RobRendell said:
Hi, all. I've been lurking as a guest for a while here, reading through all the AoD posts in this forum. I must say that I'm looking forward to the game when it comes out, it looks like it's going to be cool.
Thanks, Rob, and welcome to the Codex.
Sorry to necro an old thread as my first post to the forums, but it's generally better than starting a fresh thread, and I thought I'd see if I could re-open the topic of unused APs for discussion.
That's what these discussions are for. If you feel you have a valid point to make, dig them all out.
If the cheapest attack is, say, 3 AP, then there's an enourmously significant difference between a character with 5 AP and one with 6 AP, and another lesser but still large one between one with 8 and one with 9.
This might be balanced a bit by the fact that AoD is going to have more options than Fallout for more AP-expensive power attacks etc., so your 5 AP character just does a 5 AP attack and your 6 AP char does either two 3 AP attacks or one 6 AP attack.
That's the plan. There are fast attacks (-1AP), power attacks (+1AP), and special attacks like whirlwind. Finding something to do with unused APs shouldn't be a problem.
While 9AP may mean 3 3AP attacks, 8AP may mean 2 power attacks with a dagger, reg attack with a sword and reg attack with a dagger, power attack with a sword and a fast attack with a dagger, 4 fast attacks with a dagger, etc.
There really are a lot of possibilities there.
The three obvious alternatives for discarding them are the Fallout method (unused APs increase your ability to defend yourself), the JA2 method (you can carry unused AP, up to half your AP total, into the next round), or the idea mentioned elsewhere in these forums of being able to go into debt and spend APs from your following round in a final action of the current turn. Of the three, I'd personally prefer the JA2 method, but that's just my preference.
What I don't see here is the reason why such a feature should be used. If you often have unused points, then something should be done about it, but as you can see above, I doubt it.
I see, however, an opportunity for abuse: you start combat and throw a spear at someone - 5AP, your opponent in heavy armor advances slowly (it takes him a turn to reach you - 6-7 APs). You are a light fighter with 10AP, you spent 5AP to throw the spear, you add 5 you saved and now you have 15 points which you can strategically employ to tear your opponent's ass apart. Considering that HPs are limited, that's a huge advantage.
That's my position.
RGE said:
The debt alternative could render a real slow person unable to do anything for a few turns though, which seems like a better idea than not being able to do anything but moving due to attacks and accessing inventory costing more APs than availible.
A debt system could make low Dex less penalizing than it should be. A strong but slow fighter in heavy armor absorbing tons of damage could easily afford skipping a turn and hiding inside the armor to buy himself bonus APs.
If one's too slow to catch a fast opponent, switch to ranged, use nets, etc. Plan your character. If you decided to make a character with 6APs, you know that he aint gonna be able to run all over a battlefield, so cover that weakness with something. Considering that 6APs means that you saved some stat points on Dex, I assume other stats have enjoyed superior development, so use whatever advantage they gave you.
At this point when combat starts, a combat area (battlefield) is defined. If you leave the battlefield, we shall assume that you chickened out and managed to run away. 
