I allowed players access to a "magic potion" that came with the following inscription:
With different choices and different paths,
Imagine the life you could have had.
Drink this potion and gain the sight,
To see yourself in another life.
Then when you're in your darkest hour,
That other life will grant you power.
After they drink the potion, they'll dream of leading another life, as a different adventuring class, with different powers. Once they become bloodied, they'll have access to a 1st level Daily power from that class, until they take an extended rest. When they rest, the power is unusable until they get bloodied again.
If they want, they can stab each other in the morning until they are bloodied to get access to the power for the rest of the day. Story wise, it means that this dormant power has been activated because they got seriously injured. Game wise, it means that they can sacrifice healing surges to get access to the power.
We haven't begun play with the new rule yet, but the players were excited about it when I told them about it at the end of last session.
My first reaction was that I didn't like it because it isn't believable for a character to simply have an ability that belongs to another class. But then you came up with an interesting method of explaining this "new" ability.
It poses a couple of problems though:
Do they need to drink this potion each day? If so, that's a lot of potions. That implies that the potions are fairly common in which case everyone in the world should have access to them. Maybe monsters, or at least evil npcs should have access to them as well. When you add more players, do you intend for everyone to still have access to these potions? If not, how do you explain them simply disappearing? And then reappearing if need be when you again have fewer players.
If the potion is a one shot deal instead, where the character from that point on has the additional power forever, you are in the same boat when more players join the game. How do you then take away the power? If you don't take it away, the new players will want the same for their characters.
One other issue. If a str-based character takes on a non-str-based power from another class, it may not offer as much benefit as you imagine. You may need to alter the power to use the character's primary ability in order to gain the effect you are looking for.
It's an interesting idea. I'm curious to hear how you deal with the above and how it all works out.
Kudos for thinking outside the box either way.
After they drink the potion, they'll dream of leading another life, as a different adventuring class, with different powers. Once they become bloodied, they'll have access to a 1st level Daily power from that class, until they take an extended rest. When they rest, the power is unusable until they get bloodied again.
If they want, they can stab each other in the morning until they are bloodied to get access to the power for the rest of the day. Story wise, it means that this dormant power has been activated because they got seriously injured. Game wise, it means that they can sacrifice healing surges to get access to the power.
It poses a couple of problems though:
If the potion is a one shot deal instead, where the character from that point on has the additional power forever, you are in the same boat when more players join the game. How do you then take away the power? If you don't take it away, the new players will want the same for their characters.
Simplest way, is to take out the potion idea, but keep the effects, and reflavor as a divine gift or a recurring dream. This is something you can take away later, should the player group grow.
I give out a free multiclass feat and strongly suggest they fill missing roles. This idea seems to be along the same lines, but I've got some questions.
What level is the power?
Can it be retrained for a higher level power later on?
As for new players joining, I say let them get the potions powers too. Maybe the PCs now know how to brew it, but it only works on a person once. If everyone is at the same point of power, its balanced. Who cares if they are all a little stronger or weaker than thy are supposed to be. They are all equally stronger or weaker.
Do they need to drink this potion each day?
When you add more players, do you intend for everyone to still have access to these potions?
You may need to alter the power to use the character's primary ability in order to gain the effect you are looking for.
They do not drink a potion each day. They drink it once, and have access to the power from that point on. It is a first level daily power, so it won't be overpowered considering that they are 5th level now. I may allow it to be traded out or retrained for something higher down the road, but I haven't decided.
Yes, it may use a non-primary ability. But the powers often deal 3[W] damage or allow extra moves or healing. So it might not help them a lot, but it's better than nothing. Of course, it is no subsitute for two other PCs in the party.
And it isn't a power they can use whenever they want. It will only be available when they are in some danger (bloodied). I'm sure you can imagine that sometimes it is hard to keep a party of 3 low level adventurers alive. These abilities make the characters a little more durable. For me, that means I don't have to worry about killing them as much and I can throw tougher encounters at them.
As for new characters joining the party, the group found a box that had 9 slots, 4 of which were empty, and 5 of which contained these potions. They each drank one, so two potions are remaining. If other players join the game, they can have access to the remaining potions. If a current character dies or the player wants to play a different character, we'll have remaining potions for the new character. Or the party can sell the potions, but I don't see that happening.
Thanks for the comments, concerns, and kudos.
The reason I mention all this is because if you are also running published material, just one extra 1st level daily power per character might still leave the party a little short on power. Even with all our extra dailies, making that second milestone was still pretty rough. Of course, if you write your own stuff it's much easier to tailor everything from the get go and you can just ignore me.
When I first started playing 4E I was also in a group with only 3PCs. The lucky guy that was up in our DM rotation decided to run a published adventure and we were running into the same problem you have. His solution was to allow the PCs a chance to recharge their daily powers after combat using the d6 mechanic like monsters do. If a PC failed to get their power back, they could spend a healing surge in order to purchase another d6 in an attempt to recharge. It did a pretty good job of upping our damage output to the point that we could do the published stuff without him having to alter every encounter.
The reason I mention all this is because if you are also running published material, just one extra 1st level daily power per character might still leave the party a little short on power. Even with all our extra dailies, making that second milestone was still pretty rough. Of course, if you write your own stuff it's much easier to tailor everything from the get go and you can just ignore me.
I actualy realy kinda like this idea, I ben toying with recharging encounter powers lately and for some reason never thought of allowing the players a chance to recharge daily powers during short rest. Think I will add this one in. So players have a chance at beginning of there turn to recharge a encounter and after each combat to recharge a daily for both I am making it a recharge 6 for the encounters I will use dm roll for the daily I will let the players roll *encounters I roll as it is much easier to track and make sure players don't fudge the rolls at all. Again thanks for the idea