The fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons has many new rules and mechanics for players and Dungeon Masters (DMs) alike. One rule in particular, seems well suited to encourage players to more actively roleplay during a game session and empower DMs with a tool to reward those players who effectively roleplay, either in home games, or at D&D Adventurers League (AL) tables.

That new rule is Inspiration.

In short, Inspiration, allows DMs to reward players for roleplaying his or her character’s Traits, Ideal, Bond, or Flaw. Players can earn Inspiration multiple times during a game session, but can only possess one Inspiration award at a time. Players can also give their Inspiration award to another player.

The goal here is two-fold, to encourage players to roleplay their characters more often in a game session, and to distinguish one fighter from another, or one mage from another through their unique personal characteristics. The reward is that players can exchange Inspiration to gain Advantage on any single ability check, saving throw, or attack roll.

For more information on the Inspiration mechanic see page 35 in the Basic Rules (V 0.3.4) pdf, or page 125 of the fifth edition Player’s Handbook. For more information on Advantage see page 57 in the Basic Rules (V 0.3.4) pdf, or page 173 of the fifth edition Player’s Handbook.

When I first started using Inspiration at AL tables, I had several players comment, with delight, “You’re the first DM we’ve meet who’s using it.” Since it’s part of the official Player’s Handbook and Basic Rules, it’s fair game at AL tables. And as this article will hopefully show, fairly easy to incorporate in to your existing DM toolkit.

The first thing you need to do when adding Inspiration into your game is to simply let your players know that it’s available and that they will need to fill out the Traits, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw sections of their character sheets according to the instructions on pages 34-35 in the Basic Rules (V 0.3.4) pdf or pages 123-4 of the fifth edition Player’s Handbook.

But having the players know that they can earn Inspiration at your table is only half of the equation. The other half is on you, as the DM, to be aware of each character’s personal characteristics and watch (or listen) for when the player is roleplaying in character. I find AL play actually makes this very easy to do. Since at the beginning of a game session, DMs should be polling the players at their table for character related information, such as level (needed to determine Average Party Level) and faction (needed to assign any faction-specific assignments or secret missions), DMs can ask for the additional information of Traits, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw at the same time.

At the start of an AL adventure, ask players to write down their information, including what is needed for awarding Inspiration, on a slip of paper (a sticky note works best). For my games (home games as well as AL tables I run), I ask players to write down their character’s Flaw and pick one Trait, Ideal, or Bond to write down as well. When I allowed more personal characteristics I found myself overwhelmed by the amount of information to track, and I rarely found players roleplaying more than one or two characteristics, so I recommend scaling back. I ask for the Flaw specifically because effectively roleplaying that characteristic can be difficult, and players should be rewarded when they successfully achieve it.

Here is a template you can use for information to collect from players at your tables.

Once you’ve collected all the player’s information, keep it organized by arranging them on a DM screen in the order players are seated at your table. If you don’t use a DM screen, simply arrange the sticky notes on the gaming table or any other convenient location. Of course, if you use some other method to track PCs, like index cards, or card tents, you can just add this new information to your existing tracking method.

Now that your players know how to earn inspiration in your game, and you, as the DM, have a way to monitor and track when players are roleplaying according to their personal characteristics, the last thing to consider is how to track when Inspiration is awarded.

The official D&D character sheet includes a checkbox for players to mark off when they’ve earned Inspiration. However, I recommend against using that, for a number of reasons. First, it’s easy for players to overlook a checkbox and forget they even have Inspiration to use. The other reason against it is when players award their Inspiration to another player, they may unintentionally forget to unmark their sheet when they give away this resource.

Instead of tracking the Inspiration award on paper, use a physical object to represent the reward. Objects such as poker chips, colored beads, coins, or even paper slips with “Inspiration” written on them can be useful. Hand it over to the player when he or she earns Inspiration, and have the player hand it back when it’s used. Having that physical object in front of players helps remind them of this valuable resource.

In conclusion, adding Inspiration to your DM toolkit can have a number of benefits at your AL table. Players will be eager to earn the edge that the Advantage mechanic provides during a crucial combat, or critical skill roll. But the biggest benefit is getting those shy players to speak up early and interact with the other players at the table. By encouraging players who don’t know each other to interact more, and foster more roleplaying during the game, you’ll find that everyone enjoys the game more and will want to come back to your table for future AL adventures.