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TSGames
2007-05-19, 11:03 PM
Every hero lands in a tough spot and sometimes it takes more then just skill to bear them out, sometimes it takes luck. When there is one opening in the enemy's defenses, when finding a single artifact in a room of debris can mean the difference between life and death, the hero needs much more then just skill. In every movie from Batman, to Spiderman, to every Disney movie ever made, at some point the hero is down on his chips, beaten, and defeated; with one great swoop, an immense stroke of luck, sometimes even a miracle, the hero is swept away from the edge of defeat to emerge in a glorious victory. In DnD it's all too often that the heroes are running low on HP, spells, and resources while the BBEG prepares the final blows. In such climatic moments, mere skill may not be enough to ensure success.

Game sessions can be made or broken by the right roll at the right time. Thinking about the cinematic role of the hero and the frequent reliance on luck I was considering a few changes to make the PC's a little more heroic; after all, the heroes are the focal points of the campaign, having them fall due to a stroke of bad luck or fail every time they need an extraordinary amount of luck makes for an awfully anticlimactic story.

To rectify this without significantly impacting the game I am considering the following course: to reflect the luck of the heroes I may wave the prerequisites and grant each PC one of the following feats:Heroic Destiny, Protected Destiny, or Fearless Destiny all from Races of Destiny. I think I should allow the PC to pick one, as opposed to DM choosing or automatically assigning the same feat to all PC's. It would be a bonus feat at first level.

What are your opinions on it? Does it add or take away from the game? Is it reasonable? Are there any other similar feats that should be added to the list?

Quietus
2007-05-19, 11:10 PM
Might help if you give those of us who don't know the feats a little idea of what they do.

TSGames
2007-05-19, 11:19 PM
Might help if you give those of us who don't know the feats a little idea of what they do.

I am concerned with OGL, but I think it is OK to give a general description:

Fearless Destiny stops a hero from dying when damage to HP would reduce them to such a state; instead they are reduced to mere negative HP.

Heroic Destiny lets the hero ad a d6 to almost any role they make 1/day.

Protected Destiny lets a hero re-role a natural 1 on a saving throw 1/day.

Glyphic
2007-05-19, 11:36 PM
Concerning moments of destiny, and how often my PCs bite off more than they can chew, I came up with a small homebrew system to represent skill-defying actions, that one pivital strike against he BBEG, or maybe dodging that maximized fireball. Given, I've only worked in 2nd edition (just getting into 3.5 now).

Luck points. Each character has an Ooc tally of luck points. They can only hold up to three at a time. Depending on how you want to play, you could either tell people how many points they have, or keep the tabs secrets (hehehe. That's led to a few 'mistakes' by players). They start with one or two, and earn more by good roleplaying, adding to the atmosphere of the game, really shinning examples of brilliance, or just by making me laugh at their foolishness. A good player does all these already, and anyone who's really trying to metagame see this as a great way to bend skills.

But, it functions like an old "Ring of Luck". Spending a charge (or more, Dm's discresion) changes one die roll, that directly affects that character. Players could use a luck point to change a miss on a minotaur to a hit. Or, a hit from a minotaur, to a miss. Alternatively, they could maximize one die of damage. Or make that save against poison. Virtually anything, but the DM still has discretion to say "You can't do that" I.e:swim up a waterfall, escape a box filled with acid. Obviously, this couldcreate broken instances (so, yeah, diplomacy and luck shouldn't mix).

But that's how I gave my players that Heroic edge. The system itself encourages innovation and fun times, and as well gives players inventive to be adventureous.


But yes, getting back the the realy question at hand, unless we know what those feats are, we can't comment on them.

Jack Mann
2007-05-20, 12:04 AM
Have you tried action points?

Lemur
2007-05-20, 12:08 AM
You may want to look into an action point system, like the one detailed in the Eberron campaign setting book.

Edit: Ninja'd, go figure :smallsigh:

Nerd-o-rama
2007-05-20, 01:38 AM
And if you don't have the ECS/don't feel like buying it, an only slightly different version of action points (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/actionPoints.htm) was presented in Unearthed Arcana, and is in fact OGL (and therefore free).

kpenguin
2007-05-20, 02:25 AM
And if you don't have the ECS/don't feel like buying it, an only slightly different version of action points (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/actionPoints.htm) was presented in Unearthed Arcana, and is in fact OGL (and therefore free).

Is it just me or is that version of action points significantly more powered than the Eberron version. Perhaps even gamebreakingly so?

Closet_Skeleton
2007-05-20, 04:17 AM
Is it just me or is that version of action points significantly more powered than the Eberron version. Perhaps even gamebreakingly so?

They're certainly stronger than the d20 Modern version. But in d20 Modern action points are core so tons of class features are based off them, making them more useful.

the_tick_rules
2007-05-20, 06:28 PM
my dm has a hero point system. after every combat whoever was the most heroic gets a hero point, which can be used to maximize any die roll after it has been rolled. so if you act heroic you get help continuing to be such, but since this often puts the heroic person in the most danger you'll need them.

Dan_Hemmens
2007-05-21, 12:40 PM
If you really want to make the game more heroic, give them all three. Otherwise all you're doing is introducing yet another resource to manage.

TSGames
2007-05-21, 07:38 PM
If you really want to make the game more heroic, give them all three. Otherwise all you're doing is introducing yet another resource to manage.
So... I should give them three resources to manage instead of one?

The Prince of Cats
2007-05-22, 04:40 AM
My personal feeling is that I would not hand them the feat for free; I would make it reliant on heroism. So, when fighting impossible odds and risking their life for 'the cause', they might get the effects of the feat.

You could always give all the players the rogue's 'Defensive Roll' ability. It is a second chance to stay alive when the midden hits the windmill.
Defensive Roll (Ex)

The rogue can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it than she otherwise would. Once per day, when she would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), the rogue can attempt to roll with the damage. To use this ability, the rogue must attempt a Reflex saving throw (DC = damage dealt). If the save succeeds, she takes only half damage from the blow; if it fails, she takes full damage. She must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute her defensive roll—if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, she can’t use this ability. Since this effect would not normally allow a character to make a Reflex save for half damage, the rogue’s evasion ability does not apply to the defensive roll.

Another option might be the Diehard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#diehard) feat. Maybe only allow this one when all seems lost. After all, most super-heroes have that ability to keep getting up even when it looks like they should be dead or dying.

There is also damage conversion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/damageConversion.htm). It will not stop the players going down, but it will keep them alive more often.

GolemsVoice
2007-05-22, 05:37 AM
You might want to play around with the luck feats from Complete Scoundrel, if you have that book. These feats let you spent luck rolls to reroll almost any important dice, such as damage, saving throws or skill checks. The only problem might be that the feats you need to get the better luck feats are not overly useful. Spending a feat just so you can reroll damage once will maybe be skipped for more important feats.

AwfulLawful
2007-05-22, 07:17 AM
I've introduced Hero Points to a game once. It worked fine.
Each game session every player had one hero point to spend. Spending a hero point would let the player reroll any 1 die. This allowed the players to be a bit more lucky when they needed it most, without complicating the game with additional feats.

Accolon
2007-05-22, 09:39 PM
I'm running my second Eberron Camp and I have no problem with Action Points. I think they work out fine and don't seem to unbalance the campaign. As a character only gets so many a level, they become a lot more precious than everyone things. I've had characters spend all of their action points in one session. I like the idea of a hero points too. I'm going to give those some serious thought.