The Souljourner said:
I think it would help if you explained exactly why and how Silence is becoming a problem in your campaign, and then we might be able to help. Obviously most of us haven't had any problems with the spell.
-The Souljourner
Per RAW, if you ready an action to cast Silence in the spellcaster's general area when he or she attempts a spell with a verbal component (which is 95% of all spells), the spellcaster gets no save or SR and the spell is ruined automatically. No spellcraft check, no dispel magic check, no nothing.
Of course I could just metagame that all spellcasters are aware of this and give them all Silent Spell feats and metamagic items, but I would rather make counterspell a more viable tactic for both the PC's and the NPC's.
I typically use published modules, where most of the NPC spellcasters are not tweaked for countering this tactic. Why should I take the time to tweak them when I could just even the playing field with a small fix?
The other common reason to leave the Silence spell as-is is to say, "The spellcaster just moves out of the silence next round." That is easier said than done in a dungeon environment. Then the PC's use the following tactics to make it harder - a druid wildshaped into a bear with improved grab, the druid's bear animal companion, Grease spells, Glitterdust spells, Stinking Clouds, Evard's Black Tentacles, Spike Stones.
Can I do it to them? Sure. But once again I have to tweak NPC's to copy the exact same tactics when I would rather try to optimize their tactics with the spells that they have. I guess I would rather have a world where not every spellcaster duel revolved around casting and countering Silence.
Anybody who takes the time to search both the D&D Rules and House Rules forums will see that I am not the only one who feels that Silence is too powerful as a counterspell.