I am trying to implement ideas that help my players stay engaged and invested in the characters they are creating and playing. I am planning to us the inspiration aspect in a different way. I want to try something that I have dubbed Adrenaline Rush. It is a single turn power up that happens at random times, and maybe during extreme duress or when something happens to a companion. It is a surge of power that grants temporary increases in speed, power, inspiration, or combat skills. I have created them based on class, or race. Examples are a Simil-cast ability for wizards, and sorcerer class. A Battle Prowess for fighting types. Extreme speed for high dexterity class or races. A sonic boom for flying types. The way that the player knows when an Adrenaline rush is happening, is a song that relates to each player’s character, class and abilities. Has anyone tried anything like this, and if so, how did it work with the group?

Can you describe the problem the players are having. If they’re not interested in the story or their characters, then giving them an extra power boost won’t really fix that. If you can better describe the problem, it will be easier for us to give you ideas of how to solve it.

All of the players are new. Including myself. It’s hard to get them to stay invested in a class or race of character without them wanting to change their backgrounds, identities, races, or classes every couple sessions or so. I thought that making certain things that are custom for the characters would help keep the players focused on building their character, without wanting to revamp them so often. We are all so new, that we have never even played a character past level 12, and the only reason we even got to that level, is because the person that is DMing is having us level up with milestones, and sometimes we go up 2 levels at a time. I don’t want to run my campaign like that. It creates problems with people not knowing what their character can do, because they don’t get to do more that one battle before they are adding new techniques and attacks. I am hoping that the added personal touches will keep them invested in their characters for a longer period of time, and let their character become a part of the story.

If you're all new, I don't advise putting in homebrew rules like this so soon as you're all learning the balance.

I really don't like the idea you've put forward: it seems to be something that you, the DM, control about their character. What's fun in D&D is having control over how your character acts, and when they act. This idea sounds like it takes that away a little bit because it's a DM granted ability.

My advice would be to keep the advancement slow and steady - few parties reach level 12. Slower advancement is actually much more rewarding, since you feel that you've earned it.

What your characters need to invest in are:

• Relationships with friendly NPCs (I don't mean romantic, though that can work)
• Feeling they are accomplishing things in the world
• Having a goal that they actually care about
• Feeling that they are in a larger story and not just individual adventures
• Seeing that they can pursue their individual storylines

So it sounds like in your view the players are still learning the features/functions of the character classes, and to solve the problem you're proposing a random wild card feature?

If the players are still learning the game, it's probably best for the group to play a few one shots or short campaigns where they can try other characters.  Ideally everyone will at some point during that find a character they'll really want to run with.  Then you can assemble this dream team of characters your players all like and go to the next level, so to speak.  

Not every group is built to reach level 12, or level 10, or even lower levels all the time.  Another possibility would be just to start the characters at a power level that appeals to them, and do quick version of them.  I don't see any point in adding a "hot rod" feature if sustaining interest in the campaign and their individual investment in the campaign in the question.  There's no law saying you have to play to level 20, nor is reaching level 20 really winning the game.  It's just the upper parameter established by the game designers.  

Again, if you want them to figure out their characters, it sounds like just playing them rules as written makes a lot more sense than layering some sort of randomly triggered power up.  That's just another "not knowing what their character can do" being thrown at them.

Sometimes new players are just excited to try out the various classes and builds. Perhaps you could alternate between a long-term campaign and a series of one-shots. You could also have a campaign that is more about an organization than specific characters - a team like the Avengers, and each week a few members join together on an adventure. This way you could maintain an ongoing plotline while still having revolving characters.

I do think you should try to move forward with encouraging investment and development with individual characters because that can be very rewarding, but if it's more the mechanics and the overall story at motivates your players, it's ok not to dwell too much on character development at this point. This is more about your personal tastes than it is playing the game "right."

As for your homebrew ability, I'm not sure it will fix the problem you are aiming to fix, but if you want to use it I would put the activation strictly in the hands of the PCs. Maybe it would take certain circumstances to trigger, like an ally going down or hp threshold or something, but when those conditions are met, the PC would have an option to go into Limit Break mode or whatever you want to call it. But you doing it as the DM is a lot like saying, "Ok, you should do this now," which takes away from the feeling that a player truly has control over their character's decisions.

Thanks. That helps quite a bit. I have been creating a pretty elaborate world, and the suggestions are welcomed. I appreciate the insight.