So, one of my players...well, actually, as of next week he'll be my DM...anyways, one of my FRIENDS found something that I think is quite interesting and wanted to see what yall thought about it. (He found it on trello.com)
So, basically Inspiration can be a little overwhelming, I mean Advantage on rolls is great and all, but once you get to higher levels it kind of becomes nonexistent. I discovered the higher level my players got the LESS the used Advantage. I found this to be a really good way of making Inspiration more relevant and as prelusion1s put it; more viable for role playing with Inspiration. And anything that makes players RP more is my bread and butter, ya feel me? So here it is and let us know what you think in the comments below:
I've been unhappy with the 5e Inspiration system, here's what I'd like to try:
Every character begins each session with Inspiration (can still only have 1 at a time)
If you have Inspiration, you can spend it at any time to take an Inspired Action provided that action somehow ties into one of your character’s personal characteristics. If your Ideal is “I will do anything to save a person in danger,” and you want to swing across a ravine on a vine to rescue someone who is about to fall into the ravine and hanging by one hand, that fits. You can claim an Inspired Action.
When you take an Inspired Action, you can either: gain advantage on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw OR you can give advantage to someone else’s ability check, attack roll, or saving throw provided you are in a position to assist them directly in some way OR impose disadvantage on someone else’s ability check, attack roll, or saving throw provided you are in a position to hinder their action directly in some way. Whatever it is, the Inspired Action MUST somehow connect to one of your Personal Characteristics.
When you don’t have Inspiration, you can Claim a Setback to gain Inspiration. To Claim a Setback you must either impose disadvantage on one of your own ability checks, saving throws, or attack rolls based on one of your Personal Characteristics OR make a decision that creates a significant story setback, obstacle, or hindrance.
When you want to Claim a Setback, simply ask me. For example: “I’m easily distracted by shiny objects, so I’m distracted by the giant pile of treasure. Can I Claim a Setback and take disadvantage on my saving throw against the dragon’s fire breath?” Or: “This guy wants to help us, but I distrust all strangers. I’m going to be rude and accusatory of him. Can I Claim a Setback for that?” And then I might have the stranger refuse to help or get offended or start a fight.
After you Claim a Setback, you get Inspiration. You can use the Inspiration to take an Inspired Action. And on and on it goes.
This system has several advantages:
First, everyone has Inspiration at least once per session because they start each session with Inspiration to spend. Everyone gets one freebie.
Second, it creates a strong connection between the action or choice that the player makes and the bonus itself. Inspiration becomes a little less versatile but it becomes a powerful driver of character. In return for that, you can use it to help or hinder others instead of just using it yourself or passing it along.
Third, it takes responsibility for Inspiration AWAY from the DM. Why is this a good thing? Well, for a few reasons. Firstly, it means the DM doesn’t have to keep track of it and can’t forget about. Secondly, it means the DM can’t start using it in crazy, random, or confusing ways. The connection between character traits and inspiration is right in front of the players. They understand how playing their character provides them advantages. Which is precisely what we want to do.
Fourth, it encourages the players to create Characteristics that actually will affect the game. Bonds with your hometown are nice and all, but if the game will never take place in your hometown, it’s just a wasted sentence. But a Bond with a faction that is important in the campaign? That has a real impact. And players will want Characteristics that provide an impact: positive and negative.
Fifth, the incentive is the same for the player and the character. I've seen a lot of metagaming with Inspiration, hell I do it myself in the game I'm playing in. And metagaming occurs when the player and the character want different things. This system aligns the goals of the player and the character. Players and characters both WANT to play to their personalities. Characters because it’s who they are and players because they can take Inspired Actions. So even if they do try to game the system, they are gaming it in a way that leads to better role-playing choices. Likewise, Claiming a Setback isn’t something that either the player or the character WANT. But characters feel a compulsion to do certain things that might be bad for them (like Flaws or tripping over Ideals) because that’s who they are. And players feel driven to suffer setbacks because they can claim advantages later. So again, gaming the system leads to a better play experience. And that, kiddos, is how you actually deal with metagaming!
