Counterspelling?

[Jdvn1]

Once we had an evil NPC casting an attack spell, a PC ready to counterspell him, another caster NPC counterspelling him, and he provoked an AoO... it took a while to resolve the initiative.

 

[zeo_evil]

I voted unheard of because I have seen it twice since 3rd began. Twice from the same DM about three years apart.

With all due respect to CSers, why would I bother when I could just KILL you? By the time CSing becomes decent I should have enough magic at my disposal to just kill you. And how many of us fight that many spellcasters anyway? I fight a great many and all things being equal I STILL wouldn't bother unless the entire campaign (read many months of killing wizards) was all about spellcasters (like a Thay or Halruaa campaign in FR).

If I had bonus feats to blow on it I might. If WotC mad a CS PrC then it might fly.

 

[Pinotage]

In the game I run there's no counterspelling, although there is extensive use of a Ring of Counterspells, one of the niftier items around.

On the other hand, two of the games I play in use counterspelling quite frequently and it works really well. It's a nice little addition to a secondary spellcaster, and if you do it with Dispel Magic, you don't have to waste a feat. For clerics of the Magic Domain where you have to prepare a Dispel Magic in any case, it's nice to have around once in a while. Certainly not something worth a feat, generally, but it's used in the games I play in.

Pinotage

 

[the Jester]

I see it once in a while.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

"Rouge" is a good example of counterspelling.

 

[Soel]

Maybe if you change Dispel Magic to a swift action spell...I go with the "just kill him already and be done with it" line.

 

[JustaPlayer]

PCs never use it. NPCs seldom use it. The reason is that a spellcaster can almost always find something better to do in his turn than *maybe* making another spellcaster waste a spell at the cost of wasting one yourself. Usually, it is used by relatively low-level spellcasting mooks who wouldn't know how to hamper the party otherwise, or by some outsiders that get dispel magic at will and are numerous enough that one or two of them can counterspell while the others fight.

Yep, The problem with it is that you waste your action for a turn on the off chance that a NPC will cast a spell that you can counter. If none casts a spell, too bad you wasted your time. Now if you could ready and action in a "if spell caster casts do this, else if not do this," it would work much better.

 

[diaglo]

I've never seen one at my regular group games, and I have never seen it at any table of the numerous Living Greyhawk conventions I have attended.

ditto

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

The main problem with counterspelling is that you need to have the appropriate spell available. While just about every arcane caster can cast Magic Missile 24/7, a Flesh to Stone, See Invisibility, or Rainbow Pattern can really ruin your day. If the enemy spellcaster notices you readied for counterspelling, he's not going to cast Fireball, since youprobably have it. He'll cast Sleet Storm to blind you and then follow up with Fireball when you can no longer counterspell him. Unless you keep two or three Dispel Magics prepared and never use them for actual dispelling, it's hard to keep up (although, admittedly, this is one area in which the sorcerer can shine. I've never seen a sorc without Dispel Magic).

To make counterspelling viable, the counterspeller should be able to counter with a larger number of spells. Perhaps any spell of the same level. Or, just handle it the way Arcana Evolved does: one feat gives counterspelling as a caster power check with no loss of spell slots.

 

[EricNoah]

My feeling, when I'm a player, is that it's much better to take an offensive action like casting a spell or attacking, vs. waiting for a possible moment to take a defensive action like counterspelling.