OK OK OK, now I am super curious what other folx got:
What 5e #DnD rule did you think was RAW (rules as written) that most blew your mind to learn it wasn’t?
Ex: I just learned I default to a Grittier Games death saves variant rule I thought was straight RAW for years. 😅Unfortunately, so many DMs do it as rerolls, that when you come to a table and run it correctly, YOU ARE A MONSTER. Here's one way that I have tried to make it work and still be fun:
— Shawn Merwin, paxxing for PAX West (@shawnmerwin) August 14, 2019
1. Have a pre-start ritual that involves the players. Introduce the character, recap last session, tell me a story about something in your characters’ pasts, etc. When they do, give inspiration immediately. Use tokens that the players can hold and give back. 2. Explain what inspiration means to the players (advantage, not reroll). I then tell the players that if they want to use the reroll option, two players can use their inspiration. They just have to tell me what they do to "inspire" the character getting the reroll.
— Shawn Merwin, paxxing for PAX West (@shawnmerwin) August 14, 2019
3. Inspiration works best when players use it and not hoard it. I WANT to give inspiration, but it is as much on the players to use it as it is on the DMs to remember. Everyone can remind everyone at the table to use it, give it, and make it part of the regular flow of a game. 4. Inspiration is difficult because it means different things to people. For some DMs, it's about doing something cool narratively. For others, it's about doing cool things mechanically. For others still, it's about making people laugh. Be clear what it means to you.
— Shawn Merwin, paxxing for PAX West (@shawnmerwin) August 14, 2019
I refuse! 🙂 I quite literally tell my tables that I give inspiration for all those things you mentioned. I don’t stick to one. If you do something that helps improve the experience at the table, you get inspiration. Timely, crit, pun, big dmg, character moment – ALL DA THINGS! Me too. In some cases, however, I use it to adjust table behavior. At a recent table, a player constantly interjected jokes. Funny at first, it quickly became distracting. I stopped awarding it for "tabletalk" and awarded it for players moving the story forward.
— Shawn Merwin, paxxing for PAX West (@shawnmerwin) August 14, 2019