idea for alternative Inspiration rule

[tchntm43]

I have noticed when playing in several campaigns that DMs never remember to give Inspiration and players never remember that it even exists.

I think part of the reason for it is that Inspiration is kind of boring. There are so many ways to get advantage on rolls. Getting awarded inspiration is just yet another way.

I am looking to experiment with a completely different approach in a new campaign: Inspiration can be spent to world-build, on the spot, either by creating connections between the player and NPCs, or defining small changes to the map (changes small enough that they would otherwise be unnoticed). Some examples:

1. Suppose that the party arrives at a town during their travels. A character who happened to have his origins in the region has unused inspiration. The character announces, "I would like to use my inspiration here. My family took me to this town often in my youth. We have good relations with the innkeeper. I know him well. We might be able to get a good deal on staying overnight, and he might know some information about people we're looking for in the area."

2. The party is passing through some wilderness hills, which is in a region the barbarian member of the party used to live. There is a rumbling of a thunderstorm threatening a massive downpour is imminent. The barbarian character spends his inspiration and says "In my younger days I proved my outdoorsman skills by building a lean-to in these skills out of trees I cut down myself. I can bring us there and we will at least have shelter from the rain."

3. The party is accosted by a group of bandits who demand they turn over their valuables. One of the party members announces, "I am spending my inspiration. 'Hey, Tom. I recognize you, you dumb idiot. You guys are following this guy? He always tried to start trouble in our home town and a bunch of kids beat him up and his own mother told him to get lost. His own dog even ran away from him. He's that much of a loser. You guys can do better than him.'"

Obviously, this rule would be subject to DM approval. You can't have them saying things like "The jewelry shop owner once promised me that I could own his entire store at any time" or "The volcano is no longer active. When I was a child the village mage cast a spell to permanently make it dormant."

But overall, I think this would be a really original way to give the players participatory roles in defining the world they are a part of, as long as it's not to the extent that it derails a campaign. I think it would encourage players to role-play more (which is something I find most players are reluctant to do, most of them have a tendency to play themselves), and feel like they are important in the game and not just going along with the rest of the party (also something that I find some players have issues with).

[solidork]

This kind of thing is a popular use for meta-currencies in other systems, like Fate's fate points. I always enjoy this kind of power as a player, but its not for everyone. Your first two examples I'd probably consider allowing to happen even without any special rules, but the third one is definitely stretching things.

The other problem with inspiration is that people forget to hand it out most of the time because they aren't thinking of the kinds of things that should grant it, or their standards are very high for what qualifies. My group is playtesting a system that codifies the triggers for gaining inspiration so that it happens more frequently and predictably, and its working out well so far.

[Chronos]

Yeah, my group generally allows this sort of thing even without special rules for it, so long as it's something that improves the story. Though spending inspiration is certainly reasonable for expanding the scope of what players can do.

[Psyren]

I think there are games that work well when built around this sort of retcon power, like Blades in the Dark and Fate, but I don't think making it a universal rule in D&D is a good idea - at least, not outside of a "DM's Workshop" sort of radical gameplay alteration optional section.

For me, I think a more valuable use of Inspiration is as a sort of "Cunning Action lite" i.e. an extra action or bonus action that you can't use offensively or to activate class features. That would need to be fleshed out but at a minimum I could see using it for Dash and Disengage.

[JLandan]

I have used an alternate system based on the 2 personality traits, bond, ideal and flaw of the character's background. This was done as a means of prompting the player to play the character and not just himself. It came up because I was getting a lot of two-dimensional characters with no personalities, they were basically just stats. I allowed the players to say when they got inspiration, subject to DM approval. The standard was that they had to be using their background traits to flesh out their characters and when the characters behaved in a manner consistent with those traits, they could claim inspiration. This also meant the players tracked it not the DM. A PC could only have a number of inspiration equal to their proficiency bonus at any time, so it was mostly use it... gain it... use it... gain it. That forced the players to play the character. It also made them develop better personalities for the characters.

I have since changed the background personality traits to the system used in Adventures of Rokugan. The players choose (or rolls for) 2 "motivations". They can be two of the same kind. Consisting of Bonds, Desires, Duties, Fears, Ideals and Regrets. Then a third trait is made by a conflict between the two (there's an extensive cross comparison chart), so there are three factors influencing the PC's personality, two motivations and a conflict; rather than the five from the original way. Another difference is that a PC that gains inspiration and already has a full count, may pass it to another player's PC that does not have a full count.

In all cases, an inspiration provides advantage to any d20 roll. At one time it was a +1d10, but too many people fussed about rolling "1"s.

[Atranen]

I have used an alternate system based on the 2 personality traits, bond, ideal and flaw of the character's background. This was done as a means of prompting the player to play the character and not just himself. It came up because I was getting a lot of two-dimensional characters with no personalities, they were basically just stats. I allowed the players to say when they got inspiration, subject to DM approval. The standard was that they had to be using their background traits to flesh out their characters and when the characters behaved in a manner consistent with those traits, they could claim inspiration. This also meant the players tracked it not the DM. A PC could only have a number of inspiration equal to their proficiency bonus at any time, so it was mostly use it... gain it... use it... gain it. That forced the players to play the character. It also made them develop better personalities for the characters.

