Luck Points and Appreciation Bonuses

[Quasqueton]

I'm considering these house rules for my game, and I'd like some advice. [I know there is a House Rules forum, but that seems to be mostly for game mechanic changes. The below house rules are rather generic for all RPG games. But if the moderators feel this should be in the other forum, go ahead and move it.]

1) Luck Points - Each character gets 2 LP at the start of the campaign [PCs start at 2nd level], and gain another LP at each level-up. An LP can be used to reroll any one die.

-- My question: Should the reroll decision come before the result is announed (passed/failed save, hit/miss attack, etc.) or before?

-- Note: My campaign is of the "status quo" type---things in the world are as they are regardless of the PCs' level or capabilities. All die rolls are made in the open (except for some necessarily secret rolls), and we let the results come as they are rolled. Sometimes the PCs get in over their heads, and I would like them to survive, saying, "We were lucky to get out of there," rather than have a TPK, saying, "Well, what are we going to bring in as our next characters?"

2) Appreciation Bonus - At the end of each game session, each Player hands me a note with the name of another Player who made the game enjoyable that evening, for whatever reason. The named Player gets a 1% bonus to his/her xp, per note with his/her name on it calculated from the PC's total xp). This bonus will be given secretly in an e-mail message after the game session.

-- My question: Is the 1% bonus enough to matter? Or should it be 5%? Or something else?

-- Note: I give xp for overcoming challenges, whether the success came about with combat, diplomacy, stealth, or some neat trick. But sometimes a Player just really plays his character well, or plays in a way that just makes the game easier for everyone at the table. I'd like to reward that Player.

Quasqueton

 

[TheEvil]

I'm considering these house rules for my game, and I'd like some advice. [I know there is a House Rules forum, but that seems to be mostly for game mechanic changes. The below house rules are rather generic for all RPG games. But if the moderators feel this should be in the other forum, go ahead and move it.]

1) Luck Points - Each character gets 2 LP at the start of the campaign [PCs start at 2nd level], and gain another LP at each level-up. An LP can be used to reroll any one die.

-- My question: Should the reroll decision come before the result is announed (passed/failed save, hit/miss attack, etc.) or before?

-- Note: My campaign is of the "status quo" type---things in the world are as they are regardless of the PCs' level or capabilities. All die rolls are made in the open (except for some necessarily secret rolls), and we let the results come as they are rolled. Sometimes the PCs get in over their heads, and I would like them to survive, saying, "We were lucky to get out of there," rather than have a TPK, saying, "Well, what are we going to bring in as our next characters?"

Definately agree. I would much rather say how my character got out through luck then roll up a new one. Reminds me how one bad save cost us a bard. It might be worth considering allowing characters to use 2 or 3 luck points for a success, afterall, if you need to roll a 20, simply taking a reroll doesn't help all that much.

2) Appreciation Bonus - At the end of each game session, each Player hands me a note with the name of another Player who made the game enjoyable that evening, for whatever reason. The named Player gets a 1% bonus to his/her xp, per note with his/her name on it calculated from the PC's total xp). This bonus will be given secretly in an e-mail message after the game session.

-- My question: Is the 1% bonus enough to matter? Or should it be 5%? Or something else?

-- Note: I give xp for overcoming challenges, whether the success came about with combat, diplomacy, stealth, or some neat trick. But sometimes a Player just really plays his character well, or plays in a way that just makes the game easier for everyone at the table. I'd like to reward that Player.

Quasqueton

Luck Points: Use before or after success/failure is known.
Depends on what it is for. For saving throws and to hit rolls, before works fine, since you usually know about what you need. For skill checks, unless you tell them approximately how difficult the check will be, then they may not have a reasonable idea of what they need.
As a side thought, you might try only giving luck points based on character actions, particularly if you want a certain style of play. Giving luck points based on heroic behavior is a way to encourage more heroic play, and has a certain feel that I like. For example, how many lucky selfish jerks are there in most fantasy novels? How many lucky heroic types?

