D&D 5E What 5e rule/option/class do you wish you saw in play MORE?

[Tales and Chronicles]

Speaking of Inspiration, I think it would have been better if the game had more way to spend Inspiration, forcing player to work hard to power some features. In AiME, many classes use Inspiration as a currency for their powers, like barbarians spending Inspiration to force a Critical Hit or Sunder an enemy weapon or shield, Knights having paladin-like smites but fueled by Inspiration etc.

In my next game, my players will create their background instead of taking the ones for the PHB. Each features given by the Background will be stronger mechanically speaking than the ones in the PBH, but will require spending Inspiration to access it.

 

[Mort]

[MENTION=762]Mort[/MENTION],

In your thread, you require players during character creation to think about why they are working together as a team. In one game they were all Knights of the Silver Flame, in an other, they all worked for a University.

This ‘team creation’ as part of character creation helps players invest in the setting, which in turn, makes downtime activities in the context of that setting more meaningful, with regard to what players might need to do, and how to do it.

I'm going to have to review that, is there more than the UA article for 5e?

I think it might be a great addition to the game

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[Argyle King]

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're asking for in the thread, but I wish the vehicle rules were a little clearer. In the campaign I'm currently in, there is a lot of vehicle combat, and sometimes it leads to a lot of ad hoc rulings during a combat. I'm not necessarily opposed to that, and it is within the spirit of 5E, but it has also lead to a few issues during play.

 

[Rhenny]

I wish I would use "The Rule of Cool" more often...as player and DM. Seriously, I like encouraging players to try cool stuff.

I also echo the inspiration sentiment. No matter how I try, I often forget to award inspiration. I think I'm going to allow players to grant inspiration to the PC they feel deserves it most after each combat and during each short rest. I'll encourage them to take into consideration how PCs contribute both in combat and outside of combat (exploration and interaction).

 

[Blue]

The downtime activities! No matter how much I dangle them in front of my players, they rarely bite.

I'm guilty of this - my players always have something else they want to do, it's hard to get them to all to just take a breather. More my DMing style where there's always half a dozen balls in the air at once as opposed to clean breaks where they can take a bit.

 

[Blue]

Speaking of Inspiration, I think it would have been better if the game had more way to spend Inspiration, forcing player to work hard to power some features. In AiME, many classes use Inspiration as a currency for their powers, like barbarians spending Inspiration to force a Critical Hit or Sunder an enemy weapon or shield, Knights having paladin-like smites but fueled by Inspiration etc.

In my next game, my players will create their background instead of taking the ones for the PHB. Each features given by the Background will be stronger mechanically speaking than the ones in the PBH, but will require spending Inspiration to access it.

I love the idea of additional ways to spend inspiration.

I'm on the fence about backgrounds where you must spend inspiration - I have skills and abilities, or perhaps contacts, but I can only use them when I've been true to myself. That works well for some sorts of background talents, but sounds forced for others. Does my noble only have servants or the rights of hospitality when I spend inspiration? Maybe give them base things, and the inspiration gives a bit more narrative control.

An example:

Outlanders are quickly familiar with terrain and can memorize the lands they travel. They can move at full speed and hunt for themselves plus five others over lands they know, or half speed over other lands.

Spending an inspiration allows them to:

• Find a campsite or natural terrain feature that makes sense in the area but is unusual - a cave behind a waterfall, a hidden campsite under a tripod of glacial rocks, a box canyon, a mountain pass through a chain, an oasis in a desert, etc.
• Provide at full speed while hunting even in unfamiliar terrain.
• Find signs of expected inhabitants and be able to meet up with them. ("See the puffs of smoke to the east? That's the Rakish Hermit we're looking for - they keep bees.")

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I love the idea of additional ways to spend inspiration.

I'm on the fence about backgrounds where you must spend inspiration - I have skills and abilities, or perhaps contacts, but I can only use them when I've been true to myself. That works well for some sorts of background talents, but sounds forced for others. Does my noble only have servants or the rights of hospitality when I spend inspiration? Maybe give them base things, and the inspiration gives a bit more narrative control.

An example:

Outlanders are quickly familiar with terrain and can memorize the lands they travel. They can move at full speed and hunt for themselves plus five others over lands they know, or half speed over other lands.

Spending an inspiration allows them to:

• Find a campsite or natural terrain feature that makes sense in the area but is unusual - a cave behind a waterfall, a hidden campsite under a tripod of glacial rocks, a box canyon, a mountain pass through a chain, an oasis in a desert, etc.
• Provide at full speed while hunting even in unfamiliar terrain.
• Find signs of expected inhabitants and be able to meet up with them. ("See the puffs of smoke to the east? That's the Rakish Hermit we're looking for - they keep bees.")

Exactly. That's why I said that this would require homemade backgrounds with more powerful features to to justify the Inspiration cost. Something like:
Heir of Old Nerath
You are born in a family that can trace back his blood to the noble families that ruled Nerath before its fall to the Gnoll host of the White Ruin
Skill: History, Survival
Item: A book containing your family three, a blason or old banner.
Background Feature: With an ancient warcry long forgotten by most people or the revelation of an old tattered banner, you reveal your heritage. In a social encounter, you can spend Inspiration to cause a stunned silence from the other party, letting you gain the upperhand in the discussion. At the start of a fight, you can spend Inspiration to give Gnolls and other creatures related to the White Ruin the Suprised status.

 

[Azzy]

I also echo the inspiration sentiment. No matter how I try, I often forget to award inspiration.

Same here. I always kept forgetting Inspiration. Next time I DM, I'll have to step up my game.

 

[Mort]

Same here. I always kept forgetting Inspiration. Next time I DM, I'll have to step up my game.

I may just clip a note card with "don't forget inspiration!" in big letters to my DM screen.

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[Charles Rampant]

Totally agree with Inspiration. I never remember enough about my players’ characters to give it out, and so I ask them to just claim it, whenever they do something that ties into their personality traits. Even then, the players rarely remember.

I used to give out magic items with extensive blocks of background and history, as well as custom features, but I’ve now stopped. Since I switched to using dndbeyond, I have to spend a lot less time preparing magic item handouts, but it also takes a lot longer to make a custom one. It’s a shame, although the APs tend to have interestingly custom items anyway.

My thing that I don’t do enough of: interesting monster actions. I’m often guilty of having monsters just run up and do melee attacks, without anything particularly exciting happening. I’ve found that the Volo’s monsters are much better for me on this front, though: they tend to have fun and impressive abilities, even as they just run up and hit the players