D&D (2024) How Would You Make Inspiration More Used?

[Lojaan]

I would detangle inspiration from advantage. Advantage is near over used as it is.

I would say inspiration means you can get, give or force a reroll. Any dice. Any time. You can use it yourself, give it to someone else, or force the DM to reroll.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I would detangle inspiration from advantage. Advantage is near over used as it is.

I would say inspiration means you can get, give or force a reroll. Any dice. Any time. You can use it yourself, give it to someone else, or force the DM to reroll.

I'll add (again) that I would love to see each class get one signature ability that is powered by Inspiration.

 

[Clint_L]

I would detangle inspiration from advantage. Advantage is near over used as it is.

I would say inspiration means you can get, give or force a reroll. Any dice. Any time. You can use it yourself, give it to someone else, or force the DM to reroll.

I would really object to anything that gets in the way of critical successes and failures as I think those are essential to the story and often generate the most excitement. This sounds like giving everyone "Lucky" all the time, which is a feat I already detest.

 

[Puddles]

After letting it sit with me for a few days, I think I can say I don’t like the introduction of a natural 20 gaining inspiration.

I do think it will result in inspiration getting used more, but I think “how do we get inspiration to be used more?” is actually a flawed premise to begin with.

For me, Inspiration had a very specific role of being a tool that allowed the DM to encourage the sort of behaviour they wanted to see. It was Pavlov’s Bell. Players do something you like, ring the bell, give them inspiration.

Moving Inspiration to something that is granted outside of the DM’s discretion removes that role, or erodes it. It reduces it to a little buff that is now dealt at random.

I liked the current iteration. I awarded it for anything the players did that was exceptionally cool or played into their bonds, ideals, flaws. I also used it to award it at the start of each session to the player who recapped the last.

I understand the overwhelming consensus is it needs to be changed, so if that’s the case I would push back on simply trying to get it “used” more, and instead ask, “if Inspiration is a tool for the DM to encourage the behaviour they want, is there something more compelling than just giving advantage?”

 

[payn]

After letting it sit with me for a few days, I think I can say I don’t like the introduction of a natural 20 gaining inspiration.

I do think it will result in inspiration getting used more, but I think “how do we get inspiration to be used more?” is actually a flawed premise to begin with.

For me, Inspiration had a very specific role of being a tool that allowed the DM to encourage the sort of behaviour they wanted to see. It was Pavlov’s Bell. Players do something you like, ring the bell, give them inspiration.

I have been cross with a few folks on this subject over the years. I find the GM leading the players by the nose to be anathema to role playing. It's the main reason I use milestone instead of awarding XP. I want the players to engage the narrative and setting how they see fit, and not by how the GM desires it. I understand the game part of the RPG and how a singular purpose might facilitate play, but I want to explore beyond such boundaries when I play.

Moving Inspiration to something that is granted outside of the DM’s discretion removes that role, or erodes it. It reduces it to a little buff that is now dealt at random.

Sounds like a feature from my perspective. On more thing off the GMs plate and onto the ruleset.

I liked the current iteration. I awarded it for anything the players did that was exceptionally cool or played into their bonds, ideals, flaws. I also used it to award it at the start of each session to the player who recapped the last.

I understand the overwhelming consensus is it needs to be changed, so if that’s the case I would push back on simply trying to get it “used” more, and instead ask, “if Inspiration is a tool for the DM to encourage the behaviour they want, is there something more compelling than just giving advantage?”

Again, I think this is a bad precedent telling GMs they should use carrots and sticks on their players to drive desired outcomes. I think genre conventions and organic play should drive how the players behave. YMMV. Either way, I think the mechanic is pretty easy to ignore for folks who dont like it or see the value, so its not too impactful overall.

 

[Puddles]

I have been cross with a few folks on this subject over the years. I find the GM leading the players by the nose to be anathema to role playing. It's the main reason I use milestone instead of awarding XP. I want the players to engage the narrative and setting how they see fit, and not by how the GM desires it. I understand the game part of the RPG and how a singular purpose might facilitate play, but I want to explore beyond such boundaries when I play.

Sounds like a feature from my perspective. On more thing off the GMs plate and onto the ruleset.

Again, I think this is a bad precedent telling GMs they should use carrots and sticks on their players to drive desired outcomes. I think genre conventions and organic play should drive how the players behave. YMMV. Either way, I think the mechanic is pretty easy to ignore for folks who dont like it or see the value, so its not too impactful overall.

Interesting counter points to think on. I do think you are attaching too much to what I meant when I said shaping player’s behaviour. The things I want are very broad and align with ‘for the good of the game’. Stuff like: doing things that are cool, behaving in ways that align with your bond, ideals and flaws, resolving parts of your backstory, helping to make the world feel real, making sacrifices for the good of the party, playing in the spirit of the game, etc. It’s meant to be all carrots, no sticks.

 

[payn]

Interesting counter points to think on. I do think you are attaching too much to what I meant when I said shaping player’s behaviour. The things I want are very broad and align with ‘for the good of the game’. Stuff like: doing things that are cool, behaving in ways that align with your bond, ideals and flaws, resolving parts of your backstory, helping to make the world feel real, making sacrifices for the good of the party, playing in the spirit of the game, etc. It’s meant to be all carrots, no sticks.

I figured as much. Certain players I have found in practice, only pursue carrots. Anything that doesn't give a carrot, is not worth doing. The more tangible that idea is, the more one note their character and play becomes. I wholeheartedly want to promote heroic play and cool sway, I just dont want repetition that sometimes comes with these mechanics.

 

[Puddles]

I figured as much. Certain players I have found in practice, only pursue carrots. Anything that doesn't give a carrot, is not worth doing. The more tangible that idea is, the more one note their character and play becomes. I wholeheartedly want to promote heroic play and cool sway, I just dont want repetition that sometimes comes with these mechanics.

Maybe you could try giving said player inspiration when they do something that isn’t so one note?

 

[payn]

Maybe you could try giving said player inspiration when they do something that isn’t so one note?

Right? I guess I dont want them to think about performing for me, and just playing their character for them.

 

[Lojaan]

I would really object to anything that gets in the way of critical successes and failures as I think those are essential to the story and often generate the most excitement. This sounds like giving everyone "Lucky" all the time, which is a feat I already detest.

I kinda agree with you. If I implemented this it would have to be in tandem with a system that made inspiration difficult to get so you are looking at maybe only one player having it at any time.

I was going for more impact, but you correctly pointed out that unless that is paired with greater rarity then you can lose some of the excitement that makes the game fun.