D&D 5E Question on rage/rolls

[GaitsuLore]

Long story short, one of the pc has a grudge against Orcs, having watched their parents be murdered by them. They are not a Barbarian, and the player tends to always take the cautious approach. I would like to enact a roll from them to see if they keep from going into a rage when they see an Orc, but as far as I've looked, I can't find what type of a roll that would be.

I'm thinking Con, but am not sure. Any help on the matter would be helpful.

 

[jaelis]

There’s nothing in the rules about this. But it sounds like a wisdom save would be appropriate.

Many players don’t much like it when you take away control of their characters. I might be cautious.

 

[Imaculata]

Long story short, one of the pc has a grudge against Orcs, having watched their parents be murdered by them. They are not a Barbarian, and the player tends to always take the cautious approach. I would like to enact a roll from them to see if they keep from going into a rage when they see an Orc, but as far as I've looked, I can't find what type of a roll that would be.

I'm thinking Con, but am not sure. Any help on the matter would be helpful.

How about just letting them role play it themselves?

 

[GaitsuLore]

There’s nothing in the rules about this. But it sounds like a wisdom save would be appropriate.

Many players don’t much like it when you take away control of their characters. I might be cautious.

Thank you for the input. I wouldn't really be taking away the players control of their character, just giving them an outlet to try something they might not normally think of, though i will be careful and gauge the situation and reaction.

 

[GaitsuLore]

How about just letting them role play it themselves?

I guess i'm confused what you mean.

If you mean, tell them my idea, and see if they want to roll with it, that could work, i'm just worried that given the choice prior to it becoming relevant, they may choose to play it 'safe'. When i asked what they were looking for out of the campaign, they said they wanted to expand into unknown territory, and i'm just trying to think of ways to help with that.

IF you are insinuating i'm attempting to remover the players free choice to further my own story plots, then I'm sorry, but you are ill informed. The campaign as a whole has small plot points for different areas, which they can or cannot interact with at their own choice, I'm talking about plot designs for their characters that they have shared and asked to be worked into the world in question. I am simply trying to offer experiences for each player that corresponds with the back story that they came up with for themselves.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Long story short, one of the pc has a grudge against Orcs, having watched their parents be murdered by them. They are not a Barbarian, and the player tends to always take the cautious approach. I would like to enact a roll from them to see if they keep from going into a rage when they see an Orc, but as far as I've looked, I can't find what type of a roll that would be.

I'm thinking Con, but am not sure. Any help on the matter would be helpful.

Are you using the Traits, Ideals, Bonds & Flaws system? Because what you are describing for this character is a perfect Flaw. "I go blind with rage when I see an orc." is a wonderful Flaw to have.

At this point if the PC sees an orc you don't need to roll a die to see if they go berserk... you just tell the player that you'll give them Inspiration if they do lose control. The player then can decide if they want to take the bennie in exchange for letting their character get into a bit of trouble. That's really the whole point of the Inspiration system... to give players a reward for letting themselves get into trouble. Getting into trouble can be fun, and it can take the story in all manner of directions.

So offer them a reward of Inspiration if they let themselves lose it in the orc's presence. Because then you aren't forcing them do it... they get to decide for themselves whether they want to (because they don't have to take the Inspiration if they don't want to lose control at that point in time.)

 

[Imaculata]

I guess i'm confused what you mean.

Can't the player decide for themselves if the situation causes them to fly into a rage? Why would you need a die roll for that?

 

[GaitsuLore]

Are you using the Traits, Ideals, Bonds & Flaws system? Because what you are describing for this character is a perfect Flaw. "I go blind with rage when I see an orc." is a wonderful Flaw to have.

At this point if the PC sees an orc you don't need to roll a die to see if they go berserk... you just tell the player that you'll give them Inspiration if they do lose control. The player then can decide if they want to take the bennie in exchange for letting their character get into a bit of trouble. That's really the whole point of the Inspiration system... to give players a reward for letting themselves get into trouble. Getting into trouble can be fun, and it can take the story in all manner of directions.