I have since changed the background personality traits to the system used in Adventures of Rokugan. The players choose (or rolls for) 2 "motivations". They can be two of the same kind. Consisting of Bonds, Desires, Duties, Fears, Ideals and Regrets. Then a third trait is made by a conflict between the two (there's an extensive cross comparison chart), so there are three factors influencing the PC's personality, two motivations and a conflict; rather than the five from the original way. Another difference is that a PC that gains inspiration and already has a full count, may pass it to another player's PC that does not have a full count.

In all cases, an inspiration provides advantage to any d20 roll. At one time it was a +1d10, but too many people fussed about rolling "1"s.

This sounds like an excellent system, bookmarking for future use.

[Lokishade]

My idea of Inspiration as a game mechanic goes beyond a flimsy advantage that can fail. As OP said, there are many normal ways of getting advantage and they feel more integrated, logical and rewarding.

No, Inspiration should be reserved for RP moments. Crucial moments in a player's character arc where failure would just ruin the mood of the narrative.

For those of you who watched Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, you will understand my example. There was this part towards the end where Sam gave an incredible, emotionally charged in-game speech to a whole population under attack. Brennan, the DM, was so impressed that he said that sometimes, you nail it so much that people just give you a natural 20. He didn't roll for the population's boost in morale. Because, really, after such a performance from the player, rolling a 1 would have been completely absurd.

That's what inspiration should be for. It should be for those RARE moments where everything aligns and where a die roll would feel arbitrary and anti-fun. It should be a meeting of Rule of Cool and a player's epic moment of RP.

[solidork]

I have used an alternate system based on the 2 personality traits, bond, ideal and flaw of the character's background. This was done as a means of prompting the player to play the character and not just himself. It came up because I was getting a lot of two-dimensional characters with no personalities, they were basically just stats. I allowed the players to say when they got inspiration, subject to DM approval. The standard was that they had to be using their background traits to flesh out their characters and when the characters behaved in a manner consistent with those traits, they could claim inspiration. This also meant the players tracked it not the DM. A PC could only have a number of inspiration equal to their proficiency bonus at any time, so it was mostly use it... gain it... use it... gain it. That forced the players to play the character. It also made them develop better personalities for the characters.

I have since changed the background personality traits to the system used in Adventures of Rokugan. The players choose (or rolls for) 2 "motivations". They can be two of the same kind. Consisting of Bonds, Desires, Duties, Fears, Ideals and Regrets. Then a third trait is made by a conflict between the two (there's an extensive cross comparison chart), so there are three factors influencing the PC's personality, two motivations and a conflict; rather than the five from the original way. Another difference is that a PC that gains inspiration and already has a full count, may pass it to another player's PC that does not have a full count.

In all cases, an inspiration provides advantage to any d20 roll. At one time it was a +1d10, but too many people fussed about rolling "1"s.

This is similar to how we've been doing it, except with custom written triggers that can change from session to session depending on what you want your focus to be and what is going on. When you trigger one "Beat" you have to switch it out next session. We're doing 3 at a time right now. Doing it this way means you can have more niche aspects of your character - not every session is going to involve some overarching goal your character has but you can anticipate when that progress will happen and be ready to claim inspiration when it does.

Writing the beats is definitely an acquired skill, one we're still working on. We're also allowing you to spend inspiration after the fact for a re-roll since we've found that plays better.

Here are examples of the beats I have for my current characters:

Moderately famous tournament knight affected by a curse that turned him into a Harengon.
- You do something impressive in front of spectators.
- Suggest something that can be learned from a defeat or failure.
- Offer to help something that is (literally or figuratively) cursed.
- Your position as a public figure complicates your life.
- Meet someone notable who has already heard of you or your exploits.
- Allow a grudge to complicate your life.
- You make a personal connection with one of your subordinates.

Country boy half-satyr who is leaving home for the first time to find his father and learn about his burgeoning magic.
- Learn something new about what it means to be fey.
- Someone takes advantage of your naivety.
- You learn something significant about your father.
- Your blithe sincerity gets you into or out of trouble.
- Your fey heritage or unusual upbringing complicates your life.
- You connect with an animal or someone who lives close to the land.
- You get caught out while hiding yourself, or the truth.
- Explain how something your mother taught you about woodcraft is applicable to the current situation.

[Dork_Forge]

I change inspiration from advantage to a reroll to start.

At the beginning of each session I roll a doe to randomly decide who recaps the previous session, the recapped gets an inspiration. This is in addition to normal that was good roleplaying, cool moment etc.

If a player wants to do something cool but not strictly by the rules, I may also use their inspiration as a resource for them to do said cool thing.