The young man appeared calm, his lank blond hair falling over his eyes as he gesticulated and spoke the words of power. His trembling hands gave him away, however.

A ruddy light glowed within the circle of power, and then a bang reverberated around the room. The young jumped involuntarily, but his invocation never faltered. Smoke poured and roiled in the circle, and a clawed hand reached out, testing the barrier. It was thrown back by a blast of silver sparks.

“The blood, boy! Give it the blood!” Another voice, old and tremulous, shook the youth from his daze. The young man waved his hand, and a small bowl brimming with thick, crimson liquid moved rapidly through the air and into the circle. They heard a hungry lapping sound within the circle.

Do you want the ability to “juice the combat”? Do you want a mechanic to smooth over the rough spots, increase PC interaction with the game world, and avoid the occasional character death?

Here you go! These five variants on the action point rules—fate points, hero points, kickers, player biscuits, and short takes—are ready for play, even in addition to existing action point rules, no matter the edition…

The hulking black creature, ever so vaguely humanoid in shape, rises from the tar pit. Its small eyes glow red, its body covered with all manner of items—tree limbs, leaves, carcasses of small animals, and even a few weapons.

The incorrectly named tar fiend—for it is an elemental, not a fiend—lives in tar pits. It forms whenever a large amount of magical energy is unleashed within the tar pit it calls home. This energy could come from the death a magical being, such as a dragon, or even through a spellcaster unleashing a large amount of spell energy upon the area in a very short period of time…

(This week’s column uses 3.5E rules. The next one, however, will be the first to use the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules.)

Spell descriptions contain a great deal of standardized nomenclature that helps explain what each spell does. The questions presented here involve a few of them.

Aiming a Spell

Aiming a spell involves choose exactly where a spell will work its magic. The game breaks spells down into a few broad categories that govern just how the spell is aimed…