Stop ignoring Inspiration points in D&D [DM Tips]
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
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► GIVE MORE INSPIRATION!
Do you use DM Inspiration at your D&D table? In this video, I argue that Dungeon Masters who aren't using Inspiration points are leaving a super useful tool on the table! Improve your Dungeons & Dragons game by rewarding your players for the roleplaying behaviors you want to see more of. It's that simple!
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0:00 Intro
1:10 All About Inspiration
2:50 Why Give Inspiration?
4:13 Award Inspiration...
4:15 ...for fun character facts
4:46 ...for engaging with others
5:13 ...for punctuality
5:35 Francis III: Francis' Revenge
7:29 ...by popular vote
8:08 ...for comedic brilliance
8:25 ...to the MVP
8:53 ...for bringing food
9:07 ...for roleplaying flaws
9:33 ...player to player
9:55 ...for excellent puns
10:11 Make Sure Inspiration Gets Used
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The “fake gamer girl” sarcasm at the beginning is just *chef’s kiss* and this video was so ✨inspiring✨ to boot!
Honestly I think she dragged out the bit into bitter territory 🙁 I don’t doubt she gets that crap, though. I think her collection of videos speaks for itself. More dice comedy bits, please! 👍
Yeah, I'm pretty bitter!! Sexism can cause that reaction. I think I'm entitled to feeling a bitter that people are willing to disregard all of my work the moment they decide I've taken a little too much agency with my body. I won't apologize for it.
yes! So hilarious!!
@@GinnyDi I actually really like how you do your hair and makeup differently in different videos, really adds to the aethstetic!
@@GinnyDi absolute relatable queen.
To my fellow DMs, here's a pro tip for getting players to use inspiration. Give them an inspiration brownie that they're not allowed to eat until they've used that inspiration point. You're not gonna have any more cases of players holding onto that stuff for months.
HAHA I absolutely love this
Genius
My players might kill me if I put a brownie in front of them and tell them not to use it
love it
Online dm's are crying right now
It's me, I'm the online dm
I just played a Triton in a one shot, and at the very end we were being served chicken for dinner. The last words of the campaign were me saying "wow I've always wanted to try chicken, I've heard it's the tuna of the land!" DM gave me inspiration to use in our main campaign later that week 😁
A well-deserved one! :)
That is awesome! Land Tuna is an epic offhand comment that could become a running gag.
My party are all evil bastards and I originally was trying to play a chaotic good character but my whole party was being evil so then I decided to help an elf child without being paid because it’s the right thing to do and I got inspiration
Ah yes, the old "meta-gaming is bad... unless it's inspiration", for some reason...
The fake geek girl rant was phenomenal.
The sarcasm. The sass. The... Simultaneously genuinely plugging your pinup calender. Perfection.
People should check out her Twitter, her personality on there is almost always sass as fuck. It's amazing
scandalous
@@FrozenFinder I legitimately first heard of her because of sass and feminism. Learned she was a nerd after.
… the legs.
My standard running D&D gag was a not-so-subtle reverse psychology trick to keep the mood light. Any truly bad pun or dad joke would be met by an immediate glare, and then a withering, "Have inspiration and never do that again."
Unsurprisingly, my games turned into pun-filled, groaner joke filled joyfests, which was kinda what I wanted.
Use inspiration to condition your players!
I'll steal that, thanks
You're a true Pavlov
Once our DM presented the entire party with Inspiration Points because we were on a pirate ship and we randomly decided it would be a good idea to sing The Wellerman.
sOON mAY tHE WELLER MAN COME-
To BrIng uS SuGar AnD TEa AnD ruM--
*changes sign number*
IT HAS BEEN {0} DAYS SINCE THE WELLERMAN COME
Goddamn I am all for Ginny not taking shit from commenters. That was phenominal
I may have done a spit take when you started talking about your ulterior motives regarding the channel. There's a reason you're my favourite fake geek girl on CZcams.
love what's next wearing pants
Genuinely made me hiss with laughter. One of my favorite bits I’ve seen in a while!
Nobody actually spit takes.
@@yetanotherretroreview4476 **takes your spit.**
We have a house rule that every session someone has to explain what has happened in the last session but from the point of view of your character. If you did it, you get inspiration. I actually love that
Second this! I first started using this trick thanks to the PTBA Masks book and its been really helpful!