Appreciation Bonus: Rewarding players for making the game fun.
Are your players not making the game fun for everyone now? Is the kudos and appreciation of the other people at the table not enough?

If making the game fun for everyone is not something that motivates your players to start with, then a 1%/vote reward is probably not enough to change their ways. 5% might do it, depending on how intractable they are. Actually, an extra luck point when a certain number of votes go to a person might be best. I would think giving a player an extra luck point once they have votes equal to the number of players or something like that would work. Of course, they may end up with an ungodly amount of luck points...

 

[Umbran]

2) Appreciation Bonus - At the end of each game session, each Player hands me a note with the name of another Player who made the game enjoyable that evening, for whatever reason. The named Player gets a 1% bonus to his/her xp, per note with his/her name on it calculated from the PC's total xp). This bonus will be given secretly in an e-mail message after the game session.

-- My question: Is the 1% bonus enough to matter? Or should it be 5%? Or something else?

-- Note: I give xp for overcoming challenges, whether the success came about with combat, diplomacy, stealth, or some neat trick. But sometimes a Player just really plays his character well, or plays in a way that just makes the game easier for everyone at the table. I'd like to reward that Player.

For some groups, systems like this work out okay. But IME, they are generally a bad idea. They introduce a "popularity contest" element to the game that isn't healthy.

Giving the award out in secret won't be a help in the long term. If you are using an XP award large enough to be atttractive, the players will eventually figure out who is getting more. And giving it out in secret won't stop Bob from noticing that he never gets the award.

There are a few ways to make such a system a bit less problematic:

1) Remove the popularity contest angle - players don't vote for each other.

2) Make the award based upon each player's performance relative to their own average, rather than relative to other players.

3)Don't make the award in the standard coin of advancement for the game. That can become a vicious cycle where the people who win the awards become more capable of winning the awards in the future. If you use some form of action points or luck points, give the award with those. This works very well if players are encouraged to spend their points on each other - that way if Bob gets an award, John can still benefit from it.

4) Don't make the award for every session. Give the award only when someone has done something so clearly cool that everyone will recognize that it was meritorious and deserves a reward.

 

[cordell]

--In my opinion, let them decide to use one after the announcement of success/failure. The Luck Points are not a renewable resource, so they players are less likely to use them on ambiguous rolls (if they roll a d20 and get "12").

Decide on what using a luck point means ... A or B
A- "Turn a possible failure into a re-roll"
B- "Turn a failure into re-roll"

--XP bonuses - NO. It never works. It's a popularity contest. It promotes jealousy and envy among players. Ask yourself: Why is "extra xp" a reward? Is your game all about who gets the most XP? I mean, you divide XP equally among all the players, right? What if someone plays a "stoic" type of character and doesn't talk much? Isn't it less likely he will win the award than the boisterous barbarian?

I am far from being a roleplaying "purist", but like another poster said, isn't each player making it fun for everyone as much as possible anyway? Isn't having a cool "war-story" enough reward?

Anyway, just some thoughts, not criticisms. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Kemrain]

My GM instituted a Luck Point system..

You have Half your level (Rounded up) as your Maximum Luck Point pool. Luck Points can add xd6 to any d20 roll, before the outcome is announced. Only one Luck Point can be spent on any one die roll. X is determined by character level (from 1 to upto 4 at high levels). You replenish all your Luck Points one In-Game week after the last you spent (if you spend your second point six days after spending your first, you must wait seven more days.)

Luck Points can be used for more things than just that, but those ideas are still in the planning stage. Things we think might be OK are Negating an Automatic Failure on a 1, Automatically Confirming a Critical, that sort of goodness.

Right now we all have 4 of them, and it makes Saving throws a little less scary. We can also usually drag them out over a week and keep the last one for emergencies. But there's always one player who insists on using them on Knowledge Checks... Seriously... He's on his 5th character.. Wonder why.

