Inspiration / Background Characteristics - How have you used them?

[Nifft]

How does your group use the PHB Background characteristics (Trait / Bond / Ideal / Flaw)?

Which characteristics seem to get used in play?

Which characteristics seem to be ignored?

How have you seen Inspiration add to the game?

[Falcon X]

Inspiration should work as a little prize, but my players never really pay attention to it. Using Plot Points/God Points from the DMs guide can up the ante.

The background characteristics have rarely effected my players mechanically, but I've had a few examples:

1. Folk Hero: This monk fought off 100 goblins with his bare hands one night. They found him half dead, slumped against a tree with dead bodies lying everywhere. He has PTSD from the event. So, when we approached a mine full of goblins, he started to get antsy. Then when we fought some, he became ruthless and sadistic towards them. Lots of fun.

2. Charlatan: He can never turn down a lady. Worked really well in HotDQ when a couple doppelgangers disguised as women tried to seduce him. He almost got eaten.

Rich Burlew himself gave us this article associated with the topic. Read about the samurai!: http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307KmEm4H9k6efFP.html

[ChelseaNH]

We're running the Lost Mine of Phandelver. The first inspiration point I awarded was to the rogue, for doing such a beautiful job of sucking up to the noble. Most recently, I gave inspiration to the folk hero and the cleric for having a nice, long, in-character argument. The other award that really stands out is when the noble and the monk (player #6) were running toward something; the monk has 40 ft movement, so the noble used his Action Surge for a dash to outpace him, purely out of vanity.

[mephnick]

We've found some to be easily incorporated and others almost impossible to work into the game. It really depends on your players too. If they aren't playing to their Flaws/Bonds/Ideals, it's not going to happen unless the DM forces it, which isn't fun for anyone.

I've found our Folk Hero easy to incorporate: Free food/shelter, hidden from bad guys, extra info/help from people she helped in the past. It also added a bad guy to the game (she stood up to a tyrant) and that's been fun.

The charlatan has been pretty good too: Lying, disguises, using loaded dice to win bets for favours/items.

Then we have to guild artist (cartographer). That's been more challenging. The player isn't sure how to incorporate it and neither am I. Like..he can sell maps I guess? The guild hasn't been very useful yet because they haven't really needed them. It would probably fit better in a more exploration heavy campaign, but they're generally travelling in well known areas.

[Vortling]

I'm not sure if it is specifically listed in the book but the Overconfident flaw sees a lot of play in my group with a lot of inspiration points being awarded for it as the players in question get into lots of trouble opening doors without checking them first, jumping into combat without thought, and generally touching anything and everything even if it looks incredibly dangerous and evil.