"Fake Gamer Girl who only pretends to like D&D"
That reminds me of the early days of Critical Role. Watching it livestreamed at the time on twitch and still being able to read the comments. You'd have rando's popping in because they saw the D&D tag and would complain that "the girls" were only pretending to like D&D because they were being paid. My response was that D&D is fun, why would you think that girls or pretty girls (since that was often the claim) would not like doing fun things like D&D?
One could argue by just copy-pasting the lyrics to "Girls just wanna have fun". :)
@@Tyrope Now I'm just thinking about the time me and the other two female players in the group decided to spend our in-game downtime shopping for adventuring gear together and we joked that song should be playing during our montage. We ended up at a fighting pit betting the rest of our money on the barbarian to see if we could raise a little extra cash, stuffing our faces on hot wings. You know, a regular girls' night out. 🤣
@@pLanetstarBerry well... did he win? I can't see a more fitting way to spend a girls night out
@@evelynnsophia7631 oh yeah, his opponents didn't stand a chance! Owner of the pits wasn't gonna give us the full money we were promised cuz they were convinced we cheated/had insider info, so one of the girls in our group threw a table and started a barfight so our rogue could steal the rest of what we were owed. Good times, good times...
Ya know 9 times out of 10 these wangrods don't even play to have fun themselves. They've just decided DND or -insert any other nerd thing- is part of their personality now. You'll notice they go out of their way to make whatever it is as arduous as possible. Their goal isn't to have fun, it's to make something only they can participate in "properly" so they can look down on everyone else.
So that's why they assume anyone else playing the game MUST be pretending or couldn't possibly like this game because only I can play this game the "true way".
I've never seen Inspiration used, ever. So when I saw Aabria handing them out like candy on Exandria Unlimited I was honestly like "Wait what? Whats that?!". I loved how she handled inspiration points though, rewarding the cast for interacting in and out of character.
I was hoping someone would mention EXU cause that's the first time I'd heard about Inspiration and now that I know it's a thing, I'll probably incorporate it into my own campaign.
I DID already know about inspiration, and really liked aabria's dming in general, but I had one major issue: robbie is a bard in exu, and because everyone always had inspiration from the DM, he never bothered to use his bardic inspirations. I think it's great as is in a party without a bard, but if you have one, I'd try one of the alternate rule sets for inspiration to avoid stepping on anyone's toes.
@@LoLotov I'm pretty sure Inspiration and Bardic Inspiration are two separate things, aren't they? Inspiration allows players to reroll their d20 on anything, while Bardic Inspiration allows them to add a certain die roll to the roll they've made. Its like a d6 from 1st level, d8 at 5th level, a d10 at 10th level, and a d12 at 15th level and has a 10 minute timer to be used.
I think the biggest issue is that some bards forget that Bardic Inspiration exists and end up going whole sessions without using it, which is a shame considering its a strong tool that can be used in combat and roleplaying scenarios.
@@archon5878 I beelined straight for the comments to find someone mention exu, then like two minutes later she explained what the actual rule was hahaha. I got the alternate rule I liked confused with the real one, so I guess draw the opposite conclusion from my last comment... use the alternate rules if you DONT have a bard!
Thinking about it, you're right on about people just forgetting to use it... robbie was a swords bard or similarish, so he needed his for his maneuvers, but otherwise I can only remember like two or three times he actually used it on another player. More about inexperience than hoarding them for himself or goofing up action economy.
@@LoLotov Oh yeah, totally get that! I feel like inspiration is one of the big things you can change up for your group since it can be pretty big and isn't always a common use. Hell in 4 years of playing I got a point of inspiration from our DM for recalling information from a campaign session from before the pandemic! First time getting one and it was exciting as hell!
Totally! I think because its more of a side thing for bards who don't use it for their main abilities, like Robbie playing college of swords, it's not something people tend to remember often.
I don’t use this so much now, but in my first campaign I changed the name “inspiration” to “badass cookie”. The players used them much more with that memorable name.
True story, I was at one time given inspiration at the table, for mimicking the Sand People cry so well when the DM described the cries and taunts of some enemies we had.
Brilliant.
I use a deck of cards for inspiration. Players get it face down and turn it up when they use it. Face cards are +10, Aces are crits. The players use it every session!
Hey, that's a cool idea. Are the number cards just plus that number to whatever they're rolling?
