Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6847630" data-attributes="member: 97077">It's clear that you're doing this for a good reason, so I wouldn't consider it abuse. But perhaps there are other solutions your entire table might prefer.Let's start with Inspiration. At my table, players claim Inspiration rather than wait to be awarded Inspiration by the DM. What this means is that if the player plays to the character's established personality trait, ideal, bond, or flaw (see Backgrounds), then they say "I'm claiming Inspiration for X..." where X is the personality trait, ideal, bond, or flaw that was just demonstrated. Players can do this as much as they like with the only restriction being they cannot use the same personality trait, ideal, bond, or flaw to claim Inspiration twice in a row. So for example, if the player demonstrates the character's personality trait during play and claims Inspiration for it, he or she must then play to the character's ideal, bond, or flaw before using the personality trait to claim Inspiration again. Inspiration, of course, allows the players to choose to roll with advantage. So what you end up with here are players roleplaying according to established traits in exchange for being able to roll some dice with advantage. That works for everybody.Next, consider the Hero Points option in the DMG. In my current game, I tie these to Achievements the players can earn both in character creation and during play at a ratio of one-to-one. Spending a hero point means the player adds 1d6 to any d20 roll, even after the fact. The reason I tie them to Achievements is so players strive to do the things we think play to the spirit of the campaign. I'll give you some examples from a recent adventure in the spoiler block.[sblock]General Achievements:Action HeroYou have expended all of your hero points.Inspiring HeroYou have earned and spent Inspiration more than twice.Actually Useful BackstoryYou used your background feature to achieve a goal.The ScribeYou took notes for the group.Scenario-Specific AchievementsFirst ResponderYou saved 12 or more commoners during the caravan escape scene.Party AnimalYou chose to Carouse during your downtime. It's Wildnight, baby!Protector of House MedaniYou prevented Baron Trelib d'Medani from dying in the lightning rail collision and rescued Zalina d'Medani from Dick Barrage's clutches.Bounty HunterAll of the escaped prisoners have been captured or killed as a result of your efforts.Villain's MenaceDick Barrage has been captured or killed as a result of your efforts.[/sblock]Finally, it's always a good idea to examine your approach as DM to see if the issue isn't being caused by something you are doing. If you are calling for too many checks, then failure might be coming up an awful lot. (Success, too, because bell curve, but perhaps people are focusing on failure more than success.) So I recommend reading DMG pages 236-237 to identify what approach you follow and see what drawbacks if any there are. I recommend using "The Middle Path" as the approach to adjudication.</blockquote>

Verification