Post/Author/DateTime	Post
technochris81 04-07-06, 05:07 AM	why was the versatility of action points reduced to such a great degree when it went from Unearthed Arcana to Eberrron? you could do a huge list of things with action points if you used to the Unearther Arcana version. i know, i know, you're all saying "just use the Unearthed Arcana version if you like it so much better". i just might. but the real question i'm asking is whether or not the UA version was too powerful. i mean, i was looking at one action point option that is available (in UA) that lets you apply any one metamagic feat that you have to spell that you are casting for one action point and i thought seemed too powerful. it seems like with the wording, that you could apply a metamagic feat that you normally wouldn't have a high enough spell slot for though. so i could see the problem perhaps. for instance, a 5th level wizard could spend an action point to maximize a fireball. normally a wizard would have to wait until 11th level to maximize a fireball. however, i suppose that if a wizard got sudden maximize out of Complete Arcane, they could do the exact same thing. so an action point can basically let you do sudden metamagic i guess. your thoughts? -chris
DragonWatcher 04-07-06, 08:54 AM	While I do think that the UA variant of Action Points is a bit overpowered in general, you have to realize that in UA it is a suggestion of how action points could be used in a game, should the players and DM want to use them, it was not a statement of this is how they are used. I know that it's a subtle difference, and there are many people who feel that if it's printed in a book by WotC, then it's official and a rule, not a suggestion, but UA was really a book of suggestions that could be applied to any game. For what it's worth, I think that the only option from UA that is clearly overpowered is spending one action point for an additional move or standard action. Especially since in Eberron they replaced that general use of action points with a required feat and the expenditure of two action points. In my last game, I allowed my players to use most of the other action point rules from UA, and the one thing that most of them focused on was Feat Emulation... spending an action point to use a feat that you don't have for one round. That did seem a bit broken to me after a while... and next time I would likely make that a feat that costs 2 ap's just like Action Surge. The only balancing factor is that APs are a finite resource, but even at 5 + have the character level, that's not too shabby.
DoveArrow 04-07-06, 10:42 AM	I think one reason that they didn't use them exactly as they're described in Unearthed Arcana is because, in Eberron, there are classes, feats, and prestige classes, that a player can take to utilize action points more effectively. To use the UA rules for actions points in combination with these new rules would make action points immensely powerful, if not downright unbalancing. Personally, if I were going to use some of the other rules for action points from UA for Eberron, I'd make the player either design a feat or a prestige class around it. Either that, or I would not allow players to use the feats and prestige classes from the ECS that rely on action points. Another reason that I can think of that they might not have used all the rules from Unearthed Arcana is because there are already a lot of new rules to learn for Eberron. For example, you have new races, a new class that uses a new form of magic, new feats, new spells, new prestige classes, things called dragonmarks, beast totems, psionics, etc. That's a lot to digest without having to remember that action points allow you to recall a spell you've already cast, use a metamagic feat without having to cast the spell at a higher level, and so on. Those are just two thoughts I had on the matter. Later. Note: I hate the last sentence on the end of the first paragraph. However, I leave it there because even though the rest of the paragraph makes it pretty clear that I think that the UA rules combined with the feats and prestige classes from Eberron would be overpowered, I know (from past experience with similar issues) that if I don't tack on this redundant sentence, someone is going to come along, cut and paste the second to last sentence in this paragraph and ask me why I feel the need to create new feats and/or prestige classes from the UA action points rules. So yes, this paragraph ends on a horribly anticlimactic note, but for crying out loud, you people drove me to it! :P
DarkWarriorKarg 04-07-06, 10:49 AM	Instead of allowing the full UA action point system, you get to spend feats to allow you to do what UA suggests (heroic metamagic...)
technochris81 04-07-06, 12:55 PM	thank you to everyone with advice so far. anybody else? -chris