That sounds like a great idea but as a numbers person I gotta say that is definitely stronger than inspirations usual advantage (although it doesn't give rogues free sneak attack [which is also a plus in my book])
If advantage is a +5; and your system treats number cards as they are and add them to the roll, then the average bonus would be +7 and that's not even accounting for aces because I didn't know how to add them into the equation because they're not a flat bonus
Still love it though, just thought that it was worth mentioning the stats for anyone else who wants to consider using this idea
That an interesting concept .
I remember this tactic by Jacob from XP to Level 3. He called it "Cardic Inspiration". It's somewhere on their channel in a video about homebrew I believe.
@@xSh4de it is more powerful, but honestly more fun. I use this but aces are auto success, not crits. It just adds a little bit of randomness. Since most numbers mean success, people pulling 2s and 3s just make us all crack up.
"If you hate me after this, at least you've already watched most of the video."
Ma'am, if I weren't subscribed already, the idea of giving out Inspiration for puns would make me hit that button in the fraction of a second because, let's be real, puns are the best kind of joke.
I always start new campaigns like: "I'm going to use inspiration more this time!" and tell my players this, and... I start off strong, then 3-4 sessions into the new campaign inspiration has been forgotten almost entirely...even by the players who might even have a leftover inspiration point sitting on their sheets until the end of time.
Try a really unsubtle physical token. We use a huge gold d20 but anything big and shiny would work.
I think it's a great tool for tables with novice players who are strugglign to roleplay and come out of their shell, but with players who don't have that problem it can come off as a bit patronising - like a gold star for effort.
My DM gave us players power to give inspiration, but I think it was used once at the begining and forgotten. Now we are near the end of the campaign and idk if its worthwhile to bring it up again
I found my personal remedy for this. I bought physical be bronze coloured metal coins that I stack visibly on the table to pass out to players. I have a second, silver coin set that players can use to give others advantage or disadvantage. I found that this greatly increased my awarding and players spending of inspiration. Maybe it helps you as well.
I give inspiration for memorable actions, funny jokes, good RP, and whatever else I deem worthy. Players seem to like it.
Oh god... Francis' Revenge. XD Well, she does seem happier now that she has a tragic backstory, so... mission accomplished?
Since I run AL and generally don't have access to a character's flaws, I generally give inspiration for actions that are sub-optimal or low-probability, but are creative. So a player choosing not to engage in a combat, despite the fact that initiative has been rolled, because their character was focused on something else; or a PC who's not good at charisma/intelligence/strength trying to negotiate/recall information/perform athletic tasks based on something in the situation or environment that compels them to do so. I want players to view their characters as more than just a collection of stats and abilities, but rather as a flesh-and-blood individual who may sometimes try something they're not good at, because they are unaware of that weakness, or have a momentary lapse where they forget themselves in response to something, or simply because they want to continue to try in spite of not being all that good. Basically, your character shouldn't always act like it knows what stat it has an 8 in, and I reward players at my table who act that out.
That and puns. You can always get inspiration for puns.
For everyone forgetting to hand out inspiration points or use them, maybe having something physical in sight would help. Like an object that represents the inspiration point. Having items that represent inspiration points behind the dm screen in line of sight might really help to remember handing them out. And once they are given, the players also have something physical to remind them to use it. I suggest something small, like colored stones, special dice or (fake) coins.
This is one thing where my Laura Bailey level of dice hoarding as a DM comes in handy. I give an actual dice that is placed in front of them until they use it. Our gaming table is a big dry erase board, so they usually have sections drawn out in front of them like a circle that they put the inspiration dice in front of them. A cheap box, like a gift box, could be used to give them the inspiration die, and once they use it, return it to the DM.
This makes them work similar to Fate points (they already are very similar) and I really like this idea! Need to see how to make it work for online campaigns, tho.
I took over for my Sunday group so our regular DM could get a break. I've been handing out Inspiration for players who play into their character background, personalities, and ideals marked on their sheet. Our DM has decided to start doing the same when his break is over. Great advice and keep up the amazing work!!
In the games I've played, inspiration is given for recaps. I like to do the recaps when I DM for the most part so I don't always do that. But I do let my players award each other inspiration and seems to work well. They forget about it most of the time but they roll well enough without it tbh. In a 2 hour session last night there were 11 Nat 20's. Oof.
I love watching Ginny argue with herself.
Most times I give Inspiration to any player who can make me break character with laughter while still staying in character.
In one of my groups the DM gives out inspiration for anybody who writes a recap of the previous session.
