Points We Never Spend - Part 1: Improving Outflow

How to get Inspiration Flowing While Leading Your 5e Table

By Lemon Baardsen

One of the simplest yet most powerful game mechanics in Fifth Edition
Dungeons & Dragons is the Advantage/Disadvantage system for d20 rolls. This
makes Inspiration a huge boon to players as well as a great opportunity for
dungeon masters to encourage creativity and set a positive tone at the
table. Unfortunately, Inspiration is a resource often underutilized by DMs
and players alike - forgotten by DMs and guarded jealously by players. It
takes some effort to break through these habits to get Inspiration flowing
in both directions, but the reward is a more energized table with players
who bring their all to the game.

As a Dungeon Master, you have the most immediate control over Inspiration
outflow side of things by granting players Inspiration. Most DMs who don’t
give out much Inspiration usually forget to or feel unsure what qualifies
as Inspiration worthy. The former can be broken through by changing habits,
the latter, well, that’s really up to you but I do have a few suggestions.

How to get Inspiration Flowing While Leading Your 5e Table

By Lemon Baardsen

One of the simplest yet most powerful game mechanics in Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons is the Advantage/Disadvantage system for d20 rolls. This makes Inspiration a huge boon to players as well as a great opportunity for dungeon masters to encourage creativity and set a positive tone at the table. Unfortunately, Inspiration is a resource often underutilized by DMs and players alike - forgotten by DMs and guarded jealously by players. It takes some effort to break through these habits to get Inspiration flowing in both directions, but the reward is a more energized table with players who bring their all to the game. 

As a Dungeon Master, you have the most immediate control over Inspiration outflow side of things by granting players Inspiration. Most DMs who don’t give out much Inspiration usually forget to or feel unsure what qualifies as Inspiration worthy. The former can be broken through by changing habits, the latter, well, that’s really up to you but I do have a few suggestions.

Use Physical Tokens

WotC has placed a handy Inspiration tracker right on the character sheet. It’s nice in theory but it’s far from the eyes of the DM making it easy to overlook. It’s a lot harder to forget about Inspiration when you have a bowl of pogs, coins, marbles, or decorative erasers sitting right in front of you. They don’t have to be anything fancy but higher-visibility objects help. Place your bowl or box of tokens where you can see them and reach them quickly. It should be easier to reach than your dice. Still not remembering? Try holding a token in your dominant hand; you’re going to want to get rid of it.

Talk UP Inspiration

While it may sound silly, telling your players just before the session starts that you’re looking forward to giving out lots of Inspiration will get you in a mindset to do just that. Tell them you know you’ve got Inspiration with their name on it. Tell them you can’t wait to see how they will earn Inspiration in this session. Now you feel like you’ve got to follow through, don’t you?

Give Inspiration Early

Giving out Inspiration early not only starts things on a high note, taking the action of giving Inspiration warms you up to give out more. It’s kind of like breaking a seal or creating inertia. Once you’ve started giving it out, it’s a lot easier to keep going.

Create opportunities to earn Inspiration

Most DMs start the session with character introductions. In addition to asking your players their character name, race, class, and level, ask them about their favorite food or what their favorite childhood toy was. Give Inspiration to players who rise to the challenge.

Another way to provide opportunities to gain inspiration is to reward turns spent supporting other characters. Healing and buffing may not be flashy but they have a huge impact on party morale so aren’t they inspiring?

Reward effort

You’ve got a player who literally brings their ukulele to the table and composes songs for their bard to sing but you also have a new player who’s a little caught up in the math of it all and didn’t say more than “I hit them with my sword” last session. Go ahead and give your bard inspiration for that funny song, just don’t forget that when your new player speaks up and tells you HOW they hit them with their sword for the first time that it may well have been just as hard for them to do. It’s not pity to give out Inspiration in moments when a player is growing in their role play.

Give compliments

The Inspiration itself may be reward enough for the player who earned it but the compliment inspires the rest of the table. Be specific in your praise and the table will pick up on what sort of role-play is getting rewarded.

Be generous

If a player does something that’s really cool and exciting and you’re sitting there wondering if it’s worthy of Inspiration, stop second-guessing yourself and give them the Inspiration. The worst that happens if you give out Inspiration is that one dice roll goes a little better which isn’t really a bad thing at all if you look around the table and remember that you’re helping these folks tell the story of being heroic adventurers. 

I hope you take the opportunity to try out some of these strategies at your next session. That said, improving outflow is only half of the story; getting your table comfortable and eager with regard to turning in Inspiration can be even more challenging than breaking through your own habits. I look forward to sharing some strategies to help your players stop guarding their Inspiration and start using it as the wonderful resource it is in Part 2 - Improving Inflow.