Action points?

[User3]

I like the idea of action points, but I can't see why anyone would use them as anything but an extra d6.

I mean, games like Eberron and D20 Modern have feats and crap where you can either spend more action points or spend them to power feats or abilities that you already paid for. As a finite resource where you get a few points when you gain a new level, it cannot be a balancing factor for any ability.

If you recharged a fixed pool of action points per "XP gain event," would that work? That way at the end of the adventure, you could replenish a pool of action points, even if you didn't level, and you could have "micro-adventures" where the primary award is swag or in-game stuff and low XP, and you would still be able to use action point abilties.

[Thoth_Amon]

I would use them to get an extra attack or move equivalent. and since you get more each level and they reset when you raise it is not too bad. If you raise every 5 adventures you can use 1.4 points per session at 5th (when you have 7) and if you horde them all until your last session prior to raising you get to do all kinds of bad ass stuff that session.

You don't have to take feats to make them cool.

[Desdan_Mervolam]

They use action point costs to justify a rise in an abilities power, generaly. It's a hollow justification though because they seem to expect that players throw action points around alot more frequently than they do in my experience.

-Desdan