How do you use TP in your game, if at all?

[SouthBySouth]

How do you use TP in your game, if at all? I just wanted to know how some other people use this often unused mechanic. there are a lot of possibilites for it.

 

[RCXGaming]

I'll make this short since I've already said this somewhere else:

Based on the super meter you often see in fighting games. 400 TP max. Every attack has costs in intervals of 100. Each tier has their own dedicated uses, 100 = MP replacement attacks for when you're cursed, 200 and above = strong attack or support move you can't use anywhere else.

You gain a consistent 5 points for every action in a fight, even watching your allies get hurt.

 

[Ami]

as the Ammunition for Ranged Weapons

 

[CrocPirate]

I use it as a gauge for a character's limit breaker skills.

 

[Cyberhawk]

I use it for Limit breaks or ultimate moves now.

But before
I used to have skills would cost TP but using the skill would give 1/2 the cost back as TP.
For any supers the cost varied.
Dependent on what the super is.
A single burst Super would cost far less than a super that puts you in an empowered state.

 

[TinyRecorder]

I use a mix. I have MP characters, TP characters, and mixed characters. My focus is on character building so having both options opens up a lot of creative playroom for me to shape a characters individual playstyle.

Spoiler: Dumb Tech

One of them doesn't actually have any TP skills, but he has 5 max TP. He gets 1 TP when he or an ally get hit, this is because I gave him a counter only skill, that costs 5 TP. With a little creativity I can repurpose the whole thing and create a playstyle out of it.

 

[C64_Mat]

I assume it stands for Technical Points (originally, at least) - but I've never used it.
Was it born from Tales, or DQ or something?

Generally speaking, is it just a third resource? I've never really looked into it.

 

[LordOfPotatos]

I use TP for character's signature abilities they're meant to use a lot. that way they feel more distinct AND when MP runs out they can still do something.

or abilities that don't really make sense to consume MP but I want to still be somewhat limited, like stance changes or reloading ammo.

I also renamed it to "Tension" because I don't know what "TP" stands for

 

[freakytapir]

It's where the class mechanics live.
I keep the TP gauges small, like 5 TP max, and have it be each classes 'Mechanic Gage', while the MP bar is the resource gage.

• So a Warrior would have MP to spend on his regular moves, but getting hit increases his TP Gage. TP is spent on either damaging or self healing moves.
• The rogue has his MP for skills, but critical hits grant a Knife point, which he can spend on debuffs.
• The Monk/Dancer gets combo points when he successfully completes a series of moves, resulting in a 'finisher' or he can spend them on buffing himself.
• Every spell the wizard casts of a different element builds his TP gage, and once he's cast five different elements, he gets an 'Ultima' spell.
• Blood mage drains TP from enemies by spending MP, and inflicting enough damage, then uses the TP in blood Magic.

Or have them as downside ones.

• The machinist's gun overloads, every good move granting TP, so he has to unload it with heat spending moves that are basically 'skip a turn doing nothing much'. If it reaches 5 he is severely debuffed.
• Getting hit increases the berserkers battle frenzy, and he loses control if it reaches five, so he has to 'calm down' by spending TP on things like 'cool focus'

Or a combination

• Demon magic increases a corruption meter ... increasing his damage, but decreasing defense, killing the demonologist if it reaches 5, but if it gets too low, he just does not do any damage.
• A white magic, dark magic split on a Red mage. Just like above, but with Healing pushing the TP bar down, Damage pushing it up, and staying in the goldilocks zone for a couple of turns enables a combined attack. (Actually a fun concept for a multiclass character if you think about it, yes, you can do both, but you must do both).
• Or just a Mathemage type class where the exact amount of TP determines a certain attack's success, but also always changes it by some amount, with the TP randomized at the beginning of battle. (Prime strike only working when your TP is prime, but doubling it. Divisive cut divides your TP by five and does more damage if it was an exact multiple...)

Just some ideas.

 

[Maliki79]

Basically like the Force Abilities in the Wild Arms series.
TP maxes at 100. Each TP skill cost either 25, 50, 75 or 100.
I also use TP for defensive moves that can vary in cost based on effectiveness.

