D&D 5E 5 Years in: Concentration

[jayoungr]

As I play casters most of the time, I understand their concern, but IME I am more hesitant to start a concentration spell because it is likely before it runs out I am going to need to cast another one and lose the first. When I select my spells, I shoot for a strong blend of instant, set duration, and concentration.

Sure. I just mean that if their goal was to discourage a large percentage of people from using these spells much, they seem to have succeeded.

 

[Nebulous]

Concentration break on damage can go out.
It is annoying,
war caster feat is so popular on DnD beyond for some reasons: people don’t like wasting spell.

It's annoying yes, but it's also one of the inherent balancing factors. I just think it's far too easy to lose concentration, that's the prob

We play by the book but there are some things I find lacking/annoying.

Concentration checks are too easy. Using DC 10 or half damage, whichever is higher, is too low. Once you get past lower levels, especially.

Adding in War Caster, as others have said, makes it even worse.

I would estimate, maybe 1 in 4 or 5 spells are ended because of failed Concentration checks. At higher levels, once Resilient (if needed) and War Caster are taken, it is closer to 1 in 20 or so.

I have thought about some changes:

• The check to DC 10 or full damage, whichever is higher.
• The check uses your spellcasting modifier (instead of a save), so you are automatically proficient.
• You can concentrate on a number of spells equal to your spellcasting ability score modifier.
• If you fail a concentrate check, you lose all concentration spells you have active.

But, I am still thinking about it.

I always loved the old 3e Unearthed Arcana that was a grab bag toolkit of alternate ideas. I would love to see stuff like this crammed into an official product, just tons of ways to tweak your game, here ya go, have at it. I know the online one kind of does that, but I want a big print book filled to the gills.

 

[Oofta]

Nothing is perfect but I think it works fine as written. If a caster is concentrating, I just put a (soft drink) ring on it to keep track.

I remember previous editions and having to have a chart to remember all the bonuses and pluses my fighter had at any given moment. Current game is usually much less fiddly.

 

[jgsugden]

I play as is, but I have a lot of home brew spells in my game, and many of the ignore cncentration or bypass it by combining the core elements of two spells that require concentration into one. For example, I put Wraithform into the game as a 6th leel spell that allows the wizard to fly, be improved invisible and pass throuh gaps as small as 1 inch (treating anything they need to side through as difficult terrain). It is concentration and lasts only a minute, but it serves several purposes.

I also introduced a few magical items that assist with concentration, but at the cost of an attunement slot. When I make intelligenct magical items that can cast a concentration spell, the item concentrates, not the PC wielding the item. I also have a magic ring in my game that will maintain concentration for you on one spell that targets only you. The uncommon version will do only a cantrip or 1st level spell. The rare version does up to 2nd level. The very rare version up to 3rd. The legendary up to 5th. It requires attunement and has a few other minor features, but the maintaining cncentration is the main grab. When you take damage, the ringalso has to make concentration checks.

Finally, a good number of parties I've been in/run have made use of a ring of spell storing to allow the melee PCs to be concentrating on buff spells for the party rather than just the spellcasters. Making use of those other PCs' concentration for buffs is a way to effectively expans how much concentration a wizard can do.

Finally, in higher magic games I run, I did insert a variant rule (but it s only in some games in high magic worlds): Spellcasters have concentration points. The concentration points are equal to half your spellcasting level, rounded up (so wizards, clerics, etc... get one every other level starting at one; rangers and paladins every third level starting at 1; eldritch knights, arcane tricksters get them every 4 levels starting at one). Concentrating on one spell requires one concentration point per spell level. Adding a second requires one concetration per spell level plus one additional point. Adding a third requires once concentration point per spell level plus two. Thus, an 11th level caster could concentrate on three first level spells using their 6 concentration points (1 + (1 + 1) + (1 + 2)), or a fourth and a first (4 + (1 +1)); or a second and third (2 + (3 + 1)). When concentrating on multiple spells, any concentration checks you make are at disadvantage, and you must roll them in the reverse order of casting (so that if the 2nd spell you cast fails, when you make the check for the first spell you are non longer at disadvantage).

 

[DND_Reborn]

It's annoying yes, but it's also one of the inherent balancing factors. I just think it's far too easy to lose concentration, that's the prob

Interesting. You think it is too easy to lose concentration, I think it is too hard. LOL!

