D&D 5E Considering a new concentration mechanic

[Hawk Diesel]

[MENTION=6775031]Saelorn[/MENTION] But then explain how being a bigger or more hardy individual helps you at multitasking or maintain concentration during a loud, windy storm or a sudden, booming bang. Because the way Concentration works mechanically, these situations may also prompt a Concentration check, and you would still add your Constitution modifier.

Concentration is something that really only comes up for spellcasters. Most other instances where someone may need to concentrate on a task I've seen DM's and have myself ruled for Wisdom saves. This suggests that Concentration as written as a mechanic is representative of a special type of training that spellcasters need to be versed in and represents a mental fortitude to manage outside distractions. Having such an ability be modified by Constitution doesn't really make sense to me.

 

[Ovinomancer]

[MENTION=6775031]Saelorn[/MENTION] But then explain how being a bigger or more hardy individual helps you at multitasking or maintain concentration during a loud, windy storm or a sudden, booming bang. Because the way Concentration works mechanically, these situations may also prompt a Concentration check, and you would still add your Constitution modifier.

Concentration is something that really only comes up for spellcasters. Most other instances where someone may need to concentrate on a task I've seen DM's and have myself ruled for Wisdom saves. This suggests that Concentration as written as a mechanic is representative of a special type of training that spellcasters need to be versed in and represents a mental fortitude to manage outside distractions. Having such an ability be modified by Constitution doesn't really make sense to me.

Because the ability to maintain concentration is so ingrained in the caster that they need make no special effort to maintain it. Unless they are struck or suffer a physical assault, in which case their ability to shrug off such things physically is used to model that physical stimulus overwhelming their ability to do rational thought. No one remembers anything for a few moments when their bell gets rung. Not getting your bell rung isn't a mental exercise, but a physical one. Hence, you make concentration checks based on CON when suffering a physical assault that might ring your bell and shut down your mental state through physiology.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

[MENTION=6775031]Saelorn[/MENTION] But then explain how being a bigger or more hardy individual helps you at multitasking or maintain concentration during a loud, windy storm or a sudden, booming bang. Because the way Concentration works mechanically, these situations may also prompt a Concentration check, and you would still add your Constitution modifier.

I don't know about multitasking, and I don't know that the rules really address that either. You can't concentrate on two spells at once, but you can do just about anything else while you're concentrating on one spell; it's not like concentrating on a spell gives any sort of penalties to physical or mental skills. Maybe concentrating on a spell is the only activity which requires so much focus that you can't do it while you're already concentrating on a spell, and otherwise it's not worth modeling?

In terms of distraction, the example listed (in 5E) is of a wave crashing over you while you're on a storm-tossed ship. In that specific case, an ogre might hope to hold their ground, while a pixie would be thrown around like a ragdoll. Simply being knocked down is not enough to force a concentration check, nor is standing near a lightning strike. Spellcasters in 5E are ridiculously good at maintaining concentration through mundane circumstances.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

@Saelorn But then explain how being a bigger or more hardy individual helps you at multitasking or maintain concentration during a loud, windy storm or a sudden, booming bang. Because the way Concentration works mechanically, these situations may also prompt a Concentration check, and you would still add your Constitution modifier.

Concentration is something that really only comes up for spellcasters. Most other instances where someone may need to concentrate on a task I've seen DM's and have myself ruled for Wisdom saves. This suggests that Concentration as written as a mechanic is representative of a special type of training that spellcasters need to be versed in and represents a mental fortitude to manage outside distractions. Having such an ability be modified by Constitution doesn't really make sense to me.

Other than taking damage (and of course, casting another spell that requires concentration and being KO'd/killed), the PHB suggest physically demanding events as ones where a caster might lose concentration from failing a check.

''The GM might also decide that certain environmental phenomena, such as a wave crashing over you while you’re on a storm--tossed ship, require you to succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell.''

So unless that sudden, booming bang is loud enough to cause damage, at least if I was DMing, I wouldn't call for a Concentration check.



With regards to their training, if we must drag real-world examples into the mix, perhaps we can think of casters practicing concentration in a way similar to a performer - be they a comedian, pianist, juggler of whatever. Heckling a seasoned performer isn't going to cause them to lose their focus on the task at hand. Hitting them with a brick might.

 

[FrogReaver]

That said. I can wisdom and intelligence both benefitting concentration.

If calculus is as easy as 2+2 for you then it's going to be hard to make you mess up even if bricks being thrown at you were involved.

I could see a spell casting stat + constitution being the bonus for concentration. But I do think that constitution needs to say.

One other caveat on "realism". A higher level spell is more complicated than a lower level one. It should relatively harder to concentrate on the higher level spells than the lower leveled ones, at least for any caster that can cast them.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

This is an assumption based on common D&D and fantasy tropes of the wizard that studies books in his tower. But what if that mental training is more taxing? What if it does include maintaining spells while running from bobcats or getting painful tattoos?

Then that wizard's unusual training to grant better capability to resist pain will probably be represented mechanically, either through a higher Con, or a feat. Capacity to endure pain and exhaustion is a pretty fundamental part of Constitution for example. Or resilient (Con) feat would be another option.

And what if that's because in such worlds, losing concentration while learning these spells wouldn't just result in them fizzling out, but also potentially releasing dangerous energy or effects? This would place a greater emphasis in magical studies on the idea of concentrating in a variety of situations and experiences.

I don't think that there are any spells that do that when you lose concentration on them in 5e.
In such worlds, its likely that a wizard's training may focus less on resisting mental influence, and more on resisting pain and other distractions. (i.e. Proficiency in Con rather than Wis saves.)

And these situations don't have to just be painful. The description includes that a concentration check could be called for in circumstances such as a storm or other situations that would create distraction.

Physical jostling can be highly distracting if you're not inured to it. A chunk of the first part of training for beginners to many martial arts and contact sports is to overcome the freezing-up or panic reflex that many people have when grabbed, shoved, or knocked down.

Like I said before, from my perspective, concentrating on a spell is likely more along the lines of trying to do mental calculus while everything else is going on, and you can't screw up the equation or you lose it. Being bigger or tougher does not necessarily make that easier.

Any spellcaster can keep concentration when most other stuff is happening around them. Its up to individual DMs to decide whether concentration is like mental calculus, or keeping a tune going in your head continuously, or simply having something that you need to pay a bit of attention to all of the time. Pain, injury, or life-threatening situations can all lose that level of attention in favour of concentrating upon the immediate matter at hand however.