Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 captcommy Jul 26, 2009 15:54:07	Overview I felt that action points as they existed weren't interesting or entertaining enough for my style of play. Sometimes a hero (player) will come up with a daring and exciting plan. Maybe their ally is on the brink of death standing before Orcus himself. In a situation like this, in order to increase the narrative aspect of the game, I felt the player should have some guarantee that they can change the situation. Obviously it must be a limited resource, or the player will be able to dictate the entire story themselves. But I found that players enjoy being able to plan and execute their most daring maneuvers when opportunity arises. This is not for every group, as I know many prefer their game to be more grounded in chance and reality, where their heroes can fail utterly in the clutch. However, I do believe this idea has some validity in groups who enjoy a more story and narrative focused game. I don't want this to turn into a debate of these two ways to play D&D, so please, assume that everyone involved likes the heroic story aspects of 4th Edition. Our group very much likes making our own version of Lord of the Rings style epic fantasy. So with that in mind, please read over this revision of action points. Ways To Use Extra action that is guaranteed to hit (roll to attempt critical) Turn a miss into a hit (no chance of critical) Ways To Earn Two fights in quick succession (Same as RAW) Extended rest resets them to 1 AP (Same as RAW) Creative idea / badass moment Significant roleplaying Consistent quality roleplay can also earn a bonus action point.
#2 thunderforge8 Jul 28, 2009 2:29:48	I've often awarded Action Points for good roleplaying or baddass moments, like you were suggesting. I find it works quite well as an incentive since players like it and know that it has value, but it doesn't unbalance the party or require more paperwork (as XP might do). Could you elaborate a bit more about how the player would use an action point to guarantee a hit, then attempt a critical? They automatically hit, then roll a d20 and if they get a natural 20, they crit?
#3 captcommy Jul 28, 2009 8:58:52	Could you elaborate a bit more about how the player would use an action point to guarantee a hit, then attempt a critical? They automatically hit, then roll a d20 and if they get a natural 20, they crit? Yeah, that's exactly how I imagined it working.