Inspiration is a mechanic inDungeons & Dragonswhereby the Dungeon Master (DM) and players can reward one another for great play. When your character receives inspiration, they gain access to a d20 which they can use to affect the outcome of a future roll.
However, exactly how inspiration is awarded as well as how useful inspiration can be is all a matter of DM fiat. There are many homebrew rules around awarding and using inspiration, and today we’ll take a look at some of the most popular. Prepare to be inspired (pun intended).
8Proactive Inspiration
For Thinking Players
For tables that aren’t especially keen on the use of inspiration, you can apply this handicap to the mechanic. Proactive inspiration is a weaker form of inspiration that significantly nerfs its use. It’s called proactive because to use this inspiration, you have to announce that you’re using it before you make your roll.
This means that a player who has inspiration can choose to have a better chance at succeeding at a future roll, but they have to pick the roll ahead of time. Tables that like a morehardcore atmospheretypically prefer this kind of inspiration as it rewards foresight over being a catch-all reroll.
7Retroactive Inspiration
Your Regular Reroll
Your typical form of inspiration. This is a d20 that you can apply as advantage to any future roll after you’ve already seen the roll’s result. Most tables make use of this kind of inspiration as it’s easy to use and can be extremely rewarding in the right circumstances.
That being said, this is far from the most powerful method of inspiration available. We highly recommend sticking to this kind of inspiration when running games for tables full of beginners. Furthermore, it’s advisable that the DM only hand out one or two of these per session. Any more and you’re likely to skew the game’s difficulty towards too easy.
6Unlimited Inspiration
Use With Caution
Speaking of making the game too easy, allowing players unlimited bouts of inspiration is a great way to do so. Usually, DMs who employ this inspiration allow players to reward one another with inspiration as well versus just the DM handing it out. This encourages roleplay and gives the players a chance to bond as they complement one another with inspiration.
However, it also has the effect of dumbing down the game’s difficulty by a significant degree. That’s not a major concern at every table, but it is for many. This method of inspiration is best reserved for one-shot sessions among strangers.
5Inspiration Stockpile
I’ve Been Saving These All Campaign
Per the Dungeon Master’s Guide, a player character (PC) is only allowed a single point of inspiration at a time. However, you can override this rule and let your players stockpile uses of inspiration instead. The result is usually player characters being allowed to almost assuredly succeed at a single roll in the future.
After all, they can spend two or three inspiration points at once to continue rerolling the die. Usually, multiple instances of advantage just result in a single reroll, however, this method of inspiration ignores that rule as well. If you use this method, inspiration rerolls are the only rolls that should ignore the general rule about multiple instances of advantage.
4Everybody Gets One
It’s Fair, But It’s Kind Of Boring
A method of inspiration for the communist DM. This ruling says that every player is allowed a single instance of inspiration per game. However, there are still different ways to enact this. You could have all of the players start with inspiration each session already or you could only award it to players who have ‘earned’ it as usual.
Whatever the case, each player can use inspiration a single time a session. This might not necessarily mean that you can’t be awarded inspiration multiple times in a session; however, you’re still restricted to a single use of it. This is the fairest way to dole out inspiration, but it can sometimes feel a little contrived.
3Dungeon Master’s Favorite
Don’t Pick The Same Player Too Often
Speaking of doling out inspiration, one popular way to do it is for the DM to elect one player at the end of each session. That player receives inspiration for the next session. This allows a moment at the end of every game for a player to be recognized for their gameplay which is a big part of why inspiration exists in the first place.
Awarding inspiration in this way also greatly limits its availability which is good for more difficult campaigns. Keep in mind though that this method of awarding inspiration doesn’twork for one-shots. If you choose to inspire players in this manner, it’s a good idea to enact a rule that the same player can’t receive inspiration two games in a row.
2Player Vote
The True Spirit Of Inspiration
Another way to distribute inspiration is to have the players vote for who receives it at the end of every game. This lets the players recognize one another, which can certainly feel more exciting than the DM alone choosing a player. Furthermore, groups with an even number of players can often wind up with a tied vote.
This means the feel-good vibes are even better shared amongst the party. If you use this method to award inspiration, verify everyone votes simultaneously. Otherwise, players have a nasty habit of bandwagoning behind whoever speaks up first. This kind of defeats the purpose of awarding inspiration in the first place.
1Peerless Inspiration
That’s A 32 On My Athletics Check.
Sometimes called ‘super inspiration,’ this turns the power of the inspiration mechanic up to 11. Instead of providing advantage to a roll like regular inspiration, peerless inspiration adds the d20 result to your original roll. In other words, this gives players the chance to roll incredibly high on something once per session.
Additionally, peerless inspiration can be applied to any roll any player makes as opposed to only your own rolls. This allows players to ‘save’ one another with their inspiration use and rewards cooperative gameplay. Furthermore, it best benefitsthinking playerswho save their peerless inspiration for the most dire of circumstances.
If you use this method of inspiration, definitely keep it to a single use per game. While it might seem like this would make inspiration overpowered, players can easily still fail a roll if they apply their peerless inspiration to an already low roll and roll low again. If you don’t believe us, just give it a try for yourself. We promise your players will love it.
