Monster recharge rolls at the end of the turn

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I've been thinking of doing the roll for monsters to recharge their powers at the end of their turn (so when saves are done) rather than at the beginning of the next turn (so, as the rules state). I was thinking it would make combat more exciting if I gave some clue to players as to what to expect might happen the next round. So, for example, the red dragon's belly begins to glow bright red, a sign that he is ready to loose a gout of fire, or the necromancer's staff collects a dark ball of necrotic energy at its tip.

Now, I realise that some powers will be easier to run this way than others ("martial" type powers will be more difficult to describe, for example).

Has anyone else tried doing this? Is it a good/bad idea?

 

[Chris Knapp]

I personally LOVE the idea of putting a bit of fear into the players with your example of the dragon's belly glowing red hot.

Only reason I can see to not allow this is that a creature might be granted an action outside its turn. I can't think of an example off hand, but there might be a case where a creature gets to use its recharge power on its turn, rolls successfully to recharge, then uses it again as a granted action.

 

[ffy]

I personally LOVE the idea of putting a bit of fear into the players with your example of the dragon's belly glowing red hot.

Only reason I can see to not allow this is that a creature might be granted an action outside its turn. I can't think of an example off hand, but there might be a case where a creature gets to use its recharge power on its turn, rolls successfully to recharge, then uses it again as a granted action.

to avoid that problem you could make the recharge roll always grant the ability on the monster's next turn. it would also fit the flavor of such powers taking a while to charge (end of turn 1 -> the staff begins to glow brighter and brighter -> everyone else moves -> turn 2 starts -> the staff is at its brightest and releases a shockwave of radiance).

as long as you remember to roll for it at the end of each turn its a good idea

 

[fba827]

I do like the idea. Anything that adds to descriptive thematics is genrally a plus in my book.

One small point (that is easy to overcome though) -- rolling at the start of the monsters turn has the advantage that you don't need to remember much from monster turn until next monster turn. You start turn, roll, get (or don't get) the power back so you know if it's available and then chances are you use it at that moment if you can since recharge powers are often better than at-wills.

Compared to (as you suggest) rolling at the end of the round, you'll have to remember, or make some note, that it's been recharged and available next round.

So just make sure you have a good way to remember. Because if you lose any time asking yourself "did this recharge last round or not" then you're doing yourself a disservice.


But, again, as said at the start of this post - i think this is a great idea.

 

[Mad Hamish]

As far as remembering goes I use a d6 sitting on top of the monster's name on my tracking paper, if it's on 6 the power is available, if it's on 1 it isn't.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I talked to my gaming group about it and they were neither terribly enthusiastic nor negative - though, one player was afraid tracking it would be a concern. That said, this is a player that is always bugging me for putting markers on the minis for conditions, saying it slows down the game.

Anyway, I'll give it a go and report back. Next game is in 2 weeks, and I have a bunch of monsters with recharging conditions that I will try this for. To mark it, I intend to put a D6 on the monster's stat block if the power recharges, with the number on it showing which monster (so, if I have 2 of the same monster type, the die number up will be either 1 or 2, depending on the monster).

 

[HighTemplar]

If the flavor does not give the players too much of an advantage, I guess it could be worth it.

Afterall you're removing the whole surprise, only to replace it with flavor, the players will become more aware of what to expect next, but if you think that can be arranged as a plus for your campaign, then fine !

 

[KarinsDad]

Alternatively, you could have the power recharge at the end of the monster's turn and allow the monster to use the power between turns if applicable (which would be rare since recharge powers are not basic attacks, so some other monster would typically need to give the monster a free attack which is not limited to a basic attack).

The players get the advantage of knowing ahead of time that the power has recharged.

The monsters get the slim advantage of using that power before their next turn IF some set of specific circumstances allow for it.


In practice, I don't think your idea is particularly good for some monsters. Dragons specifically would be nerfed a bit if the players know that the breath weapon is definitely recharged and everyone but the Defender should back up this round. As an example, Leaders often have range 5 attacks, so they might have to be in range (with the normal rules) at least half of the time. With this rule, they can stay within 5 range all of the time and retreat after attacking on that one round when the power recharges.

 

[surfarcher]

This is an interesting idea and I look forward to hearing how it goes, shuld anyone try it...

But I don't think it's one I'll be using for most of my monsters. I generally try to minimise state tracking. And for me rolling the recharge at the start of the monster's round helps a great deal with that. Most of my critters will use their recharge as soon as it's ready. That way I don't have to check if it's charged at the start of each monster's turn.

Now that said I probably will give this a try with my set peice monsters! Especially the big solos!

 

[Mad Hamish]

Let's not forget that a monster having an attack available doesn't mean that they should use it straight away.
If PCs scatter when a dragon's breath weapon is ready then a lot of dragons can tail slap the defender out of the way or to the ground and go and attack weaker members of the party.