Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Interrupting a spell impossible w/Core rules?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="DrSpunj" data-source="post: 232028" data-attributes="member: 994"><p>One of my players has been disenchanted with 3E's handling of spell interruption since day #1. Since he DM's one of our group's campaigns, in his world he has house ruled Readied Actions only "cost" a MEA (Edit: I was corrected by ouini, another player in our group, down below that the house rule actually allows you to Ready a Move as a MEA, not Ready a Standard action as a MEA) so that someone standing next to a caster can not only swing at them, but is also able to ready an attack to interrupt the spellcaster if they try to cast a spell.</p><p></p><p>This gives the "disrupter" (even at 1st level) two possible attacks per round, but he made this change because under core rules it is very difficult for a typical medium-armored fighter to interrupt a spellcaster's spell. If the spellcaster is smart and chooses options #3 and #4 below, even if the fighter readies an action he is given no chance to interrupt the spell.</p><p></p><p>This player/DM is very frustrated/upset by the fact that the fighter gives up his attack to ready an action (under core rules) and then more often than not isn't even rewarded when the mage starts casting a spell (because the fighter is often powerless to stop it, even with a readied action, if the mage is smart about his movements).</p><p></p><p>To illustrate the problem, assume both the fighter and mage below are human. These are pulled from the NPC tables in the DMG, which gives the fighter splint mail, but since that's too expensive for a typical first level character I'll assume scale mail.</p><p></p><p>If the medium-armored fighter is toe-to-toe with a mage and has readied an action "to attack the mage if he starts casting a spell" (I got this directly from the FAQ pgs 28-33, which covers this topic in several ways but doesn't address the problem with the core rules) the mage can do several things:</p><p></p><p>1) Cast Defensively which (if successful) would allow his spell to go off without inducing an AoO but would trigger the fighter's readied action giving the fighter a chance to interrupt the spell. If his readied attack hits, it forces the mage to make a Concentration check.</p><p></p><p>2) Take a 5' step back and try to cast, triggering the fighter's readied action and giving the fighter a chance to interrupt the spell. If his readied attack hits, it forces the mage to make a Concentration check.</p><p></p><p>3) Moves 30' away and starts casting a spell. The mage induces an AoO by moving and doing something else but any damage from this AoO is not done *during* the casting of the spell therefore the mage can cast with no chance of failure. Next round the fighter can charge attack and get himself next to the mage again, but he has no chance to interrupt any of the mage's spells if the mage plays it smart and keeps moving away and then casting.</p><p></p><p>4) Double moves (hopefully around an obstacle) outpacing the medium-armored fighter (who has to run to catch up and can only do so in a straight line) who can't really ever catch up to the mage. The mage alternates his turns between casting with a move and double moving. If there is an obstacle for him to run around (which prevents a straight line the fighter needs to have to run and catch up) the fighter will not be able to catch/interrupt the mage again.</p><p></p><p>Does anyone have any other possibilities that don't paint such a bleak picture for the disrupter?</p><p></p><p>Am I incorrect about something I've outlined here that helps the disrupter?</p><p></p><p>Has anyone else encountered this and house ruled something to help fix it?</p><p></p><p>Thanks for all thoughts/analysis.</p><p></p><p>DrSpunj</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DrSpunj, post: 232028, member: 994"] One of my players has been disenchanted with 3E's handling of spell interruption since day #1. Since he DM's one of our group's campaigns, in his world he has house ruled Readied Actions only "cost" a MEA (Edit: I was corrected by ouini, another player in our group, down below that the house rule actually allows you to Ready a Move as a MEA, not Ready a Standard action as a MEA) so that someone standing next to a caster can not only swing at them, but is also able to ready an attack to interrupt the spellcaster if they try to cast a spell. This gives the "disrupter" (even at 1st level) two possible attacks per round, but he made this change because under core rules it is very difficult for a typical medium-armored fighter to interrupt a spellcaster's spell. If the spellcaster is smart and chooses options #3 and #4 below, even if the fighter readies an action he is given no chance to interrupt the spell. This player/DM is very frustrated/upset by the fact that the fighter gives up his attack to ready an action (under core rules) and then more often than not isn't even rewarded when the mage starts casting a spell (because the fighter is often powerless to stop it, even with a readied action, if the mage is smart about his movements). To illustrate the problem, assume both the fighter and mage below are human. These are pulled from the NPC tables in the DMG, which gives the fighter splint mail, but since that's too expensive for a typical first level character I'll assume scale mail. If the medium-armored fighter is toe-to-toe with a mage and has readied an action "to attack the mage if he starts casting a spell" (I got this directly from the FAQ pgs 28-33, which covers this topic in several ways but doesn't address the problem with the core rules) the mage can do several things: 1) Cast Defensively which (if successful) would allow his spell to go off without inducing an AoO but would trigger the fighter's readied action giving the fighter a chance to interrupt the spell. If his readied attack hits, it forces the mage to make a Concentration check. 2) Take a 5' step back and try to cast, triggering the fighter's readied action and giving the fighter a chance to interrupt the spell. If his readied attack hits, it forces the mage to make a Concentration check. 3) Moves 30' away and starts casting a spell. The mage induces an AoO by moving and doing something else but any damage from this AoO is not done *during* the casting of the spell therefore the mage can cast with no chance of failure. Next round the fighter can charge attack and get himself next to the mage again, but he has no chance to interrupt any of the mage's spells if the mage plays it smart and keeps moving away and then casting. 4) Double moves (hopefully around an obstacle) outpacing the medium-armored fighter (who has to run to catch up and can only do so in a straight line) who can't really ever catch up to the mage. The mage alternates his turns between casting with a move and double moving. If there is an obstacle for him to run around (which prevents a straight line the fighter needs to have to run and catch up) the fighter will not be able to catch/interrupt the mage again. Does anyone have any other possibilities that don't paint such a bleak picture for the disrupter? Am I incorrect about something I've outlined here that helps the disrupter? Has anyone else encountered this and house ruled something to help fix it? Thanks for all thoughts/analysis. DrSpunj [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Interrupting a spell impossible w/Core rules?
Top