What if healing surges

[Sunseeker]

Didn't heal. What if they let you avoid damage to begin with? Maybe we'll put a twist on the name, call them "action surges", and they provide a wide array of functions except healing. Lets say you can take an "Action Surge" to gain a +2 bonus to a defense or a rolled save, not enough to break the game, but possibly enough to turn that hit into a miss. Or perhaps we could use an "Action Surge" to simply turn the last attack against you into an automatic miss. Or negate a certain amount of damage, not "heal" it, but act as some form of damage resistance or reduction.

Think of it like when Viggo Motensen actually reacted swift enough to deflect the mis-thrown knife of Lawrence Makoare(playing Lurtz). Magic, nature or divinity may be the only way to heal damage, but certainly all those normal, non-magical types have skills to avoid damage when they really really really need to.

Allowing players to react to attacks through using resources makes any game much more engaging than simply going "oh I got hit, I lose 10 life." It's not a wound system, you don't lose these Action Surges when taking damage, they can't be taken from you by a condition or an ability of another. Everyone gets a small number of them, say 1+con mod(so even the beefiest guy would only have 6 or 7 at most times). Limit them to being used once per round, with possibly some kind of prestige class/paragon path/theme/background/skill/feat to do it more often.

You don't get penalties or bonuses for having more or less Action Surges, not having them just means you rely on others for your healing, having some means you've got a little bit of gusto just in case the poop hits the fan.

I don't like surge-based healing, it didn't make much sense to me. Why is the Cleric's ability to heal limited by my ability to heal myself? But I did like the idea of "second wind", and I think this would be a valid way to expand that system, reduce reliance on the "Holy Trinity" of party design and make them game more interactive.

Thoughts?

 

[Minigiant]

My 4E Naruto variant game I play with my younger cousins does this. Works out fine.. in a weird way.

Clones. Clones everywhere.

 

[billd91]

Action surges - action points. Whatever you call them.

I like action points as presented in the 3.5 Unearthed Arcana and Pathfinders Advanced Players Guide. They're not that different from what you're suggesting here. You have a certain number of these resources and can expend them to accomplish things that are a little extra cool. It wouldn't be hard to build in another one or two to model Aragorn deflecting the dagger thrown at him by the Uruk-hai in Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring.

If I were to base the number of action points on any stat, I'd base them on Charisma rather than Constitution.

 

[Wik]

I was playing around with a similar idea in an abandoned house rule, called "adrenaline". The idea was that the game was built around the use of adrenaline, and that it could do really useful things - minor damage reduction, bonus to die rolls, and reload weapons faster. PCs had between 0 to 3 points of adrenaline.

You could recharge your adrenaline in a combat round by doing absolutely nothing - essentially, you were placing your back against a wall and catching your breath.

Part of the reason of the rule was to reflect the ebb and flow of modern gunfights, where there are periods where neither side does anything beyond stay in cover. It also meant that those who were made to fight would ultimately take more actions, without it translating into more actions per turn (which sucks).

It's a good balancing factor in the whole "melee vs. spellcaster" battle that rages on.

 

[MoonSong]

Yeah, Action points. Almost word by word. If you don't believe me check Uneartehd Arcana(3.5) and the Advanced Players Guide (PF).

 

[Guest 85555]

This sounds like hero points, bennies, action points etc. I am huge savage worods fan, but bennies are the one thing i prefer to leave out (unless others at the table would rather include them). Your suggestion sounds fine for me, but probably suited to certain campaign styles over others. I would suggest it as part of a cinematic module that includes the action surge you described and stuff like minion rules (which work well for cinematic campaigns).

 

[BobTheNob]

If I were to base the number of action points on any stat, I'd base them on Charisma rather than Constitution.

Ooo, that sent a shiver up my spine. An actual use for Charisma other than dump stat, party sacrificial chat-monkey or obscure class requirement!

 

[Sunseeker]

This sounds like hero points, bennies, action points etc. I am huge savage worods fan, but bennies are the one thing i prefer to leave out (unless others at the table would rather include them). Your suggestion sounds fine for me, but probably suited to certain campaign styles over others. I would suggest it as part of a cinematic module that includes the action surge you described and stuff like minion rules (which work well for cinematic campaigns).

Well the idea that I got it from comes from Deadlands(1.0) and their Fate Points. Aside from being the primary currency to upgrade your character, you could also use them to reduce damage, reduce a hit-die so it hit somewhere less wounded, increase an attack so a miss became a hit(or hit somewhere better). And so on and so forth, even up to allowing rerolls.

That system was pretty confusing(at least in terms of how many points it took to do X and such). So I think a simpler system of allowing "action surges" to do only a few things, would avoid much of the complication.

On that note, I do love minions.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Why not just take the resource management out and call this a block/dodge?

I think action points are a separate issue.

Action surges - action points. Whatever you call them.

I like action points as presented in the 3.5 Unearthed Arcana and Pathfinders Advanced Players Guide. They're not that different from what you're suggesting here. You have a certain number of these resources and can expend them to accomplish things that are a little extra cool. It wouldn't be hard to build in another one or two to model Aragorn deflecting the dagger thrown at him by the Uruk-hai in Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring.

If I were to base the number of action points on any stat, I'd base them on Charisma rather than Constitution.

I've been using UA action points, and basing the number gained on Cha, for years. Works great.

 

[Sunseeker]

Why not just take the resource management out and call this a block/dodge?

Because resource management makes you move involved in the game. Look at it this way:
All casters manage resources through daily spell alotments.
In 4e, everyone manages resources through at will/encounter/daily powers.
Melee however, really don't have any resources to manage. Aside from caster-hybird melee such as paladins, battle-clerics and the like, most melee classes just hit and get hit. In my experience, this can often lead to rather dull combat. Sure, hitting, hitting a lot, hitting hard is fun, but when your only real action in combat is "roll a d20, deal damage" it can get dry real fast.

So, considering that Action Surges would apply mostly to high-con classes, which are mostly melee, it gives players a reason to do something other than just hit or get hit. Action and REACTION is important. As it is, without 4e's laundry-list of Immediate Interrupts or Opportunity Actions, most editions only give classes action, but not reaction. It's common in many games, but since I took this idea from my experience with Fate Points in Deadlands, I have to say that being able to react to your opponent's action is much more engaging than just hitting and getting hit.

Sure; Dodge, Parry, Avoidance, these could be other features, but the thing is that if you make them static numbers, they're little different than AC, Fort, Ref, Will. You're still not reacting, well, in a mechnical sense that's what a miss on those static numbers means, but that's your character reacting, not you. And it is you who is playing the game, and it is you who should be given the opportunity to react to actions on the board.