Game System License

Having read through the 4th Edition Game System License (GSL), it seems pretty straightforward.  Don't directly define or redefine anything from the Core materials in original, licensed products, only relying on the System Reference Document (SRD) for usable references and otherwise referencing the title of a Core book containing relevant information — but no page numbers, since they might revise the books.  Other than that, it's the usual rules against depicting excessive violence and pornography, present your product as if it was theirs or vice versa, and so forth.

So next will be reading through the 85 pages of the SRD, once I get the time and focus to spare, to get a better idea of how all the rules usage comes together.  It looks like you're also not supposed to publish any materials, freely or for profit, without first submitting a completed and signed copy of the Statement of Acceptance document and then waited at least 14 days to see whether or not you receive a notice of decline.  Let's hope that with the disclaimer that this is not official part of any game produced by Wizards of the Coast, myself, or anyone else (as far as I know); that I am not currently licensed to publish material for any Wizards of the Coast product; and that I currently have no intention of using this rule, as stated, in any fashion, I can post this sample freely and without expectation of profit, reception, use, or legal action:

Swift Action Points (optional rule):  Whenever you drop a foe to 0 hit points or fewer, you gain one swift action point which you must use before the end of your next turn or it is lost.  A swift action point can be spent as a free action to gain an extra standard, move, or minor action on your turn and does not count against your use of action points in an encounter.  Only one action point or swift action point can be used per round, and swift action points do not grant you the benefit of features which are activated by spending an action point.  Swift action points are gained in addition to any other benefits you gain from dropping a foe to 0 or fewer hit points.

I've received to criticisms to this rule so far.  One is that it will change the tactics of the game so that players will try and go after weaker monsters and minions before anything else to gain the benefit of the kill, but in my experience players typically do that anyway if they can identify the weaker monsters.  I would argue that a good strategy would be to try and target both a minion and a nonminion on the same turn, reaping the benefit of killing the minion first to then attack a stronger foe, maximizing a character's potential effectiveness on each turn, rather than taking out two minions.  On the other hand, one could hypothetically drop one minion, spend the swift action point to drop another, and save that extra swift action point for the next round.  Still, I don't think that unbalances the game in any appreciable way; it just gives players something else to consider.

The other criticism I've received, which is certainly valid, is that a feature like this favors strikers, which will usually deal more damage and thus have a higher probability of dropping a foe.  That's true in some sense, though without knowing a monster's hit-point total, one can never be certain who will drop a given foe; it will always be the person who hits and reduces the monster's last hit point, which could be anyone as chaotic as battles tend to be.  The rule does somewhat favor strikers, but not entirely.  One could also consider the Very Long Range optional rule in The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, which favors characters who use ranged weapons over melee attackers and casters of various sorts who use implement powers rather than ranged weapon powers.  Very Long Range also doesn't offer as much of a benefit as Swift Action Points, of course, but there isn't necessarily a reason to revise the feature because one role might be slightly favored over the others, particularly when it largely means allowing characters to fulfill that role a bit better than they already do.

I'm not planning to publish that rule officially in any form at this time; it's just been a consideration for a hack-and-slash campaign inspired by the Diablo video games.  I may play-test it this weekend to see how it works and consider either revising it or scrapping it entirely.