures so that there was a significant plot advancement every two encounters, as that would make things predictable, nor would I want to just hand out action points because they survived two distinct encounters in a row and call them 'milestones.'

If they get lost in the woods and wind up surviving two random encounters, they haven't achieved a milestone. They're just... lost. No action point for interrupting the owlbears during mating season because Gilligan the Warlord can't read a map.

But maybe the woods have apples, so I could be completely wrong.

 

[Goolpsy]

The 2 random encounters could be hard? they might end up spending wast resources surviving? And you're telling me you're still not going to give them a penny(or Action point )?
Surviving a pack of Crancky horny Ownbears should really really count as something big !

 

[angiloth]

action points

After reading through this thread, I decided that I am going to award a milestone after every other encounter.

The main reason is this:
If a character doesn't use an action point in a particular encounter, she will always be stuck with that floating wasted point. This happens if I award one every encounter, and you only can use one per encounter. If I let them use multiple per encounter, my boss fights are mucked up.

Additionally, I will reward players with an Action Point after doing something utterly ridiculous and awesome. Some sort of stunt that floors everyone with laughter, or leaves everyone stunned by shear awesomeness.

It'll encourage players to really be creative in combat, and give them a chance to use those paragon powers a little more often, as long as the character deserves to be that cool.

 

[CountPopeula]

It's ment as 12121212 not 123456... why do people insist on trying to break the game in their favor? The rule clarification may be a little shady but the intent is crystal clear.

Actually, I didn't think the intent was clear. Having only read about it in the books and not actually knowing what the designers said the intent was, I assumed the same thing as the OP. And I really have no intention of playing 4e anytime soon, so I have no desire to break the rule in my favor. It's just a poorly written rule if the intent is after every other combat, and not every combat after the first.

 

[Chen_93]

It only does make sense to get your milestones every second encounter. If it was every encounter there would be almost useless abilities (some that grant AP) and if you didn't use up your AP you'd be "stuck" with it since you can only use one per encounter.

That said, the PHB wording is very poorly done. Its not clear what it means and could easily have been re-worded one way or another to make the intent more clear. Bad editing there IMO.

 

[Danceofmasks]

They could have just added an example.
Example: The party gets a milestone after encounter 2, and encounter 4 ...
or something
Would have solved everything.

 

[Pbartender]

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.

I'm not talking spamming the first couple of rounds, I'm talking spamming The First Round.

A bit of hyperbole, if you'll indulge me... A party member wins initiative, and spends all 10 of his accumulated action points in a single round to take 11 standard actions, in addition to his move and minor, and kill all the bad guys in a single turn, before anyone else -- even the other party members -- get to do anything.

Limiting them to one action point a turn prevents that... He could still use an action point per turn over an entire 10-turn combat, but at least the other players and the bad guys get a chance to do something.

 

[N0Man]

I made a recent comic recently after being inspired by a silly RAW debate on turning blasts into diagonal squares to change the shape (and cover more area). This thread makes me want to share it again...

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c366/claffert/cf7194db.jpg

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.

No it doesn't describe the original post...

And it's only crystal clear to us because "for every two encounters" is absolutely clear. I could call up my 8 year old nephew and ask him to interpret the phase "for every two" and still feel confidant that he would interpret it correctly, without any confusion.

If I state a ratio, for every 2 people, 1 of them is an idiot, does that mean that every person after the first is an idiot? As convincing as that interpretation would be, that is clearly not my intent.

I think this is clearly a case where either a reader is deliberately attempting to justify an interpretation that they wish to find, despite what is actually written.

If the OP's interpretation were correct, we'd be here arguing "why doesn't it say, 'for every simultaneous encounter' or 'for every encounter in a row' after the first without an extended rest?" But that's not what we are arguing here, because that is clearly not what was written.

"For every two encounters" is absolutely clear that this is a 2:1 ratio. I don't even see why there is even a debate on the DMG statement.

To me, the PHB also seems fairly clear, but as a test, I asked 2 people who don't know anything about 4E D&D at all to interpret the exact line in the PHB. Both of them interpreted it as exactly as it was intended.

I think that if someone were going to misinterpret what is said in the PHB, the more likely misinterpretation would be that the 2nd, and only the 2nd encounter after an extended rest gives an Action point. I mean it only says 'when you complete 2 counters without stopping', it doesn't say anywhere that you continue to gain more after those two, right?