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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 9125178" data-attributes="member: 6777737">I would rather they not be literal Counterspell. The Magic team learned not only that counterspells aren't fun, but blanket counterspells are not fun. A universal answer is a bad design.If they insist that it be part of the game, I would rather they have designs like:1. Deflection Screen: Counter a spell that targets an ally, attacks an ally, damages an ally, or otherwise forces an ally to make an immediate saving throw.2. Disperse Element: Counter a spell that deals fire, cold, lighting, acid, or poison damage.3. Arcane Denial: Counter a spell if the caster is Arcane.4. Sudden Shielding: Choose up to two creatures affected by a spell. The chosen creatures automatically succeed on any saving throw against that spell, and if the spell would normally have an effect on those creatures on a successful saving throw, instead there is no effect on those creatures.5. Focused Energy: If a spell targets of affects one or more creatures, then instead of it's normal effect the spell is warped into a ray of pure arcane energy. The target spell instead deals 2d6 force damage per spell level to up to one affected target. The original caster may choose which target or affected creature of the original spell is struck by the ray.6. Unleash Conjuration: One conjuration or summoning spell is subverted. If a spell would conjure or summon one or more creatures under the caster's control, instead the creatures go wild and attack the creatures of your choice.7. Mirror, Mirror: If a spell targets a single creature, the spell is instead reflected back to the caster. The caster suffers the effects of their own spell, plus takes 3d6 force damage in backlash. Material components: A bit of flour mixed with water, and a tiny ball of tree sap.And so on. This is why spells like Absorb Elements are the right way to do reaction spells, while Counterspell, Shield, and Silvery Barbs are wrong. They're too broad! Countering is a powerful effect. Forcing a caster to make a choice and take a gamble during preparation is better. Release Energy might let you turn a buff into the opponents attacking themselves, but if instead, they hit you with a Fireball, you might be limited to narrowing the damage to a single ally target as a tradeoff. Mirror, Mirror might be really potent against certain casters, but against most AOE spells it's simply ineffective.</blockquote>

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