November 2011 – Page 3 – Dungeon's Master

Bonus Action Points for the Party

Action points are designed to give every PC a chance to be truly heroic and do something extra when it’s needed most. The very name “action point” brings to mind the potential for something truly remarkable. Unfortunately this has not been the case in my experience.

I’ve found that at my gaming table actions points are generally used in one of the three following ways:

Make another attack after missing with the first one (essentially a re-roll).
Use your second wind.
Take a move action after standing from prone.

Don’t get me wrong, these are all perfectly acceptable actions all well within the rules as written, but honesty, these are all pretty boring ways to spend (waste) and action point. Action points should be used to keep the action going. There should be excitement when a player declares he’s using an action point. These three examples are all sort of blasé.

The problem is that you only get one action point every two encounters. If they were more abundant in the game then using one in the ways I’ve listed above wouldn’t seem so bad. After all, you’re not going to be knocked prone during every encounter. So the question becomes how to let PCs use more action points more often without breaking D&D.

Month in Review: October 2011

Our October articles covered a wide variety of topics for players and DMs. Chances are that throughout October there was at least one or two articles that appealed to you no matter what kind of gamer you are, no matter if you’re a DM or player.

We looked at magic items beginning with magic item identification, adventure hooks where the loot is part of the plot, and then whether or not monsters should use the magic items against the PCs. There was emphasis on cooperative play including an in-depth look at assisting, the benefits of playing someone else’s character and encounter design tips that reward cooperative play.

Throw in a deep discussion on death, a look at the silly aspects of fantasy gaming, D&D Encounters field reports and, of course, an article about zombies and you’ve got a pretty good idea of the eclectic mix of topics we covered in October. If you missed any of the great articles from October then this is your change to get caught up.

We’d like to thank all of our readers for continuing to visit Dungeon’s Master every day. We value your opinion and encourage you to keep providing your feedback in the comments section. We want to hear what you have to say and enjoy the discussion that your comments generate. Even if you disagree with our stance on an issue or topic, the discussion gets people talking which is always our goal.