el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
So now making a ruling is "homebrewing on the fly." I find that funny - but even if it were that'd also be fine. I am not worried about my players emulating a less than efficient tactic when they feel it is needed.
D&D 5E Using COMMAND to break a caster's concentration?
- Thread starter el-remmen
- Start date
So now making a ruling is "homebrewing on the fly." I find that funny - but even if it were that'd also be fine. I am not worried about my players emulating a less than efficient tactic when they feel it is needed.
jgsugden
Legend
For context for those that are interested (as it seems like there are different ideas on what it is like to concentrate on a spell): I heard a description of concentration from a DM that I really liked. It aligns with the concentration rules, when concentration is broken, etc...
Imagine you have a third (invisible) arm. Just like a real arm, if you do nothing with it, it hangs limply by your side. However, if you think about it, you can make that arm rise up and stand straight up above you head. It isn't taxing to do. It doesn't involve your entire focus. You can do other things while you do it. Imagine that concentrating on a spell is like holding something (the spell) above your head in that invisible arm.
If someone smacks you around hard enough, that arm might drop. If you fall unconscious, that arm might drop. Dropping your arm down to grab another spell would break your concentration. However, you can talk, run, etc... easily while keeping that third invisible arm above your head.
That is not from the books, any you can decide that is doesn't match your vision of concentration, but to me it was a perfect explanation of what it would be like to concentrate on a spell. If you subscribe to this view, it seems like there is no easy word out there to make someone drop their concentration.
For those that really want a single word command to force someone to stop concentrating: Talking is free. You can spend three seconds explaining "VLEEP means 'To Stop Concentrating on a spell'". Then give the command VLEEP.
Imagine you have a third (invisible) arm. Just like a real arm, if you do nothing with it, it hangs limply by your side. However, if you think about it, you can make that arm rise up and stand straight up above you head. It isn't taxing to do. It doesn't involve your entire focus. You can do other things while you do it. Imagine that concentrating on a spell is like holding something (the spell) above your head in that invisible arm.
If someone smacks you around hard enough, that arm might drop. If you fall unconscious, that arm might drop. Dropping your arm down to grab another spell would break your concentration. However, you can talk, run, etc... easily while keeping that third invisible arm above your head.
That is not from the books, any you can decide that is doesn't match your vision of concentration, but to me it was a perfect explanation of what it would be like to concentrate on a spell. If you subscribe to this view, it seems like there is no easy word out there to make someone drop their concentration.
For those that really want a single word command to force someone to stop concentrating: Talking is free. You can spend three seconds explaining "VLEEP means 'To Stop Concentrating on a spell'". Then give the command VLEEP.
Reading the description is reading it incorrectly? Do you just decide that fireball suddenly pushes people out of the area of effect or do you just run it as written?
Anyway, I use spells as written. Feel free to do whatever you want.
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
It is just a weird word and may be 'technically' a word listed in some dictionaries, but nevertheless is not in common parlance, so it might be the case that the more knowledgeable the target is the more likely they are to understand it.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
If I had meant that, I would have said that.
This is an obnoxiously silly comparison. The rules clearly puts the full scope of what can break concentration in the DM’s hands. Nothing about the text of Command precludes the usage in question.
Why do you always do the whole “here is an argument. Anyway I don’t care bye” routine? If you don’t want to continue a discussion, just...don’t.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Any reasonably intelligent person will immediately know what the word means, if they natively or fluently speak the same language. It’s not a hard word to grok.It is just a weird word and may be 'technically' a word listed in some dictionaries, but nevertheless is not in common parlance, so it might be the case that the more knowledgeable the target is the more likely they are to understand it.
Unless you know the actual meaning of the word "deconcentrate," in which case you're going to stand there going "You want me to... dilute myself? Or spread out my operations? Is this a way of telling me to cast simulacrum?"
I had to look it up, it's hardly a word widely known. It's also a synonym for decentralization, not "stop concentrating on some mental activity".It is just a weird word and may be 'technically' a word listed in some dictionaries, but nevertheless is not in common parlance, so it might be the case that the more knowledgeable the target is the more likely they are to understand it.
Deconcentrate: to reduce the power or control of (a corporation, industry, etc.); decentralize.
Kind of the same with "we'll just make up a word". If nobody knows the word they might take their turn confused and doing nothing while they try to figure out WTF you're talking about, but that's it.
If I had meant that, I would have said that.
This is an obnoxiously silly comparison. The rules clearly puts the full scope of what can break concentration in the DM’s hands. Nothing about the text of Command precludes the usage in question.
Why do you always do the whole “here is an argument. Anyway I don’t care bye” routine? If you don’t want to continue a discussion, just...don’t.
Now I'm confused. Your response to
You responded
What do you mean?
The spell states what ends concentration and how. They also state that at DM's discretion you can ask for a DC 10 concentration check. I would rule that telling someone trained in combat to "panic" would not work*, but if I did I would fall back on the DC 10 concentration check. Because I run spells as written.
As far as why I stop arguing, what's the point? You run your game any way you want. If you were my DM I'd disagree with you on this, but it would be your table, your rule. I see no value in getting into pissing contests. You've clearly explained what you think, as have I. What more is there to say?
*EDIT: my ruling would be that they would pretend to panic on their turn, they would not actually panic. Command is controls the target's action, emotional state is not an action.
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