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"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
I like those ideas a lot. My group that I DM for are all new to the hobby with the exception of one of them. So for me it's a struggle just to get them to come out of their shells and try new things. Additionally they almost never remember to use their Inspiration even if they have it. When I first started DMing seriously about a year ago I bought several sets of dice. (I left most of my dice packed up in storage when I moved over seas) the Dice sets included the standard d4-d20 array, but also a d24 and a d30. What I've been doing try to help inspire more participation and experimentation is if I award them Inspiration I give them one of the d24s (I tend to award inspiration more frequently, because I'm usually looking for them to play up those traits on their character sheets) and they each have a d30 that they cannot use themselves but must use to award inspiration to each other (which happens a lot less than I had thought it would). I was afraid it would become an abusive metagaming situation, but so far it hasn't gone that way...
So, one of my players...well, actually, as of next week he'll be my DM...anyways, one of my FRIENDS found something that I think is quite interesting and wanted to see what yall thought about it. (He found it on trello.com)
This concept comes from an article The Angry DM wrote. He has a few other ideas about variant inspiration systems in there as well. I'm fortunate in that I play with a group of long time friends and there is a very limited amount of metagaming in the group. Some of us are min/maxers, some aren't, but all of us are dedicated role players.
Because I generally don't have to worry about people gaming the system, I stick with a slightly modified version of the RAW system. I allow people to stack up inspiration tokens (and I use physical tokens to help keep track). The concern people have with this is that a player would just stack them all up and burn them in a big fight to effectively give themselves +5 to a bunch of rolls. I look at this as someone stacking up good deeds with their deity and then throwing up a big prayer for help at a time of great need. For those that spend it freely, I look at that as the kind of character who is always praying for some kind of advantage (pun pun pun) from their god. T
The other thing I do is I make it rain Inspiration. The DMG recommends once per session to start and then either increase or decrease down the road - I went with increase. I'll award it for good roleplaying (even minor things), every time they level, and clever solutions and really heroic/cool/cinematic actions that are in line with who the character is and how they would behave. I've found this to be a really effective way of reinforcing good play.
What I've been doing try to help inspire more participation and experimentation is if I award them Inspiration I give them one of the d24s (I tend to award inspiration more frequently, because I'm usually looking for them to play up those traits on their character sheets) and they each have a d30 that they cannot use themselves but must use to award inspiration to each other (which happens a lot less than I had thought it would). I was afraid it would become an abusive metagaming situation, but so far it hasn't gone that way...
For clarification - do they roll a d24 or d30 instead of rolling two d20s in your system?
They roll a d20 and a d24 or a d30 depending on the source of inspiration. (and then take the higher roll obv.) So there's still a fair chance they might be choosing between like a 7 and a 12. The bigger die doesn't necessarily guarantee you'll get a crazy high number. Additionally my players are always trying to save that inspiration for the epic moment, so they end up not even using it most sessions... and then they loose it at the end of the session.
That's an interesting mechanic - Advantage with a d20 is effectively +5 which is a big bonus in 5e, so while a d24 or d30 won't guarantee a huge number, they do guarantee a much higher effective bonus. What level are they at? I wonder how the potential for a rolling a 24 or 30 will affect the game. With bounded accuracy a DC 30 is godlike in 5e, so that could give your players the opportunity to do some absolutely ridiculous things.
As for not spending inspiration, I too noticed my players were reticent to use it initially and I allow them to stack it up and keep it from session to session, so I said to them before the start of a session pretty early on "I'm going to keep giving you inspiration frequently, so spend it!" After that, I noticed they were using it more often and no one is stockpiling it.
I find that math to be a bit on the specious side. Honestly I get how they are making that conversion, I just don't think it really plays out that way at the table.
It's true that being able to hit up to 30 is pretty big, but I think occasionally hitting big makes the game more fun. but because of that potential, letting them stockpile it is out of the question. I mean if I did stock pile I might just make it so old inspiration degrades to a regular d20.
Agreed. D&D intentionally nerfs Fate Poi- I mean Inspiration with a 1 point limit and a simple bonus when spent; if you've played Fate or similar games, you know how easily this tool can become the center of how a game is played. And for D&D this is definitely not intended to be the center. But even when nerfed, Fate points / inspiration points take up a fair portion of DM mental bandwidth to keep the point earning and spending economy rolling. Once you've primed the players towards this type of play it'll be less and less work for you, but it'll remain work.
So i came across Inspiration while browsing one of my character sheets and im unsure as to what it does and when its used. Could someone help me out by explaining? Because currently its just a button that i can toggle on and off with no effect what so ever.
Inspiration is awarded by the DM, if he so chooses (FYI, lots of groups do not use Inspiration at all -- for instance, I've never seen Matt Mercer use it in the 40 or so episodes I have watched of Critical Role, season 2). If used, under normal circumstances, your character either has inspiration, or doesn't. If you have inspiration, you may (by default) spend it to give yourself advantage on any one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. At that point, you no longer have inspiration until the DM awards it again.
