Simplified Daily Item Usage and Action Point Tracking

[CapnZapp]

I've put some thoughts into the problems posed by the awkward rule on daily item uses, and here is my proposed solution.

You gain one Action Point each time you complete a Short Rest (i.e. after each encounter)
Of course, the DM is still empowered to judge a very small encounter to give 0 AP or a very large encounter to give 2 APs, etc...

Spending one AP allows you to use a Daily item power (PHB226).
Each individual such power can still only be used once a day, as normal.

Spending two APs allows you to take an extra action (PHB286).
Instead of taking an extra action when you spend two action points, you can use a paragon path feature or an action-point activated feat, also as normal.

All other rules and regulations related to this are dropped. Simple huh?


After each extended rest, your unused APs are lost and you start out with 1-3 APs as follows:
Heroic Tier: 1 AP
Paragon Tier: 2 APs
Epic Tier: 3 APs


Feel free to comment; suggest improvements or point out errors. Also, feel free to ask more about what the original problem was and I'll do my best to explain my reasons.
Please don't spam the thread with "nothing needs to be changed" posts, however. If you do not feel there are any issues with the RAW, this thread is not for you. Thank you.


Regards,
Zapp

 

[Kzach]

I went a little further in my games and simplified things even more.

Everyone has an action point every combat. Simple.

One daily item power usage per combat. Simple.

I balanced the action point thing via various means (tougher combats, less potions of healing, etc.). But on the whole, it's not really that big a deal.

The daily item power usage per combat increases by level as per normal.

Milestones are a big PITA and add nothing to the game experience.

 

[Siberys]

Hmmm... Very elegant solution. I just might use this.

Thanks, CapnZapp!

 

[dammitbiscuit]

It seems that with your system, people would have to hoard their action points just to take extra actions as often as is normal. Using item powers will make it increasingly difficult just to use APs for their original purpose.

 

[deleteme123456]

You wind up with fewer uses of magic items and AP than normal.

Normal would require you to wake up from an extended rest with 3 NAP (New AP) at Heroic, +1 per tier. That gives you the 1 AP + 1 MP per tier. After each combat you'd have to award 1.5 NAP, since typically every other combat gets you 1 AP + 1 MIP = 3 NAP. If you award only 1, as the above poster mentioned, I probably just hoard for using my NAP as an AP, unless I think it's the last fight of the day and I only have 1 NAP left. If you award 2 after every fight, I can use an AP in every fight and that's probably not too bad, considering how often I gave my players an AP after each "hard" fight and they never seemed to be dominating.

If you're aware that you're reducing it and OK with that, then I have nothing more to say, just wanted to make sure you realized the math didn't check out.

 

[77IM]

I like where you are going with this. I considered a similar rule, but for class daily powers. (I don't like the fact that using a daily means that that particular daily is unavailable in future encounters. When you decide to use an encounter power, you have all the info you need [although sometimes more monsters may show up]. When you use a daily, you're making a decision about encounters that haven't even started yet. Not fun.) Also I think D&D has too many resources to track. The game really only needs two: your "don't get dead" resource and your "extra bonus killing power" resource.

My suggestion: Taking an extra action costs 1 AP, like normal. Using an item daily power also costs 1 AP, but your first one of the day is free.. That way item daily powers have slightly less cost than extra actions, but without the awkward "spend two Action Points in order to use an Action Point."

-- 77IM

 

[Starfox]

A suggestion to cover the "players gan less" angle. I doubled the points gain and costs, then increased the gain by 50% to restore the balance of one daily item + 1 extra action every two encounters. Brings the math closer to the original.

You gain three Action Points each time you complete a Short Rest (i.e. after each encounter)
Of course, the DM is still empowered to judge a very small encounter to give 1-2 AP or a very large encounter to give 4-6 APs, etc...

Spending two AP allows you to use a Daily item power (PHB226).
Each individual such power can still only be used once a day, as normal.

