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Counterspell Idea
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<blockquote data-quote="Ainamacar" data-source="post: 6021108" data-attributes="member: 70709"><p>I don't know, I think the main thing is that traditional counterspelling has all the issues that other action-denying abilities have. That is, they can lead to stun-locks on the one-hand or lots of wasted turns on the other. The risk-reward analysis is pretty tricky, especially if there are multiple sources of counterspelling. I mean, if I'm going to spend my action to counterspell I'd want to have a decent chance to actually deny the other caster their turn. But if 3 casters can counterspell, they can almost certainly lock-down a single caster.</p><p></p><p>Instead, I think it would be better to reorient counterspelling toward "spell dampening." Then it is more likely to do something, much less likely to completely negate a spell, and potentially a lot more scalable when multiple casters are involved. Find an elegant expression for this and we could probably also put spell disruption back into the game using the same principles.</p><p></p><p>In 3.5 one could almost do this by reducing caster levels by a variable amount, but the importance of caster level was sufficiently inconsistent between spells that it didn't quite work and at low levels it was still pretty binary. I ended up writing an alternate bard with a bardic song that introduced the least frustrating counterspelling I saw in 3.5. The song itself was useful and one could end the song to try to counterspell, so it didn't cost an action in the usual sense but also couldn't be spammed. It came in quite handy for the bard a few times in the campaign.</p><p></p><p>In 5e I'm not sure how to go about it, but "impede the other guy's spellcasting" is such an obvious (and fictionally iconic) thing to try that I think it might be worth looking at the entire spell system with that in mind. If every spell had a roll to determine it's power (as some magic systems do) that would be straightforward, but it wouldn't be D&D. Given the diversity of systems and effects, maybe the thing to do is make it a la carte: at time of counterspell select one of minimize k dice, give targets a small boost on saves, give caster penalty on related checks, adjust hit point thresholds by kd6, etc. That might also be an ungainly mess if there isn't a very simple way to communicate what happens and move on. Just tossing out ideas.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ainamacar, post: 6021108, member: 70709"] I don't know, I think the main thing is that traditional counterspelling has all the issues that other action-denying abilities have. That is, they can lead to stun-locks on the one-hand or lots of wasted turns on the other. The risk-reward analysis is pretty tricky, especially if there are multiple sources of counterspelling. I mean, if I'm going to spend my action to counterspell I'd want to have a decent chance to actually deny the other caster their turn. But if 3 casters can counterspell, they can almost certainly lock-down a single caster. Instead, I think it would be better to reorient counterspelling toward "spell dampening." Then it is more likely to do something, much less likely to completely negate a spell, and potentially a lot more scalable when multiple casters are involved. Find an elegant expression for this and we could probably also put spell disruption back into the game using the same principles. In 3.5 one could almost do this by reducing caster levels by a variable amount, but the importance of caster level was sufficiently inconsistent between spells that it didn't quite work and at low levels it was still pretty binary. I ended up writing an alternate bard with a bardic song that introduced the least frustrating counterspelling I saw in 3.5. The song itself was useful and one could end the song to try to counterspell, so it didn't cost an action in the usual sense but also couldn't be spammed. It came in quite handy for the bard a few times in the campaign. In 5e I'm not sure how to go about it, but "impede the other guy's spellcasting" is such an obvious (and fictionally iconic) thing to try that I think it might be worth looking at the entire spell system with that in mind. If every spell had a roll to determine it's power (as some magic systems do) that would be straightforward, but it wouldn't be D&D. Given the diversity of systems and effects, maybe the thing to do is make it a la carte: at time of counterspell select one of minimize k dice, give targets a small boost on saves, give caster penalty on related checks, adjust hit point thresholds by kd6, etc. That might also be an ungainly mess if there isn't a very simple way to communicate what happens and move on. Just tossing out ideas. [/QUOTE]
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