Level Up (A5E) Destinies & Inspiration Sources, a better way?

[Distracted DM]

I could use some help with Destinies. It's become clear to my players (and myself) that the Excellence feature will grant Inspiration most reliably/frequently; nat 1's come up at least once per session or possibly more.

Most of the other destinies are much more vague or difficult to get inspiration from reliably:

• Successfully subverting law & order
• Achieving a personal milestone
• Learning hidden/forbidden information or manipulating others
• Making knowledge-type discoveries
• Outwit a foe using deception or persuasion
• Find a treasure hoard

Some of these are easier to do than others, but it's the inconsistency that bothers me- or is this an intended feature? Mechanically-oriented creatures go for Excellence, and everyone else goes for what's appealing?

Should there be some universal source of inspiration, either in addition to or in lieu of Source of Inspiration?

edit: If folk think that Excellence is the issue, should a nat1 be a source of inspiration for all like in ?one of the? OneD&D playtests, and Excellence gets a different Source of Inspiration?

 

[xiphumor]

Nah, Excellence is definitely overpowered and out of sync with everything else. It should be changed, or at least house ruled.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Nah, Excellence is definitely overpowered and out of sync with everything else. It should be changed, or at least house ruled.

well, i mean, i could think of a few ways to do it:
1. restrict eligible rolls to grant inspiration to those with advantage. nat 1ing with advantage is...not exactly easy. could also make it just failures despite having advantage, since advantage is fairly rare anyways.
2. make the player pick what field they want to excel in when they pick the destiny instead of when they get the fulfillment feature, then only let the destiny features (including getting inspiration) work with rolls related to that field. so for example if you pick an ability score you can only get inspiration if you roll a nat 1 on ability checks or saves using that ability score (i'd say not attacks - leave that for the martial tradition/spell school). you could let the PC change what field they're excelling in during a long rest or level up if you're worried about being too restrictive.
3. nix the relation to rolls entirely and make it broader, like failing exploration challenges or quests. this one might create perverse incentives but also might be more in line with how other destinies work.