jamesstreissand
Explorer
I'm saying Concentration is part of the spell design, and ignoring it is silly.Are you saying that 3rd level spells aren't balanced against is other is less important than they share a subsystem? I'm sure that sounded more clever in your head, but no, a spell underperforming against it's peers is not the fault of a subsystem. That subsystem may help define who it's peers are, but not that it's poorly designed in the first place.
Should a 1st level concentration spells and a 5th level concentration spell be balanced against each other. There is only one sane answer, and it's the one that shows that concentration is NOT the most important factor.
I'll give you that spell level and concentration are both important for determining what spells to compare. But while you are cherry picking one pair of spells with a high performer and a low performer, I can show dozens of equal level concentration spells that do get picked against each other.
At that point, it should be clear that it's not concentration since there are plenty of pairs of spells that are both likely candidates to pick, it's an under-performing spell.
Which it is.
If there are pairs of spells that are both likely candididates, they were balanced against each other with the concentration system in mind, not in spite of it. There are plenty of spells of higher level which smart spellcasters won't employ (vs something like Haste, since it's the topical example) because it keeps them from casting a superior, lower level spell. Concentration in that instance IS more important than the spell level.
Know what that tells us? It's time to change concentration (as if we didn't need the fact it simply made for a better game to do so).