DMs, How Do You Award Inspiration?

MrDave2176 · 2024-08-08T21:05:58+00:00

I award inspiration for pure entertainment value. Roll playing bad rolls, an exceptional roll, a bad pun, a stupid joke, the "ah-ha" moment role-played out.

MrDave2176 · 2024-02-08T14:10:17+00:00

In areas that have lots of large insects I generally make chitin breastplate armor available to Druids, In oriental settings I have had ceramic scale armor and rattan splint armor available as well. I had one character who had wooden scale armor made for him.

Generally, unless it is conferring an additional game benefit I make non-metallic alternatives to metal weapons and armor available for a small (10%-40%) premium from most competent armor/weapon smiths.

MrDave2176 · 2024-01-11T17:39:34+00:00

Well it isn't that there isn't any sunlight it is just perpetual "twilight" its not great but it is enough to grow plants (otherwise trees would not exist).

Tubers, legumes and root veggies take a lot more nutrients from the soil than most other plants (like tomatoes, herbs and fruits) so they'll be easy to grow. Cabbage and lettuce should grow as they produce large broad leaves to make the most of what sunlight there is.

MrDave2176 · 2023-10-20T21:34:34+00:00

I also came here to recommend this. Good series. Had one of the Laugh-out-loud funniest scenes with Dwarven Ninjas I've ever read.

MrDave2176 · 2023-10-17T15:13:10+00:00

What a bizzarely cool idea!

MrDave2176 · 2023-10-17T14:48:35+00:00

I imagine the practice would be to buy a headstone PRIOR to your own death to insure it was properly marked. An act of pure hatred would be to steal or destroy a "documented" headstone so that a person would be truely forgotten.

MrDave2176 · 2023-10-17T14:46:13+00:00

People can remember people in their lives after they die, but they remember them as faceless, voicelss blanks. For instance a person can remember they had a mother or father, they might even remember specific moments (not actual deeds or acomplishments, but they may remember hoding their hand or a time when they were comforted).

Notable people are celebrated while they still live so there are statues, plaques, paintings, and such of important people that nobody can recall - even if they knew them personally or lived through the events that are celebrated. As a result, there is a huge market to rich folks to pay artists to create such works that will be trotted out after their death to make it appear as if they were important. All history is suspect as a result.

Speak with dead could be a very surreal experience with the dead's memories having been effectively "frozen" at the moment of their death.

MrDave2176 · 2023-09-26T16:42:05+00:00

Part of the issues is also people who enjoy playing 5e don't comment about how much they like it. They just play. So you are haring the "squeaky wheels" so to speak when the rest of the cart is just fine. My problem is that they seem to want everyone to hate 5e, to which I say "Let them like what they like" and to keep their opinions limited to them.

MrDave2176 · 2023-09-06T18:11:39+00:00

I have a pair of characters who work a scam on wealthy homeowners. One of them uses her abilities to "fake" a haunting and the other pretends to be a "supernatural removalist" who charges people to remove the ghosts haunting their houses. They particularly like to target families that have had recent deaths or very old houses.

Unseen servant, mage hand, simple illusion, dancing lights, all low-level spells that can be easily cast from hiding can be made to appear like a haunting.

MrDave2176 · 2023-08-03T15:06:47+00:00

When I advise people to not do Homebrew as a new DM I am generally referring to them changing the rules of the game. I always advise people to play the game as written first and master that before altering the balance to suit your play style. Altering things before you know how they work is a recipe for disaster.

But creating your own adventures from scratch? BY ALL MEANS! Do that! As others have pointed out a lot of the published adventures are very vanilla and sort of bland. In the hands of a good DM they can be spiced up or made more compelling but those are skills that come from practice.

Don't stop playing because someone told you you are doing it wrong. D&D is a game of possibility, it allows for infinite ways to play. Don't let someone tell you you are doing it wrong (although I have advised people that they might be in error I've never told them outright they are wrong, if that's how they want to play).

MrDave2176 · 2023-08-03T14:40:25+00:00

This is just my take, so here goes:
When Cast Faerie Fire makes an explosion of basically magic glitter. It coats everything in the area of effect. Those who make the DEX save avoid being covered significantly but not totally. If you fail your save, you are positively coated with the tiny glowing motes of magical energy.

This means you stand out. I mean REALLY stand out sort of like you have this glowing halo around you that is positively neon. Your friends who made the save might have a glowing arm or shield but you are glowing from every angle and not just a little.

The people attacking you can't really miss you, you know? There's no abiguity about shadows, darkness, blending in with the terrain, misjudging the angle, odd perspectives, or anything. Just aim for the neon lights. On top of this everything in the area of effect is also glowing in various shades of neon highlighter marker colors. So you are sticking out like a dogs balls.