Our DM used to award it for solving a problem the way that our character would (ex. The barbarian realizing the puzzle door could actually just be bludgeoned down, and then succeeding on the role).
I love the idea of players voting on who gets inspiration! I’m always hesitant to give it out because I feel like there can sometimes be a lot of inspiration-worthy moments, so I either end up giving out so much it becomes meaningless, or I end up giving it out arbitrarily. Having players nominate and vote takes the pressure off of me, and also means that the other players get to encourage the kinds of gameplay that make it fun for them!
I too often forget Inspiration is a thing. My DMs either gave Inspiration for making them laugh, or for providing the session recap. And yeah, D&D using the same term for multiple mechanics has been a thing since the beginning. Thank you for posting this!
ginny's mannerism and the background music makes it feel like im being taken on a walk through the DMG Inspiration section, but it has turned into the candy land, with lollipop tulips, cinnamon chocolate oak trees, gummy bunnies and squirrels. we are in all in a circle, just listening to her, blocking out all the anxiety induced by dming.
I will never shut up about how much i love your ad reads. never skip.
Ginny deserves a point of inspiration just for being awesome (and for winning at fashion).
I have to say, I love how creative you are with your sponsorships, probably the only content creator that I actually look forward to seeing the sponsor hahaha
I follow a lot of D&D content creators, but nobody's videos are as consistently accessible and helpful as yours are. Thank you!
Ahhh thank you SO much, that really means a lot to me to hear!
DM: You realize what you are facing is a type of ooze - a corrisive monster called a Black Pudding.
Halfling Bard: Quick, is anyone a vegetarian?!
Elf Ranger: Live off of the land, so no
High Elf Druid: No
Tabaxi fighter: Hell no
Minotaur Paladin: Surprisingly, no
Warforged Artificer: I don't even eat.
Halfling Bard: Damnit! A vegetarian would be immune to the Black Pudding
DM: ...Why do you think that?
Halfling Bard: Don't you know... if you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding?
*player recieves -1 inspiration from DM*
I laughed so hard, I immediately shared this with the rest of my gaming group.
I really enjoyed how Aabria used Inspiration during EXU, and this video made me think even harder about it. I never used it as DM, but I think I will be more open handed with it in future. Thanks Ginny!
In my home game, I also use inspiration for giving a key hint as a “feeling” they get if there’s a potential solution to get them out of a dangerous situation. They get into those a lot.
I support that wholeheartedly!
This is a great tip!
I just subscribed in the last few days after enjoying a couple of older vids. I gotta say, your mocking of haters while simultaneously plugging your product was excellent. 😆👍🏻
Great vids. Every video I've watched has been loaded with good suggestions.
I'm currently taking part in my first D&D campaign ever and our super awesome DM has given us very generously inspirations - my Tiefling Druid has gotten inspirations for things like:
- the very first session, as I roleplayed my wild-elf born Tiefling witness a bloody brutal fight at a marketplace (which ended up bringing our group together) , and instead of being worried and alarmed my Tiefling went closer in interest to follow the combat, he stuck out like a sore thumb among the crowd when talking to others as he just interpreted it as local folk having a territorial / mating season scuffle (my character's basically *_"a bit more intelligent" Tarzan_* as he is a Tiefling born into a tribe of wild elves, so I was roleplaying his *_lack of societal civilization)_*
- as me and our group together *_created a puppet decoy with our cantrips (a piece of cloth, mage hand, thaumaturgy to vibrate the ground to reveal it's location)_* to lure out a giant spider from it's webbed maze inside a sewer system, and for our rogue to than surprise attack it for massive damage
- for going full Scooby-Doo and shape shifting into a dire wolf *_(or in my DM's sarcastic words something else than a bear for once)_* , and *_using it's keen smell to make advantageous investigation checks_* to help our group solve a mystery, and also *_roleplaying a good-dire-boi (I spent a while in that dire wolf form)_*
- As we got ambushed into a severly disadvantageous combat, I creativily used my Mold Earth cantrip to *_bump up the ground beneath a wooden cart_* and *_forced multiple enemies standing on top of it to fall over_* and *_be knocked prone_*
Your calendar ad is absolutely the best
I like awarding inspiration when I introduce a plot twist or complication that makes it harder for the players. When I do, that player can also award another inspiration, thus incentivizing cooperation.
