D&D 5E Taking Advantage & Inspiration

[GMMichael]

I do not play a lot of 5e, but from my experience, advantage/disadvantage (ad/dis) do not come up very often unless a class ability creates or requires it.
I would think that this puts a premium on the ability to gain advantage from inspiration, but like other ENworlders, I haven't seen Inspiration used much, either.
Given that ad/dis were supposed to replace the maze of modifiers from 3e (and 4?) I would expect the majority of battles, if not non-combat checks, would have one or both applying to many of the rolls. . . and Inspiration would be a welcome benefit in the Disadvantaged situations.

Does Inspiration go unnoticed in your games because there's not enough Disadvantage? And using our crystal ball, does WotC want to avoid giving out too much Inspiration (in 1D&D) because it's a bonus (5 points in their view) and that much of a bonus shakes up the balance of bounded accuracy?

 

[iserith]

Inspiration tends to go unnoticed because DMs don't award it. It's hard to keep track of 16 to 20 personal characteristics to know when a player portrays them. And, for some players, even when they have Inspiration they forget to use it. Players forgetting to use it has never been a problem at my table, but I've heard this a lot on the forums.

My method for handling Inspiration solves for the first issue. For players forgetting Inspiration I have to assume that, in some cases, it could be a lot of the rolls they are making are not very consequential and/or there are not as many opportunities to roll in a given session. In my games, there's not a session that goes by where each player isn't racking up 3 to 4 Inspiration and spending it due in part to bad things (or great things!) hinging on a roll. As well, we get through a lot of content in any given session. That creates more opportunities to apply Inspiration.

Previous readings on everything related to Inspiration in the PHB and DMG that I've done leads me to believe that the intent is 1 Inspiration is awarded per player per session. (In my games, the max is 4 Inspiration per player per session.) I haven't read over anything for 1D&D yet, but if there's some kind of limitation there, it may simply be related to how they appear to think of the frequency of Inspiration in the D&D 5e. But that's just a guess.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Even when we simplified getting it, players still forgot about it.

Frankly, I don't bother with it anymore. Good role-playing and good rolling are their own rewards IMO.

 

[el-remmen]

I did away with inspiration and use a homebrewed "Hero Point" system instead (trade in points for a d6, later d8 or d10) to add to a die roll, or to make a death roll save failure into a success) with max. points being 1/2 level + 1 (rounded down). You get the points back when XP is awarded or when I grant one in response to "heroic action" (for example, in my last session, a PC was awarded one for risking an opportunity attack to go save a downed NPC ally - and grappling with a demon to do it!).

I declare advantage and disadvantage for individual rolls pretty frequently depending on the circumstances of combat or other actions. It helps keep combat interesting.

 

[bedir than]

It's hard to keep track of 16 to 20 personal characteristics to know when a player portrays them

I think the 2024 version eliminating TIBF is taking things too far. I'd love it if they cut down that system from 16-20 sentences to 3-5 words.

• loyal, hearty, caring
• ambitious, distracted, distant

Additionally I think a character should be able to bank inspiration. Having only a single opportunity makes people save it. Similar to when you only have a single spell.

Finally, I see advantage at least every round of combat, closer to almost twice a round (4 PC average, yes one is a rogue, rare application of flanking rules). With Help and Aid advantage should be regular, but not frequent.

 

[MarkB]

I haven't read over anything for 1D&D yet, but if there's some kind of limitation there, it may simply be related to how they appear to think of the frequency of Inspiration in the D&D 5e. But that's just a guess.

The basics in the 1D&D playtest are:

• You gain Inspiration if you roll a natural 20 on any check, save or attack.
• You can't have more than one Inspiration at a time. However, if you gain Inspiration when you already have it, you can pass it on to someone else.
• You lose Inspiration when you begin a long rest.

 

[el-remmen]

You gain Inspiration if you roll a natural 20 on any check, save or attack.

I hope they switch this to whenever you roll a Natural '1' instead.

 

[iserith]

I think the 2024 version eliminating TIBF is taking things too far. I'd love it if they cut down that system from 16-20 sentences to 3-5 words.

• loyal, hearty, caring
• ambitious, distracted, distant

Additionally I think a character should be able to bank inspiration. Having only a single opportunity makes people save it. Similar to when you only have a single spell.

Finally, I see advantage at least every round of combat, closer to almost twice a round (4 PC average, yes one is a rogue, rare application of flanking rules). With Help and Aid advantage should be regular, but not frequent.

I have run games where you can bank Inspiration. An example was when I ran my D&D/supers mashup. I wanted players to be able to bank Inspiration so they can use them one after another at pivotal moments or to get off a really cool combo.

 

[payn]

I hope they switch this to whenever you roll a Natural '1' instead.

Why not both?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I hope they switch this to whenever you roll a Natural '1' instead.

The only problem I have with that is in calling it "Inspiration". I don't think it's very inspiring to fail. However, if you call it "resolve" (as in, "I resolve to do better this time!")

Well, then I think it would be awesome.