D&D 5E Concentration mechanic can ruin plots in adventures

[jasper]

IMO it's something 3e got bang-on right, though it went overboard with commoner classes etc.

I'm saying that what's good for the goose has to be good for the gander, otherwise the setting has no internal consistency.

Put another way, there has to be an underlying mechanical explanation for anything that happens in the fiction, even if said explanation consists of "wild magic surge" (which, by the way, is another option for @Helldritch to mull over).

And several have said that building NPCs in 3e was a pain; but why? You could always just assign numbers and abilities and whatever rather than rolling everything up - all that matters is that the end result is something a PC could in theory also achieve.

In this example, a PC can't long-term charm a bunch of people and thus explaining how an NPC can do it is going to take some fancy talkin'.

I would kind of agree with Lanefan. I thought at first the internal consistency in 3E was great thing. That was until I either started trying to convert my 1E homebrew monsters to 3E and they were from a bother to THREAT. Or the build was so out whack it was crazy. I add some thief levels to a dragon. IIRC at a full out run I still +22 for sneaking up on a group. I guess I am an old fashion 1E guy, NPC can break the rules to make the game more interesting.
And it called the Players Handbook for a reason. I have never seen a Non-players Handbook

 

[dave2008]

Yep. But I do like my NPC to follow the same rules as the players. Maybe a wish gave him that power but it drove him mad... I don't know. But most suggestions (even mine) seems wonky.

But nice suggestions did came up. Thank you all. I'll have to rewrite a bit of Excapode's background.

In the DMG there are supernatural rewards: blessings and charms that could help and completely RAW. If he was above 20 you could also give him a boon or two.

 

[keynup]

After that adventure.
PC: What spells are in his spell book?
DM: lists spells
PC: What? None of those could control all the people!
DM: There are some weird scribbles in the margins.
PC: I try and figure them out
DM: What was you wisdom save again? Never mind I remember.
rolls die and scribbles behind the screen
You'll need to spend some down time to really understand the writings of a mad mage. Let me know when you do. . . chuckles
PC: uh . . . I'll burn the book now.


It's all fine for the DM to have an understanding of what happens behind the scenes, but the players should never be just told specific details just because they ask.
And the DM shouldn't have to justify how every creatures does what it did.

 

[thom_likes_gaming]

All of the above, or he found a way to concentrate on multiple spells... but it made him insane.

Grats. You won. I love this idea.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Just one example of the last part. Hold person has a reduced duration, the concentration mechanic and a save every round. None of my players are taking it. Never.

I think your players are underestimating how valuable even one round of "they don't act and we get automatic crits" is.

 

[iserith]

I think your players are underestimating how valuable even one round of "they don't act and we get automatic crits" is.

Especially with a paladin in the group.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The Archmage gets innate Magic Resistance.

In that particular instance, along with the resistance to damage from spells, that's the 14th level abjurer feature.

 

[Eltab]

Just one example of the last part. Hold person has a reduced duration, the concentration mechanic and a save every round. None of my players are taking it. Never.

When I ran Rise of Tiamat, the Wizard player figured out that all the guys they had met wearing Dragon Masks were "persons" as opposed to "monsters". He took Hold Person (without telling me). When they met the next mask-wearer, he cast it on Round One. The Fighter and Barbarian were very happy. After the session was over, I was too.

 

[ccs]

Sorry for the confusion about Charm person. I was reading the dominate person spell as this spell is the closest to what was possible to the original spell in 2ed. In the writing in the post, I simply forgot to adjust. And even with a one jour duration for Charm it is clearly not long enough. Dominate person allows a save every round. So one is not long enough and the other is too short and allows a save every round. The charm trope is still out of reach. The geas spell is the solution.

Sigh....
The answer is that your NPC has somehow learned a variant spell hitherto unknown to anyone else. (That IS what insane wizards do you know.) You don't need to worry about the how unless that'll make for an interesting story later on. Nor do you need to justify it by the rules.
But it IS something your players could learn to do. Afterall, when he's defeated, they're going to find his spell book(s), right? Well guess what? The notes on this unique spell are in there. Now they have a true treasure. A Charm/Dominate spell of lv x that doesn't rely upon concentration, has an Int based duration, & doesn't allow frequent Saves. That's valuable stuff. Though maybe it's very difficult to learn (and comes with the risk of insanity) - say, every time a Wizard lvs up & gets new spells they can attempt 1 crazy hard (but vaguely possible) Arcana check to have finally deciphered the mad scribblings.
What will your players do with this?
Will they make use of it?
Will they try & try & try to learn it, never rolling high enough?
Will they sit on it?
Will they recognize the danger this spell poses & burn the notes?
Will they fail to realize what they've got?
Or will they sell it/the spell book? If they sell it, who ends up in possession of it? Do they use it later on? Or do they sit on it, thus taking it out of circulation?

So much good stuff can springboard from this. You just need to lose your hangup about RAW to enjoy it.

 

[Weiley31]

As an NPC, the NPC in question can have access to NPC only unique feats.

But if your not gonna have that mindset, the Dental Plan will have to do.