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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Al'Kelhar" data-source="post: 7926693" data-attributes="member: 7884">Concentration is effectively a balancing tool.  Consequently, the questions that we should probably ask for each spell that requires concentration are: (a) does the spell need to be balanced with other spells to avoid 'stacking' effects; and (b) if so, is concentration the best way to do so.Stacking of buffs was such a problem in 3E that it seems the design philosophy for 5E is to err so far on the side of caution that the application of concentration to a lot of spells simply means that they are never seen in actual play.  IMHO there are many, better ways of balancing spells than simply tacking "concentration" onto them.[One thing I realised only a couple of weeks ago when prepping an NPC spellcaster was that stoneskin was a concentration spell; a concentration spell that required 100gp of diamond dust to cast that was consumed during casting.  The immediate question I had was - if there's an inherent, expensive cost to casting a spell, why isn't that sufficient to ensure it's not spammed all the time.  (And since stoneskin protects against non-magical weapon attacks only, it's pretty useless for NPCs once PCs are past 5th level or so).  So, arbitrarily and without any concern for breaking the game, I ruled that stoneskin was not a concentration spell.]Cheers, Al'kelhar</blockquote>