D&D 5E concentration in 5th edition, whats your fix?

[dwayne]

Having run older versions of D&D I was a little taken aback by the concentration of spells that will require concentration. I am just talking about spells with the mechanic right now but may address other concentration issues later. As it stands way too many spells have this and not to mention the wizard has been neutered beyond what he should be. Bam hit well the one spell that i can cast to help that needs concentration ends because of con save fail. And only one can be cast that reqires concentration which does not leave many options on your list, no wonder i don't have a single mage in my game group. So this is what I propose i did some checking and there are 10 rounds in a minute and most spells that require concentration last that long max. So lets say you cast a spell that requires concentration but opt for not concentrating then I would say the duration would be haf of base which would be 5 rounds. now in most of my old games I ran most combat does not go past a few rounds let alone 5 and if they do the other side is hurting pretty good. So I think this would be a good work around for the caster in the group and give a bit of the old feel to how the caster was well more useful. Or you could make the concentration a mental thing and a wisdom save as being a marine most things are the will and deternination to focus and keep alive is inpart a mental thing as much as physical.

 

[neogod22]

Having run older versions of D&D I was a little taken aback by the concentration of spells that will require concentration. I am just talking about spells with the mechanic right now but may address other concentration issues later. As it stands way too many spells have this and not to mention the wizard has been neutered beyond what he should be. Bam hit well the one spell that i can cast to help that needs concentration ends because of con save fail. And only one can be cast that reqires concentration which does not leave many options on your list, no wonder i don't have a single mage in my game group. So this is what I propose i did some checking and there are 10 rounds in a minute and most spells that require concentration last that long max. So lets say you cast a spell that requires concentration but opt for not concentrating then I would say the duration would be haf of base which would be 5 rounds. now in most of my old games I ran most combat does not go past a few rounds let alone 5 and if they do the other side is hurting pretty good. So I think this would be a good work around for the caster in the group and give a bit of the old feel to how the caster was well more useful. Or you could make the concentration a mental thing and a wisdom save as being a marine most things are the will and deternination to focus and keep alive is inpart a mental thing as much as physical.

It's kind of a 2 way street. Sure your wizard can't stack spells, but then again, neither can monsters. It speeds up combat, because a wizard isn't spending the 1st t rounds of combat stacking protection spells, or creating a quagmire of obstacles. Also it allows casters to be viable for more than one combat seeing that if they aren't blowing multiple slots stacking defenses in case someone gets into melee. I never had a problem with concentration saves, because my casters usually have a decent CON, or they have the War Caster feat.

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[pogre]

I like the concentration mechanic a lot. It makes sense and slows down the most powerful classes in the game.

 

[RangerWickett]

I played it as is. We'd discussed an optional rule to let you concentrate on a second spell by spending your action, so you could cast Fly turn 1, Invisibility turn 2, and thereafter spend your action to concentrate, so all you could do is move and take bonus actions.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I played it as is. We'd discussed an optional rule to let you concentrate on a second spell by spending your action, so you could cast Fly turn 1, Invisibility turn 2, and thereafter spend your action to concentrate, so all you could do is move and take bonus actions.

Interesting.

I like the concentration mechanic as-is, and most suggestions I've seen to get rid of it would overbalance the caster classes. This is the first house rule for allowing concentration on more than one spell that I might actually consider allowing in my games.

 

[Seramus]

the wizard has been neutered beyond what he should be.

Relative to what? Wizards are one of the most powerful classes in the game, able to be tremendously effective in any of the three pillars by custom picking their spells upon level up, or even being moderately effective at all three based on the whims of the player.

The only thing I could imagine doing with concentration mechanic is getting rid of the constitution save. It just slows down gameplay.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

The closest thing I have to a house rule for concentration is that the paladin's normal smite mechanic uses the same rules as all of its smite spells: bonus action, concentration, and it affects your next hit.

Concentration is one of the most important balancing factors in this edition, and while the primary benefit is to help keep spellcasters in line with the other classes, it also helps spellcasters to slow down and conserve spell slots instead of spending everything at once. I would never consider removing it.

 

[ad_hoc]

Half the threads on the topic complain about Wizards being too strong, the other half, too weak.

Concentration itself is a great mechanic. It adds a lot of choice and tension to the game.

Also, the thread title is begging the question.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I think Concentration is great. Removing it would be a hugely unbalancing boost to caster classes.

 

[Nevvur]

Having run older versions of D&D I was a little taken aback by the concentration of spells that will require concentration. I am just talking about spells with the mechanic right now but may address other concentration issues later. As it stands way too many spells have this and not to mention the wizard has been neutered beyond what he should be. Bam hit well the one spell that i can cast to help that needs concentration ends because of con save fail. And only one can be cast that reqires concentration which does not leave many options on your list, no wonder i don't have a single mage in my game group. So this is what I propose i did some checking and there are 10 rounds in a minute and most spells that require concentration last that long max. So lets say you cast a spell that requires concentration but opt for not concentrating then I would say the duration would be haf of base which would be 5 rounds. now in most of my old games I ran most combat does not go past a few rounds let alone 5 and if they do the other side is hurting pretty good. So I think this would be a good work around for the caster in the group and give a bit of the old feel to how the caster was well more useful. Or you could make the concentration a mental thing and a wisdom save as being a marine most things are the will and deternination to focus and keep alive is inpart a mental thing as much as physical.

I feel like the existing concentration mechanic is too hard baked into the bigger act of class balance to feel okay about granting spellcasters even more power. This isn't strictly an argument against improving concentration mechanics in the favor of magic users so much as it is an argument against empowering spellcasters when I perceive them as already being generally more powerful than non-spellcasters. Every time I see a proposal for giving magic users more candy, I feel compelled to ask, "What do martial characters get?"

You don't have to answer that. Just food for thought.

I played it as is. We'd discussed an optional rule to let you concentrate on a second spell by spending your action, so you could cast Fly turn 1, Invisibility turn 2, and thereafter spend your action to concentrate, so all you could do is move and take bonus actions.

I would play a sorcerer with Quicken Spell at such a table. No question. Possibly a paladin, to run a normal buff spell and be able to load a spell smite without breaking it.