D&D 5E Is Concentration Bugging You?

[I'm A Banana]

I came up against Concentration for the first time in a real way in the last session I played (gnome wild sorcerer, specializing in action-wasting effects).

Part of what I really really liked about it is that it forced me to make interesting choices about which spells I would use. I couldn't just spam any spell, I had to pay attention to what was concentration, what wasn't, what I could still cast, etc. I think this had the feature of me actually using more of my spells and spell slots than I had in previous e's. Every spell I had was useful in some way!

 

[Pvt. Winslow]

I suppose we might be different if there were lots of hold person style spells being fired off by NPCs. But that hasnt really happened.

This just reminds me how often rare it is for adventures to feature spellcasting foes. Has anyone else noticed this? Even in the monster manual, quite the majority of monsters have no spellcasting, and some, like dragons, have it as optional.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I've been playing a wizard character in our 5e game since September. In that time, we've gone from 1st level all the way up to our current level of 7th. Just recently, I have decided to retire the character because I just don't like the concentration rules and the way it interacts with spells.

My character has an 11 constitution, and our DM doesn't use feats. Over the course of our adventures, my character has wasted so many spells due to failing concentration roles; with a +0 modifier to his Con saves, even the "low" DC 10 checks are difficult to make. Whether it be by archers who target me because I'm tossing fireballs, or wolves, stirges, and kobolds ambushing us, my wizard gets attacked, and gets hit. And then, because I'm flying, or maintaining a Web spell, or something else, I get to make that delightful Con check. And I've failed many more than I have passed.

Honestly, over the last month, I've stopped casting spells that require concentration all together; I have so few spell slots, and then to have those wasted because I get hit...
So now I've been reduced to casting a small percentage of the spells in my spellbook because of it, and it's infuriating and boring. So I quit my character. 5E is the first time I have ever said to myself, "Gee, maybe I should play a fighter. At least then I could actually play a character that is good at doing what it's designed to do."

So, I am not a fan of the Concentration mechanic; it has screwed over my game experience for too long. WotC went waaaay too far with it.

If your table doesnt use feats, yeah I'm not surprised you would feel this way.

 

[seebs]

Someone posted this in the common rules mistakes thread:

If you ready a spell you must concentrate on it, even if it's not normally a concentration spell.


I totally forgot about this. This makes concentration even more problematic. If you have a concentration spell up (and a lot of casters might in 5E), you cannot ready any spell without dropping the first spell. Yikes!

Readied spells seem a bad bet to me in any event in 5e, since they're consumed even if you don't use them, so far as I can tell. This does avoid the problem of the spell casting time being too long for the interrupt-like effect of a readied action to make sense, but overall I think it means that readied spells are probably not a good choice.

 

[Celtavian]

I think concentration is badly designed.

Some reasons:
1. One concentration spell for defensive, offensive, and utility spells is too limiting. Once you have an active concentration spell like wall of fire, your spell list loses four or five other options. If you decide to use the other option like fly or protection from energy, you end the wall of fire wasting a 4th level spell slot (maximum 3 per day) and once again shorten your spell list. It makes for a very limiting and frustrating experience as a wizard to cast a defensive or utility concentration spell, then have your offense consist of direct damage cantrips or spells.

2. Concentration checks are harsh. You have to take either Warcaster or Resilient Con as a caster to have a decent chance of maintaining concentration. Even with either of those feats, breath weapons or other AoE or large damage attacks make a concentration check nearly impossible. If you get hit for 50 damage with a breath weapon, that is a DC 25 Concentration check. Even with a high Con save, you're looking at +7 con save and an 18 or better to maintain your spell. If you don't have those feats, you're looking at a natural 20 required for concentration. When concentration is broken, you have to spend another action to get the lost spell back up while the creature you're fighting outputs damage that may kill your party off. This can happen multiple times if the creature you're fighting has Lair or Legendary Actions it can hit you with every round.

They concentration mechanic as it is currently designed isn't fun. It gets worse and worse as you level with more creatures hitting harder and harder and having more attacks. You have even fewer high level spell slots, so losing one to a failed concentration check is frustrating to say the least. It makes you not even want to play the character any more. You have an active sunbeam and two level 6 slots, you get hit by a breath weapon. You lost that slot and didn't get much out of it. Makes you not even want to risk using it for spells that can be dispelled by getting hit by a common powerful AoE attack with nearly no chance of succeeding at the concentration check. I hope they look at this mechanic. It is making playing a wizard not particularly fun. Doubt I'll do it again if they don't do something with concentration soon.

 

[EroGaki]

I think concentration is badly designed.

Some reasons:
1. One concentration spell for defensive, offensive, and utility spells is too limiting. Once you have an active concentration spell like wall of fire, your spell list loses four or five other options. If you decide to use the other option like fly or protection from energy, you end the wall of fire wasting a 4th level spell slot (maximum 3 per day) and once again shorten your spell list. It makes for a very limiting and frustrating experience as a wizard to cast a defensive or utility concentration spell, then have your offense consist of direct damage cantrips or spells.

