Silence counterspell?

[Philip]

silence stops wand use.

That's not the point. You have readied your Silence spell against enemy spellcasting, not against the use of a wand.

Distracting Spellcasters: You can ready an attack against a spellcaster with the trigger “if she starts casting a spell.” If you damage the spellcaster, she may lose the spell she was trying to cast (as determined by her Concentration check result).

If you allow someone to ready a silence against any action that might be hampered by the use of silence, I think you are iintepreting the ready action too broadly.

 

[Scion]

If you allow someone to ready a silence against any action that might be hampered by the use of silence, I think you are iintepreting the ready action too broadly.

Wands: A wand is a short stick imbued with the power to cast a specific spell

'I ready my silence spell to disrupt any spell cast from that area over there'

Ready actions are very difficult to use already, but are interesting options. They are not the thing that needs to be limited here. Ready actions are not the problem.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

@Scion: I admitt that Silence is powerfull, bringing up Forcecage was meant to show you that other spells are even powerfuller and I think that the BBEG should not be the one who gets caught by Silence.
As mentioned before, to Ready an Action can effectively result in lossing one action if that trigger doesn't occur at all.
And yes, graplling a wizard in a silenced area is a nice combo, as it is a nice combo to pin your enemies on the ceiling with reverse gravity and make them sweat over meteor swarms.
There are always some ways out there that can outshine others in their effectivity but a wizard without minions to protect him, is a rather stupid wizard.
Maybe if you have that problem with silence, invent a new spell without V component that dispells silence as haste dispells slow. Call it amplify or the like.

 

[Nightingale 7]

Actually,I remember from BGII,there was a spell (named Vocalize if I recall correctly) that allowed you to negate Silence for yourself.It was a second level spell.You could make it a caster level check.Instead of neutering Silence,introduce this spell in your campaign.It might be a 2E spell,but I wouldn't know since I'm of the 3E generation.

 

[reiella]

Otiluke's Dispelling Screen and the Greater Version.

Ya know, after reading Otiluke's Dispelling Screen...

However, it should be noted, that Otiluke's Dispelling Screen would actually only stop the attempt to throw a stone that has had silence cast upon it into the area, not the Ground-Target Area Effect of casting the silence spell.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Actually,I remember from BGII,there was a spell (named Vocalize if I recall correctly) that allowed you to negate Silence for yourself.

Worth checking out "Joyful Noise" from Song and Silence as well.

It also made an appearance in a magic item in the Bardic Knowledge feature on the WotC website:

Collar of Noise: Worn as a leather collar (see Song and Silence), the collar of noise provides a +4 armor bonus against garrote attacks, and it is adorned with a silver clasp in the front in the shape of a banshee head. Once per day the wearer may activate the item to negate the effects of a silence spell within a 10-foot radius of the wearer. The banshee head clasp emits a high-pitched screeching sound while this effect is in use; this sound, while annoying, can be spoken over and does not disrupt spells that require a verbal component. The silence is not actually dispelled, but simply held in abeyance by the item's effect. The silence remains in effect outside of the item's 10-foot radius. Once the item moves outside of the area affected by the silence spell, the silence effect is once again active. The item's effect lasts 10 rounds.

Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, joyful noise; Market Price: 1,955 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.

-Hyp.

 

[Caliban]

Since silence has lots of uses (I will state 'tons' again) both in and out of combat, PLUS can counter spells like no other. While still being one level less than dispel magic, which isnt a universal counter, something must be out of whack. If you disagree I dont understand why.

How about_: I've never, ever, seen it be used to a great extent, not since 3.0 came out or in 3.5. And I play a lot of RPGA games, which attracts some of the most rabid powergamers you've ever seen.

It's simply never been an issue of abuse, other than on paper. In practice it's a useful spell, but you usually have to many other things you need your second level spell slots for to take a lot of Silence spells. Most of your opponents aren't spellcasters.

Bards are the only spontaneous caster who get's silence, and they get so few known spell slots that they usually choose Glitterdust or some other spell.

It's only really effective against a certain type of opponent, and if you aren't facing that opponent it's a simple utility spell that can mess up your own spellcasters if you aren't careful, especially if you start throwing it around in an enclosed area (which happens a lot in D&D combats).

It just hasn't been issue.

 

[Quasimodo]

I'm just going by the PHB here but as an emanation rather than a spead the effect of silence does not extend around corners, and radiates outward from a single point of origin for the duration so.......
If someone throws a pebble with the effect, step on it or kick it away. If point of origin is point in space, try moving around a corner, crouching behind a big rock, moving around a pillar or stepping behind your friendly goon with the tower shield. Seems to me all you need is total concealment from the point of origin and you're OK to go again - hey it's magic, not logic.

 

[Scion]

If someone throws a pebble with the effect, step on it or kick it away.

Of course it is already too late then (the spell is lost), but what if they had a handful of rocks and one or two of them were silenced and then tossed them into your square? You still have to get away or kick them all away. But it doesnt matter, the harm is done.

 

[Scion]

How about...

hey sure, great, I have already said it isnt a problem everywhere. But it is a sleeper problem, one bound to come up eventually and wreck something but good.

So not a lot of modules are written with it to be used against pc's and this makes it a non-problem? not in my book, it is a problem that module designers purposefully overlook. But then many modules have caster types, who will be slaughtered if the spell is used by the pc's.

If you say that you've never seen it then I'll believe you, but I wont believe you that it isnt a problem. Those people just look for the quickest solution to power and they leave by the wayside lots of other ways that deal in other types of power. This is a massive one, and just because they havent used it in your eyesight does not change that.

But if it isnt an issue with you then fine, any change at all will not bother you so long as it doesnt make the spell any stronger. Good enough.