Spending four APs allows you to take an extra action (PHB286).
Instead of taking an extra action when you spend two action points, you can use a paragon path feature or an action-point activated feat, also as normal.

All other rules and regulations related to this are dropped. Simple huh?


After each extended rest, your unused APs are lost and you start out with 2-4 APs as follows:
Heroic Tier: 6 AP
Paragon Tier: 9 APs
Epic Tier: 12 APs

 

[Samurai]

I tried to keep it simple:

Milestones – Remove Milestones from the game. Instead, all characters get 1 Action point that may be used once per Encounter.

Magic items do not require Milestones to be charged, a character may simply use the powers at their stated frequency. To prevent a golf bag of items with Daily powers from being used in succession, a character may only use the Daily Power of an item for a given slot once per day. So if he has already used a Daily Belt Slot item, he can’t use another Daily Belt Slot power until after an extended rest. Rings and any other items that grow more powerful after a Milestone now require a Healing Surge to be spent to achieve the increased functionality, but it may be done at any time.

 

[erf_beto]

You gain three Action Points each time you complete a Short Rest (i.e. after each encounter)
Of course, the DM is still empowered to judge a very small encounter to give 1-2 AP or a very large encounter to give 4-6 APs, etc...

Spending two AP allows you to use a Daily item power (PHB226).
Each individual such power can still only be used once a day, as normal.

Spending four APs allows you to take an extra action (PHB286).
Instead of taking an extra action when you spend two action points, you can use a paragon path feature or an action-point activated feat, also as normal.

Don't you mean four?

Well, I like this.

I think it would be nice to have one single AP do something, like +1 to a d20 check or something else, maybe without a limit per encounter, like in a tough battle (when a player has no more magic itens and already used his extra action), he could spend all his remaining AP to score a hit when it would be a miss. But I realize this could step into the toes of other powers and magic itens, so I guess it would be hard to model...

 

[CapnZapp]

In the end, I went for simplicity and did away with having to track "daily item uses" as well as action points altogether.

You get to use one Action Point per encounter, every encounter. You can only use (the Daily power of) one Cloak, magic Sword, or Headband etc etc per day. Very simple.

The only other restriction is that you can only use 1-3 daily item powers per encounter depending on tier.

Here's the formal write-up:

§ Player characters get one Action Point per encounter. Action points cannot be saved for later; APs not spent are lost when the next encounter begins.
§ Player characters get 1–3 uses of Daily Items per encounter, depending on tier. DI uses cannot be saved for later; DI uses not spent are lost when the next encounter begins.
§ Each item slot (see table) can only be used to activate one Daily item power per day (including Healing Surge daily item powers). You gain no benefit from carrying three Cloaks of Invisibility.

Item Slot: Examples
Head: Diadems, Helms, Goggles, Ioun Stones…
Neck: Amulets, Cloaks, Holy Symbols, Scarabs…
Arms: Bracers, Shields…
Hands: Gauntlets, Gloves…
Left ring: Rings…
Right ring: Rings…
Waist: Belts…
Feet: Boots, Greaves…
Armor: Clothing, Heavy Armor, Light Armor…
Off-hand: (Shields), Implements, Weapons…
Main-hand: Implements, Weapons…
Two-hand: Bows, Crossbows, Slings, Staffs, Weapons…
The “Two-hand” item slot allows Archer Rangers, Great Weapon Fighters and Staff Wizards to utilize a second Daily item power from their preferred tool choice just like other characters. You still have only two hands.
§ Rings grant their slightly stronger benefits from the third encounter in the day onwards.

Compared to above, I followed your advice and ditched the additional item slots (such as the "backup" slot).

Compared to RAW, an additional houserule used is that Holy Symbols take up a slot, to make their daily powers be governed by the same set of restrictions as for everything else. (In other words, they're no longer considered a special sub-category of Wondrous Items, who are slot-less by definition).

§ Holy Symbols (used by Clerics and Templars) must be used in one of the following three Item Slots: Neck, Off-hand, Main hand.