2. Concentration checks are harsh. You have to take either Warcaster or Resilient Con as a caster to have a decent chance of maintaining concentration. Even with either of those feats, breath weapons or other AoE or large damage attacks make a concentration check nearly impossible. If you get hit for 50 damage with a breath weapon, that is a DC 25 Concentration check. Even with a high Con save, you're looking at +7 con save and an 18 or better to maintain your spell. If you don't have those feats, you're looking at a natural 20 required for concentration. When concentration is broken, you have to spend another action to get the lost spell back up while the creature you're fighting outputs damage that may kill your party off. This can happen multiple times if the creature you're fighting has Lair or Legendary Actions it can hit you with every round.

They concentration mechanic as it is currently designed isn't fun. It gets worse and worse as you level with more creatures hitting harder and harder and having more attacks. You have even fewer high level spell slots, so losing one to a failed concentration check is frustrating to say the least. It makes you not even want to play the character any more. You have an active sunbeam and two level 6 slots, you get hit by a breath weapon. You lost that slot and didn't get much out of it. Makes you not even want to risk using it for spells that can be dispelled by getting hit by a common powerful AoE attack with nearly no chance of succeeding at the concentration check. I hope they look at this mechanic. It is making playing a wizard not particularly fun. Doubt I'll do it again if they don't do something with concentration soon.

I agree 100%. This has been my experience as a wizard, and it ended with me retiring the character because it just wasn't fun to play.

 

[DaveDash]

I agree 100%. This has been my experience as a wizard, and it ended with me retiring the character because it just wasn't fun to play.

My group is three full casters and one half caster. Up to 14th level now.

Lore Bard.
Abjurer Wizard.
Light Cleric.
Paladin.

We don't have issues with concentration.

For one, a lot of really great Wizard self buffs do not require concentration, while at the same time making you harder to hit.
Secondly, maybe next time you should try an Abjurer Wizard. They get an Arcane Ward, and when your Ward takes damage you don't have to roll concentration. In fact, I hardly ever actually damage the Wizard.
Where you popping shield? You should be quite hard to hit with shield.
Do you play grid or ToM? If you use grid you should be able to stay out of enemy Line of Sight often. There's nothing in the rules that state you must have LoS to concentrate, so go around a corner!

Also funnily enough the list of spells that require concentration at higher levels is actually pretty low. Look at Force Cage for example. The spells that require concentration are vastly outnumbered by those that don't at the higher levels.

Concentration is a tactical choice.

It's a shame you retired the Wizard, the Wizard in our party is extremely powerful. He is a massive force multiplier for the group, and concentration doesn't get in his way.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Readied spells seem a bad bet to me in any event in 5e, since they're consumed even if you don't use them, so far as I can tell. This does avoid the problem of the spell casting time being too long for the interrupt-like effect of a readied action to make sense, but overall I think it means that readied spells are probably not a good choice.

A bad bet? I dunno. In some ways readied spells are better than readied missile weapons, due to Extra Attack not working off your turn. It seems to me that "I ready Eldritch Blast to hit the first drow that sticks his head up, and then pull back behind the parapet" is superior to "I ready an arrow to shoot at the first drow...etc." The practical import is that it's easier to hide from archers than from warlocks... which is kind of weird.

 

[EroGaki]

My group is three full casters and one half caster. Up to 14th level now.

Lore Bard.
Abjurer Wizard.
Light Cleric.
Paladin.

We don't have issues with concentration.

For one, a lot of really great Wizard self buffs do not require concentration, while at the same time making you harder to hit.
Secondly, maybe next time you should try an Abjurer Wizard. They get an Arcane Ward, and when your Ward takes damage you don't have to roll concentration. In fact, I hardly ever actually damage the Wizard.
Where you popping shield? You should be quite hard to hit with shield.
Do you play grid or ToM? If you use grid you should be able to stay out of enemy Line of Sight often. There's nothing in the rules that state you must have LoS to concentrate, so go around a corner!

Also funnily enough the list of spells that require concentration at higher levels is actually pretty low. Look at Force Cage for example. The spells that require concentration are vastly outnumbered by those that don't at the higher levels.

Concentration is a tactical choice.

It's a shame you retired the Wizard, the Wizard in our party is extremely powerful. He is a massive force multiplier for the group, and concentration doesn't get in his way.

Meh. Perhaps some people are fine with the new way magic functions, and that's great. I'm not one of them, however; I've had more spells disrupted due to concentration than I care to think about. Sometimes, there's no surefire method of avoiding getting hit.

That and I don't like how extreme the rules are. It's really not my cup of tea in this edition.

 

[Uchawi]

I believe concentration is too limited when it applies to just casters. It should be a general rule for a host of abilities or actions, like concentrating to use a skill, ready an action, drink a potion, aid a player, etc. For limiting spell use, they could use a term like focus, where it controls how many spells can be running at the same time. The same concept could also be used for martial classes to dictate how many abilities they can use in a round, extra attacks, etc.