D&D 5E Homebrew: Removing Concentration From The Less Popular Spells

[Henadic Theologian]

I mean, the list of concentration spells not worth the concentration isn't all that long. Like a dozen.

Barkskin: It acts like heavy armor and works with shields. Target can end it as a reaction to be immune to one non-fire source if damage.

Witch Bolt: As an action or when you cast this spell, make 1d12 damage attack. As an action, deal 1d12 damage to all creatures you have hit that are in range and not behind total cover. Spell ends if you do neither. Damage of both increases with higher level slots.

Etc.

A dozen or so spells is not that small a number especially when it's easily fixed for 5.5e.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

A very minor tweak that could make Concentration actually work is allow a caster to maintain a number of spells equal to their power stat. So a wizard with 18 int, would be able to maintain 4 concentration spells in tandem.

As an aside, I think concentration nearly as a whole should be removed from the game. The only reason players were buff stacking like they were back in 3/3.5 was the sheer number of spell slots they had available. Since the caster classes have been utterly neutered with what their max spell count can be, it simply became a non-issue then. Sure the wizard & cleric could stack 5 buffs on each party member. But all they'll be doing is lobbing cantrips the entire following fight. An exaguration to be sure, but spellslots are so small these days that it's utterly smothering to think about doing large scale battles, clearing dungeons, or making it from one town to the next without taking very arbitrarily forced rests.

I agree there's some spells that concentration should remain for. But the vast majority? Not really. I don't care if they feel op. Any spell is op in the right situation, in the right hands. It just depends on who's using them, and who's running the game.

Alternatively, since concentration is what it is, they could just give the caster classes back the lost spell slots. Then it wont feel so bad to drop one spell to use another, and then switch back to the previously employed spell as needed. I like playing the "Chess God" in games. A wizard, cleric, bard, etc that's purely devoted to changing the flow of combat through uses of buffs/debuffs. And honestly Wizards of the coast has kinda ruined that niche for me.

And new players into the game are so... Well let's be honest. Inexperienced and mud brained that they just parrot the NPC response, "That's OP" or "That's game breaking", etc. Without a single amount of thought being added. So they don't realize that while D&D is basically babies first RPG, it's also so constrictive they are completely unaware of the kind of freedoms they lack, and what kind of creativity they could apply in the older games.

Anyway, TLDR

My fixes are either you can maintain a number of concentration spells = to your power ability mod.
Or casters get a number of spells to each rank they can cast = to their ability mod so they can pop back and forth between spells they need to cast without feeling knee capped or getting sleepy and needing nappies.

That is a cool idea. My idea was simple a multitasking feat.

 

[Stalker0]

After trying a few complex houserules, I just went with the simple:

Multi-casting (5th level spellcaster): At 5th level, you can maintain concentration on two spells at once. You roll a single constitution save whenever your concentration is threatened, on a failure, both spells are lost.



Honestly I've been very pleased with it, I really haven't seen any broken combos yet, and its definately allowed for more interesting variety in the game.

 

[niklinna]

After trying a few complex houserules, I just went with the simple:

Multi-casting (5th level spellcaster): At 5th level, you can maintain concentration on two spells at once. You roll a single constitution save whenever your concentration is threatened, on a failure, both spells are lost.

Honestly I've been very pleased with it, I really haven't seen any broken combos yet, and its definately allowed for more interesting variety in the game.

Is that per spellcasting class, per total of spellcasting classes, or total character level? I can easily see arguments for the first two, and possibly even the third!

 

[Stalker0]

Is that per spellcasting class, per total of spellcasting classes, or total character level? I can easily see arguments for the first two, and possibly even the third!

Its at the 5th level of each spellcasting class, basically the "extra attack" for spellcasters.

 

[voraciousvulpini]

I'm thinking of removing concentration entirely, I do plan on useing the "Gritty Realism" rest variant though I feel like it would probably balance itself that way.

 

[Yaarel]

I'm thinking of removing concentration entirely, I do plan on useing the "Gritty Realism" rest variant though I feel like it would probably balance itself that way.

The concentration mechanic is a main factor for why the casters and noncasters balance better in 5e. It prevents stacking too many spells at the same time.

That said, I agree with much of the original post, that the spell list overuses concentration even for certain spells that are weak.

The spells need a revamp generally, to make sure all spells in the same slot are competitive with each other. 5e did a great job at removing broken spells, but there are too many spells that are subpar compared to other spells in the same slot. Sometimes, the solution is to demote a spell to a lower level where it is more comparable to the spells of that level. Sometimes the solution is to remove its concentration mechanics. A few spells might benefit from rethinking.

 

[renbot]

I think the stacking concern for defensive spells that keeps coming up would be more elegantly handled by changing durations too "one minute/hour/whatever or until you cast this spell again whichever comes first." Some durations might also have to be decreased.

Done. No concentration issues, no stacking concerns.

Spells that deal direct damage for multiple rounds should still be concentration, as would some but not all buffs.

 

[Blue]

A very minor tweak that could make Concentration actually work is allow a caster to maintain a number of spells equal to their power stat. So a wizard with 18 int, would be able to maintain 4 concentration spells in tandem.

As an aside, I think concentration nearly as a whole should be removed from the game. The only reason players were buff stacking like they were back in 3/3.5 was the sheer number of spell slots they had available. Since the caster classes have been utterly neutered with what their max spell count can be, it simply became a non-issue then. Sure the wizard & cleric could stack 5 buffs on each party member. But all they'll be doing is lobbing cantrips the entire following fight. An exaguration to be sure, but spellslots are so small these days that it's utterly smothering to think about doing large scale battles, clearing dungeons, or making it from one town to the next without taking very arbitrarily forced rests.

I agree there's some spells that concentration should remain for. But the vast majority? Not really. I don't care if they feel op. Any spell is op in the right situation, in the right hands. It just depends on who's using them, and who's running the game.

Alternatively, since concentration is what it is, they could just give the caster classes back the lost spell slots. Then it wont feel so bad to drop one spell to use another, and then switch back to the previously employed spell as needed. I like playing the "Chess God" in games. A wizard, cleric, bard, etc that's purely devoted to changing the flow of combat through uses of buffs/debuffs. And honestly Wizards of the coast has kinda ruined that niche for me.

And new players into the game are so... Well let's be honest. Inexperienced and mud brained that they just parrot the NPC response, "That's OP" or "That's game breaking", etc. Without a single amount of thought being added. So they don't realize that while D&D is basically babies first RPG, it's also so constrictive they are completely unaware of the kind of freedoms they lack, and what kind of creativity they could apply in the older games.

Anyway, TLDR

My fixes are either you can maintain a number of concentration spells = to your power ability mod.
Or casters get a number of spells to each rank they can cast = to their ability mod so they can pop back and forth between spells they need to cast without feeling knee capped or getting sleepy and needing nappies.

Wow, hyperbole much?

The latest OrrReport about Roll20 was 8 million users and over half of them playing D&D 5e, and that's just one virtual table, there really is no way not to believe that they "actually work" as written.

So, considering that with Concentration in place we are not hearing any general cries that "all pure casters are too weak", and your changes would greatly improve the power of said casters, there really isn't any choice but to believe this would horribly break any balance between casters and non-casters.

This just isn't viable.

 

[Blue]

I'm thinking of removing concentration entirely, I do plan on useing the "Gritty Realism" rest variant though I feel like it would probably balance itself that way.

You would have to have boost the non-casters whom recharge on long rests as well. And even classes like paladin, where the primary use of the slots are not concentration spells.