D&D General Just Eat the Dang Fruit

[Micah Sweet]

Great. Would it bother you that a player's decision to eat that fruit was based on wanting to earn Inspiration for portraying a flaw? That's certainly a "metagame" consideration.

If that doesn't bother you, what do you think the difference is between not eating the fruit due to seeing someone need to make a saving throw versus eating the fruit so you can earn Inspiration? The former is avoiding potential danger and the latter is trying to earn a resource.

I have literally never seen a PC portray a flaw in order to earn Inspiration, in nine years of playing and running 5e, so I honestly don't know how I would react.

In a more narrative-focused game, were I to run such a thing, I likely would not have the same reaction as I would in D&D, since concerns out the setting are part of the design to my understanding.

 

[iserith]

I have literally never seen a PC portray a flaw in order to earn Inspiration, in nine years of playing and running 5e, so I honestly don't know how I would react.

In a more narrative-focused game, were I to run such a thing, I likely would not have the same reaction as I would in D&D, since concerns out the setting are part of the design to my understanding.

Do you not use Inspiration at all in your D&D 5e games?

Do you see any differences between those two instances of "metagaming" though? Acting to avoid danger due to seeing a saving throw versus acting to get into danger to earn Inspiration? Are they both "bad" from your point of view? Is one "good" and one "bad?" Why or why not?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Do you not use Inspiration at all in your D&D 5e games?

Do you see any differences between those two instances of "metagaming" though? Acting to avoid danger due to seeing a saving throw versus acting to get into danger to earn Inspiration? Are they both "bad" from your point of view? Is one "good" and one "bad?" Why or why not?

People in my games get Inspiration when they do or say something the group thinks is cool. We never used the personality traits in the PH.

Both instances of metagaming you describe above are IMO the province of narrative-focused games. I rarely play that way, and never in D&D.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Fellas, is playing your character metagaming?

 

[iserith]

People in my games get Inspiration when they do or say something the group thinks is cool. We never used the personality traits in the PH.

Both instances of metagaming you describe above are IMO the province of narrative-focused games. I rarely play that way, and never in D&D.

So we agree that they are both instances of "metagaming." Are you asserting that in your view they are both "bad" in the context of D&D?

 

[Mort]

Fellas, is playing your character metagaming?

Only if it's playing your character in a way the DM doesn't like.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Only if it's playing your character in a way the DM doesn't like.

You're right. That's all it is. Apparently I'm just a jerk.

Edit: I'm sorry, this sort of either/or reductive mentality really irritates me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So we agree that they are both instances of "metagaming." Are you asserting that in your view they are both "bad" in the context of D&D?

In the context of D&D I don't want either, yes.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think the DM could have handled it a little better by waiting a round before calling for checks from anyone who ate the fruit. This would have helped illicit a more true character response.

I think if the DM cared about the response they illicited being “true to character,” that would indeed be the better way to handle the situation. But since @iserith has now stated that he knows the DM in question doesn’t care about metagaming, I think it’s clear that wasn’t a factor for him.

 

[Xamnam]

I have literally never seen a PC portray a flaw in order to earn Inspiration, in nine years of playing and running 5e, so I honestly don't know how I would react.

Oh, wow. That's a bummer, it can generate some very fun, cool, surprising moments.