- Kemrain the Lucky.

 

[MarauderX]

Two nice rules.

The first is nice because I do the same , keeping it very simple in the 'After the result' way. Should a player roll and have an unfavorable outcome, they can spend a luck point to simply reroll. They can take the reroll or spend another luck point to reroll again. Players can spend the luck points on ANY roll at the table, but must spend it immediately after the roll. For example, if I, as DM, roll a critical hit on a PC, the players can all pitch in for rerolls until they get what they want. It by no means ensures success, and if fate decides that you roll 1's until you run out of luck points, so be it.

The second rule is nice as it reinforces good role play as well as getting direct rewards for doing positive for the group. It also can be rewarding for all sorts of activities in the session; bravery, cunning, good strategies, effective spells, inventive play, great acting, etc. can all be weighted differently and appreciated by others. I would forsee this rule as encouraging competitiveness as well, but should help much more to developing the group into a team. It would be great if the players would be saying to themselves "what can I do that will most benefit us all?", but that won't always be the attitude. I would run the rule that they give you the bonus votes secretly, and don't know who gets the 1% per vote. Eventually it would show by certain PCs leveling quicker, but that appear until several levels down the road. In addition I like this rule because it empowers the players to reward their teammates for doing well individually as well as a group. Is 1% enough? Sure, if they are interested, but with 5 players at the table and they all vote for the same person a few sessions in a row, that player will end up with only 5% extra per session... not that much. I would try 3-5%, and if only you know who is getting what, I would cast an extra vote as DM to keep it balanced.

 

[Pielorinho]

Appreciation points: I'd never use them, and I'd have serious reservations about playing in a game that used them. I love RPGs for their cooperative nature; introducing a competition into them, especially one with such possibilities for weirdness, would really taint the experience for me.

Luck points: We use something derived from Spycraft. Each player gets three action points per session, which can be used to add or subtract from just about any d20 roll, or to fudge the rules in some way. Some examples of fudging:
-A chain fighter spends an action die to have his chain wrap around an opponent's neck and jerk the opponent into an adjacent square.
-A wizard uses his fireball to temporarily blast away the slippery conjured mud covering the ground, allowing allies to pass by unimpeded.
-A halfling rogue spends an action die to leap onto the giant's back when it bends down, run up to its head, and stab it with sneakattacky damage.

The trick is that the DM gets action dice every session, too: one per player, plus three extra.

You can spend an action die after the results of your initial roll are known, and even if you still fail after spending an action die, you'll get a marginal success. An action die weapon attack that "misses" will instead hit for minimum damage; a spell that fails to penetrate SR might have a minimal effect for one round; a failed bluff check might leave its target a little confused and unsure of the truth.

Daniel

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I do the luck point thing (call them hero points, though) -- PCs get one per level. In my case, though, it's not a re-roll, it's a guaranteed success (i.e., natural 20, or highest outcome), but must be declared before dice are rolled. The point can also be used to cause an opponent to fail his roll, for a dying character to stabilize, or for a character who is dropped from positive numbers to dead to be changed to dying.

Were I to make it a re-roll, I'd allow it after the dice are rolled.

It's cut down on incidental death, but caused a lot of heroic action -- especially when someone burns multiple hero points to be able to crit the BBEG and cause maximum damage, saving their butts and the party.

I give bonus XP for roleplaying, but I've kept the numbers quite small to keep it from becoming an acting contest -- or to feel like I'm playing favorites.

 

[DClingman]

I often use a Role playing point system for games to reward players who actively contribute to the game or role play properly rather than to dip into CYA mode when the player gets nervous about the character dying.

My only comment on this is that the player has to know the point is needed(i.e. after the roll has shown failure), but they should decide how many points to spend (if they can use more than one) in advance of the secondary roll. That keeps the value, but makes sure the size of the investment falls on the player's head.

Dustin