 

[Kenen]

I use TP as a class-specific resource that can be spent to use certain skills. Each class has its own version of TP with its own unique mechanic, name, and color. Since TP is built into the editor, I thought it would be easier to reskin/rename TP for each class versus coding in a new resource for each class.

Image examples:

Spoiler

 

[lianderson]

Renamed it to Stamina and set it up to where it's functionally that.

 

[kirbwarrior]

often unused mechanic

I do find this a bit ironic, I like TP much, much more than MP, especially with Yanfly's plugin that lets you change how TP refills. Even default TP is such a good way to do short term resource management.

My most recent use was switching the names of TP and MP; Technique Points recover from rest (not just inns but even benches) and certain items (such as coffee beans). Everyone has TP abilties, some unique to them, some unique to the class. MP always starts at 0 in battle (taken from FFTA2) and recovers from taking damage, using Focus (or other similar abilities), or from using Drain (a spell every mage has that absorbs a little bit of everything). Everyone has MP, but only mages can easily use it. Others might have a specific ability, but many accessories and certain other equipment also give spells. I'm thinking I make make it FP and MP (so that rest is more obvious at healing Fatigue Points) or EP (energy points). All magic spells can only be used in the heat of battle (except explicitly noncombat spells that are free).

I still don't like MP (the default one) that much. Long term resource management always makes it either too easy to refill (seemingly most rpgs) or not worth using except to heal or on bosses (older Dragon Quests) or sometimes even both. Focusing on short term resource management just seems more fun.

 

[Arctica]

I'm considering taking TP and changing it into the SP mechanic used in the Shadow Hearts series.

 

[Popoto_milk]

In the past, FFXIV used TP. Iirc it was mainly used for disciples of war. TP slowly regenerated and was a full bar by default (it started at 1000). So you could use your abilities for a sustained amount of time, but doing so without any regard for TP level meant eventually reaching 0. Not RPG maker obviously but I found that sorta neat.

 

[Gensun]

I repurposed mine into a Morale bar which basically acts as a second health bar. I'm going for a game where you must manage both physical and psychological health. I think it's an underexplored aspect of real-life conflict

 

[freakytapir]

I repurposed mine into a Morale bar which basically acts as a second health bar. I'm going for a game where you must manage both physical and psychological health. I think it's an underexplored aspect of real-life conflict

I loved that mechanic in Disco Elysium.

The game has zero combat, but, all kinds of tings can make you lose morale and health.

The main character is an alcholic cop on the verge of psychosis, so it doesn't really take a lot to push him over the edge.

Always fun to see streamers just pick the stat build that leaves them with 1 HP or 1 morale at the beginning. (Technically you can patch yourself up before dying if you use some 'substances while it ticks down) but still, the main character dying in the first five minutes because you turned on the lights, giving you a heart attack is hillarious.

 

[MarxMayhem]

Speaking of Morale, the Super Robot Wars series did something similar with the Will mechanic. It goes up or down depending on what happens with the battler. Will grants bonuses based on how high it is, and for some battlers, certain skills cannot be used until their Will is high enough.

 

[Gensun]

Speaking of Morale, the Super Robot Wars series did something similar with the Will mechanic. It goes up or down depending on what happens with the battler. Will grants bonuses based on how high it is, and for some battlers, certain skills cannot be used until their Will is high enough.

I tried implementing a system where I also have abilities that are locked when morale is too low but I quickly found it too convoluted even for the guy coding the thing so I had to scrap that. How does it turn out on Super Robot Wars?

 

[MarxMayhem]

I tried implementing a system where I also have abilities that are locked when morale is too low but I quickly found it too convoluted even for the guy coding the thing so I had to scrap that. How does it turn out on Super Robot Wars?

It's just a check to see if the battler has the necessary amount of Will to use it. When they do, the skill becomes selectable. In MV, this can be recreated with Yanfly's Skill Core plugin via <Custom Requirement> tag.