D&D General When Did Counterspell First Appear?

[TarionzCousin]

I ran a character that specialized in counterspells, and I recall it looking something like this:

I ready an action to counter the opponent's spell. Opponent begins casting a spell, triggering my readied action. I roll spellcraft to identify the spell as he is casting it.

If I identify it, and have the spell prepared, I cross it off my list, the spell is countered.

If I fail to identify the spell, or do not have the spell prepared, then I substitute a Dispel Magic and follow the rules for that.

If you don't have Dispel Magic or a suitable spell prepared, your character is a hack, try this wand of magic missiles instead.

This sounds like 3E to me. Is that correct?

I made an NPC assistant to a BBEG who specialized in Counterspelling in 3.5E. No NPC was ever hated more or had his corpse more desecrated by "Good" PC's.

Ah, good times.

 

[GreyLord]

In 2e, I believe Counterspell as an official spell came around with the BG and infinity engine game series. I'd have to check again, but I think they had it in there.

 

[Raduin711]

I do remember theorycrafting a counterspell-based wizard after some relevant feats got published. It seemed to situational to be a good character though.

He was extremely effective, especially with feats like Improved Counterspell (Which let you substitute a spell of the same school of higher level) and Reactive Counterspell (which let you give up your next action if you didn't ready an action to counterspell).

At one point the game became "GM caster wants to cast a spell. Does your PC let him?" There is nothing quite so satisfying as knowing that, while yes, you did give up your next turn, that fireball the enemy caster was going to throw at you is no more.

And being an abjurer he eventually qualified for the Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil PrC, which specializes in Prismatic Wall. He was just a big ol' ball of NOPE.

 

[Distracted DM]

Necro'ing this thread might be worthwhile, I found this after the counterspell discussion that popped up in D&D (2024) - Two Spells, One Turn Confusion Never Dies

I was curious about counterspelling history, because I vaguely recalled it from 3e but not before. The info discussed in this thread might be of interest to folks!

 

[billd91]

I was curious about counterspelling history, because I vaguely recalled it from 3e but not before. The info discussed in this thread might be of interest to folks!

There doesn't appear to be a counter spell equivalent, spell or process, in either of the 2e sources I have (Tome of Magic, Players Option: Spells & Magic) so if it did appear before 3e, it's in a more obscure source than either of those.

 

[el-remmen]

Pretty sure there was a 1E (or maybe 2E?) spell called "Counterspell" printed in Dragon Mag at some point. But I could be confabulating and don't have time to scour my Drag Mag collection at the moment. While Dragon is "unofficial" material (for the most part) it is also the source for iterations of things that would should up in expansion material or new editions.

 

[R_J_K75]

2E Spells & Magic may have been the first official printing

 

[Willie the Duck]

There doesn't appear to be a counter spell equivalent, spell or process, in either of the 2e sources I have (Tome of Magic, Players Option: Spells & Magic) so if it did appear before 3e, it's in a more obscure source than either of those.

The first page of the thread covers it nicely. To sum up and fill in some gaps:
The ability to counter a spells goes back to Chainmail, with it an innate quality of wizard figures.
oD&D refers to 'countering' of spells in terms of negated the effect -- light and darkness spells negating each other, stone to flesh vs. flesh to stone, etc. Most other versions of the game keep some or all of this, with various rules for adjudicating what will win out (spell or caster level compares, last one cast, etc.).
B, BX, BECMI - I'm not finding anything. The Initiative systems used would not have been great for interrupt-like effects. That doesn't mean there isn't something out there in the vast array of BECMI rules (where game-changing rules would show up in the latest Gazetteer, etc.).
1st and 2nd ed AD&D allowed you to use Dispel Magic to counter a spell as it is being cast (with all the initiative shenanigans that entails), but it was generally easier to just damage the caster.
D&D 3e did the same if you held an action, but along with Dispel Magic, you could use your own prepared copy of the same spell (if you knew what they were casting .
D&D 4e had any number of immediate interrupt abilities, but no generalized power that specifically shut down anything that is considered a spell and not other things.
D&D 5e has the first* spell named Counterspell, with the singular purpose of shutting down another spell as it is being cast.
*barring anything discovered per the below conversations

Pretty sure there was a 1E (or maybe 2E?) spell called "Counterspell" printed in Dragon Mag at some point. But I could be confabulating and don't have time to scour my Drag Mag collection at the moment. While Dragon is "unofficial" material (for the most part) it is also the source for iterations of things that would should up in expansion material or new editions.

I'll see if I can find a list of 'spells printed in Dragon' and then go to my archive to corroborate.
At this point, I think arguing over officiality in the TSR-era editions is pointless -- both I don't think it matters what they said on the subject and because they didn't exactly follow consistent procedures on the subject (like publishing 'official errata' and the like). Particularly since the topic is just looking for presence/appearance.

2E Spells & Magic may have been the first official printing

Just did a search for 'counter' and didn't come up with any pertinent results. Did you mean a counterspell-like mechanic by another name?

 

[R_J_K75]

Just did a search for 'counter' and didn't come up with any pertinent results. Did you mean a counterspell-like mechanic by another name?

2E Players Options: Spells & Magic, had counterspell and spell dueling in it. Fireball v Cone of Cold....

 

[Willie the Duck]

2E Players Options: Spells & Magic, had counterspell and spell dueling in it. Fireball v Cone of Cold....

Found it. I wasn't clear, I had the pdf open and wasn't finding it. But I've got it now -- It's actually in 2E Players Options: High Level Campaigns. Starting p. 101 there's about 20 pages of mage dueling rules. Still no spell called counterspell, and it certainly doesn't beat Chainmail for being first, but absolutely solid rules on base concept: countering a spell as it is being cast.