Pathfinder: Action Points

This action point system is designed to encourage the frequent use of action points in a game session. It should promote "action movie" stunts and, with luck and the right atmosphere, create a swashbuckling heroic fantasy feeling for the game. This presents a deliberate contrast to Pathfinder's Hero Points system, where hero points are a rare and precious resource meant to be used only at the most critical times.

Benefits of Action Points
Action points allow you to perform amazing feats of skill and daring, and also help you prevent embarassing (or fatal) fumbles. You may spend one action point to gain any of the following benefits. No single benefit may be gained more than once per round.

Reroll: You may reroll a single d20 that you have just rolled. You may declare this after the result is known.

Take An Extra Action: You can take an additional standard, move, or swift action on your turn. If you take an action that would normally end your turn immediately, such as a charge, you can still spend an action point to act afterward.

Act Out Of Turn: You react immediately to changes. Treat this as if you had readied a standard action, except that you may react in whatever manner you choose. Your own initiative does not change as a result.

Assist: When you use Aid Another to assist an ally, your Aid Another bonus increases to +5. If your ally still fails, you can forfeit the bonus and allow him or her to reroll the relevant d20 roll. In other words, he may reroll without your +5 bonus and take the higher result. Any number of characters may use action points to assist in this fashion.

Special Action: You can use an action point to attempt the impossible. The details are between you and your DM. Any improbable or impossible action might become possible with action points. This only renders the acton possible - you can still fail. This use needs to be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis.

Gaining Action Points
All characters receive one "free" action point per encounter. This point is only available for that encounter. If it is not used, it is lost. The term "encounter" has a loose meaning, and is entirely up to the DM's definition. In general, an encounter should be one full combat scenario, one large social scenario, and such-like things. Players who attempt to argue with the DM's ruling about what constitutes an encounter risk the wrath of the BanHammer and its associated impudence-smiting paraphernalia.

Characters also gain permanent action points for particularly outstanding roleplaying or clever thinking. These action points should be recorded on a character sheet. A permanent action point may be saved for as long as the player desires, and spent at any time. Once spent, the action point is lost. However, as there are no restrictions on action point use, permanent action points represent an extremely powerful resource.