Post/Author/DateTime	Post
icemanjmw 06-29-04, 12:07 PM	I've been meeting with my players 1 or 2 at a time to make their characters, we'll be starting in about 2 weeks so I haven't got a chance to see Action Points used yet. How do you find you as a player, or your players if you DM have been using their Action Points? Are they using them on attacks against the BBEG, savings throws, or maybe hoarding them until right before they think they'll level up? Myself if I was a player I'd probably be hoarding 2 or 3 at all times for saving throws, especially when you get to those higher levels and Save or Die becomes more common.
Kryptonian Scion 06-29-04, 12:12 PM	In my campaign, they have primarily been used for stabilization while bleeding to death. My players keep making their d% rolls hoping for a 10 or less, and when they hit -8 or -9, they burn an action point to stabilize. It's nice, actually, having such a resource to prevent frequent death in a campaign where we treat raising the dead or resurrection as near-impossible.
Goblin-Crunch Cerial 06-29-04, 06:07 PM	You know... I'mrathersurprised that the Action Points only get renewed during a characters lvl-up... I've played in some games (early levels, mind ya) that every two adventures your character lvls-up... But still... If that's the case any feat that gives youa free action point is going to kick bootee... Come on heroic surge uses 2 action points...gulp...
perringaiden 07-28-04, 11:10 PM	I must admit, I don't like the way action points are tied to leveling. I haven't started my campaign but I want players to feel that action points are something important that they should save for "just the right moment" rather than trying to use them all before they level. Have a look at Alternate Action Points Acquisition (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=284249)
JohnCJ 07-28-04, 11:29 PM	I use all the d20 Modern/Unearthed Arcana Action Point rules, with the following additions: 1. You add the result of an Action Die roll as temporary hit points as a free action. 2. You can add the result of an Action Die roll as a dodge bonus to AC against one attack as an immediate action.
EberronJunkie 07-29-04, 05:17 AM	My group started at level one, and i completley forgot about action points, they would have helped to as my PC's were set upon a kobold warband, and needed that extra power. I hear you sniggering over my kobold warbands, but beware the little dog, lizard, impy things, they rock! I would however want to see someone go crazy with action points, cutting enemies down all over the place. or a wizard swapping his spells for one he needs on the fly.
Jimmy_Groove 07-29-04, 09:28 AM	My players have also been forgetting action points, and a PC has already died because of it. I'm hoping they will remember them in the future. Since my players like play defensively, I'm willing to bet most action points will be spent to improved save DCs or ACs vs one attack (the only alterate use of action points in the game), though an occasional alpha strike might get imployed against the big baddie.
Greyson 07-29-04, 09:39 AM	The three players I GM for have only played The Forgotten Forge so far. But, two of those used their Action Points to boost attack rolls. One player used three out five of his 1st-level Action Points. One time he said, while fighting Saber, and I quote, "This is too important for me to miss." It was very dramatic and a lot of fun. I think Eberron Action Points work very well. It is my first experience with them and it made our fist Eberron experience distincly different from our other D&D games. Eberron rocks - the PCs truly are the heros and heroines.
Captain One 07-29-04, 01:13 PM	I'm planning on letting my players use action points to alter the setting as well. It goes kind of like this... If they are fighting in a wizard's lab and need to have a bottle of alchemist's fire, or a healing potion, or something else that makes sense in the current scene, they can spend an action point and viola... there is the item they need right next to them. I think it will add a cinematic flair to the action. When you watch a movie with a bar fight and the hero just happens to have a big bottle of booze within arm's reach at the exact moment he needs it, now you can do it. I will also give an action point out for extremely heroic deeds. They will be very few and far between, but I think it will work. We'll have to see how it goes.
fizzbang 07-29-04, 01:50 PM	I'm planning on letting my players use action points to alter the setting as well. You may well already be familiar with it, but the original Adventure system used a very similar "Inspiration Point" idea. I don't know if that idea made the jump to the d20 version, but it was a great mechanic that gave a lot of agency to the players (although the ST/DM had to make sure it wasn't abused). I think it's especially good for the Pulp setting feel, which is shared by both Adventure and Eberron. It's that little touch of determination, cleverness, and old-fashioned luck that sets the pulp heroes above the everyday shmoe. FZ!
Boin 07-29-04, 01:58 PM	For the first half of week one my players were oblivious to their action points until one of them missed by just a few points in combat for the third time and started looking at his charater sheet. He then remembered and used a couple to wax their enemy. Since then the whole party has been using them on a fairly regular basis.
reveal 07-29-04, 03:26 PM	We haven't started our Eberron campaign yet, but I have been DMing a d20 Modern game for about the past 6 months. The rules for Action Points are exactly the same except that, d20 Modern, you can pool them as you go up levels. So, by 3rd level, you could theoretically have 15 Action Points. I like that Eberron does not allow you to do this. But I digress. Action Points are very cool and DMs rarely use them. I say rarely because in d20 Modern NPCs cannot have Action Points but in Eberron NPCs can if they have a certain feat which escapes me at the moment. Anyway, my players love Action Points and use them to their advantage. They have gotten very good at only using them when necessary, a much needed boost to attack or to stabalize for example. I did add two benefits to my campaign that the players don't take advantage of very much but are useful when they want to. 1) 1 Action Point allows you to get an extra action in a round. 2) 1 Action Point allows you to do something that, otherwise, would break the rules (at the DM's discretion of course ;)) That second one has been really cool. It can make for some very dramatic moments.
