Recharge Token

[DanmarLOK]

I'm going to try adding in Recharge Tokens to my game and wanted to run it past the collective mind.

Essentially at the start of the 'work day' I would hand each player a token and after each encounter they 'win' I would hand them another one. (Running away while a valid tactic in terms of staying alive doesn't count as a win for instance).

These tokens would let the player recharge powers. The cost is 1 token per encounter power, 3 tokens per daily. Tokens are reset each morning of the 'work day' to 1 and any excess are lost.

There are a few systems floating around for power recharging but they're simply overly complicated for my group (all old school) in terms of bookkeeping so I want to keep it simple. Win an encounter, one token. Want to use a encounter power a second time in the same encounter? Hand me a token. Want to use a daily power a second time without an extended rest? Three tokens please.

My thought was a) Extend the work day with a little enticement to keep working, Action Point every milestone isn't honestly enough for my group but I think being able to 'nova' after a long day of working might be and b) give the player yet another resource to spend during their work day.

Right now players have Dailies, Action Points, and Healing Surges as currency to pay for their day with Surges, for my group, being the biggest issue. I want to give them something else to mix in there. They might have used their daily or be out of action points but with a few recharges among them yeah they might be able to carry on and have that fourth or fifth encounter of the day.

Anyway, criticisms?

D

 

[Stalker0]

I have a similar system, although in mind players spend a recharge point (token in your case) to get a d20 roll. On a 15+, you get an encounter power back. 25 or better you get a daily. Each additional point you spend gives you +5 to the roll.

The net result is I have recharging though with less frequency than your system.

My only caution with your system is I think 3 is too small for a daily. Dailies for certain classes are a great deal more powerful than for others. A wizard daily for example is always worth the points instead of getting back encounters. 4 might be a better number.

I have found it does reduce grind and keeps the game a bit fresher as people can use their favorite powers more frequently. It does add a bit more power (especially with yours as they can refresh powers more frequently) but it has added some increased fun to the game and I highly recommend it.

 

[DanmarLOK]

I thought about making it 4 and also starting the day with 0 but, and this is a very group specific ruling on my part, they would get 'more' out of having three uses of encounter powers than one use of a daily most of the time, if it was 4 per daily then they'd probably rarely if ever use the tokens for a dailies and be more inclined to not try to 'work' longer. As it is they're going to be using the tokens up each encounter I believe, without actually playtesting, just in talking and having known them for years.

Making it subject to luck, for us, with a die roll takes it out of a tactical resource to be managed and into a lottery system which can be awesome (when you make it) and meh (when you don't). Kind of like missing with a Daily power that's not reliable. Not a criticism, just different group of players.

 

[Runestar]

I am thinking if milestones could give something back instead of just action points. Maybe we could trade in 2 APs to get 1 daily back or something. Could be problematic if used in tandem with the various AP-generating powers though.

 

[im_robertb]

I read this somewhere recently, I think it was your blog, Danmar.

As for trading Action Points for Dailies, there was a mechanism for doing so: Veteran's Armor from Adventurer's Vault. 1 AP + 1 (low-level) magic item daily power = 1 daily attack power. The general response, I think, was that everyone started grabbing it, and it was subsequently errataed to no longer have that power, instead only granting +1 on attack rolls for attacks gained by spending an AP. So I think 2 AP is closer to balanced than 1 AP + 1 magic item daily power.

One concern that comes to mind is with daily attack powers that have a healing effect. For example:

-Day begins, PC has 1 Recharge Token (RT) and 2 healing daily powers.
-Encounter 1: PC uses a healing daily power, gains an RT, and now has 2 RTs.
-Encounter 2: PC uses a healing daily power, gains an RT, and now has 3 RTs.
-Encounter 3: Expending 3 RTs, PC uses a healing daily power, then gains an RT, and now has 1 RT.
Meanwhile, he's used a daily in every fight today, and it's quite possible that the defender has only spent 2 surges or so.

This is probably a minimal concern though, since most dailies that allow healing are still based off of healing surges (I think). Still, with a 5 PC party with 2 leaders, they may just be able to go through a whole dungeon without an extended rest. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that would be a bad thing...

 

[im_robertb]

After a bit of research, aiming to do this may be best to do with utility powers. For example:

Cleric Utility 6 (Daily): Cure Serious Wounds. 2 surges worth of hp (+ wisdom) without spending surges.
Cleric Utility 10 (Daily): Mass Cure Light Wounds. Close burst 5, you and all allies in the burst get 1 surge + charisma (+ wisdom) of healing without spending a surge.

In the above example:
-Day begins, PC has 1 RT, Cure Serious Wounds, and Mass Cure Light Wounds.
-Encounter 1: PC uses CSW, gains an RT, and now has 2 RTs.
-Encounter 2: PC uses Mass CLW, gains an RT, and now has 3 RTs.
-Encounter 3: Expending 3 RTs, PC uses Mass CLW, then gains an RT, and now has 1 RT.

The party has now healed:
Each PC: 2 surges + charisma + charisma + wisdom + wisdom.
The Defender: Another 2 surges + wisdom.
All without spending a single surge, at level 10.

Counterpoints:
-Most PCs won't want to do this - they'd rather use daily attack powers.
-There isn't much of a problem with a mechanic that encourages PCs to do many encounters a day.
-A Cleric is probably the best character for (ab)using the system in this way.

I'd consider using this system in my games, and probably will if the PCs start taking frequent extended rests.