Do your players use counterspell?

[Nail]

Usually why the Wizard is bust counterspelling, his friends are moving in for the kill

Sure....so long as the enemy wizard has no friends.

I guess all I'm really saying is that making counterspelling too easy might make magic-using too boring. People play fighters to "swing swords"; people play wizards to cast spells. No spells = counter productive to fun quotient.

 

[Sigg]

Sure....so long as the enemy wizard has no friends.

I guess all I'm really saying is that making counterspelling too easy might make magic-using too boring. People play fighters to "swing swords"; people play wizards to cast spells. No spells = counter productive to fun quotient.

Very good point....and what's good for the goose and all....so making the counterspelling far from an automatic thing is very much desireable, but not so difficult that it's practically useless like the present mechanic. Happy medium it is. May be a fairly high Spellcraft and/or Knowledge: Arcana skill as prereq....maybe along with min caster level. Using up spell slots at least one level higher than the spell being countered.

 

[LokiDR]

During the end of a campaign, a kobold sorcerer proposed to help the party stop the evil necromancer. The kobold would counter with dispell the necromancer's spells, and the party could move in. It was a disaster, the sorcerer became a target, and his first failed counter was his last action.

I don't think it was a good plan.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

DM or player, I have never seen it used.

But in the game I'm currently playing in, I'm considering it as an end-campaign tactic. We recently fought one of the game's final BBEG's (though not -the- BBEG). He was ECL 23 or so, and we're level 12. Suffice it to say, though we put up a surprising fight (7 of us, 1 of him,) what did it in the end was his ability to cast Time Stop.

Thinking about facing this guy again, I simply cannot figure a counter to this ability, save having our own (hopefully 17th-level by then,) wizard memorize Time Stop specifically to counter it.

 

[Tzarevitch]

I've seen it used only by characters who had some improved abilities such as the Improved Counterspell ("same school instead of same spell") and Reactive Counterspell ("no need to ready an action") feats, otherwise it never happens because it is just better to cast a spell yourself than to try counter.

That sums it up for me as well. Unless you have those feats, counterspelling is simply inefficient. You are almost always better off counterattacking with a spell of your own.

To counterspell, you have to ready an action for the odd chance that he casts a spell instead of doing something else, then he has to cast the correct spell (i.e. one you actually have memorized) or you must use dispel magic (which is less than guaranteed). If he doesn't cast you've wasted your action. If he casts a spell that you don't have memorized and you don't have dispel magic (or simply the caster check), you've wasted an action.

Counterspell is really only useful in exotic circumstances unless the character is built to counterspell. These include:

1. You have to block a particular spell effect from happening. (Simply letting your foe complete the spell and then counterattacking him on your turn is not an option for some reason like he is about to teleport away or he is about to use his spell to ignite the explosives etc.)
2. A lower level caster is facing a significantly higher level one. (If you are a 5th level wizard, counterspelling your foe's maximized, empowered fireball is better then casting yours on him.)
3. There is no better option because you can't otherwise counterattack for some reason. (You are loaded with fire spells and are facing a fire-magic-using creature immune to fire or you can't reliably get through your target's SR. At that point you are better served trying to block his attacks because your counterattack will be ineffective.)

So far, I have only once ever seen counterspell used. The PCs used it to counter a BBEG fleeing with teleport because they missed him twice with dimensional anchors and had no other way to stop him.

Tzarevitch

 

[Crothian]

I guess all I'm really saying is that making counterspelling too easy might make magic-using too boring. People play fighters to "swing swords"; people play wizards to cast spells. No spells = counter productive to fun quotient.

Does flying creature that fighters can't hit then also gotten rid of? What about creatures with high ACs?

Sure, if ever single battle the party wizard goes into has him being countered it could get boring for him, but if that's happeneing I blame the DM and not the rules.

 

[Stalker0]

One of my players uses counterspell fairly often, but we also use Arcana Evolved.

While counterspelling in AE requires a caster power check, at the same time it wastes no spell slots and you can counterspell a whole host of spells without needing to prepare exactly the right one.

He's mainly used it against weaker casters to neuter them without having to burn spell energy and to ensure bad guys don't d door away.

 

[devilbat]

I've never seen it used, but boy will my players be surprised when I get around to using it.

 

[greymist]

Never even heard a player contemplate counterspell, let alone use it.

I think the couterspell mechanic is way too clunky. Instead of having to have the exact spell memorised, perhaps there should simply be a spell family called Counterspell, that can be spontaneously cast, at each spell level. If a spellcaster decides to counter, he has to make the Spellcraft check to know the spell, then he simply casts a Counterspell 1 or 2 or 5 depending on the level of spell he is trying to counter.

 

[Evar Nettlespar]

I've used a counter mage before, but he was an archmage build out of the DMG... Very useful character, as I seen it, b/c when he wasn't countering enemy spells, he was still a 15th+ level mage. The only limiting factor was that I had to be aware of what magic schools I memorized, as they were my counterspells, too. Anything else was covered by my SLA Dispel Magic...