"For excellent puns". A perfectly valid way to give inspiration. That's probably like 95% of all inspiration given in Oxventures.
my dm has given me inspiration for understanding story points without needing additional explanation
One of the things that may work out as well, is to provide something "tangible" to players for Inspiration. An example of this would be a coin of medieval design or unique-colored D20 dice that represent the inspiration. This helps everyone at the table to both remember, and for the player to "cash it in" upon use.
Keep up the good videos, +GinnyDi! =P
I reward my players with inspiration for remembering a part of the lore that's not particularly relevant to the plot or has any direct relation to character's own backstory but that would be applied by the character within the game (the simplest example of such situation is instead of "Oh my God" to use "By the gods!", but of course I reward the players when they used something world-specific, not that generic). For instance, in my setting the Abyss and some other planes are called something else and I was genuinely surprised and happy when one of the characters while describing a character thing to other characters just started using setting-accurate terms instead of D&D-general terms (that, might I add, also exist as alternate terms for those planes).
Little did I know, the next session two other players used setting-accurate terms in a completely logical for their characters way. So if you set the games in your own setting, inspiration is a great way of motivating the players to read your lore documents xD
like, i don't even play DnD, so related ads literally do nothing for me, but this character you've created for them is so damn adorable, that i just can't bring myself to skipping them
On my second campaign i was still extremely self aware when it came to roleplay, but with a friend we decided to prepare a little arguments our PCs were going to have regarding their ethics (the PCs were siblings), the DM liked it so much he have us inspiration and it felt SO GOOD, it felt like roleplaying was fun for everyone in the table and that i didn't have to be afraid or embarassed. That was the exact moment i started to roleplay (and enjoy the roleplaying) more!
I bought Beadle and Grimm gold dragons as handouts for inspiration, but I always forget them in their little pouch. Maybe this will get the coins flowing again. Thanks for another great video Ginny!
Inspiration has been a mechanic I've always tried to give to my players, but feel very self conscious doing so. My biggest concern is if I award inspiration to one player for a great rp moment, and another player feels bad because they didn't receive inspiration for what they thought was a great rp moment/moment worthy of inspiration.
One way to deal with that is to use a few minutes at the end of the session to ask the players which players did things that deserve an inspiration point.
With a rule that a person cannot nominate themselves.
-
I used to do that with "bonus xp" in older editions and other games. But for some reason I fell out of the habit.
That sarcasm was 🌶spicy🌶 and I loved it. Don’t ever stop.
That calendar pitch was amazing.
If you use poker chips to track spell slots (as I do), I guess you could have a chip for inspiration.
You could paint one-side to indicate inspiration and the other to indicate not having inspiration and flip it over when necessary.
I enjoy the tactile side of D&D, I only track hp on paper. I use colored dice, cards, or chips to track abilities and skills.
I've been meaning to use more Inspiration in my games and I'm going to take this as a sign!
Had a fellow player blow all the inspiration they'd gotten throughout the campaign on one check. Obviously, we played fast and loose with the rules of inspiration. Our DM also awarded it for jokes/puns and sometimes random stuff that didn't even happen in the session as well as for the first Nat 20 of the night.
Witness!
My rule is, if you give your inspiration to another player when they do something cool, you get a 50-50 chance of getting it back. It means the best use of inspiration is to notice and appreciate the other players.
You don't have to shout "witness", but you probably should.
I have players that struggle with info gathering in game. I award them inspiration when they finally do research about the dungeon/monsters/strange cults, etc in order to incentivise this even further.
In our game we had a houserule regarding inspiration, you could use 3 of them to automatically succeed on a roll automatically and you could also give your inspiration to another player. We got awarded inspiration a lot and we also burned through it a lot espicially in dire situations where it was commonly screamed at the table "TAKE MY INSPIRATION!" to help a fellow friend get in a important hit or check or save. Or as we called it: the power of friendship as a in game explanation to why certain rolls succeded.
The game I'm playing has luck points, which function like inspiration but you have a number of them per session, and they can alter the narrative in other ways, like rerolling a failed test once, making a successful roll more powerful or "remembering" to bring something that would be helpful in the moment. I tend to award them for exceptional roleplay, making me laugh, and also particularly brilliant ideas (like, particularly creative solutions to problems I haven't thought of). It's a good way to keep everyone involved, I think!
Yay! Francis lore!
Oh, I should probably say something about actual video content, rather than just the ad and everyone's favourite Gnome Cartographer... Erm... Good stuff Ginny! Very... ✨inspirational✨.
