Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Case for Inspiration
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 7392598" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>I am still not sold on Inspiration. </p><p></p><p>For me the problem is not that it depends on the DM (and I would argue that it still does even with this self-claimed variant), bu rather these:</p><p></p><p>- it grants advantage, which is statistically powerful but also boring: there's already many sources of advantage in the game, if you grant inspiration too frequently then you get advantage more often than not, if you grant it scarcely then the benefit is underwhelming </p><p></p><p>- it's too easy to roleplay with some personality traits. A player could come up with a trait like "I absolutely delight in combat", what are you then going to do, grant inspiration once per encounter? If players know that it's only a matter of roleplay to earn advantage, it can become devastately annoying... think of what a PC with the Entertainer background and trait "I get bitter if I'm not the center of attention." can do to your game! And that is the same whether you grant inspiration easily (the player will use advantage immediately and try again all the time) or only on really good roleplay (the player will still try all the time in hope of scoring)</p><p></p><p>The phenomenon is not dissimilar to granting XP for roleplay. It can get very annoying quickly. </p><p></p><p>The only situation when IMO it really works well is when you grant inspiration as a reward for roleplaying the trait or flaw in a way that actually leads to paying a price. For example, a PC gives away her treasure to the poor, or lets a prisoner escape out of pity, or loses temper and starts a fight they should not. But it must be clear that the player is aware she is making a wrong decision tactically, and does so because it is believed it would be very much in-character. That to me is a good way to use inspiration, since it's a trade-off between a more convenient decision and a compensation, for the sake of the story.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 7392598, member: 1465"] I am still not sold on Inspiration. For me the problem is not that it depends on the DM (and I would argue that it still does even with this self-claimed variant), bu rather these: - it grants advantage, which is statistically powerful but also boring: there's already many sources of advantage in the game, if you grant inspiration too frequently then you get advantage more often than not, if you grant it scarcely then the benefit is underwhelming - it's too easy to roleplay with some personality traits. A player could come up with a trait like "I absolutely delight in combat", what are you then going to do, grant inspiration once per encounter? If players know that it's only a matter of roleplay to earn advantage, it can become devastately annoying... think of what a PC with the Entertainer background and trait "I get bitter if I'm not the center of attention." can do to your game! And that is the same whether you grant inspiration easily (the player will use advantage immediately and try again all the time) or only on really good roleplay (the player will still try all the time in hope of scoring) The phenomenon is not dissimilar to granting XP for roleplay. It can get very annoying quickly. The only situation when IMO it really works well is when you grant inspiration as a reward for roleplaying the trait or flaw in a way that actually leads to paying a price. For example, a PC gives away her treasure to the poor, or lets a prisoner escape out of pity, or loses temper and starts a fight they should not. But it must be clear that the player is aware she is making a wrong decision tactically, and does so because it is believed it would be very much in-character. That to me is a good way to use inspiration, since it's a trade-off between a more convenient decision and a compensation, for the sake of the story. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Case for Inspiration
Top