D&D 5E How I'm Managing Inspiration

[Jester David]

I ordered a handful of giant d20s. They're 3.5cm wide (couple inches).
When someone gains inspiration, I'll hand them a die. So when they decide to spend their inspiration for advantage, they can just roll the die.

 

[KarinsDad]

Good idea. I just hand out these green tokens that we've had for a while. They are about twice the diameter of a normal D20, so they are easy to spot.

 

[GMMichael]

So, you don't suffer from the problem of forgetting to award inspiration? That's the biggie, to me.

 

[KarinsDad]

So, you don't suffer from the problem of forgetting to award inspiration? That's the biggie, to me.

Yeah, I have that problem too.

 

[MortalPlague]

So, you don't suffer from the problem of forgetting to award inspiration? That's the biggie, to me.

Likewise. I'm making a concerted effort to try and remember to award it, or to prompt DMs in the games where I'm a player. Nicely prompt, of course.

 

[Jester David]

So, you don't suffer from the problem of forgetting to award inspiration? That's the biggie, to me.

I'm hoping the dice sitting in front of me and behind the screen wil also remind me.
Plus, I like to "compel" personality traits, bribing people with inspiration.

 

[fjw70]

That's a good idea. I will have to get some new dice.

 

[Nemio]

I've DM'd 2 session and always forgot to award Inspiration.

At first thought I only wanted to award it when they played out a negative part of their character which gave them a disadvantage in the game.
My players aren't big roleplayers so I was wondering if I should award it in even more cases to encourage them.

For example my sister's character has a trait that she is often fiddling with things and dropping them by accident.
She picked up an axe that was on display in a weapons shop and dropped it.

Is this something that deserves Inspiration or not?
I want to be careful so that it's not easily exploited afterwards.

 

[Paraxis]

I was thinking about how want to incorporate the characters ideals, flaws, and bonds into the sessions more and therefore give more opportunities to hand out inspiration. The idea I have decided to try out is a traits deck. I will make a trading card for each of the characters ideals, flaws, or bonds, so three per player thats 15-18 cards each for my two current games. Then before each scene or encounter I will draw a card (maybe two once I get the hang of it) and do my best to incorporate that trait into the scene.

You could use any number of card generators online for M:TG or similar games but I like this one a savage world fan made for use with that game. http://www.geeksville.us/swcard.php

Here is an example card of what I am talking about.


The players won't ever need to see or interact with them, it is just a way for me to remember to play to those things in the game and cards randomizes it up. I guess you could do the same thing with just making a list of them and rolling a d20, but with the cards you could keep a used pile and only add them back in when the session is done.

Not to suggest that other traits couldn't come up in the scene just a way to try and remember hey this scene let's give Redgar a chance to do something for the greater good if possible.

 

[Bupp]

I also got dice to represent Inspiration.

So far for handing it out, my players aren't strong role players, so I've been giving it out at the beginning of each session. They are starting to pick up role playing a bit better, since I keep threatening to withhold the inspiration unless they played their bonds, flaws and traits. I got them hooked on having it, now they want to keep getting it.

First taste is free.

 

[GMMichael]

For example my sister's character has a trait that she is often fiddling with things and dropping them by accident.
She picked up an axe that was on display in a weapons shop and dropped it.

Is this something that deserves Inspiration or not?

Short answer: yes. Everything deserves inspiration! The main reason is that characters get only one inspiration at a time, so why the heck not? I believe they can award it to their comrades as well, which means that if your PC has inspiration, he can save you the trouble and remember to award it to his buddy.

For the record, it's pretty cool that your PC goes around dropping stuff (and remembering to roleplay it) all the time.

You have to be more careful when you start to realize that PCs are getting and using inspiration on just about every check they make. Only then do you say, "okay, maybe I'm being to liberal with the inspiration." That's when you use this criterion:

Did the PC just do something harmful to his character or character goals, yet is inline with what his character would do?

 

[chibi graz'zt]

I use campaign coins, specifically these ones

 

[Paraxis]

Those campaign coins are very cool looking. I found the product page on the paizo site and made a token to use on roll20 using the image thanks for showing these to me.

 

[Rhenny]

I love the big d20s!

At first I kept forgetting about awarding inspiration, but I kept a sign out reminding me to award it, and that helped. In the ideal game session, I want inspiration to flow so I am in the process of training myself to be less stingy. When the players use inspiration it adds excitement to the game so I don't mind if they use one every encounter. Once the players get the feeling that more inspiration will come their way, they loosen up too and they act in character more and take more risks. It's exciting.

 

[chibi graz'zt]

You are welcome, for anyone interested, here is the link: http://paizo.com/products/btpy99tg?d20-Crits-or-Fails-Coin-Gold

You can order them in packs of 10. Since I started using these I am more mindful to award inspiration. Soon I'll experiment with players awarding Inspiration to each other. I think its one of my favorite mechanics of 5e.

 

[Morrus]

I have a set of special inspiration dice, too.

As for forgetting, I use the option in the DMG where the players award it to each other. Works great!

 

[Jester David]

View attachment 66981 I use campaign coins, specifically these ones

Those are a pretty cool alternative.

 

[KarinsDad]

Short answer: yes. Everything deserves inspiration! The main reason is that characters get only one inspiration at a time, so why the heck not? I believe they can award it to their comrades as well, which means that if your PC has inspiration, he can save you the trouble and remember to award it to his buddy.

For the record, it's pretty cool that your PC goes around dropping stuff (and remembering to roleplay it) all the time.

You have to be more careful when you start to realize that PCs are getting and using inspiration on just about every check they make. Only then do you say, "okay, maybe I'm being to liberal with the inspiration." That's when you use this criterion:

Did the PC just do something harmful to his character or character goals, yet is inline with what his character would do?

Actually, I would be hesitant to hand out an inspiration every time a player roleplayed his PC dropping something.

Inspiration should be for something, well, inspirational in the game. Not for something pedestrian.

I tend to hand out inspiration if the player stays in character and the result of his or her doing so results in laughs at the table. I don't just hand it out (for example) to my wife for her halfling PC talking in her high pitched voice. I do hand it out to my wife if her halfling PC talking in her high pitched voice does something that gets the table rolling.

Effectively, I reward fun. Doing so encourages more fun.


I also do not hand out an inspiration to each PC at the start of every session. I dislike the entire "get out of jail once free" cards. It makes it feel like I'm playing a board game. I want players to earn the inspirations with their inspiring and fun roleplaying and PC actions. Handing it out for free makes it too cheap.

 

[KarinsDad]

Those campaign coins are very cool looking. I found the product page on the paizo site and made a token to use on roll20 using the image thanks for showing these to me.

View attachment 66987

That's a cool idea.

I can paste that image to our plastic inspiration tokens.

 

[GMMichael]

I tend to hand out inspiration if the player stays in character and the result of his or her doing so results in laughs at the table. I don't just hand it out (for example) to my wife for her halfling PC talking in her high pitched voice. I do hand it out to my wife if her halfling PC talking in her high pitched voice does something that gets the table rolling.

I also do not hand out an inspiration to each PC at the start of every session. I dislike the entire "get out of jail once free" cards.

To each table its own. Rule zero, and everything.

But I find that my tables laugh too much, so there's no way that I would award inspiration for . Only these .

Also, D&D 5 threw several pages of bonus charts out the window. Adv/dis is the reason for that. So I wouldn't consider inspiration to be like "get out of jail free." Its more like "thank goodness I don't have to add d20+2+3+2+4-2-2."