D&D (2024) The new ONE inspiration rules really screw Halflings

[Swarmkeeper]

"Whenever a player character rolls a 1 for a d20 Test, that character gains Heroic Inspiration."

"When you have Heroic Inspiration (also called Inspiration), you can expend it to give yourself Advantage on a d20 Test. You decide to do so
immediately after rolling the d20."

"A player character gains Heroic Inspiration if the character rolls a 1 for a d20 Test. That 1 must be on the d20 used for the test’s total, not on a d20 that was rerolled or discarded."

So what these lines mean is any time anyone rolls a 1 on a d20 test they get Heroic Inspiration.

Yes

The second line specifies how you can use that hero to reroll on a future test. So every time someone rolls a 1 they will get to reroll on a future roll, presumably their next failure. After the reroll they will use the highest die.

Yes - and, coincidentally, a popular house rule for how many 5e tables currently run it (of those that actually use Inspiration in 5e, that is).

Sure the Halfling has the choice of keeping the 1 and getting inspiration, but that is a horrible choice. It means one of his racial traits basically gets him no additional benefit other than choosing to use it now or later.

A valid concern. However, I personally don't think it is as bleak as you are making it out to be. There may be many situations where the tradeoff is a decent one - getting a second chance to succeed at a save to take half damage to stay in the fight instead of full damage that takes you to zero HP, as just one example. Sounds like a potential benefit to me.

At the end of the day, though, I'd be perfectly fine with the Halfling getting their HI and being able to reroll for their Halfling Lucky trait as @aco175 mentions above. And for those 1 in 400 times they roll two 1s? Double HI --> Chef's kiss.

 

[Baumi]

Funny, I actually written that in the survey
Also what happens with Rogues who count the 1 as a 10 for Skill Rolls?

Anyway I would personlay just give Halflings Inspiration on a rolled 1, even though they will reroll that Dice with Lucky.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yes


Yes - and, coincidentally, a popular house rule for how many 5e tables currently run it (of those that actually use Inspiration in 5e, that is).


A valid concern. However, I personally don't think it is as bleak as you are making it out to be. There may be many situations where the tradeoff is a decent one - getting a second chance to succeed at a save to take half damage to stay in the fight instead of full damage that takes you to zero HP, as just one example. Sounds like a potential benefit to me.

It’s still a benefit, yes, but a less significant one compared to previous iterations of inspiration. Considering that halflings were already a bit behind the curve for 5e races and 1D&D halflings also lost their ability to hide behind medium and larger creatures, or their poison resistance and only got stealth proficiency in exchange, downgrading Lucky leaves them extremely poor in the race features department. They’re in need of a significant buff regardless, but especially if inspiration on a natural 1 stays.

 

[CleverNickName]

Came here to say what @Swarmkeeper said: halflings don't have to reroll if they don't want to. Halflings have the option of choosing inspiration or a reroll, but can rarely get both.

 

[Knight_Marshal]

The roll of 1 has happened. Is there anything in there that states that if you can reroll that you don't get inspiration?

It seems to me that a Halfling would get inspiration for rolling a 1, then Halfling Luck kicks in allowing a reroll.

 

[CleverNickName]

The roll of 1 has happened. Is there anything in there that states that if you can reroll that you don't get inspiration?

It seems to me that a Halfling would get inspiration for rolling a 1, then Halfling Luck kicks in allowing a reroll.

Hm.

That's a good point.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The roll of 1 has happened. Is there anything in there that states that if you can reroll that you don't get inspiration?

It seems to me that a Halfling would get inspiration for rolling a 1, then Halfling Luck kicks in allowing a reroll.

Yeah seems like Specific > General to me. Halflings get both. Simple, straightforward, doesn't break anything, and doesn't cheat Halflings.

 

[tetrasodium]

Oh yes, give them the ability to consume a humanoid heart to gain heroic inspiration.

My initial reaction was to giggle at this but I think it works really well for the various deloped halflings.

• Athas style: stopping with just the heart must indicate a recent overly large meal
• Eberron Boromir style. Everyone knows what happens to people who can't pay their loanshark and who the protection racket is really protecting from, they just know not to say the quiet part out loud before looking down.
• Eberron's blade desert dinosaur riding style.. Notably more restrained than athas style but no reason they might not enjoy strengthening their bond with a powerful meal on occasion
• Fr style.. Are you kidding me? We all know what they did to the Kender (who totally deserved a killing) but it only takes a few rumors of those little demons tearing into a bandit's chest mid fight from newbie adventurers & escorted merchants uttering shivered whispers about the dread of seeing that bloody little face. It's no wonder their villages are secluded isolated & avoided even more than lizard man villages, there's a difference between eating "talking meat" with a very different body structure when food is scarce and those little nightmare fuel uncanny valley.... Sweet sweet souls not to be crossed

 

[ECMO3]

Inspiration points melt after a rest iirc. Those other races need to burn that inspiration before taking a rest or they are back where they started.

Frankly I think 5.5/6e needs to do away with having 47 ways to reroll a & d20 but this doesn't seem to be the problem it's being made out to be. Maybe instead of Tolkien's hobbit "luck" the new halflings will draw something original to d&d from Athss or eberron where halflings are fairly distinct in interesting ways.

In our playtest we have played 5 levels (1-5) using the new (1) inspiration rules, we played a different campaign for 15 levels using the first ONE (20) inspiration rules.

Each character is averaging more than 1 inspiration every two combats and several per day. The long rest thing is not a big deal, it is almost irrelevant. Sure we have been left with an unused inspiration here and there but they are so common we are usually using them on the very next failed check.

The halfling has only played for 2 of those levels (4-5) but she has not gained a single inspiration yet. Other players have had I guess 20 or so in that time.

The Halfling problem aside we have found both of the new versions (20 and 1) of inspiration to be awful. The new 1 is worse IME because it is a reroll mechanic, so you use it when you fail. At least with the first playtest there was some strategy involved in using it because you used it to give advantage before you rolled and knew you failed (or at least that is how we played it).

It is important to note that we used legacy 5E races, classes and subclasses in both of these campaigns.

To be honest I wish they would just get rid of inspiration all together.

 

[ECMO3]

The roll of 1 has happened. Is there anything in there that states that if you can reroll that you don't get inspiration?

Yes in the rules there is:

"A player character gains Heroic Inspiration if the character rolls a 1 for a d20 Test. That 1 must be on the d20 used for the test’s total, not on a d20 that was rerolled or discarded."

I realize how silly it is to quote RAW on UA.