We're a pretty creative group, so I've started giving out inspiration to everyone who creates art (drawing, writing, moodboards or other) for a currently in canon moment :0
Some examples include characters writing letters to their families or players designing the tattoos their characters got :D
that sounds super cool!
I'm suddenly reminded of the show @Midnight. The panel giving their answers and the host saying "Points!"
My favorite form of inspiration is the Fortune Bowl from Pugmire. It is a really long explanation and there are tons of things that tie into it like initiative, spellcasting, etc. but the long and short is basically the GM can award inspiration into a shared pool of points by giving monsters advantage or causing a dangerous situation to get worse. Players can then spend out of the shared pool to reroll/use class abilities/cast spells/ or move around in initiative order.
Changing how inspiration works can also help remembering to give it out and use it! My husband likes to give it out for interesting character choices and the way its used is different. We can still only have 1, but up till level 10 it adds to your roll and after it counts as a portent roll (only for yourself) counting your overall player level as either the plus to your roll or the roll itself. This way it can really help at later levels when something is risky or to help hit/pass something in a dire strait in early levels.
Oh no, She tricked me into watching another video by packing it full of helpful hints.
Alright Ginny you win this round, but we'll see if you can do that again next time!
Omg I need this video in my feed weekly! I forget ab inspiration every single session, and I always think afterwards “OH I should’ve given inspiration for that, it was so clever”
We use poker chips for Inspiration. Having a physical token is a good reminder to use it. And yes many times it ends up getting used after a bad roll is made. Life is too short to stick strictly to the rules. We also allow Inspiration to be traded for XP if the character comes up a little short.
In my game we use “inspiration points”
Where a player can hold an amount up the wisdom stat.
-They can trade 1 point in for advantage on a roll
-5 to impose disadvantage onto someone else
-Or they can trade 20 for an automatic success (note, not an automatic crit. Just success) they can then also roll to see it it a crit
What a trickster! But for real: my solution has been automatically giving inspiration at the beginning of a session to everyone with the caveat they have to use it by end of the session and WHEN they use the end of the session they should do it in an epic way role-play wise.
At my table we do a post game recap where every player vote on who had to beat moment (RP, kill, etc) and they get a free point of inspiration. It’s always a big hit and everyone get to praise one another for doing a great job. I normally share a praise for every player first to give other time to think of things.
Glad you said for comedic brilliance. One of my favorite D&D groups to watch has a DM who regularly tosses out inspiration whenever something really tickles them to the point that it's possible (though not likely) the players have it stockpiled
I give my players inspiration at the start of every session, so to minimize the feels bad rolls - players sometimes feel attacked by bad rolls, so it helps mitigate that. It's also homebrewed to be able to reroll anything, including lvl up rolls - not give advantage tho
In our campaign of almost 2.5 years, we're level 8 and I play our party's bard. So I'm giving out Bardic Inspiration virtually in every encounter, as long as I still have some left. However, this means that the other party members can get a bonus thanks to me, but I can never get a bonus to anything my character does since we're not high enough a level where I can inspire myself.
We have a monk who's newer to the party with 2 levels of cleric, and she has Bless that could give a small 1d4 bonus to some things, but it has yet to be used because it's easy for her to forget about... just as I still often forget that Cutting Words exists until it's too late. Whoops!
It wasn't until I was watching Critical Role's *Exandria Unlimited* that I even knew that Inspiration other than the bardic kind even existed. Since then, I've 100% incorporated it into any game I DM so that there's never a player who feels like they never get a chance to get a bonus. I had always thought there wasn't a way for me to get a bonus at all other than Bless being cast on my character, but I had no idea that there's a mechanic for Inspiration until ExU and now I'll always use this mechanic so everyone equally has a shot at that bonus roll rather than one character giving out additional dice to roll regularly but never getting it themselves. I feel like the Inspiration mechanic makes it much more fair and even.
A trick to remember to use/grant/cast bardic inspirations and blesses is, we set down the right number of the right dice in a box we draw somewhere on our character sheet.
When the bardic inspiration or bless is granted, we put the relevant die on top of the skill section of the character sheet, and it sits there as a reminder.
When the effect is used or expires, the die is returned to the caster/die owner.
My mother's character was the MVP in our last session, because she summoned a genie, and then stood out in the hall, out of crossbow shot, and concentrated. NO risk of losing concentration, because nobody could hit her.