Salla 07-29-04, 06:20 PM	Our group hasn't yet, mostly because our DM is Arbitrary Boy who alternately puts things in front of us that we simply cannot succeed at (regardless of rolls; we usually don't even get the chance) or he simply hands us everything on a silver platter, no roll required. He doesn't even keep track of enemy stats, though he says he 'does it in his head'. He just has the enemy drop when he feels it's appropriate (or escape with no chance of us catching them).
Brastan 07-29-04, 08:16 PM	I have been runnig a group for about four sessions and they have been using action points from the begining. Mostly they have been used for combat rolls, although the artificer has been droping his casting times down. They have not used them on saves yet, but they have used them on skill checks. And one charater has used them reptely to keep himself from bleeding out as it were. The brake down works. Wizards swap spells and improve thier attack rolls (some times), Rogues and what not use them on attack rolls and skill checks, Fighers use them for attack, crits, and stablization. I find the Action point system as presented very fair and balance, espaicly for a rather untested concept. My players pirty much use them all level and then just run out when they the exp to get more. I can't see hording them would be a good system since you need them when you need them. I have toyed with the idea of giving some importen NPCs the feat that gives them 3 just for use in stablization. "They dorp but are still alive". My group rarely finshes thier opponets off when they drop because they assume thier going to kick the bucket shotly there after.
Von Ether 07-29-04, 10:13 PM	Originally posted by fizzbang You may well already be familiar with it, but the original Adventure system used a very similar "Inspiration Point" idea. I don't know if that idea made the jump to the d20 version, but it was a great mechanic that gave a lot of agency to the players (although the ST/DM had to make sure it wasn't abused). I think it's especially good for the Pulp setting feel, which is shared by both Adventure and Eberron. It's that little touch of determination, cleverness, and old-fashioned luck that sets the pulp heroes above the everyday shmoe. FZ! The Dramatic Editing rule did make the jump to the d20 version. I am deciding between just ploping the D.E. rules in with some modificaton for Eberron Action Points, use unmodified heroic templates and D.E. rules or something in between. My main modification for D.E with Eberron A.P. is that a D.E. roll is d20 + PC primary attribute bonus for his base class vs. DC 12. I am still debating if I'd give a +1 bonus every three levels or so.
threshel 07-29-04, 11:25 PM	How do you find you as a player, or your players if you DM have been using their Action Points? We're only four sessions in to our first Eberron campaign, and we've already seen most of the action point uses in game. We don't have an arcane caster, and only recently acquired a divine, so I haven't seen the affect of action points on spellcasting yet. Most of the others have all seen use, and have really distinguished the setting for us. We use an optional and rather loose "break the rules for an action" feature and have had some really cool moments as a result. Its success relies heavily on DM judgement, but the desire to save some action points for rerolls keeps this from being done all the time. Less than once a session, although there was a definite memory curve - the first session saw very little action point usage. Action Points have definitely distinguished Eberron from any other D&D. I think they're a good counter to the tendency of d20 to become a character-building game as opposed to a character-portraying one. We've been encouraged to make caracter-based decisions that might not otherwise be the most effective. I can't say how much that has livened the character portrayal and immersion into the story. The use 'em or lose 'em acquisition sceme has promoted a pretty steady use, as we're learning to judge when to use them, and when to save them back. There are guys in my group that hardly ever spent action points in d20 modern, just because they felt like they were losing something every time they "had" to spend one. We never really saw their full effect on the game until now. Action points have also allowed our DM to really challenge us from the start with a world that doesn't level as we do, which means that at 2nd level, we're still very much peons. We're just incredibly lucky and heroic peons. :D As a DM, I imagine that action points would allow for some serious warping of the encounter level system, and allow me to really bring some tough, tough challenges to my players. At least that's what I'll tell myself when it's my turn behind the screen. :smirk: J edit: quote fix
Save_vs_DM 07-30-04, 02:47 AM	I DM a few games, and have been using Action Points since Unearthed Arcana hit the stands (which replaced a home-brewed fate point system). I've seen a LOT of uses for them. Our group(s), ran by me and a buddy who also DMs, use the point buy system for all our games. But we've found that some feats are just too out of reach with the standard point buy rules, and decided that we needed a way to increase stats beyond the every 4 levels rule. What I did was sit down and make a system. Basically you can spell 1 action point, 1 week of game time and 250xp to raise one ability one point at the POINT BUY cost. So raising a 10 to an 11 costs you 1 ap, 250xp and 1 week of time. But raising a 14 to a 15 takes you 2 ap, 500xp and 2 weeks of time. So far it works quite well and hasn't been abused at all. Plus you can't raise an ability beyond 18 in this manner. (For those games where this could be abused I institute the following rule: you can only raise a number of ability points per level equal to your wisdom or intelligence bonus, whichever is LOWER). That sees a bit of moderate use. I tend to see the most action point use one confirming critical rolls and on saving throws. My spellcasters (even the sorcerer!) are quite fond of recalling spells as well. My players tend to spend them pretty freely, and I've found that as a DM it actually has given me a lot more leeway in monster design. Now i can throw that monster that just might be a tad too tough for the party, and count on a bit of action point use. Action Surge has been a popular pick among the fighter types, especially the fighter class. I have only used them as a DM once, when I decided that my NPC just needed too get away this time. Cheers, Save-vs-DM
Adrinidad 07-31-04, 12:21 AM	I just finished running the third session for my players. While they've been using them a lot, they're doing so intelligently. They particularly enjoy using them to confirm critical hits, which has saved the day at least once already. A couple of important search and sense motive skill rolls have also recieved action dice rolls.