D&D Tip: Let Your Players Award Inspiration
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Inspiration is a nice new feature in D&D 5e, similar to action points or hero points from other games. The GM can award a character inspiration for good roleplaying, and they can spend it to gain advantage on a roll.
What if I told you there’s a better way to use inspiration?
Here’s the secret:
Let the players give it to each other.
Here are some of the problems with the basic rules of inspiration; it’s completely subjective. As a GM, I’ve forgotten to give it out because of all the other things on my plate. And what if I don’t catch something cool that a player did that deserves inspiration?
A much better way of handling inspiration is to allow your players to award it to each other. This takes the burden off of the GM, and allows players to directly reward each other for doing good things. With more people that can give out inspiration, you’re more likely to have it.
I’ll address concerns about players ‘gaming the system’: Inspiration isn’t that great. You can’t stockpile inspiration, and it only gives advantage on a roll, which means that failure is still a very real option. Plus, players tend to hold onto it for a significant roll, so they’re not using it all the time.
You can't do this with inspiration
Ultimately, having a lot of inspiration at your table is a good thing. It’s a reward for doing something good, so you want people to use it as much as they can. The more that the players use inspiration, the more often they can do things to earn it back, which leads to more character development and roleplaying.
My current D&D game uses this rule, and it works wonderfully. It’s a very each change to implement and your players will love it.
Try it out for a few sessions, and see if you notice any changes!
**Side Note: If you don’t already have coins or tokens for inspiration, consider using them with this rule. Having something the players can hand to each other feels rewarding, and visually reminds you of something that you can cash in for a bonus.
