D20 Action Points

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There was a Reddit user named Kubular who happened upon a novel way to determine damage in D&D combat when their friend had assumed that it was just the difference of their D20 roll minus the target’s armor class. Something similar happened to me a bit ago, before I switched to decision-based initiative from individual initiative (as Dwiz referred to them). My friends kept mixing up their initiative with their attack roll, not consciously, but just as an honest mistake when you have to keep doing shit with that D20. That was actually a partial motive for me in switching to my current approach because it felt more intuitive and maybe even ‘fairer’—but the misconception stuck with me.

There are many ways to combine all those pesky combat rolls, and one of my favorites I had tried before was Nova’s approach of using damage dice, but isn’t it funny to stumble upon something new by accident? Like chocolate chip cookies (which I know weren’t really accidental but you get the point, it’s cute). So, maybe once per turn, everyone rolls D20. If anyone rolled high enough to do something, they can do something. Modifiers lower the barrier of whatever you want to do.

But that feels kinda shitty in its own way. It has the same effect as per usual of losing your turn to act, without the moment of realization at least being delayed. So, maybe instead of taking each round on its own, the D20 adds to a stamina pool (etc.) which accumulates each turn (probably up to 20). On your turn, you can spend as much stamina as you want. Modifiers act as discounts on action costs. Below I tried to convert my current decision-based action menu into a cost-based one:

  • Move: 5 points
  • Use item: 10 points
    • Use large item: +5 points
    • Trigger critical move: +10 points
    • Vulnerable target: –5 points
    • Resistant target: +5 points
  • Assist: Give ally points
  • Contest: Subtract points from enemy’s own

I think this is too finicky for me personally, and this blog post is again me exorcising an idea to convince myself that it’s probably a bad one, but again I think it’s interesting to criticize a rule according to how someone who hasn’t internalized the ruleset intuitively interprets the outcome and its implications.

Edit: Leo Hunt mentioned this and I felt stupid for not mentioning it because I just don’t use AC in my game: if you do use AC, that is probably going to be the base cost of an attack!

Comments

  1. wazbarFebruary 22, 2026 at 8:16 AM

    One thing this puts me in mind of is the way 3- or more-sided conflicts work in In a Wicked Age:

    IIRC, everyone who declares a competing intent rolls and then the highest roll stands. Everyone else can then roll off for the next action and so on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marcia B.March 21, 2026 at 5:55 AM

      oh interesting! and is that roll the same as the one to attempt the action itself?

      Delete
  2. Sebastian DMMarch 17, 2026 at 4:22 AM

    Great thoughts. This is something that have been in the back of my mind ever since playing Battle Brothers, where action points are implemented in a really satisfying way tactically. Of course, BB has the advantage of being a video game so the implementation is too finicky to use in a ttrpg.
    But I think the tactical depth, that action points seem to automatically add, is exactly what most ttrpg single action/move economy combat so sorely need.
    A version of action point, if possible to implement simple enough for the table, would be a huge deal!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marcia B.March 21, 2026 at 5:56 AM

      thank you! yeah unfortunately, i feel like having a cost menu and asking people to calculate them with modifiers on the fly is too much 😵‍💫 but it would be nice! i've added a feat to my game to accomplish basically a similar effect that you can reroll your next attack if you had failed your last one.

      Delete

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