I've talked to friends who have seen real combat in the military, and they say the same thing happens there.
With that in mind, I present Momentum, the system that CRE8 uses to govern a lot of special abilities that are too strong to allow at-will spamming. Think of it as an Action Points system, with some inspiration drawn from the Psionic Focus system of the 3.5e Expanded Psionics Handbook.
In general, Momentum is supposed to govern the types of abilities that, in 4e for example, would be "per-encounter" abilities. Using a Momentum-based ability once per encounter is a rough rule of thumb of what to expect from low-level characters.
Momentum
At any given moment, either your character has Momentum, or he does not. There is no benefit to gaining Momentum when you already have it. There is no harm in losing Momentum when you already don't have it. Also, having Momentum is largely a function of adrenaline and battle senses; you cannot maintain Momentum when you are in a calm situation.
Default Methods of Gaining Momentum
"Carping": Once per turn, if no creature in the current encounter has Momentum, you may attempt to gain momentum as a free action by making a DC 15 Awesome Check.
"Encouraging": If you have Momentum, you may attempt to give an ally Momentum as a standard action by making a DC 15 Leadership check.
If you inflict a Hazard on a creature with Momentum, you may gain Momentum as your "Hazard." (Note that I don't expect this option to actually be all that appealing, since it precludes inflicting a Hazard that actually harms one's foe instead.)
Special Methods of Gaining Momentum
I have quite a few ideas for this, but I need more. The problem is, they can't be too predictable; I don't want it to be too easy to build a character who spams a powerful attack over and over by expending her Momentum, then regains it every other round effortlessly. In addition, it's easy to think up balanced ways to gain Momentum by sacrificing combat actions, but this style of fighting doesn't make any sense for martial warrior-type characters, who emphatically should not be getting an advantage in combat by relenting their attack sequence and sitting back peacefully mid-combat.
Here are a few of the ideas I think might work:
I'll be posting a number of Feat/Kit/Talent descriptions soon, which should give several examples of new ways to gain Momentum. Also, I certainly plan to include an ability for a commander-type character to use the "Encourage" option above, but in a more efficient manner.
Default Benefits of Expending Momentum
I haven't thought much about this yet, but I'm sure it will be easy to come up with stuff that any character should be able to do by expending Momentum. I'm taking suggestions.
- If an opponent inflicts a Hazard on you, negate that Hazard. (Yes, this includes negating the Hazard option for them to simply gain Momentum of their own.)
Special Abilities, Powered by Expending Momentum
- a Smite-like ability for those Paladin-type characters who are fond of Smiting
- an ability for Factotum-like characters to replace any skill check with an Awesome check
- most Metamagic Talents will require expending Momentum as part of their use
- the basic Two-Weapon Fighting feat will require expending Momentum in order to make an extra attack as a swift action
- many spells will have built-in options for making them more powerful (or casting them as a swift action, for non-attack spells) by expending Momentum
- many Feats reminiscent of Tome of Battle maneuvers will require expending Momentum to use
- many Feats that normally require an Opportunity Action can be used as a free action by expending Momentum, like Dodge
Upcoming Feat/Talent/Kit descriptions should include a number of examples of benefits of expending Momentum.
Retaining Momentum
I'm sure we can come up with many abilities that will be balanced if they require having Momentum, but don't require expending it.
- the Tumble talent allows moving in relative safety from opportunity attacks, as long as you have Momentum.
Upcoming Feat/Talent/Kit descriptions should include a number of examples of benefits of retaining Momentum.
In addition, I imagine that a hallmark of high-level play in general will be the ability to pull off powerful tricks with a chance of not losing your Momentum in the process. I'm not sure whether this chance to retain Momentum should be built into individual high-level Feats, or whether it would be better for high-level Kits to say, "Anytime you would expend Momentum for any of [X, Y, Z abilities], roll [dice] to try to retain your Momentum."