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.