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Is Concentration Bugging You?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 6511429" data-attributes="member: 30022"><p>Concentration is not bugging me, or any of the players in my two groups. It's an amazing time-saver at the table. The non-casters are particularly grateful for the rule, as it means that the caster's turn is over almost as fast as theirs, which creates more equity of play experience. In 3e, the casters would spend minutes applying buffs before and during battle, carefully calculating their total bonuses, and layering complexity on top of complexity. </p><p></p><p>In my opinion, there are plenty of options for a 5e paladin without buff-layering... and this house rule creates the risk of "broken" buff combos. it also makes the War Caster feat basically mandatory (roll with advantage on all Concentration spells). So, not only are you changing the balance of the game for the players (casters become better), but you're also imposing a "Feat Tax" (a PC build option that is so optimal that <u>not</u> selecting is almost always a bad decision).</p><p></p><p>I disagree with the statement that everyone and his brother is a caster in 5e. Barbarians, fighters, rogues and monks are some of the most popular classes in our groups. Further, a change to concentration rules is not equally benefiting all casters. For example, clerics and paladins have a lot more buff spells than a sorcerer.</p><p></p><p>Finally, I'd suggest that the change needs to be carefully considered in light of the "5 minute adventuring day". If casters start blowing through 4-5 concentration spells every combat, they're going to run out of steam very quickly. The DM might argue: "Well, that's a choice they've made". But in practice, that's not actually a good answer. If the "adventuring day" is predicated on 5-6 encounters before a long rest, and the caster has blown his/her load well before the end of it, then the final few combats become "not fun" for the caster. But worse yet, they become more dangerous for everyone else as well. I've seen more than a few non-caster players get seriously angry over the casters burning through everything in the first few encounters, and then whining that they need a long rest... or they have no way of supporting the non-casters in the climactic fights.</p><p></p><p>Notwithstanding all of that: if your whole group is behind the change, and it's going to add more fun to your game, then go for it. At the least, I like the increasing DC making it easier to lose all of the buff spells at the same time (...even if I strongly feel that changing the existing rule is going to lead to significant balance issues, and possible anti-fun for non-casters).</p><p></p><p></p><p>...</p><p></p><p><strong>Summary:</strong> I don't have a recommendation for a "better" multi-concentration rule. However, I'm listing some points above that I think it would be worth considering for anyone clever enough to come up with a "better" multi-concentration rule. Specifically... What to do about the War Caster feat? How to limit the extra play time burned up on the caster's turn? How does the house-rule impact the number of encounters per adventuring day? How does it impact the experience of the buff caster (e.g. cleric) vs the non-buff caster (e.g. sorcerer)? What about the impact on PC stats and feat choices (Constitution becomes a much more valuable stat for all buff casters)?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lancelot, post: 6511429, member: 30022"] Concentration is not bugging me, or any of the players in my two groups. It's an amazing time-saver at the table. The non-casters are particularly grateful for the rule, as it means that the caster's turn is over almost as fast as theirs, which creates more equity of play experience. In 3e, the casters would spend minutes applying buffs before and during battle, carefully calculating their total bonuses, and layering complexity on top of complexity. In my opinion, there are plenty of options for a 5e paladin without buff-layering... and this house rule creates the risk of "broken" buff combos. it also makes the War Caster feat basically mandatory (roll with advantage on all Concentration spells). So, not only are you changing the balance of the game for the players (casters become better), but you're also imposing a "Feat Tax" (a PC build option that is so optimal that [U]not[/U] selecting is almost always a bad decision). I disagree with the statement that everyone and his brother is a caster in 5e. Barbarians, fighters, rogues and monks are some of the most popular classes in our groups. Further, a change to concentration rules is not equally benefiting all casters. For example, clerics and paladins have a lot more buff spells than a sorcerer. Finally, I'd suggest that the change needs to be carefully considered in light of the "5 minute adventuring day". If casters start blowing through 4-5 concentration spells every combat, they're going to run out of steam very quickly. The DM might argue: "Well, that's a choice they've made". But in practice, that's not actually a good answer. If the "adventuring day" is predicated on 5-6 encounters before a long rest, and the caster has blown his/her load well before the end of it, then the final few combats become "not fun" for the caster. But worse yet, they become more dangerous for everyone else as well. I've seen more than a few non-caster players get seriously angry over the casters burning through everything in the first few encounters, and then whining that they need a long rest... or they have no way of supporting the non-casters in the climactic fights. Notwithstanding all of that: if your whole group is behind the change, and it's going to add more fun to your game, then go for it. At the least, I like the increasing DC making it easier to lose all of the buff spells at the same time (...even if I strongly feel that changing the existing rule is going to lead to significant balance issues, and possible anti-fun for non-casters). ... [B]Summary:[/B] I don't have a recommendation for a "better" multi-concentration rule. However, I'm listing some points above that I think it would be worth considering for anyone clever enough to come up with a "better" multi-concentration rule. Specifically... What to do about the War Caster feat? How to limit the extra play time burned up on the caster's turn? How does the house-rule impact the number of encounters per adventuring day? How does it impact the experience of the buff caster (e.g. cleric) vs the non-buff caster (e.g. sorcerer)? What about the impact on PC stats and feat choices (Constitution becomes a much more valuable stat for all buff casters)? [/QUOTE]
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