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View Full Version : Action Points and per week mechanics. [3E/4E/d20M/Saga/Kitchen Sink/Wii]



AstralFire
2009-08-02, 02:12 PM
One thing that I think is incredibly, incredibly dumb? Per level mechanics! I can't stand them. I think it's ridiculous that a character leveling slowly doesn't gain them back. (I'm mostly gamist, but there are more than a few simulationist bones in me; my 3.5 Avatar work is filled with stupid tables...)

By the same token, however, the Force Point per day rules introduced in Jedi Academy Training Manual just don't work. At low levels, you are terrified to use your Force Point for anything ever due to your fragility - this already hurts the weaker, earlier 'spend a Force Point' talents - and then at higher levels you're tossing them around like candy unless you're dungeon crawling and have a lot of encounters a day.

I'm working this out for Avatar: Saga Edition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119433), but I'm weighing a few things, including 4E's milestone system - which encourages you to use the Action Point more often, without letting you go crazy nova.

At the moment, however, I'm thinking of a per-day recharge, with a maximum cap equal to 5+½Level (as before), regenerating 1 point a week. This means that if you have to, you can go all crazy god-like for one fight (the goal of action points is cinema, after all), but you're not going to busting out that can of whoop-hide again for a third of the year. This isn't very radical in redesign, but it also means the less chaos as you adjust mechanics to compensate for changes.

I know denominations of greater than a day are frowned upon for most abilities, but I think the week is a nice balance of "you need time to recharge" and "this is not a finite source" in this case, in part because you get a lot of them and you're limited on the number of points you can spend in a single round anyway.

Mando Knight
2009-08-02, 02:34 PM
I'm working this out for Avatar: Saga Edition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119433), but I'm weighing a few things, including 4E's milestone system - which encourages you to use the Action Point more often, without letting you go crazy nova.

At the moment, however, I'm thinking of a per-day recharge, with a maximum cap equal to 5+½Level (as before), regenerating 1 point a week. This means that if you have to, you can go all crazy god-like for one fight (the goal of action points is cinema, after all), but you're not going to busting out that can of whoop-hide again for a third of the year. This isn't very radical in redesign, but it also means the less chaos as you adjust mechanics to compensate for changes.

I know denominations of greater than a day are frowned upon for most abilities, but I think the week is a nice balance of "you need time to recharge" and "this is not a finite source" in this case, in part because you get a lot of them and you're limited on the number of points you can spend in a single round anyway.

The milestone system and your system could both work. I like your system for its nova capability, but I prefer milestones for the sole reason that I like the reliability of the resource.

Perhaps having a cap of the normal Point maximum, but have a recharge of 1/day? It strengthens the Point-based abilities, but forces you to conserve them on a day-to-day basis. This recharge speed would probably be better for a group that has multiple encounters each day, and the per-week one would probably work better for ones that have one encounter a day or every other day or such.

AstralFire
2009-08-02, 03:28 PM
May just use both of them and tell the GM to select whichever is more appropriate to their campaign - a Choose Your Own Adventure bit, since some GMs run campaigns where encounters happen more rarely and over time and others do run bloodbaths.

My main hesitation with milestones is that the action point is relied upon more heavily in Star Wars than it is in 4E, meaning that the strict limitation on your number of points makes it hard to avoid not being a bunch of mini-novas constantly.

Lert, A.
2009-08-02, 03:59 PM
I always liked the Spycraft action point system. Number of points is per session based on level plus extras for rewards and such.

Stops the 5 minute workday of the per day system and the never having enough of the per level. Unless you players want to stop the game session to refuel APs in which case new players are needed.

Gralamin
2009-08-02, 04:16 PM
I always liked the Spycraft action point system. Number of points is per session based on level plus extras for rewards and such.

Stops the 5 minute workday of the per day system and the never having enough of the per level. Unless you players want to stop the game session to refuel APs in which case new players are needed.

The issue with per session things is that people who play shorter sessions (Say 1 hour to 2 hour) are more advantaged then people who go to play longer sessions (Say 7 hours). Session time is rather variable, so almost always an In-game time is a better solution.

Mando Knight
2009-08-02, 04:28 PM
The issue with per session things is that people who play shorter sessions (Say 1 hour to 2 hour) are more advantaged then people who go to play longer sessions (Say 7 hours). Session time is rather variable, so almost always an In-game time is a better solution.

It also can't be used with games that aren't measured in sessions, like PbP games.