Every turn was, "I close my eyes and concentrate. NNNGGGG!" It was great.
Seriously, that genie. WOW. They were up against 17 were rats, and cleaned them up without anyone on their team falling unconscious once. Thanks, Mom, for your awesome concentration skills!
My favorite way to use Inspiration is to have players claim it instead of awarding it. Once per characteristic (personality traits, ideal, bond, and flaw) per session, when a player acts in accordance with that characteristic, they can simply declare what characteristic the action tied in with and that they’re claiming Inspiration for it. It takes the burden of having to remember 5 characteristics per PC off the DM’s plate, and encourages the players to act out each of their traits at least once every session, in a way that they’re comfortable doing. And it removes any feeling of judgment from gaining Inspiration, since it’s up to your own discretion what counts as roleplaying your own character faithfully rather than the DM or the other players.
This is my favorite suggestion on here! I'd prefer this both as a player and DM
@@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa Thanks! It’s a fantastic house rule, I’d definitely recommend trying it out if you DM, or suggesting it to your DM if you don’t.
Do you tell your therapist that you often record yourself talking to yourself?
Also, MORE FRANCIS PLEASE!!!
The Francis character sheet is pretty neat. A worthwhile NPC for characters to encounter in a game.
The use of Hero Points in one pathfinder campaign I was in really encouraged me to get into the role play more. My DM would reward us for being bold with our interactions with npcs and each other. Or for completing long term goals like inventing magic glasses so the princess npc in our party can see again. They were also great to have for instances when you really, REALY need to do something right. Like sometimes my Paladin just REALLY needs to succeed on a check related to the god he worships every day.
my friends and I changed insperation and it is SO much more interesting.
We use it in a way where we can do something absurd and something we shouldn't be able to do and depending on how big of a stretch it is, a bigger consequence happens.
D&D is really complex. It’s so hard to fake a thorough understanding of the games’ subtleties that it isn’t worth the effort. And faking an enthusiasm for the game while faking a thorough understanding of it is practically impossible.
Not to mention that if Ginny wanted to use her legs to sell calendars, it wouldn’t be necessary to “trick” anyone, or do anything complicated. She could just say, “Here’s some legs! Buy a calendar!”
Nope. What we’re looking at here is a genuine love for D&D, coupled with a genuine love of dressing up.
I really appreciate these videos! I like how you give credence to the rules while still championing table autonomy. Keep up the good work!
I have a DM who regularly gives inspiration for great jokes, and I got inspiration in a different campaign for figuring out a twist ahead of time.
I personally allow all my players to give 1 point of inspiration every session, no rules, just award as you see fit. It generally gets used when they approve of someone else's roleplay. It's a great way of saying "My characters disapproves in-game, but I think you're a great PLAYER for doing this." It works so great and it's always seen as a great compliment to get inspiration from someone else.
i have metal coins that i use for inspiration points. when it's earned, i dole out the coin and they can spend as they wish. plus, it's nice to have it handy instead of maybe forgetting you have one on your sheet
I often award inspiration at the suggestion of other players. You don't get it if you ask for it, but so far, every time another player has said they feel like someone earned it, I've agreed and given it. It always makes them really excited
I find having metal coins that say Inspiration to hand out works great. They have a tactile reminder and by handing them back and forth it's a visual reminder of the mechanism!
I love the idea of granting inspiration as high morale... enjoy a night out, have fun, take time off, read books, pray... not even role play at least tell me you did some self care and you are refreshed.
Every time I watch one of your vids I'm blown away by how committed you are to making the adds fun and entertaining to watch, honestly the best job out of any youtuber I've seen. Legit skillful
The ad at the start was a joy to watch.
As far as inspiration goes, I try to hand it out a bit more freely and allow them to use it after a roll. I don't like to hand it out for role playing because that's something that not all of my players are comfortable with. Instead, I just give everyone a point at the beginning of the session. In addition, if a character is knocked to zero HP, or otherwise taken out of the fight, I award a point. I could also see awarding a point for accomplishing an important objective (take down the boss or the lieutenant)
I also let them accumulate multiple points with one caveat: if they take a short or long rest, the party loses all but one point each. (Wanna hoard those points? Fine, stop taking rests.)
I think there should also be more uses for inspiration. One thing that I do currently is allow someone to inspire another character. They can either spend an inspiration on their turn to encourage someone, or use their reaction during the player's turn. It's been a great use for casters that don't make as many rolls. I have also considered allowing a player to use inspiration to recover (or attempt to recover) a spell slot or other character resource (ki points, rage, channels, sorcery points, etc), but I haven't implemented that yet.
