Should I add Action Points to my game?

[derelictjay]

I've ran one Eberron campaign using them. They don't overbalance the campain as they are an expendable resource. And in a lot of ways they actually help the game along.

They can also very well create a kind of heroic effect, when the chips are down. In one particular epic encounter, all the PCs were still standing but where all low on hp, spells, and other resources, (at this point I politly reminded them of action points) so the Actions Points started flying; saves, to hit rolls, you name it, they used them (I didn't allow my players to roll the AP after they saw d20 roll), by the end of the encounter my five PCs were down to 2 or 3 APs between them (5th level characters), but were still standin. After that they I never needed to remind them about action points at all.

 

[anton1066]

No real Dms hand out action points, or gear, magic items, gold etc. The PCs have to earn them. Consider awarding action points for heroic deeds instead. They become a lot more valuable then.

 

[Mercule]

Yes. I like them and my players like them.

They are a pretty low-key way of having "boosts". Even in a grittier game (which I tend to run), Action Points aren't significant* enough to threaten, or even be noticed by, suspension of disbelief.

By "significant", I don't mean they're pointless, only that their potency is a matter of degrees, not a stand-out event.

 

[WizarDru]

While we're not currently using them in our main game, I have reserved ther right to introduce them later. In our Eberron game, we DO use them and enjoy them quite a lot. We spent a good chunk of them to get healing in the mournlands.

Yes, they do tend to gravitate towards to hit rolls and saves...but since these comprismes the lion's share of player dice rolls, that shouldn't come as a suprise. How well they are implemented is dependent, at least in part, in the DM's endorsement of them and allowed uses of them.

Wulf Ratbane's system is fun, but I'm not sure how well it works in a regular game, since I only used it in a one-shot. I do like Mutants&Masterminds idea of using a Hero Point to grant access to a feat for a single round as a use, for example.

Your problem, PC, is that your characters are already into the late 'teens/early 20s, and giving them Hero Points is a relatively high bonus this far down in the game.

 

[Nebulous]

I like the use of AP of lot, and intend on using the GT method (with mods) when i run Red Hand of Doom (if ever).

One thing i'm mildly concerned about is that the use of AP, when coupled with the usual magical benefits rampant in D&D, that the PC's will just have too many bonuses, and consequently, an over abundance of successes. Has anyone experienced that, or just the system work itself out pretty well? GT was designed with low magic in mind, not default D&D.

EDIT: and is there a particularly good way to cap AP, or do you leave them open-ended?

 

[Geron Raveneye]

I dunno, I was wondering the same about adding AP...then I remembered Barsoom's Swashbuckling Cards, downloaded them, and couldn't stop grinning after reading through the effects. Great stuff there, and free!

 

[Shade]

One thing i'm mildly concerned about is that the use of AP, when coupled with the usual magical benefits rampant in D&D, that the PC's will just have too many bonuses, and consequently, an over abundance of successes. Has anyone experienced that, or just the system work itself out pretty well? GT was designed with low magic in mind, not default D&D.

EDIT: and is there a particularly good way to cap AP, or do you leave them open-ended?

I can't speak for GT, but in standard D&D, I haven't found them to elicit an overabundance of successes. Most of my players have used them to "save their bacon" on what seems like a disastrous saving throw, or to boost their spell DCs when they realize the enemy is laughing off their best spells. Even with use of APs, they still sometimes fail on both counts.

I follow UA's method of assigning APs, and it has worked out fine. Most characters haven't used them all before leveling, so some are wasted.

 

[Pielorinho]

I love action dice--especially when given out by Spycraft rules. Each PC gets a small number of them; the GM gets a buttload of them. Whenever you give a player an action die for doing something cool, you also get one for the GM pile. The more you reward PCs, the more you get to beat on them with your favorite NPCs.

I ran a game last night where I deliberately gave out action dice at the smallest provocation. As GM, I burnt through my pile almost constantly, making people's guns explode in their hands, giving bad guys critical successes, and generally making the players' lives difficult. in return, they did exactly the same thing to my NPCs. It worked out great.

Daniel

 

[Ciaran]

I like the use of AP of lot, and intend on using the GT method (with mods) when i run Red Hand of Doom (if ever).

What's the GT method?

 

[Piratecat]

Your problem, PC, is that your characters are already into the late 'teens/early 20s, and giving them Hero Points is a relatively high bonus this far down in the game.

I'm not sure that's true, Dru. I'd almost argue the reverse; at high levels, the amount of variability derived from rolling a d20 is minimal when compared to 1st level. (1-6 extra points matters less when your saving throw modifier is +25, than it does when it's +2.)

I have a nifty in-game plot reason for instituting them, too. The PCs have just met someone who was actually around when the world was created. It follows, then, that this insight might let them affect the world around them as well, at least a tiny bit. Say, 1d6 worth.

Any feelings on whether the Eberron rules are best, or whether I should use the far more liberal rules from the SRD?