Ring of Counterspells, Area-effect spells

[Thornir Alekeg]

The way I see it, since it states it counterspells a spell "cast upon he wearer" it would not be effective against a fireball. Now if I were to house rule this to allow the ring to be effective against aoe spells, here's how I would justify it:

A fireball can be counterspelled by another fireball spell. If the counterspell had to be placed precisely on the point of emanation of the cast fireball, that would be virtually impossible - like trying to knock an arrow out of the air with another arrow, therefore the counterspell has to only be within the area of effect of the spell and it cancels the spell like two offset waves. Based upon this, the ring of counterspelling would magically detect that it was within the area of effect of a fireball spell and would immediately react and perform its counterspell.

 

[Laslo Tremaine]

So in your campaign, if a fireball is cast in an area including a dozen characters and one has a ring of spell turning, then the spell is automatically counterspelled and none of them is affected?

Yup!

And...

On the other hand, if the same fireball is cast in an area including a dozen characters, all of which wear a ring of counterspell, well, that's a dozen minus one counterspells lost.

Yup!

Also the point that Monte used the ring in exactly this way (as shown above in the RttToEE reference) is a very strong indication that the ring can be used to counter an area spell.

I certainly will not deny that the description of the ring's effect is more that just a little bit vague. 3.x has been pretty good about defining specific terms, it would be nice if they used them more consistently...

 

[shilsen]

Also the point that Monte used the ring in exactly this way (as shown above in the RttToEE reference) is a very strong indication that the ring can be used to counter an area spell.

I played in a RttToEE campaign, and considering how many rules errors that module had, I wouldn't place too much emphasis on it.

I certainly will not deny that the description of the ring's effect is more that just a little bit vague. 3.x has been pretty good about defining specific terms, it would be nice if they used them more consistently...

Can't argue with that

 

[WCrawford]

Yup!
I certainly will not deny that the description of the ring's effect is more that just a little bit vague. 3.x has been pretty good about defining specific terms, it would be nice if they used them more consistently...

Now, I would (and do) deny that the description is vague. Now, if you said that the rules regarding the description were located in places that don't seem intuitive, that I'd agree with.

 

[Li Shenron]

Targeted spells only. An area spell is not really cast upon the wearer but upon... well, the area.

The point is that to counterspell, the normal way casters do, it is not necessary that the Fireball is targeted at the caster.

Good wizard ready a counterspell; evil wizard casts a Fireball targeted to a point (the warrior's head); good wizard identify the spell and counters it with its own prepared fireball; evil wizard's fireball is countered to no effect. Good wizard has never been targeted directly, and didn't even need to be in the area of effect.

 

[Darklone]

Sounds sensible. I would have hoped they would have written something with the keyword "target" if they would have wanted only targeted spells in the ring.

Edit: So yes, I think Fireballs are a valid choice.

 

[two]

squoogy

You peeps make me feel all warm and squoogy. Thanks all.

Given the above debate, anyone else think a Ring of Counterspells is a steal at 4K? I'm thinking of picking up two of them!

 

[Scion]

I'm thinking of picking up two of them!

you would two

nice item, if my current character wasnt vop I would ask the dm what his way of thinking for it is..lol

 

[Darklone]

You peeps make me feel all warm and squoogy. Thanks all.

Given the above debate, anyone else think a Ring of Counterspells is a steal at 4K? I'm thinking of picking up two of them!

They are nice but tend to lose effectivity the more spells your opponents know.

 

[Felix]

Dispel Magic/Greater Dispelling/Disintegrate are the spells I plan on putting in my ring for my Wiz. And besides, if the Dispeller wants to remove all the protections on a Wizard, who is the most likely to have them, then he'll target the mage. I would.

I too think 4k is a nice deal for the ring. But not as good as 900gp for a Hand of the Mage... intimidating to see a Wizard drinking tea with no hands. Har har.