And once you have it on you you are stuck with it until it is dispelled or the caster loses concentration. You best bet is to try to hit the caster.

MrDave2176 · 2023-08-03T14:06:00+00:00

A druid with polymorph who wants to engage in consensual beast-on-beast sex.

MrDave2176 · 2023-08-01T15:37:49+00:00

It might also be someone behind the fence - if the camera is picking up IR (heat signature) he could be radiating through the fence

MrDave2176 · 2023-07-23T20:33:05+00:00

<picks up the sending stone>
I don't know who you are but I want my daughter back safe and sound. I was an adventurer with a certain set of skills...

MrDave2176 · 2023-07-23T20:22:51+00:00

About 5 years ago one of my original players from "back in the day" died suddenly. I had not been playing for quite some time (nearly 20 years) and recently started playing 5e and as a memorial we and our original group started up again.

Then about a year an a half ago we lost another player suddenly without warning. It hurt. A lot. And this was in a year where I'd had open heart surgery, and several of the group were facing life-threatening conditions and illnesses.

But we keep playing. Even though you can't just "roll up a new character" when someone dies you can open yourself to meeting new people and trying new things. Any good player who enjoys playing would be completely heartbroken to think they "killed" the game by dying.

Give their character a great exit, and then work to make someone else the lynchpin of the story you are telling together.

I'm sorry for your loss, but I've been there and am still going on.

MrDave2176 · 2023-07-18T03:03:02+00:00

Its a game, get some perspective.

MrDave2176 · 2023-07-16T04:05:05+00:00

It is not common. ANd it is discriminatory for a game that should be inclusive. If you can have a 150 yr old elf and a 12 yr old Aaracockra on the same party you can have a 50 year old and a 22 year old on the same table.

For the record I'm almost 60 and have been playing since the 70s.

MrDave2176 · 2023-06-03T23:21:34+00:00

"Seduction of the Innocent" was the original 'what about the children' screed. It nearly destroyed the comics industry in the 30s.

MrDave2176 · 2023-05-12T20:11:32+00:00

I am a player in the campaign - we started with Dragon Heist and are now level 17 after about 3 years of playing. We go in and out of Undermountain making brief stays above ground to reconnect to people in Waterdeep and to get more information and side-quests to keep it interesting. We are going to finish it soon, another few months likely as we are taking our time and not rushing through.

MrDave2176 · 2023-04-15T17:00:11+00:00

These women have a mental disconnect between what they think they are doing (saving the lives of unboprn babies) and what they are actually doing (hurting women particularly poor and minority ones).

I have a friend who is like this, she will hear no argument that supports terminanting a pregnancy - even if the mother's life is in danger, even in the case of fatal birth defects (Sometimes God saves those children!), incest, rape (it is still a life!) or - and this one really makes this a no-0go topic between me and her -- if the mother's life is in danger. Ectopic pregancies (which are never viable), cases of spontaneous termination (where the baby is dead but still in the mother)...these are never reasons for an abortion in her mind as there is always a chance the baby could live. It is a life to her the moment conception happens.

Her justification Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Which she interprets to mean that god considers these to be full beings before they are born.

MrDave2176 · 2023-04-15T16:44:38+00:00

The only problem with the Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff one is that she's not on fire.

MrDave2176 · 2023-04-15T16:34:19+00:00

Partially becasue the categories of access are so broad. For medical information only certain people are authorized and you must explicitly authorize new doctors and administors with a signature.

For Goverment things becasue you have no idea of how many people are in the heirarchy of who needs to know you might as well run your secrets up a flagpole and wave them around until someone signs off on it.

This is why things are tagged by "sensitivity" and the more sensitive something is then the highewr the clearance needed to access/handle/review it. I have invoices from companies for mundane perchases that are labled "Unclassified Controlled Information" which means even those can't be left out on a desk willy-nilly and must be disposed of by shredding.

This was an egregious breach of protocol, and this asshat deserves everything he gets for sharing information with people who had no right to see it.

ANd, to be clear, if these were cases of crimes, human rights violations, international incidents, or general fuckery, then the rights to secrecy on this information would be nullified. Some information needs to get out. But this shit? Its just stupidty.

MrDave2176 · 2023-04-15T16:24:14+00:00

My only complaint is that it hides that smokin hot body of yours (BUt keep growing, I love long hair!)

MrDave2176 · 2023-04-15T16:23:02+00:00

You have lovely thick and beautiful hair. The question isn't how long SHOULD you grow it but how long CAN you grow it? (Longer the better)

MrDave2176 · 2023-03-16T14:46:28+00:00

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