Action Points - Homebrew
Header Image: Dungeon Master’s Guide by Wizards of the Coast
I don’t like Legendary Resistances. It feels like a ‘Feels Bad’ mechanic from a player’s perspective when the monster can just ignore something you do. I’ve seen my players strategize around burning Legendary Resistances, the monk running in trying to spam as many stunning fists as they can so that they might burn 1 or 2 of them, so the wizard can go in and use a save or suck spell. Players can strategize around it, but it still feels bad when you cast a big spell, and the GM announces that the monster automatically succeeds against it. No matter what they rolled, they just ignore it. Like, what was the point of using that resource if the GM can ignore it? And now you’ve wasted your turn, hope you’re having fun.
It frustrates me. It makes me not want to use that ability. To me, it feels like the GM is playing Calvinball with their monster and the players are held back by the actual rules of the game.
Which is why I decided to finally do something about it instead of ignoring it.
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Action Points
What are action points? For those who have played Dungeons & Dragons 4e, or have at least read through parts of it, you might be familiar with the name. I liked the name a lot, so I stole it. Forgive me.
Action points are a pool of points that the monster has access to, that allows it to do just a bit more than a normal monster of its kind. It gives them a bit of an extra oomph but with a variety of effects that can make the monster a bit more dynamic. It is also a finite resource that does run out after a few turns, either because the players are annihilating your monster or your monster is doing a lot to try and fight the players.
Action points give your monster a few more options during a fight, and even outside of it, granting them special powers depending on what skills they have, and even helping them out with saving throws, ability checks, and attack rolls. An action point is NOT an auto-win or auto-defeat button but rather can help edge fate into the monster’s favor just a little bit.
The Basic Rules
Monsters get a number of action points equal to half their level. If they have 3 or more, increase their CR by 1.
They only get spent action points back on a short or long rest. (Or if they have a specific ability that allows them to regain 1, like killing a creature or spending a full action hiding in shadows without making any attacks)
Only one action point can get spent each turn, so no stacking advantage on a saving throw with any other abilities. This also means that you have to strategize when you want to use a point and ensure that your points last for more than a single round (and keeps the monster an appropriate challenge for your players)
If a creature has legendary resistances, it’s gone.
Now that the four basics of this system are out of the way, we can go over a bit more of it.
I’ve used these a few times, to pretty good success. It forced me to strategize a bit about how my monster would avoid save/suck spells, while still giving my players a chance to actually get their spells to work (and it didn’t feel cheap, to me, when I told them I succeeded). I want the dice to tell the story, and the moment we remove them and just announce we succeeded, it loses a bit of that luster. By ensuring that dice are always rolled still, we can keep that feeling intact.
I decided to go with a finite resource of action points because I want the players to feel like they are beating the monster down - and it means I can throw in a few more ‘powerful’ abilities while still having some balance in there. This is also why there is a rule that only 1 Action Point can get spent per turn (unless it specifies otherwise) because then your monster would just immediately nova and the players would have no chance at all as the dragon uses its breath weapon 5 times in a single turn. There has to be a limit.
I remove a creature’s Legendary Resistances for two reasons. First, the desire to remove that ability was what spurred the creation of Action Points. Second, if you have an auto-win button, you don’t need more ways to avoid that. While not all of the abilities of Action Points are focused on saving throws, I imagine the ones that will be used the most will be the ones that help a monster succeed on a saving throw (without outright guaranteeing it).
Using Action Points
So what can you do with action points? If you haven’t gotten a chance to look over the system, I’ll list the abilities below.
If the creature fails a save, it can reroll the saving throw. It makes this choice after it knows the results of the saving throw, but before any effects are applied.
Before the creature rolls an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, it can add its Proficiency Bonus to the result. If the creature is already proficient in the ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, it can expend 2 Action Points to double its Proficiency Bonus for the roll.
The creature makes one extra melee or ranged attack.
The creature casts a spell that requires an Action to cast as a Bonus Action. It costs a number of Action Points equal to the spell's level, divided by 3 (rounded up).
If a creature has a special ability with Recharge X-Y, and it did not recharge, it immediately recharges.
The creature regains an expended spell slot. It costs a number of Action Points equal to the spell's level, divided by 3 (rounded up).
Plus Skill Actions! Unique actions that only creatures that are proficient in a skill can use - they are a bit more niche, but might still be useful to use on occasion.
Plus any Unique Actions your monster might have!
These are just the basic abilities that all monsters with action points have access to. What this means is that you have a few ways to show off just how cool the monster is by giving them chances to do a bit more than a normal creature, but only for so long until they’ve spent their resources and they are back to being normal. This can also be a good way of having an elite version of a monster, while still having others there.
Why is that one kobold so much stronger than its brethren? Cause it has action points and so it’s 100% cooler. (But only if you share that information with your players! Tell them about why that creature is stronger and explain when you use an action point)
Using Action Points at the Table
This shouldn’t be a mechanic that you squirrel away behind your GM screen and refuse to tell your players about. Even when I was using Legendary Resistances, I’d still tell my players I just used a Legendary Resistance or I’d have ticks on the game mat so they could see how many they have used up. The same goes for Action Points, tell your players about it!
You don’t need to tell them what your action point abilities are, but you could tell them a few of the generic ones (especially when you are first introducing this system). That way they understand how the mechanic works, and that you aren’t playing Calvinball 5e - there are game rules binding you to the system.
Also, tell your players how many points you have! I’d recommend having physical tokens that you can remove from the table when you use an action point (showing the monster getting weaker as the fight progresses) or maybe as candy as a consolation prize to the player who just got torn apart by your action point monster.
By showing off the action points, and a bit of the system, the players feel a bit more connected to what you are doing and that it isn’t them against you. It is them against the monster, with you just being a referee watching over the match. Not only does this create a better table atmosphere, as the players will trust you more when you do weird things, but also encourages them to use more of their high-powered spells knowing you aren’t just going to shut them down automatically. There is still a chance they could succeed, there is still a chance your monster might fail an important save and it’ll make an even better story than “the monster succeeded because the GM said so”.
Action Points & Monsters
I have created a few more monsters, all based on established statblocks, all I’ve done is add in action points and a unique ability for that monster for an added option for them to use the action point. I hope you like this, and if you get a chance to try it out, please let me know how it works for you! I’ve run several boss fights with this system, and have enjoyed it, so I think others will too.
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