D&D 5E Hero Points/Inspiration Mechanic

[CapnZapp]

Clarification: I'm alright with inspiration, just not that it yields advantage.

Bonus actions are straightforward, of course. Problem is how valuable they are in doing novas, damage spikes. The game really doesn't need easier novas. Inspiration doesn't need being reduced to Nova hunting.
The thing you get from Inspiration needs to be desirable enough for people to bother but not strong enough for people to feel compelled to hunt for them. Also, the bonus should enable awesomeness, not merely "slightly out of the ordinary".

One idea is to use movement. Getting you to where you need to be is a great awesome-enabler, if we trust the game to make you awesome all by itself.

Thus, another suggestion:
5) you gain 40" bonus movement and minimum 10 on your next roll (you can replace your roll with "10" after seeing the roll)

The idea is to help you get somewhere where you can be awesome and then curb the whiff factor. While not setting you up for any particular nova. Also: if you have ad or disadvantage, you still have that.

Just an example...

 

[TheDonger]

Clarification: I'm alright with inspiration, just not that it yields advantage.

Bonus actions are straightforward, of course. Problem is how valuable they are in doing novas, damage spikes. The game really doesn't need easier novas. Inspiration doesn't need being reduced to Nova hunting.
The thing you get from Inspiration needs to be desirable enough for people to bother but not strong enough for people to feel compelled to hunt for them. Also, the bonus should enable awesomeness, not merely "slightly out of the ordinary".

One idea is to use movement. Getting you to where you need to be is a great awesome-enabler, if we trust the game to make you awesome all by itself.

Thus, another suggestion:
5) you gain 40" bonus movement and minimum 10 on your next roll (you can replace your roll with "10" after seeing the roll)

The idea is to help you get somewhere where you can be awesome and then curb the whiff factor. While not setting you up for any particular nova. Also: if you have ad or disadvantage, you still have that.

Just an example...

You raise a good point about Inspiration giving rise to "novas." I can see the smart PCs saving their Inspiration/Hero point or whatever advantage mechanic for the last encounter, leading to multiple advantageous rolls just laying waste to the big boss.

 

[GMMichael]

Im wondering whether multiple Inspiration will unfairly skew encounter balance too much in favor of PCs.

That's a pretty simple matter: how many rolls do you expect each PC to make over the course of the encounter? 10, including a couple saves? Then 2-3 Inspirations aren't exactly unbalancing.

Remember that Advantage is the new situational modifier. You can gain it just by standing on a table if your opponent is on the floor. It's not Auto-Nova.

I use hero points as rechargeable rewards for good roleplaying. There are some details here under rules R120 and R121:
https://modos-rpg.obsidianportal.com/wikis/character-module