So offer them a reward of Inspiration if they let themselves lose it in the orc's presence. Because then you aren't forcing them do it... they get to decide for themselves whether they want to (because they don't have to take the Inspiration if they don't want to lose control at that point in time.)

Let me ask a very noob question, how does inspiration work?

All i've read about inspiration so far is that the gm decides if it's a part of their game or not, but haven't really had a chance to get into it to much, as i was helping the 3 who haven't played yet with their character sheet.

 

[GaitsuLore]

Can't the player decide for themselves if the situation causes them to fly into a rage? Why would you need a die roll for that?

I'll try to explain my reasoning as clearly as possible.

The character usually approaches things with caution, often with more hesitation than is really needed (Three turns of successful perception checks in the same room to make sure no-one is going to just turn around and deck her). When it comes to orcs, who she knows killed her parents, she might fly off the handle seeing as she has been training for revenge ever since. What I'm trying to do is find a dice roll for her to resist the rage building up, in the event that she doesn't want to rage, not to see if she can go into a rage.

Aside from the odd situation, she's also playing a Monk, who doesn't have the Rage ability, so it's a conditional 'skill'.

Hope that explained where my head is at.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Let me ask a very noob question, how does inspiration work?

All i've read about inspiration so far is that the gm decides if it's a part of their game or not, but haven't really had a chance to get into it to much, as i was helping the 3 who haven't played yet with their character sheet.

Here's what it says in the Basic Rules regarding inspiration:

*****

INSPIRATION

Inspiration is a rule the Dungeon Master can use to reward you for playing your character in a way that's true to his or her personality traits, ideal, bond, and flaw. By using inspiration, you can draw on your personality trait of compassion for the downtrodden to give you an edge in negotiating with the Beggar Prince. Or inspiration can let you call on your bond to the defense of your home village to push past the effect of a spell that has been laid on you.

GAINING INSPIRATION

Your DM can choose to give you inspiration for a variety of reasons. Typically, DMs award it when you play out your personality traits, give in to the drawbacks presented by a flaw or bond, and otherwise portray your character in a compelling way. Your DM will tell you how you can earn inspiration in the game. You either have inspiration or you don't-- you can't stockpile multiple "inspirations" for later use.

USING INSPIRATION

If you have inspiration, you can expend it when you make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check. spending your inspiration gives you Advantage on that roll. Additionally, if you have inspiration, you can reward another player for good roleplaying, clever thinking, or simply doing something exciting in the game. When another player does something that really contributes to the story in a fun and interesting way, you can give up your inspiration to give that character inspiration.

*****

Basically, if you as the DM decides to use the Inspiration system, each player selects (or creates) one or more Personality Traits, an Ideal, a Bond, and a Flaw to help flesh out their character. They help define who this PC is, what is important to them, what they believe in, how they behave, and what things make them act poorly. Then throughout the course of the game, you as the DM can give the player Inspiration (I personally use poker chips) if they play their PC in a way that matches their traits, ideal, bond or flaw. You can also oftentimes offer Inspiration to the player if they could act in a way that is emblematic of one of their more problematic or issue-creating traits... in order to create drama and interesting new twists in the story. The player doesn't have to accept it... but it can be fun if they do and they get a small reward for it.

The Personality And Background chapter in the Player's Handbook talk about Inspiration more in depth, and also give many examples players can select from based on their backgrounds on the various traits, ideals, bonds and flaws. And if you want even more details on the kind of depth you can get from this kind of system... D&D inspiration system is influenced heavily from the roleplaying game FATE. If you go check out the FATE system reference document website:

https://fate-srd.com/fate-core/basics

...it goes all into Aspects and how they help create your character's personality and can drive the game. You might even find some of the ways FATE does their system to be more interesting and compelling that the Inspiration method in the PHB. I believe my "offering" of Inspiration example above is more in line with FATE than the D&D's system (as it talks about Compels of a character's aspects.)

For new players to roleplaying, or even just players who've never really thought about creating personalities for their characters (with wants, needs, and desires)... using Inspiration is a nice little way to reward players for doing so.