D&D 5E Ditching concentration - did you do it?

[Skyscraper]

Hi I know this topic has been discussed before and my intent is not to discuss whether ditching concentration is a good idea or not, so please refrain from doing so here. I also recognize that many players here would not like such a house rule, and this is fine. I'm considering a bunch of house rules to fit a certain flavor I'm looking to achieve, and I like the constructive feedback I can get on this forum regarding most of them.

My intent is to probe players and DMs that have actually done it, and see how it went in their games. If you have experiences to share, I'd love to hear it - the good and the bad. I'm unsure I want to go there, but I'm revisiting spellcasting a bit in my campaign and I'm stretching my ideas a bit.

It might be that all spellcasting classes, or only wizards, get this benefit, in case that changes anything to your opinion.

Thanks for any comments,

Sky

 

[jodyjohnson]

I removed the Roll to maintain Concentration aspect in most situations because of the style of HP I use in my game.

When an opponent successfully hits an Armor Class they aren't causing Injuries or Wounds by default but just a loss of HP. This doesn't mesh with making a Concentration check every time one takes 'damage'. I'd only make them check when they suffer something that might really break concentration, like getting grappled by a kraken, getting criticalled, or being exposed to 'boobies'.

Plus I find all the extra dice rolling bothersome.

They can still only have 1 concentration spell up at a time.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Your statements that you don't want a discussion of whether ditching concentration is an absolutely terrible idea unless you are changing various other parts of the rule system or fully intending to make magic better than anyone at anything, and wanting to know how it has gone in groups that have ditched it - both the good and the bad - are at odds with each other.

A lot of the fairness between various options in 5th edition relies on concentration - it's not the only way to reach the same goal, but to just toss it out without making changes to everything that relies on it is going to have a huge impact on the way the game plays.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I'm considering a bunch of house rules to fit a certain flavor I'm looking to achieve, and I like the constructive feedback I can get on this forum regarding most of them.

Sure, from the cantrip thread. I'm still not at all clear on that flavor...

If you have experiences to share, I'd love to hear it - the good and the bad.

I've not ditched concentration in 5e, it seems to central both to allowing spells to be individually more powerful while blocking single-caster power combos, and to encourage the conservation of spell slots through the prescribed adventuring day. However, it's not an entirely new mechanic, and I did have some concentration-affecting variants in past eds. These included: a familiar/ally who could concentrate for you, a magic item that aided or eliminated the need for concentration, a spell (essentially meta-magic, though that didn't exist yet) that maintained concentration on another spell (or item or whatever that required concentration) for you. Generally speaking, things that needed concentration really /needed/ to have concentration or some other significant limiter to keep them in check and became problematic when it was too easy to remove.

 

[Skyscraper]

Your statements that you don't want a discussion of whether ditching concentration is an absolutely terrible idea unless you are changing various other parts of the rule system or fully intending to make magic better than anyone at anything, and wanting to know how it has gone in groups that have ditched it - both the good and the bad - are at odds with each other.

A lot of the fairness between various options in 5th edition relies on concentration - it's not the only way to reach the same goal, but to just toss it out without making changes to everything that relies on it is going to have a huge impact on the way the game plays.

Thank you for your reply. Do you wish to expand on this a bit?

Ditching concentration (possibly for wizards only) is indeed part of a roster that includes a few house rules i'm contemplating.

This said, I'm curious what people did and what mitigating measures they used, if any, in their games.

 

[Ranthalan]

I understand from the cantrip thread the flavor you're going for. I did restrict cantrips, but I haven't touched concentration. What is it about concentration that you think is in opposition to the desired flavor?

 

[Skyscraper]

Hmm, ditching concentration might be too big a step with regards to what I'm trying to achieve. I was curious to see if some people did it, but apparently not?

 

[Celtavian]

Nope. I wrote the following rule for all 9 level casters (not including the warlock) to allow a caster to buff party members while being able to cast a concentration spell as offense:

Extra Concentration: Beginning at 5th level, you can concentrate on a second spell that can be no more than half of the maximum level spell you can cast (rounded down). One of the two spells you are concentrating on must be a spell cast on at least one other allied target other than yourself (but can include yourself if the spell includes multiple targets). If you are required to make a concentration check, you make a separate roll for each spell. For example, a 6th level wizard can cast up to 3rd level spells, allowing him to cast and concentrate on a second spell of 1st level or lower. So a 6th level wizard could cast fly on the fighter and tasha’s hideous laughter on an enemy while maintaining concentration on both.


As far as play experience, the rule has had no substantial effect. The martials receive buffs and the caster can still occasionally cast a crowd control spell or an offensive spell like bigby's hand or flaming sphere. Mostly I see it used to cast bless and protection from energy and some offensive spell like spiritual guardians or hypnotic pattern. Mostly clerics and bards have used the rule the most because they have the best group buffing spells and needed concentration spells for crowd control or attacking. Most of the time wizards and sorcerers don't bother with group buffs and just use an offensive spell like flaming sphere or something similar while launching direct damage attacks.

I wrote it the way I did to ensure things like hunter's mark and hex wouldn't be stacked. It does prevent such combinations from occurring. I haven't seen any balance problems with this concentration rule.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

Would you mind sharing what you're trying to achieve?

 

[Mirtek]

You mean beyond accidentally because people all the time forgetting they have to do con saves? At least the DM forgets too for the monsters, so it evens out