When I picked up the Unearthed Arcana book for 3.0, the best thing I got out of that book was the Destiny Points. I don't like using them for all my campaigns, but they were great to introduce as "tokens" when the PCs co-operated with fate.
In a recent book purge (I was moving out of country, though that didn't quite work out) I got rid of all my old gaming books. As it stands, I don't have a single d20-family book that has a Destiny/Fate/Plot/Force point system in it.
Any suggestions on a good book to grab them from? And, more to the point, what have people found is one of the more balanced versions of these points. It's nice for the players to have something to give them an element of control in their games, and a great tool for a GM to influence play.
Does Pathfinder have this system published somewhere yet?
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When I picked up the Unearthed Arcana book for 3.0, the best thing I got out of that book was the Destiny Points. I don't like using them for all my campaigns, but they were great to introduce as "tokens" when the PCs co-operated with fate.
In a recent book purge (I was moving out of country, though that didn't quite work out) I got rid of all my old gaming books. As it stands, I don't have a single d20-family book that has a Destiny/Fate/Plot/Force point system in it.
Any suggestions on a good book to grab them from? And, more to the point, what have people found is one of the more balanced versions of these points. It's nice for the players to have something to give them an element of control in their games, and a great tool for a GM to influence play.
Does Pathfinder have this system published somewhere yet?
There seems to be info for destiny points, karma points, divine favor points, and others. The page is listed as "this week's tips", so this link may or may not work next week or it may take you to their archives.
Destiny Points see use in Council of Thieves!
You can just make up your own system. It is fairly easy to do and as long as it is applied consistently to all PCs, it will likely be reasonably fairly balanced among them. The system won't be balanced against the NPCs and monsters, but no action point system would be. That's the whole point of it: to give players the chance to gain a measure of control over the factor of randomness.
I utilize my own system of randomness control where I have created "Luck Points" and "Plot Points". Characters get a seventh ability score called "Luck". Incidently, when a character dies and is resurrected (very rare, but it has happened), he doesn't lose a level or constitution, but he loses part of his luck score.
The number of luck points characters receive is equal to their level plus their Luck bonus. The pool of luck points renews every time they advance a level, but any unused points from previous level(s) are lost.
Luck points can be used to affect all d20 rolls (as well as add to AC) in three ways:
1) Before the main roll is made (d8)
2) After the roll but before the success or lack thereof is known (d6)
3) After the success is determined (d4)
Characters can apply multiple luck points to the same roll if they so wish, but they must say how many points they apply before they make their luck rolls.
I also enable characters to use luck points for outher purposes, such as to convert a death to a permanent injury (the severity of the injury depends on the number of luck points spent, but the minimum amount to spend on this is 4 luck points) and some other things.
There is, however, a catch to using luck points. Every character can use the number of luck points equal to his luck bonus without consequences at every level. For every extra luck point they use, though, I get a plot point. I use plot points in crucial situations to make the plot more interesting, usually, but not necessarily always, to the detriment of the PCs. For example, I have used plot points to help a villain sunder (by adding equivalent 'luck points' to the roll) a key sword of the PC at a crucial time, which complicated their situation and they decided to go on a sidequest to repair it (which was not so simple). At other times, I have used plot points more losely without rolls to make implausible things happen, such as make a mud-covered character get mistaken by a grieving/furious dragon for her lost hatchling in her delerious state of mind (the PCs killed the hatchling and had the smell), or to make a villain fall in love with one of the PCs despite the odds.
Don't be afraid to create your own system or steal other free systems. I have never regretted creating my own and it works great.
I would add as a house rule that in order to use the points the player must say 'da touch of destiny!' as the role their dice, in the tia dalma voice from PotC. But that's just me.
Thanks everyone, all those tips and ideas are exactly what I was looking for!