Alternative Names for Rage Points (Alpha 2)

[Epic Meepo]

Re: Keeping the new rage mechanic, but making it less controversial.

I have noticed that a few posters on this board have already expressed unease with rage points (either with the mechanic itself, or with the gamist name "rage points"). Perhaps the new rage mechanic would be more palatable (and seem closer to 3.5) if rage points had a new name.

In particular, what do folks think about this proposal: replace "rage points" with "rounds of rage per day." You could have the barbarian's 1st-level rage ability be parallel to that from 3.5, except instead of tracking uses per day, the barbarian tracks total rounds spent raging during the day. Rounds spent raging need not be consecutive (so a low-level barbarian need not blow it all in one fight).

As the barbarian gains levels, she gains additional rounds of rage per day at the same rate as she would currently gain "rage points," and she gains the ability to spend rounds of rage to use whatever abilities now rely on rage points.

In other words, use the new rage point system, but replace rage points with something the 3.5 barbarian already has: the ability to rage for a certain number of rounds in a given day. Just parse that familiar amount of rage out one round at a time instead of in large "per day" chunks.

[Pathos]

It sounds good, but I think I'd rather wait until Version 2 comes out to make any real assessments of the mechanic.

[Locke1520]

I think I myself prefer the new rage points: it's more concise.

[Asgetrion]

Epic Meepo wrote:

Re: Keeping the new rage mechanic, but making it less controversial.

I have noticed that a few posters on this board have already expressed unease with rage points (either with the mechanic itself, or with the gamist name "rage points"). Perhaps the new rage mechanic would be more palatable (and seem closer to 3.5) if rage points had a new name.

In particular, what do folks think about this proposal: replace "rage points" with "rounds of rage per day." You could have the barbarian's 1st-level rage ability be parallel to that from 3.5, except instead of tracking uses per day, the barbarian tracks total rounds spent raging during the day. Rounds spent raging need not be consecutive (so a low-level barbarian need not blow it all in one fight).

As the barbarian gains levels, she gains additional rounds of rage per day at the same rate as she would currently gain "rage points," and she gains the ability to spend rounds of rage to use whatever abilities now rely on rage points.

In other words, use the new rage point system, but replace rage points with something the 3.5 barbarian already has: the ability to rage for a certain number of rounds in a given day. Just parse that familiar amount of rage out one round at a time instead of in large "per day" chunks.

I think I want to see how those Rage Points turn out before passing judgement, but note that 3E already has PSPs and "optional" spell point systems, so this is not anything "revolutionary" or "radical" in the sense that this kind of mechanic doesn't already exist in the game.

I think a lot of people need to decide *how* much they want to see Pathfinder "evolving" from 3.5 -- personally, I'm not going to pay for a slightly updated 3.5, but neither do I want to see it changing into a copy of 4E or lacking "backwards compatibility" altogether. It's a fine margin between these two and what each one of us is expecting from PF. I think so far Jason has done a brilliant job, although I wouldn't mind seeing even slightly more radical changes in the system (but that's jst me ;))

[Epic Meepo]

Locke1520 wrote:

I think I myself prefer the new rage points: it's more concise.

I already know I'm going to love the new rage mechanics, so I just want to make sure they're as palatable to the "keep it the same" crowd as possible. It would be a shame to see rage points get shouted down because terminology makes them sound more radical than they really are.