I haven't read through the thread, so if you don't mind how is it too easy in your experience? Do your casters not often take Resilient and/or War Caster? Do you not multiclass? Do you cast a lot of concentration spells often so it comes up more commonly?

 

[RogueJK]

Finally, a good number of parties I've been in/run have made use of a ring of spell storing to allow the melee PCs to be concentrating on buff spells for the party rather than just the spellcasters. Making use of those other PCs' concentration for buffs is a way to effectively expans how much concentration a wizard can do.

That's a definitely a good way to expand the number of concentration spells a party can have running, but it's a double-edged sword... Most melee characters (especially tanks) are more likely to get hit, and therefore will be making more Concentration checks, increasing the chances of losing Concentration on that spell.

It's generally more optimal for a melee character to be buffed than to buff themselves, in most situations. But having extra buff spells running, even if one of those only lasts partway through combat, can still be the better option in some situations.

 

[RogueJK]

Interesting. You think it is too easy to lose concentration, I think it is too hard. LOL!

I haven't read through the thread, so if you don't mind how is it too easy in your experience? Do your casters not often take Resilient and/or War Caster? Do you not multiclass? Do you cast a lot of concentration spells often so it comes up more commonly?

I think this is very group-dependent. If you're playing with optimizers, Concentration checks may seem to be too easy. Otherwise, they may seem to hard.

In my experience, if you build around Concentration, by multiclassing in specific ways, taking feats, focusing on CON as one of your secondary stats, etc., it's usually fairly easy to make Concentration checks. Otherwise, it's fairly common for many non-optimized casters to lose Concentration, especially if the DM has smart enemies who purposely try to disrupt casters' Concentration.

I've seen several players get frustrated with their non-optimized caster characters constantly losing Concentration. Especially with front line full casters like melee Clerics and Moon Druids, as well as front line secondary casters like Paladins. (Moon Druids seem to be the worst offender, due to their role as a front line tank, combined with the low AC of most Wild Shape forms which means frequent hits, plus the inability to re-cast Concentration spells that are lost while Wild Shaped... Everybody wants to be a bear, until that AC 11 bear is getting hit multiple times every round. )

A few times this resulting frustration has led to scrapping the character, other times it forces them into reluctantly optimizing because they feel like they have to take a certain feat that they otherwise wouldn't have.


Personally, nearly all of my casters have been built with an eye towards maintaining Concentration, and I usually have no trouble maintaining it.

 

[jayoungr]

Concentration break on damage can go out.
It is annoying,

It's pretty satisfying to use it against an enemy spellcaster, though--I wouldn't want to lose that!

 

[JeffB]

It's a band-aid for a balance issue that was pretty much solved in the last edition, but.

BTB it is clunky balancing mechanic- but I'm no big fan of Vancian Casting so I'd prefer the whole system get thrown out in the next edition (I can feel all the people on the board who play casters cringing at the thought of a new balanced casting system they cannot "game" ).

I/we tend to forget about the checks- and I find it's a shoehorn into one playstyle i..e the "smart" or "cowardly" Wizard depending on how you look at it.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I know. In our current game we take 25 points per hit commonly, and sometimes as high as 40 or so. But it makes checks harder, which is my intent as I think they are too easy as written. I might keep the half damage, but raise the base DC to 15 from 10. That would be easier now that I think about it.

The risk with multiple concentration spells is if you do get hit and fail one, you fail them all. That makes combining those spells potentially powerful, but also risky. I know it is also a balance issue, which is why I am still thinking about it. If we try it out and it is too strong, we'll remove it.

Starting from 15 instead does make it harder in a much better way (potentially too hard in my opinion, because I tend to hit people multiple times with low damage attacks). I just think going with Full Damage is not making it harder, just making it impossible.

And, as someone who has put some very limited ways to get two concentration spells up, I would say if you are going to try it out, start small. I've seen some big moves and very impactful plays from just having two spells up, heck, I've seen it from two different casters concentrating. It is pretty powerful, so I would recommend starting small.

Allow all casters after 5th level to concentrate on two spells at once. See how big an impact that is (I've found it significant when I gave out an item that did this) before jumping into letting them concentrate of 4 or 5 spells at once.