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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6633354" data-attributes="member: 2067">Doesn't mean you're immune to the "Geek Social Fallacies," like doing things you don't want to do because a friend has made it your job to support their preferences. I think the debate occurs because you call out the concentration mechanic as the problem rather than looking at the context that is making you feel like you have to use so many concentration spells. Concentration solves a LOT of problems for a LOT of tables. It limits buffs and debuffs, gives the caster something to pay attention to, gives the enemies something to target, balances casters relative to noncasters, and generally makes the game flow smoother for a lot of groups. When you say it's a problem, an eyebrow gets raised because a lot of folks find it the exact opposite - an awesome thing. And then it turns out it's a problem for you because your buddy "made a character that needs to fly to get into combat," and it turns out that for a lot of people at a lot of tables, the very idea of a character that needs to fly to get into combat is itself a bizarre concept, and additionally the idea that the player of such a character would basically call dibs on one of your character's resources so that he doesn't have to be flexible seems like an over-reach. He's basically playing your character in part as well, dedicating more than one character's resources toward playing his character the way he wants to play it. I'd shoot the melee members of the party into the sky if it was a better use of my 3rd-level spell slot than other stuff I could do (like, say, bring down the flyer with a Hypnotic Pattern!), and in certain circumstances it might be (like when fighting something with Legendary Resistance), but whatever my decision, it's not up to the melee members of my party to call dibs on my magic. That's one of the decision points you face when being a melee monster - did I remember to pack a net? Do I have something to do at range? It's my character, not theirs. They get to choose their strengths and weaknesses, and so do I. The difference is that the player of the archer or the wounded character don't require that other characters serve their characters. Maybe the wounded character needs to bring some friggin' healing potions next time and not eat up all of the healer's spell slots and go on the defensive for a round or two. Maybe the archer needs to be okay with not being an archer for a few rounds. I'm not going to tell my friends that they have to play their characters in a way that lines up with what I want my character to do.My groups have always played flexible characters, at least a little bit, who aren't reduced to incompetence by min/maxing to the nth degree and hitting an area they're min-ed in. They're able to do things that they aren't the best at for a few rounds if the combat goes that way, and it is actually part of the fun.For instance, my gnome wild mage, his main contribution is action-denial shenanigans. But sometimes things are immune to that, and he does stuff he's not as good at, like damage. When he does that, other party members - like the high-damage ranger or dragon sorcerer - get to shine, because they are damage-focused. The party has two-and-a-half melee machines, but flying them isn't my job or the dragon sorcerer's job. Sometimes they'll just have to use javelins while we firebolt and polymorph.At most of my tables, your melee machine would just sometimes not be that effective. That's a choice they make by being a melee machine. They should be fine with that compromise - sometimes, they will be crazy effective. You making a greatsword fighter isn't a requirement for me to be  your chauffeur. Sometimes, you will suck. Sometimes, we all will suck. This is a game, suck is inevitable.</blockquote>

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