Action points

Each unit gets a budget of points per turn, and every action — moving, attacking, reloading, using items — costs points. Unlike fixed move-plus-attack turns, AP systems let players trade freely: sprint far and skip attacking, or stand still and attack repeatedly. Designers use AP for expressive turn economies where efficiency itself is the skill — squeezing one more action out of a turn is the genre's dopamine. It also unifies design: a new ability just needs a cost, not a new rule. Key decisions: pool size (small pools like XCOM's two actions are readable; big pools like Divinity's enable deep optimization but slow turns down), carry-over between turns, and whether movement costs scale per tile. Pitfall: analysis paralysis scales with pool size. UI showing cost previews and reachable-tile overlays is not optional — without it, AP systems feel like accounting.

• Dev effort: Small
• Timing: Turn-based
• Common in: tactics

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