The way we do it is that the DM has a bunch of those plastic/rubber bracelets (like the livestrong ones but cheap and bought in bulk on amazon) and when a player has inspiration, they wear one, and when they use it, they give it back. That way everyone remembers who has it and remembers to use it.
I really like the way you format your videos. The way you give multiple solutions/ideas is really cool. A lot of dnd youtubers ussually only say one solution/idea and act like it should work for every single group.
I gave inspiration twice last night, once to the monk for dragging the fighter and paladin out of the way of a a dozen crossbows, and then to the Sorcerer who laid down his crossbow to hide the fact he was casting sleep at the bandits.
Great intro. I found it very amusing & I ordered a calendar (also because you are a fabulous content creator).
Still my favorite video. 😁 ❤️
I award inspiration/bennies to players that engage the setting and add to the mood. “Today is a local holiday. How is it celebrated and why is it important?”
As per the “get players to fall in love with your setting” video, my favorite player move is collaborative world-building, and this has been my best tool for making it happen more and more.
That was...inspiring.
Loved the opening so much!
Thanks again for doing all you do!
re: Tracking Ideals - I've got them on paper tents that sit on my DM screen, alongside one with PC's AC and Passive perception. House rules - Up to 3 inspiration can be saved up. We ask players to celebrate something they enjoyed or thought was cool and give an inspiration for something that entertained others. I've done the RP question at the beginning of a session to get more background to use later as well. Strongly encourage. Thank you again for another great video! And great plug "fake gamer girl" for the Calendar (what wonderful sarcasm displayed!)
Inspiration as a result of praying to a deity for help sounds like a fun way to feel like they're invested in you beating The Bad without them directly coming down and smiting The Bad
I always give inspiration to whoever gives the recap from the previous week. Encourages notetaking and is a nice way of starting the session!
A fun house rule I came up with was allowing an inspiration point to be used by a player to add a disruptive element to a scene. For example - there's a giant boulder on a cliff that could be used to squish enemies below. Or Previously the players had bribed the guards.
If the player uses the point of inspiration, they flip a coin. If they get heads, the thing they wanted to happen, happens. BUT if they get tails, the opposite happens. So instead of a boulder that could crush enemies, there is one rolling to flatten the players if they don't make a dex save. Instead of having bribed the guards, the player earlier stole from them and the guards are now chasing after them.
You can have final say over what is allowed, and as the gm you can interpret what the "opposite" is. But I think this is a great way to make Inspiration points a really unique aspect of the game. It can potentially be very powerful, but also very detrimental and it can help to create a lot of tension.
Another rule were ultimates.
If you have a point of inspiration, you can spend it to pull off an ultimate - a powerful ability that is unique to your character. This increases in power as your character levels.
This is such great content! I just found your channel and I'm already hooked.
I award inspiration in my games as a way to draw my players into the world - I give it out to them any time that they ask me a particularly good question about the world around them, for inventing traditions or cultural things that I didn't put any thought into, or for being willing to participate in the "boring" parts of the campaign, such as when the characters are hiking across the badlands for X amount of time - I give each player a chance to tell a short story as their character, or to take us through a flashback or a side adventure that shows us something new about our shared world.
Anyway, keep up the great work, and I can't wait to watch more!
I have a small dice pouch shaped like a mimic. Inside are several jumbo 20 sided dice. B4 each game, anyone with inspiration gets to pick one for the night. They put it back when they use it. It helps everyone to remember who has inspiration.
We do the houserule about deciding to use inspiration after the roll. We also all get inspiration at the start of every session. Tonight one of our players at our table had to make an attack roll on a powerful spell. They needed to roll at least an 8. They rolled and got a 6. Another player game them his inspiration. They rolled a 5. I gave them my inspiration. They rolled a 2. Another player gave them his inspiration. They rolled a 7. Four rolls, three inspirations spent, and all missed. At that point, our table was out of inspirations... and we were absolutely rolling in laughter.
I love Inspiration. We've used "fate chips" in some form for virtually all of our games, not just D&D.
We also allow it's use for a "happenstance" in the environment. Like "I'm about to start a barfight, does there happen to be a bottle within reach I can smash over this guy's head?"... "Sure, use your Inspiration point and there is."