I’ve been thinking about Heroic Inspiration and how strong it is as a mechanic, and considering whether there’s a way to really lean into leveraging it. This is a full-party build, not an individual one, but I think it’s very flavorful and potentially pretty useful.
Have you ever been to a really good party, one where the vibes are just excellent, where everybody’s laughing at your jokes, where the event seems momentous, where you look up at the clock and it’s 3am and you just can’t imagine where the time went? What if your adventuring party could feel like that all the time?
The Party Party
Conceit is simple - a normal-sized adventuring party of 4-6 people, where one Human member takes the Musician origin feat, and everyone (including the musician) takes the Tireless Reveler origin feat. So everyone starts out every day with Heroic Inspiration, which they can use completely freely, and then every time any party member uses it subsequently, everyone who doesn’t have their currently 'charged' can recharge it. Then the whole process starts over on Short Rest.
For example, a 5-person, 5th level adventuring party with a +3PB could guarantee TWENTY GROUP USES of Heroic Inspiration per Short Rest!
Recall that Heroic Inspiration is not Advantage; it is (almost always*) way better. Unlike Advantage, you get to see the results of your roll before you decide whether to expend resources; this is a substantial benefit. Furthermore, because Heroic Advantage is not Advantage, it can stack with Advantage and Disadvantage both - see the result of your (Dis)Advantaged roll, then elect to trigger Heroic Inspiration if you want.
* Since it’s not Advantage, you can’t use it to trigger Sneak Attack or Elven Accuracy, which is a small downside in some circumstances.
Think about it this way - Foresight is a 9th level spell gives a character non-concentration Advantage all day on all d20 tests, and it is considered strong enough that many people recommend it to characters who can’t access Wish. This entire party basically has all day super-Foresight, no concentration! And it comes online at level 1, and proceeds to be useful on every single roll every party member makes for the ENTIRE campaign! Let the good times roll!
This should be pretty effective with any adventuring party, but we can lean into the mechanic with some complementary choices.
Overall, is this stronger than a party of well-built characters that all take optimal feats like Alert, Magic Initiate for Shield or Shillelegh, or whatever is strongest with their particular build? I’m not sure it is, but I think it would be pretty competitive (plus with an all-human party, you could potentially do both…). Knowing that you have super-Advantage on tap for all d20 tests would be an enormous benefit. Think about how many small encounters, particularly non-combat ones, that you might have during an adventuring day that you don’t want to blow resources on. Here, the resource is so abundant and so easy to recharge with a little effort, you can go ahead and try to pickpocket the merchant, or deceive the guard, or whatever, secure in the knowledge that your chances of success are materially higher. And in combat, you should be able to guarantee that nearly every single important saving throw, key attack roll, or whatever gets advantage, even if Disadvantage has been inflicted on you!
Party on, bros!
Have you ever been to a really good party, one where the vibes are just excellent, where everybody’s laughing at your jokes, where the event seems momentous, where you look up at the clock and it’s 3am and you just can’t imagine where the time went? What if your adventuring party could feel like that all the time?
The Party Party
Conceit is simple - a normal-sized adventuring party of 4-6 people, where one Human member takes the Musician origin feat, and everyone (including the musician) takes the Tireless Reveler origin feat. So everyone starts out every day with Heroic Inspiration, which they can use completely freely, and then every time any party member uses it subsequently, everyone who doesn’t have their currently 'charged' can recharge it. Then the whole process starts over on Short Rest.
For example, a 5-person, 5th level adventuring party with a +3PB could guarantee TWENTY GROUP USES of Heroic Inspiration per Short Rest!
Recall that Heroic Inspiration is not Advantage; it is (almost always*) way better. Unlike Advantage, you get to see the results of your roll before you decide whether to expend resources; this is a substantial benefit. Furthermore, because Heroic Advantage is not Advantage, it can stack with Advantage and Disadvantage both - see the result of your (Dis)Advantaged roll, then elect to trigger Heroic Inspiration if you want.
* Since it’s not Advantage, you can’t use it to trigger Sneak Attack or Elven Accuracy, which is a small downside in some circumstances.
Think about it this way - Foresight is a 9th level spell gives a character non-concentration Advantage all day on all d20 tests, and it is considered strong enough that many people recommend it to characters who can’t access Wish. This entire party basically has all day super-Foresight, no concentration! And it comes online at level 1, and proceeds to be useful on every single roll every party member makes for the ENTIRE campaign! Let the good times roll!
This should be pretty effective with any adventuring party, but we can lean into the mechanic with some complementary choices.
- Obviously, a party that gets resources back on Short Rests is highly incentivized to take them, which means more Heroic Inspirations for everybody. Battlemaster Fighters, Monks (Way of Intoxication!), Warlocks, Bards who are free with their Bardic Inspirations, anyone with the Inspiring Leader or Chef feats, etc., all benefit greatly from Short Rests anyway, which means the Heroic Inspiration train gets rolling early and often. Keg stands!
- There aren’t very many other mechanics that lean into Heroic Inspiration specifically, but I want to note the new Zhentarim Ruffian origin feat - if you have Heroic Inspiration when it’s time to roll initiative, your entire party gets Advantage on the initiative roll. With this setup, you will basically always have it - perma party-wide advantage on initiative for the entire party for the entire campaign starting at level 1 is pretty good! And every partygoer needs a good wingman…
Overall, is this stronger than a party of well-built characters that all take optimal feats like Alert, Magic Initiate for Shield or Shillelegh, or whatever is strongest with their particular build? I’m not sure it is, but I think it would be pretty competitive (plus with an all-human party, you could potentially do both…). Knowing that you have super-Advantage on tap for all d20 tests would be an enormous benefit. Think about how many small encounters, particularly non-combat ones, that you might have during an adventuring day that you don’t want to blow resources on. Here, the resource is so abundant and so easy to recharge with a little effort, you can go ahead and try to pickpocket the merchant, or deceive the guard, or whatever, secure in the knowledge that your chances of success are materially higher. And in combat, you should be able to guarantee that nearly every single important saving throw, key attack roll, or whatever gets advantage, even if Disadvantage has been inflicted on you!
Party on, bros!
