D&D 5: Inspiration, Fiat, and Roleplaying

D&D 5 has an interesting Inspiration system which attempts to put mechanical rules on top of a roleplay system. This isn't "roleplaying" this is "roleplay" - the fiddly and conversation-based in-character social interaction parts between a DM and player.

The basically have four ratings you rate your character on, personality traits (2), ideals (many), bonds (1), and flaws (1). If you roleplay right and according to these traits, the DM may toggle Inspiration on your character, which is basically a fate point style mechanic which gives you advantage on one roll, and then you are back to the uninspired (?) state.

Advantage is a strong and desirable state, one which lets you roll two d20's and take the higher result for a roll. I can see players always trying to keep that inspiration bit flipped as a just-in-case option for a roll.

Compare this with the GM Fiat Rule (D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder, and many other games), if you describe something that is unlikely to succeed or particularly entertaining, the GM applies a modifier as the GM sees fit - and this includes roleplaying. Do something entertaining, and the GM applies a modifier on-the-spot as a reward. There is no mechanical system of defining traits and giving bonuses only if those traits are followed.

So Inspiration is a one-time-and-saved reward, where Fiat applies all the time with every action. Now, there's nothing that says you can't use Fiat in D&D 5, but there's nothing that says you can. I am going by the Starter Set and PDF here, so we may not have a complete picture yet. I am imagining the trait system of D&D 5 is the official way to handle fiat and the mechanical side of roleplaying bonuses, since it is there, pretty important and on the front side of character sheets, and why should there be another system in place covering these mechanics?

Another issue is an elimination of most arbitrary dice roll modifiers from D&D 5 other than ability score ones, as giving a +/- 4 on a roll isn't really the thing you are supposed to do, as advantage and disadvantage are supposed to handle most negative and positive modifiers. The game is streamlined, so we don't worry about modifying dice like that anymore. I'm sure it's within your power to rule "this roll has advantage" in a fun and entertaining situation, but that takes away from the point of Inspiration mechanic, doesn't it?

So roleplay has been mechanic-ized in a way with this system, and players are going to be constantly trying to regenerate that point by using their traits. Once the point is stored up, players are free to ignore their traits and flaws. Is this what we want as referees? It feels like an answer to officially sanctioned play where good and entertaining roleplayers will be getting Fiat bonuses left and right by innovative and entertaining play, and players that aren't used to roleplaying or are less than expressive don't get them.

Inspiration feels like a way to make roleplaying fair for less experienced roleplayers, but in a way it feels like an overly limiting system overall. It's nice to have the random charts and specific motivations for new players, but the groups I play with don't really need this sort of structure for roleplay. Let the players roleplay are my feelings on this, and I can't see using this system too much for my players.

GM Fiat is a tried-and-true system that encourages constant improvisation and participation, and it encourages imaginative play. Whatever you can do to make people laugh, be cool, or have a great time deserves a die roll bonus - even the gods of fate enjoy a laugh or two once and a while. From a fun perspective, I like GM Fiat, it gives me a tool to say, "You played that in character well, here's a bonus." without having to award fate-points and introduce another system of record-keeping, even if it is a single-point toggle.

I will play with Inspiration though to get a feel for it and see how it works, but I can see myself laughing along with the players and handing out instant advantage as GM Fiat as a table-reward for fun and creative play. While the system is nice and attempts to put mechanics on roleplay and backgrounds, good players are still good players, and I feel they really have little need for these types of systems for character traits and backgrounds they know what to do with - and play I know how to reward.

UPDATE: We tried this system last night and we were surprised how little it came into play. Some situations do not trigger many opportunities for these per-character specific character traits to come into play, and our players ended up ignoring them and focusing on the action. 

When we did see it, I'm surprised how must more tedious this system is compared to GM Fiat, since everyone has to mentally keep track of these traits and determine if something triggers them. With Fiat, a players stays in character, I know what that character is, and I reward them if they play in character and it's entertaining. 

With this system of X defined traits, I have to ask players what their traits are in when they ask me if something was Inspiration-worthy, and make that judgement call. I need to know these traits ahead of time and potentially present situations that may trigger them. Sometimes there was a back-and-forth about how the trait applied and how they reacted. 

Also, since GM Fiat is not mentioned in D&D 5, I am not applying it to keep in line with the spirit of the Inspiration system (and to make Inspiration more desirable to push players). My hands feel tied running things this way, like my ways of rewarding good play are very limited.

It feels like a lot of record-keeping, player-DM conferences, and personality trait tracking for what we used to call roleplay and reward with on-the-spot bennies. If a player wants to roleplay and make us laugh, great, here's a bonus. If not, and the player wants to earn bennies through smart tactical play, that's cool too.

Otherwise, it feels like a system aimed at beginners that is a bit heavy and somewhat restrictive for what our group likes to do.