Counterspelling -- Does It Work?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Them's the breaks, as they say.

The Null also couldn't be polymorphed, wished, held or harmed...

 

[genshou]

There's a feat in Elements of Magic - Revised called Reactive Counterspell, which allows the character to cast a counterspell as a swift action, but they lose a (standard?) action in the next round. I'm building a Dispel specialist, so we'll see how it works out.

I think the problem is that taking a readied action to counterspell is a poor tactic most of the time. If reactive counterspelling as outlined above could work either as an option for everyone or as a feat in the core rules, I think we would see it happen a lot more often.

Edit:

In one campaign, counterspelling was one of the most common actions used by the spellcasters. The premise of the campaign was that the evil empire that controlled the world had a magical secret police force of orcish mages and clerics called the Inquisitors, who were all specifically trained to counterspell.

Incidentally, the PC I mention took Masked Soul as a tradition feat and belongs to an organization more or less identical to your Ragesian Inquisitors, though they come from a different background and don't include any nonhumans in their ranks. Thanks for giving me that cool character idea!

 

[Drowbane]

It occurred to me over the weekend that even though there are very clearly spelled-out rules for counterspelling, I have never seen it done -- nor in fact would I think to do it myself because there seem to be so many hurdles involved.

So I'm curious -- has anybody out there used it, and is it effective? Relate your experiences here!

-The Gneech

Counterspelling is extremely rare! I remember having a 3.0 Wizard built around Counterspell mastery... and it came up so rarely that I felt robbed for my poor feat selection.

 

[Mark Chance]

I've used it both as a player and, much more often, as a GM. Having to ready an action for the counterspell is pretty much a non-issue. I've never seen a significant disadvantage to doing so, and one doesn't "lose" an action by readying. As a GM, I've used counterspelling against all manner of casters, including psions.

When facing an enemy caster, the ready action, whether used for a counterspell or some other effect, is your best friend. Heck, I once shut down every spellcaster in a party for one round by using ready action combined with silence.

 

[Endur]

It occurred to me over the weekend that even though there are very clearly spelled-out rules for counterspelling, I have never seen it done -- nor in fact would I think to do it myself because there seem to be so many hurdles involved.

Only on rare occassions with Dispel Magic. I've never seen a counter-spell with the exact same spell. It works great for parties vs. a big bad guy ... one PC waits to dispel the big bad guy's spell while the rest of the party beats on the bad guy.

 

[Tinner]

Counterspelling is a great tactic for bards!
Sure you can't cast 9th level spells like the wizard, but your caster level is just as high as an equally levelled wizard, so you can counter him all day!
Add in Dispel and Greater Dispel, and the bard can really hinder opposing spellcasters.
My gnome bard in a high level campaign always starts combat with a readied action to counterspell.
Since I started doing that, we have had a lot fewer bad guys escape via Dimension Door, Teleport, etc.
It's especially satisfying when the lowly bard shuts down a dragon's spells.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I've seen it done for Dispel Magic and "ready to blast him if he casts a spell".

You can't predict the enemy's spell until it's too late (eg you've already given up your readied action).

 

[jmucchiello]

In a spellcaster heavy party, one of the spellcasters can easily specialize in counterspells. At high levels, you can even get off a quickened spell and still ready a counterspell. My character has done this on occasion: especially when the opposition is throwing around Maze spells.

 

[ForceUser]

So I'm curious -- has anybody out there used it, and is it effective? Relate your experiences here!

Yes. And it's especially effective in the hands of a warlock with voracious dispelling.