Hi there,
I'm working on a combat system for a JRPG-like game. The combat system uses action points to activate abilities. On each turn, the active character automatically gains some new actions points. Unspent action points may be spent during the next turn instead.
I'm facing the following balancing problem: Some characters have healing abilities. With an unlimited number of turns, a character may gain an unlimitied number of action points over time. Therefore, the player can heal all characters completely by using their healing abilities. This renders items like healing potions useless and players often don't need to use any healing items after combat. This mechanic can be abused especially when the enemy is pretty weak and only deals a tiny amount of damage every turn.
I don't want to limit the number for turns per battle. How can I prevent players from abusing the infinite amount of actions points? Or how can I incentivize players to use the healing items in their inventory?
Another option would be to simply remove the healing abilities and only rely on healing items. But then a player may run into a situation where he doesn't carry enough healing items and also can't buy or collect any further items.