HEROIC INSPIRATION RECONSIDERED

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote about ideas for making Heroic Inspiration more useful, so that players would stop hoarding them here. A few days ago, I found this article from the Arcane Eye D&D blog about how it works in D&D 2024. I'd assumed it was the same. It isn't. And the changes make it more useful and more flexible in use. I'd like to cover the difference, and then which ideas to apply and how they might work within the new scheme for it.

PHB 2014

"If you have inspiration, you can expend it when you make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check. Spending your inspiration gives you advantage on that roll. Additionally, if you have inspiration, you can reward another player for good roleplaying, clever thinking, or simply doing something exciting in the game. When another player character does something that really contributes to the story in a fun and interesting way, you can give up your inspiration to give that character inspiration."

PHB 2024

"If you (a player character) have Heroic Inspiration, you can expend it to reroll any die immediately after rolling it, and you must use the new roll. If you gain Heroic Inspiration but already have it, it’s lost unless you give it to a player character who lacks it."

Sounds like they're equivalent ways of saying the same thing. (One more concise than the other.) But they're not.

1. Because it's a reroll, rather than advantage, you can now use it in conjunction with environmental or situational advantage. So you can roll at advantage for external reasons, and then reroll your lowest die from the result.

2. You are never wasting your inspiration, because you make the decision after you have seen the result. You can now use it only in those cases where you know you have already failed and it could make the decisive difference.

3. If you are full-up, you can transfer your earned inspiration to another character who has already voided their inspiration. I presume that you can still give your inspiration away to another character for whatever gameplay reasons you choose to. (Or at least, I would house-rule it so that it remains an option.)

 All of these changes encourage players to spend inspiration during normal gameplay. It's never wasted, and it helps to have at least one or more players voided so that you can give them your earned inspiration. All wins for their use, as far as I'm concerned. Combine this with the Human species ability to automatically gain advantage after an in-game Long Rest. Boom again!

As for what I previously proposed, I'd keep the following:

Spend Inspiration to influence the game environment. Spend 1 Inspiration to introduce a minor or major detail into the game world. It could be trivial like an environmental detail in a scene that the player can take advantage, or it could be a major detail that becomes a landmark in the game world. In the latter case, I would consider rewarding the player with a Story XP Award. (In my game, that's a 25 XP bump.) DM's discretion.

Spend Inspiration to perform a power stunt. Do something cool, like swing from a chandelier and perhaps then do X. Spend 1 Inspiration, execute the move with Advantage on related checks. If it's really cool, you may then earn your Inspiration back. DM's discretion.

As for whether these changes run the risk of nerfing the Human ability to gain new inspiration after a Long Rest. No, I think quite the opposite. It makes it even more valuable! Humans will end up (I think) spending their inspiration even more liberally than the other characters, because they never have to worry about wasting their inspiration and they regenerate inspiration. A really powerful combo, indeed!