D&D 5E doing more with inspiration

[pukunui]

Hi all,

I haven't been entirely happy with the way the inspiration mechanic in 5e works. I like the idea of it, but I've found that it was just one too many things for me to keep track of during play.

Since most of my players are familiar with FATE, we tried the Angry DM's variant inspiration rules (options 1, 9 and 10) ... but we're still not used to it, so we haven't used it much ... and I'm still not sure it addresses the fundamental issue I have with inspiration.

That is, I'm just not sure tying inspiration to advantage is the way to go. I think that's kind of boring, especially since there are so many other ways to get advantage in the game already.

I think it would be more fun if inspiration let you do other things besides just gain advantage. What if you could spend inspiration to regain an expended spell slot or to gain another use of an ability that normally only recharges on a short rest? What if you could spend inspiration to automatically stabilize yourself when you're dying? What if you could spend inspiration to deal max damage on a crit?

SWSE's Force Points mechanic worked in a similar fashion to this. It also let you roll a d6 and add that to a d20 roll. (No doubt the inspiration for the optional Hero Point rule in the 5e DMG.) SWSE also had the optional (and much rarer - more like inspiration) Destiny Points. They let you do things like automatically score a crit, cause an attack against you to automatically miss, take the damage meant for someone else within your reach, and so on.

Anyone got any thoughts on this? Anyone tried anything like this already?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Jonathan

 

[DEFCON 1]

I've seen what the Critical Role folks have done and found it an interesting way to go... which was that they treated Inspiration generated by other players to run the same way the bard's Bardic Inspiration runs. Gain a d6 (d8, d10 etc. based on character level) and hand it over to another player for them to add to a roll/check/save at some point. That might be an intriguing way to go about it-- merging the bard's Inspiration mechanic with the BIFTs Inspiration mechanic.

Granted, if you already have a bard in the party it might feel like it's treading on his/her toes... but the bard does get a pool of them automatically that refreshes (while other people have to gain them via BIFTs), and bards also have the additional functions of Cutting Words / Combat Inspiration that the others wouldn't get. The advantage of this of course is that it would stack with the Ad/DisAd mechanic, so you could conceivably roll both at the same time as necessary.

No idea how well this would work, but at least you'd know the mechanic was balanced since it's already a part of the game.

 

[Ezequielramone]

I give uses from hero points from pathfinder. Like cheating death, have an action when it's not your turn, do something that you could normally not (using a standard DC instead of the super high DC the action should have), ask for an advise to the DM. Or anything the player can come up and if it's reasonable.

 

[Talmek]

I was in the same camp with you about inspiration, and then I started giving away Reese's cups for my group to keep track of them. They haven't had one complaint about it since!

Seriously, that's how we came up with keeping track of inspiration. If you ate it and didn't use it in game - no inspiration for you! It worked out amazingly well and brings about a mini-game of sorts while we play D&D at home.

Regarding your post - we've tried allowing players to spend their inspiration for auto-stabilization, rerolling of 1s, and as a 2nd attack for a player who wanted to use it. In all of those instances the players named what they wanted to do and we just went with it without concern to destabilizing the game and all the other usual concerns. All in all it still ended up "another thing to track"...hence, the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Anyone got any thoughts on this? Anyone tried anything like this already?

I basically did this for the Planescape faction conversion I did (early version example: bam).

It's an idea that has legs, but it's a bit hard sometimes to come up with a unique ability that's also mighty enough. Not a problem that can't be solved with playtesting or enthusiastic players, though! In PS, I tied it specifically to gaining Inspiration for doing something that hurt you because of your philosophy, and I tied it to an organization so that members of the organization had a similar ability, which fits the vibe of that setting. VERY well, in fact.

 

[pukunui]

Granted, if you already have a bard in the party it might feel like it's treading on his/her toes...

Yeah, that's my concern. There will be a bard in the party for this new campaign. I was also considering using the Hero Points since my players' dice are notoriously uncooperative, but that too seems like it would step on the bard's toes too much.

I give uses from hero points from pathfinder. Like cheating death, have an action when it's not your turn, do something that you could normally not (using a standard DC instead of the super high DC the action should have), ask for an advise to the DM. Or anything the player can come up and if it's reasonable.

That sounds more like it. I'll have to check those out. Thanks!

I was in the same camp with you about inspiration, and then I started giving away Reese's cups for my group to keep track of them. They haven't had one complaint about it since!

I've been using gold d20s.

Seriously, that's how we came up with keeping track of inspiration. If you ate it and didn't use it in game - no inspiration for you! It worked out amazingly well and brings about a mini-game of sorts while we play D&D at home.

For us, it wasn't so much a matter of keeping track of who had it or didn't. It was more the idea that I had to be mindful of this whole slew of traits for multiple PCs *and* be watching out for instances where the players were playing to those traits in such a way as to deserve inspiration ... and *then* have to remember if they already had it or not.

It's an idea that has legs, but it's a bit hard sometimes to come up with a unique ability that's also mighty enough.

Exactly.

 

[Jester David]

First, have you tried bringing in a prop or physical element to represent advantage?
I like using large d20s as the player can roll them when spending their inspiration. Just having the reminder that they exist might encourage you to hand them out and your players to use them.

Another variant is what Princes of the Apocalypse does, with inspiration being a reward for completing a personal quest. You could introduce minor quests to the game where the players have a list of 3-4 moderately challenging things they wish to acomplish, and if they succeed they get inspiration.

As a completely different take, there's the Dark Shadows rule from this fan update of the Ravenloft setting for 5e:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h5Nn9JBNRKC8c1ZPQQNElQTJVv_J58TKaJFULOeHCwk/mobilebasic
The concept might inspire you.

 

[CM]

I've been using prop Campaign Coins for inspiration and luck (custom stat). I also allow inspiration to be spent to "do something cool" which can take a lot of different forms and it's always adjudicated on-the-fly.

 

[pukunui]

First, have you tried bringing in a prop or physical element to represent advantage?

Yes. As I said above, I've got some gold d20s that I've been handing out to the players when they have inspiration. The thing is: remembering who's got inspiration and who hasn't isn't really the issue. For me, when I was using the default 5e rule, it was simply having to watch out for instances where the players were playing to their characters' traits and were thus deserving of inspiration. We're talking about having to keep about twenty-odd different traits in mind while you're playing. I ended up just telling them that I'd generally only focus on their flaws and it was up to them to petition me for the other traits. Needless to say, it still didn't end up getting used much. Perhaps part of the problem is that my players still just aren't used to the idea of the mechanic in the first place.

I also allow inspiration to be spent to "do something cool" which can take a lot of different forms and it's always adjudicated on-the-fly.

That appears to be one of the options of Pathfinder's Hero Points. I do like that idea. I'm certainly going to consider it.

 

[Quickleaf]

I have to note [MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION] that while the above suggestions are awesome, they don't address your opening caveat that...

I like the idea of it, but I've found that it was just one too many things for me to keep track of during play.

Sounds like you want a resource managed completely by the players that is DM's hands free.