Conditions under which the DM awards inspiration are suggested in the DMG but are entirely up to the DM, and each table plays differently with them. As I said, lots of people don't use them, as from a "purist" perspective the idea of Inspiration is not traditional to D&D. The other more common way is to award players for "good play," again as determined by the DM. What the DMG wants the DM to do with this is award Inspiration to players who are playing the game in a way you'd like them to. So if you want to run a really tactical game, and a player does good tactics, you could award Inspiration. If you want to run a heavy-RP game, you could award Inspiration for good RP. If you want them solving puzzles and traps, or maybe coming up with non-combat solutions to things, you could award Inspiration for that.
I use Inspiration so that I don't have to give XP bonuses to players who do a good job at something. I feel that giving one player more XP than another can cause trouble (and I have seen it do so on the past). There can be hard feelings if one guy is a level higher than everyone else. It can lead to party imbalance. If it goes on for a really long time, and you have a spread of 3 or 4 levels in the party between the awesome RPer/Puzzle solver and the guy who is the newbie who is not very good at D&D, IMO that is a problem. So instead, the party gets a flat XP amount for overcoming challenges (the XP Milestone system), but then if players do a good job of RP or come up with a clever solution to a puzzle, I will award Inspiration. Alternatively, I have offered Inspiration if a player would like to be the one who writes up last session as an in-character journal entry. This saves me a little work (I don't have to write the session summary) and lets them RP a little off-screen, as it were. I've only run 2 sessions so far but I think it is working OK. The main thing I have to get the players to do now is spend their Inspiration and not hoard it.... they rolled really badly a few times and were reluctant to use their Inspiration because they "might need it later," and I had to say "Guys, Inspiration's not that hard to come by, you should feel free to spend it."
What's being proposed above is along the lines of some other Inspiration ideas in the DMG. The idea in the OP is that you can earn and spend Inspiration is some slightly more complex and interesting ways than the default in the DMG. I actually like what is above, but as someone starting to DM again for the first time in like 30 years, and who has never played with "basic" inspiration, I'm not going to introduce that into my game at this time. Maybe next campaign...
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BioWizard
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So, one of my players...well, actually, as of next week he'll be my DM...anyways, one of my FRIENDS found something that I think is quite interesting and wanted to see what yall thought about it. (He found it on trello.com)
So, basically Inspiration can be a little overwhelming, I mean Advantage on rolls is great and all, but once you get to higher levels it kind of becomes nonexistent. I discovered the higher level my players got the LESS the used Advantage. I found this to be a really good way of making Inspiration more relevant and as prelusion1s put it; more viable for role playing with Inspiration. And anything that makes players RP more is my bread and butter, ya feel me? So here it is and let us know what you think in the comments below:
I've been unhappy with the 5e Inspiration system, here's what I'd like to try:
This system has several advantages:
"...Debts must always be paid, sometimes in more than blood and gold. But this is Ordo Ursa," Ren places his hand on Erakas's chest, right where the Dragonborn's heart is. "Right here. And it always has been and always will be. Don't ever forget that. Because I won't."
Serandis Mendaen (Aereni Elven Rogue/maybe one day Wizard)- Project Point Playtest
That's an awkward FUDGE to put your FATE in the hands of the DM.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
Declaring dramatic setback is a mechanism that's used in plenty of other games and can work well, if everyone understands how it works. :)
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"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
I like those ideas a lot. My group that I DM for are all new to the hobby with the exception of one of them. So for me it's a struggle just to get them to come out of their shells and try new things. Additionally they almost never remember to use their Inspiration even if they have it. When I first started DMing seriously about a year ago I bought several sets of dice. (I left most of my dice packed up in storage when I moved over seas) the Dice sets included the standard d4-d20 array, but also a d24 and a d30. What I've been doing try to help inspire more participation and experimentation is if I award them Inspiration I give them one of the d24s (I tend to award inspiration more frequently, because I'm usually looking for them to play up those traits on their character sheets) and they each have a d30 that they cannot use themselves but must use to award inspiration to each other (which happens a lot less than I had thought it would). I was afraid it would become an abusive metagaming situation, but so far it hasn't gone that way...
