Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mightyTeuton Aug 21, 2014 8:16:58	One of my players last night asked me if he could use inspiration on a spell to give the target disadvantage on a saving throw.  It's seems apparent that this is not allowed by RAW.  However, I could not come up with a good reason why that wouldn't be in accordance with the spirit of the mechanic, so I allowed it.  My one concern is that there is something that would make it way too powerful, like always saving onto your inspiration until you cast disintigrate.  Are there any attack roll situations that are equally as powerful, though? Any other thoughts on why I should/shouldn't allow this rule change?
#2 iserith Aug 21, 2014 8:31:34	It seems like it could have some unintended consequences, but ultimately the DM decides if a player gets Inspiration, so at least there's control over it in that fashion.
#3 Dooflegna Aug 21, 2014 8:43:02	My gut reaction is that I don't like it.   Inspiration is something that you have earned, and thus you should use it on your roles (or give it away). It could also lead to some poor pvp experiences.
#4 RedSiegfried Aug 21, 2014 8:46:21	Just because you decided it was a good idea and in the spirit of the mechanic doesn't mean you always have to allow it.  IOW, the spirit of the mechanic is also situational and subjective.  Make that clear to the player, and explain that you'll adjudicate non-RAW uses of inspiration on a case by case basis, just like anything else that isn't strictly RAW, but would be fun anyway.   For better or for worse, "DM May I?" was intentionally baked into the mechanics of 5th edition instead of being something you use when the rules don't address something.   (I think the whole inspiration mechanic is a bad idea, and I'd modify it heavily, but that's another topic.)
(Reply to #4) Redbeard2	RedSiegfried wrote:
#6 Jharii Aug 21, 2014 9:55:27	The name "Inspiration" does not even imply that it should be used as a demotivational/intimidation or otherwise negative mechanic.  Nothing in the rules would even suggest it is allowable, either.  That being said, it's always up to the DM.   RedSiegfried wrote:
(Reply to #6) mightyTeuton	Jharii wrote:
#8 bawylie Aug 21, 2014 12:28:06	I'm cool with it. It's got a sort of built-in check insofar as inspiration "expires" at the end of a scene.    Its difficult to cheese too badly with it, considering that limitation. If you're worried about cheese. Which I am not.
(Reply to #8) Redbeard2	bawylie wrote:
#10 Atheosis Aug 22, 2014 2:25:35	I honestly don't think it is "in keeping with the spirit of the mechanic".  Inspiration is about getting a bonus due to being inspired, not about penalizing enemies.  To use a sports analogy, if a football player gets pumped up by a big play and feels inspired he may play better, but his inpired state of mind isn't going to magically make his opponents play worse.
(Reply to #10) mightyTeuton	Atheosis wrote:
(Reply to #10) bawylie	Atheosis wrote:
(Reply to #12) Kazadvorn	bawylie wrote:
#14 Goober4473 Aug 22, 2014 11:20:59	The only problem I see here is that this allows inspiration to affect already very potent and limtied abilities, and encourages hording of inspiration until said abilities come into play. For instance, a high level wizard benefits far more from spending inspiration on a meteor swarm spell than on a lower level spell, while a fighter can still only benefit from advantage on one attack roll when making 8 attacks in a turn using action surge. Thus the fighter has no problem spending inspiration on any old attack, because it's all the same, while the wizard should save their inspiration to combo with their biggest stuff.
(Reply to #14) mightyTeuton	Goober4473 wrote:
#16 bawylie Aug 22, 2014 12:38:50	Seems like that's working as intended.    If you manage to get inspiration in conjunction with MeteorSwarm, why SHOULDNT that be powerful?   Honestly, 9th level spell. It should be face-meltingly awesome. And it is. How does inspiration hurt in this sitch?   edit: In my games, the dial goes up to 11.
(Reply to #14) franfron	Goober4473 wrote:
(Reply to #16) Goober4473	bawylie wrote:
(Reply to #18) bawylie	Goober4473 wrote:
(Reply to #18) mightyTeuton	Goober4473 wrote:
#21 OB1 Aug 22, 2014 15:53:08	The other problem is that disadvantage hurts more than advantage helps, so my sense is that allowing this would unbalance things.  I think a wizard's best use of Inspiration would be to give it to another player or save it for an important saving thrown of her own.  If it doesn't seem fair to your player, make sure they are okay with rolling at a disadvantage against an enemy mage who is casting a spell with advantage.     If on the other hand, you really want to let your player use it for an offensive boost, I would consider allowing them to use it to reroll any 1 (or maybe 2) damage dice for a spell.  Their inspiration causing them to cast a particularly powerful version of the spell.  This would likely only add 2-4 points of damage when used, so it wouldn't be overpowering.
#22 Dooflegna Aug 22, 2014 16:00:43	Atheosis wrote:
#23 Chimerasame Aug 22, 2014 18:20:53	People have already said this, but I'll weigh in with: I'd allow it. A save is basically the same as an attack roll, but backwards. But, the essence is the same. No matter who's doing it, you want a die roll to favor you, which it will do about half the time by default, or about 3/4 of the time with inspiration. It seems pretty reasonable to me.   If it helps you envision it as "yourself being inspired" -- just think of it this way, you cast your spell *so well* that an equally skilled opponent has to save twice instead of once in order to really save. It's not that you're penalizing your opponent, per se, it's that you're super-casting this spell.
#24 ittyan Aug 23, 2014 23:22:10	Y'know, if it turns out allowing this warps the game too much you can always change your mind.  Make an announcement at the beginning of the evening that you were wrong.  Be sure you mention this to the player in question a few days beforehand so they aren't blindsided, and be open to any changes they (or anyone else I guess) may want to make to their character if they had already made a power/level decision based upon your earlier ruling.  Basically, ret-con it out.
#25 Noon Aug 24, 2014 17:25:17	mightyTeuton wrote:
#26 Daganev Aug 27, 2014 11:32:35	Spells with saves tend to be much more powerful than spells with attack rolls and also tend to be 20% harder to land. I would not allow inspiration to be used to make saving throws harder.