What is the term for points that can be added to any roll?

Question

Let's say you have a game where you have to roll a die for success at a task, based on a relevant ability score, and you can temporarily increase that score by expending some limited point resource. For example:

George has a skill rating of 11 in Bake Cupcakes, to which he'll add the result of 1d10 when making an attempt. He's trying to succeed at baking a most masterful batch of cupcakes, a task with a difficulty of 16. There's already about a 1/2 chance that he'll succeed, but he wants to make sure, so he spends 3 of his _ points, giving him a temporary 14 in Bake Cupcakes. He rolls a 3 on the die; 3+14 >= 16; success!

What is the correct term for these kinds of points?

Answer 1

The exact answer is system-specific. In FATE games, they'll be Fate points. In some d20 variants, they're Action points, in Buffy they're Drama points. And they function differently on a system-by-system basis, too. They're not a simple +1 / point as in your example in FATE or Buffy, for example. I can't tell you what they do in d20 games.

In general, I call them Meta points or metagame currency, since they exist to allow the player (not the character) to influence the fortune mechanic (not the fiction) of the game itself.

I've also heard them referred to a Hero points, outside of any system-specific context.

Answer 2

While @gomad goes into the specific of each game, I think a different approach can be used.

The most specific and general terminology that comes to my mind is a pool. There's even a game called the pool where spending dice from a pool of dice and replenishing the pool is central to the mechanics. Solar System uses several pools of dice and Anima Prime does too.

While all these games make explicit reference to a pool of dice (because you roll several dice and count successes), pool is the generic word for any amount of resources you can spend and replenish.

D&D 4E action points? A pool of action points. D&D 3.x fatespinner PrC's spin? A pool of points.

Let's see how that fits the example.

[...] so he spends 3 points from his pool, giving him a temporary [...]

Obviously, if several pools are used a "_ pool" or some other game-specific name (like the energy dice pool or the strike dice pool in Anima Prime) is required.

As a side note, "_ dice from his (generic) pool" or "_ dice from his xyz pool" could be used if there's a common pool but you need to assign dice to specific things during a roll (like when you roll several dice all togheter and then assign them to attack and defense, you might have a rule that says that bonus dice from the pool must be assigned before the roll)

Answer 3

The correct English term for this is "Bonus points"

Basically, what you are describing is a bonus above and beyond what they would normally get in that situation. Whatever the individual systems call it, in addition to those names, they are "bonus points"

You can see this reflected in the rules of the various gaming systems mentioned in the other answer. (all emphasis is mine)

Fate points are described by their game system as:

Fate points give players the ability to take a little bit of control over the game, either by giving their character bonuses when they feel they need them, or by taking over a small part of the story

In Pathfinder, the use of Hero points are described as follows:

Using Hero Points Hero points can be spent at any time and do not require an action to use (although the actions they modify consume part of your character's turn as normal). You cannot spend more than 1 hero point during a single round of combat. Whenever a hero point is spent, it can have any one of the following effects.

Act Out of Turn: You can spend a hero point to take your turn immediately. Treat this as a readied action, moving your initiative to just before the currently acting creature. You may only take a move or a standard action on this turn.

Bonus: If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You can use a hero point to grant this bonus to another character, as long as you are in the same location and your character can reasonably affect the outcome of the roll (such as distracting a monster, shouting words of encouragement, or otherwise aiding another with the check). Hero points spent to aid another character grant only half the listed bonus (+4 before the roll, +2 after the roll).

Extra Action: You can spend a hero point on your turn to gain an additional standard or move action this turn.

Inspiration: If you feel stuck at one point in the adventure, you can spend a hero point and petition the GM for a hint about what to do next. If the GM feels that there is no information to be gained, the hero point is not spent.

You will notice that they specifically call it a "bonus" when hero points are used in the manner which this question is asking about such points.

In D&D4e the rule system is even more explicit calling everything either a modifier bonus, or a feat bonus, or a power bonus etc.