They roll a d20 and a d24 or a d30 depending on the source of inspiration. (and then take the higher roll obv.) So there's still a fair chance they might be choosing between like a 7 and a 12. The bigger die doesn't necessarily guarantee you'll get a crazy high number. Additionally my players are always trying to save that inspiration for the epic moment, so they end up not even using it most sessions... and then they loose it at the end of the session.
That's an interesting mechanic - Advantage with a d20 is effectively +5 which is a big bonus in 5e, so while a d24 or d30 won't guarantee a huge number, they do guarantee a much higher effective bonus. What level are they at? I wonder how the potential for a rolling a 24 or 30 will affect the game. With bounded accuracy a DC 30 is godlike in 5e, so that could give your players the opportunity to do some absolutely ridiculous things.
As for not spending inspiration, I too noticed my players were reticent to use it initially and I allow them to stack it up and keep it from session to session, so I said to them before the start of a session pretty early on "I'm going to keep giving you inspiration frequently, so spend it!" After that, I noticed they were using it more often and no one is stockpiling it.
I find that math to be a bit on the specious side. Honestly I get how they are making that conversion, I just don't think it really plays out that way at the table.
It's true that being able to hit up to 30 is pretty big, but I think occasionally hitting big makes the game more fun. but because of that potential, letting them stockpile it is out of the question. I mean if I did stock pile I might just make it so old inspiration degrades to a regular d20.
Agreed. D&D intentionally nerfs Fate Poi- I mean Inspiration with a 1 point limit and a simple bonus when spent; if you've played Fate or similar games, you know how easily this tool can become the center of how a game is played. And for D&D this is definitely not intended to be the center. But even when nerfed, Fate points / inspiration points take up a fair portion of DM mental bandwidth to keep the point earning and spending economy rolling. Once you've primed the players towards this type of play it'll be less and less work for you, but it'll remain work.
So i came across Inspiration while browsing one of my character sheets and im unsure as to what it does and when its used. Could someone help me out by explaining? Because currently its just a button that i can toggle on and off with no effect what so ever.
Inspiration is awarded by the DM, if he so chooses (FYI, lots of groups do not use Inspiration at all -- for instance, I've never seen Matt Mercer use it in the 40 or so episodes I have watched of Critical Role, season 2). If used, under normal circumstances, your character either has inspiration, or doesn't. If you have inspiration, you may (by default) spend it to give yourself advantage on any one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. At that point, you no longer have inspiration until the DM awards it again.
Conditions under which the DM awards inspiration are suggested in the DMG but are entirely up to the DM, and each table plays differently with them. As I said, lots of people don't use them, as from a "purist" perspective the idea of Inspiration is not traditional to D&D. The other more common way is to award players for "good play," again as determined by the DM. What the DMG wants the DM to do with this is award Inspiration to players who are playing the game in a way you'd like them to. So if you want to run a really tactical game, and a player does good tactics, you could award Inspiration. If you want to run a heavy-RP game, you could award Inspiration for good RP. If you want them solving puzzles and traps, or maybe coming up with non-combat solutions to things, you could award Inspiration for that.
I use Inspiration so that I don't have to give XP bonuses to players who do a good job at something. I feel that giving one player more XP than another can cause trouble (and I have seen it do so on the past). There can be hard feelings if one guy is a level higher than everyone else. It can lead to party imbalance. If it goes on for a really long time, and you have a spread of 3 or 4 levels in the party between the awesome RPer/Puzzle solver and the guy who is the newbie who is not very good at D&D, IMO that is a problem. So instead, the party gets a flat XP amount for overcoming challenges (the XP Milestone system), but then if players do a good job of RP or come up with a clever solution to a puzzle, I will award Inspiration. Alternatively, I have offered Inspiration if a player would like to be the one who writes up last session as an in-character journal entry. This saves me a little work (I don't have to write the session summary) and lets them RP a little off-screen, as it were. I've only run 2 sessions so far but I think it is working OK. The main thing I have to get the players to do now is spend their Inspiration and not hoard it.... they rolled really badly a few times and were reluctant to use their Inspiration because they "might need it later," and I had to say "Guys, Inspiration's not that hard to come by, you should feel free to spend it."
What's being proposed above is along the lines of some other Inspiration ideas in the DMG. The idea in the OP is that you can earn and spend Inspiration is some slightly more complex and interesting ways than the default in the DMG. I actually like what is above, but as someone starting to DM again for the first time in like 30 years, and who has never played with "basic" inspiration, I'm not going to introduce that into my game at this time. Maybe next campaign...
BioWizard
I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.