D&D 5E Using COMMAND to break a caster's concentration?

[el-remmen]

Any reasonably intelligent person. . .

Anyone living in the world today should know that this is sadly not all that easy to identify.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Now I'm confused. Your response to

You responded


What do you mean?

The spell states what ends concentration and how.

Well, no. The rules in the PHB do, no individual spell does.

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.

And the DM can set DCs however they want. It isn’t a houserule to say that a given thing requires a higher or lower DC than normal. And again...no spell states how concentration works, so you running spells as written isn’t especially important to the discussion.

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?

You misunderstand. I didn’t ask why you stop arguing. I asked why you pretend to stop arguing while continuing to make arguments, in the same post. It come across like a disingenuous attempt at getting the last word.

*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.

Entering an emotional state, or even just trying to do so, is an action. If you could give sentence length commands like, “Think very hard about purple elephants dancing in a sea of flowers”, the target doing so would also be an action.

 

[Oofta]

Well, no. The rules in the PHB do, no individual spell does.

And the DM can set DCs however they want. It isn’t a houserule to say that a given thing requires a higher or lower DC than normal. And again...no spell states how concentration works, so you running spells as written isn’t especially important to the discussion.

You misunderstand. I didn’t ask why you stop arguing. I asked why you pretend to stop arguing while continuing to make arguments, in the same post. It come across like a disingenuous attempt at getting the last word.

Entering an emotional state, or even just trying to do so, is an action. If you could give sentence length commands like, “Think very hard about purple elephants dancing in a sea of flowers”, the target doing so would also be an action.

I replied to your question. It's the mid-westerner in me that finds it impolite to not respond when someone asks a question.

We're not going to agree, so have a good one.

 

[Helldritch]

I do not think that making a caster lose concentration with a single word should be that hard.

We do not live in a world where magic exists, yet, we have developped many highly technical words which might have one meaning on the street, but an entire different in a specific field. For example, at work, if I start the blowers, it will not mean starting a hair blower or a fan, but sooth blowers which are long tube using steam to remove sooth and residues from the boiler's tubes.

Would it be that hard to believe that in a world with magic that casters have developed a word for "losing concentration"? I do not think so.

Ex:" The old wizard was giving his last advice to his young apprentice.
Remember, a priest might make you losconning with many spells. The most common one is command spell. A hit from a sword is dangerous and can make you loscon, but so can a few spells. If you need to concentrate on your witchbolt, remember to always keep a safe distance from melee combattants and honed your mind to resist the spells of your enemies. A loscon is but a small cut or a slip of your mind away...."

 

[MGibster]

I agree. If you can compel the target to do something for the spells duration that breaks their concentration that should be enough. For example if you were to command the caster to COUNT, I believe that mental shift from concentrating on a spell to counting numbers would break the spell.

If you can retain battlefield awareness and cast other spells while concentrating you can count and maintain concentrate at the same time.

 

[R_J_K75]

If you can retain battlefield awareness and cast other spells while concentrating you can count and maintain concentrate at the same time.

Youre entitled to your opinion but I disagree. For the sake of argument say the spell successfully affects the target. IMO its like reading a book and watching TV at the same time, or driving and texting at the same time. Can you do it sure, but while youre switching from one to the other youre concentration on both is broken if even for a fraction of a second. Thats how I see this scenario playing out and to me thats enough to break the spell.

 

[jgsugden]

If someone told me to deconcetrate when I was working hard, I'd probably just take a drink.

 

[R_J_K75]

If someone told me to deconcetrate when I was working hard, I'd probably just take a drink.

No save required.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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 don’t think that the contextual meaning can honestly be missed, and I don’t think the intent of the spell is for the target to be able to intentionally not understand what is meant.

 

[Mort]

I'm with the crowd that the 5e version of this spell forces the target to perform an action it can actually follow (so sleep wouldn't cause it to sleep but would cause it to fall prone and try to sleep).

Further - the target interprets the command - so (even though it's on the list of examples) something like "DROP" is problematic. The word drop can easily mean "fall down" not "drop what you are holding." So, for example, commanding someone with a crossbow to "drop" could very well cause them to drop prone and then shoot.

As for causing to drop concentration - what one word would even do that? Can't think of one off hand (if I heard "deconcentrate" I'd also likely grab my canteen and drink!) But if I could, it would likely just cause a DC 10 concentration check.