Abraxas said:
Has anyone used the Action Dice idea from Spycraft in their D&D game? If so how did it affect play?
Of particular interest to me is the effect on spellcasters (both sides boosting saving throw rolls). Did you allow spellcasters to boost the save DCs of their spells?
Im planning a low magic campaign and thought the use of action dice might offset the loss of magic in general.
Thanks for any info.
I have started a campaign and we use them with a couple of differences over the normal Action Dice rules.
You can use them on any die roll (attack, damage, etc). This does lead to certain instances where the characters can become very powerful by spending a few well placed dice. Try to use the action dice as a tool for the campaign (use them out of combat, etc). IMC they can do things that are not listed in the rules. If the character wants to do something that is not normally allowed, charge them a couple or more action dice. This keeps the game moving at a good pace and players are not missing important clues because of bad luck.
Each class has a core ability (the core classes are done, but we are adding in Prestige Classes as we need them). You of course gain the core ability from your first core class and your first prestige class.
You can choose to activate a critical hit by spending an action die or you can roll for a critical threat as normal.
I allow the spending of action dice after the fact (we had an instance were the devoted defender had the opportunity to switch places with his charge and chose not to. When the Beast of Malar tore into the charge (the groups Cleric) and killed him, I allowed the devoted defender and the charge to spend 4 action dice to switch places. I applied the damage to the defender and the cleric lived. I figure the cost was rather high and the Beast was still a major threat at the time.
I adjusted the rules for Psionic save DCs to become static (DC = 10 + power level + ability modifier) to avoid a psion from spending action dice to increase thier save DCs.
So far, the group has had 2 characters spend thier action dice (I think it was all of them) on non-combat related tasks. One was hearing something that someone was saying at someones grave (this had nothing to do with the plot and the player knew it, he was just curious) and the other was for remembering the activation method of a certain gate (which did not have much game impact either).
Action Dice are a tool of the game master, you can use them to your advantage if the group you are playing with uses them with caution. Also it is OK to have some left over at the end of the day, just because you have them left does not mean you have to use them.
I can post the core abilities that we have if anyone is interested. They are still in "testing" but I think they are working out fine.