I Don't Like the Counterspelling Rules


Homebrew and House Rules


As they stand, if you can identify the spell being cast and you have the same one memorized or prepared you can counter your foe's spell. But with all the hundreds (thousands, maybe?) of spells available, what are the odds that both you and your enemy have the same spells readied? Sure, Dispel Magic works to a degree, but that's the only other alternative that I know of.

The idea I'm tinkering with is something like this; You're a spellcaster and an enemy caster is about to cast something. As a swift action, you roll a d20 + your primary spellcasting ability and the level of any spell you wish to sacrifice to release energy to counter the spell. The enemy caster has to roll an opposing roll using the same method to overcome your counterspell attempt. This idea will probably get ripped to shreds, but it's all I have at the moment.

So, does anyone have an alternate way to counter other spells? Share your ideas with me, please.


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There are some abilities (I don't remember if they're feats or what) that let you use a spell of the same school but higher level to counter with.


SlimGauge wrote:
There are some abilities (I don't remember if they're feats or what) that let you use a spell of the same school but higher level to counter with.

Improved Counterspell lets you use a spell of the same school, I believe. I'll dig around for similar things, I guess. In my version, Improved Counterspell would give you a +2 on your roll to oppose the enemy's spell.

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The main problem with counterspelling is that

a) you have to spend your action to ready without knowing if it is really going to be worth it, and
b) you don't know whether you will succeed.

That makes counterspelling inferior to most other options available.

It would help if you could counterspell as an immediate action, thereby foregoing your standard action in the following round. It would also be cool if counterspelling had at least a guaranteed partial success ('dampening' a spell by reducing its CL, duration, damage etc.). I wrote a system for the latter, but it turned out to be too complicated.


One of the biggest problems with counterspelling is that if you cast a spell on the target caster that forces a save they must make a concentration check (whether they succeed on the save or not) or lose the spell. This means counterspelling is almost never better than just readying an action to cast a spell when the target casts a spell.

I give all casters the Improved Counterspell feat for free (I give lots of feats for free). It's still a rare day I actually see counterspelling used even so.


There are lots of things to make it easier than it is, but geez, they wouldn't be as necessary if it wasn't so basically impossible to start with.


Abjuration Wizards (or maybe one of the sub-schools) and Arcanists (with an exploit) can counterspell as an immediate action. The arcanists can do it much more frequently, I think the wizard only gets a few per day.

You could homebrew a feat ("Greater Counterspell?" assuming that doesn't already exist) to allow immediate action counterspelling, perhaps with improved counterspell as a prereq. For balance, consider making the feat use up your move/standard action for the following round, rather than their swift action. That might make it good enough to see occasional use, but not too good that it's bogging down every fight.

Edit- Though I could see a duel between high-level casters being thematic if counterspelling were an easy to access mechanic. Probably wouldn't work for an actual game, though.

edit edit- Maybe give the "greater counterspell" feat the quicken spell prereq instead. That would make it a tough call between counterspelling and casting a quickened spell the next round. Might need a CL requirement to prevent PCs from grabbing quicken before they can use it just for the counterspelling ability.

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Counterspelling rules has issues, but we can't make it too easy as that would get really unwieldy and ridiculous.

I don't think it's a problem that you need the exact spell because dispel magic can counterspell anything at the cost of requiring a caster level check -- instead of automatically counterspelling.


Amanuensis wrote:

The main problem with counterspelling is that

a) you have to spend your action to ready without knowing if it is really going to be worth it, and
b) you don't know whether you will succeed.

That makes counterspelling inferior to most other options available.

It would help if you could counterspell as an immediate action, thereby foregoing your standard action in the following round. It would also be cool if counterspelling had at least a guaranteed partial success ('dampening' a spell by reducing its CL, duration, damage etc.). I wrote a system for the latter, but it turned out to be too complicated.

If you fail the counter spell, targets of the spell gain a bonus to their saving throw equal to the level of the spell slot you sacrificed in your attempt.


Personally, this is one of the rules we have ignored from the beginning. It just doesn't add anything to the game. And if you use it against the pcs it just steals their thunder.


It's never really come up in my games, either, but I've got a campaign with an increasing number of casters in it. I'm just trying to prepare for it... lol

Thanks, everyone!

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I use counterspelling a lot. All of my Big Bads have a group of wizards acting as "spell bodyguards" who spend every turn readying a dispel magic.


Counterspelling has always been a questionable tactic unless the BBEG is an arcane caster. Tactically all it does is busy out two casters, one theirs, the others yours. If you have poor saves and more men, then it's worth it. Usually that's not the case.

Bonded Item give you 1 guaranteed counterspell (as you use the same spell to counter with). Otherwise you are looking to get lucky.
Abjurationists and Improved Counterspelling are more effective. However, compared to a Magic Missle (damages target) and Conc DC Check, the damage option to make an opponent flub his spellcasting is superior as he still takes damage.

If you want to stymie a spellcaster, put a martial/monk class next to him or summon a grappler on him. Flying invisible imps with Silence may work but you risk your familiar.


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How about this:

Counterspell: You can attempt to adversely affect a spellcaster's ability to cast a spell. First, roll a Spellcraft check to determine the spell as it's being cast (DC 15 + spell level). You may then attempt to disrupt their spellcasting as an immediate action. Roll an opposed caster level check, if you succeed by 5 or more the spellcaster fails to initiate his spellcasting and wastes his action, but not the spell.

If you beat the check by 5 or less, you may attempt to disrupt the spell. If you have a spell slot of equal or higher level of the same school, or a greater dispel magic spell ready, you can spend the spell slot to negate the spell.
If you have a spell slot of the same school that is a lower level than the spell being cast, or a dispel magic spell ready, you can dampen the spell being cast by reducing the caster level and save DC of the spell by the level of the spell slot used.

As this is done as an immediate action, you spend your swift action for the following round.

.

Since you don't have to ready the action, you can still do stuff on your turn.

It makes spellcasters a little more capable at blocking spellcasting, but that may be a benefit.
Keep in mind, the blocking spellcaster needs to be able to see them enough to perform the Spellcraft check. If you are around a corner, or invisible, it prevents this entirely.

Not sure how that will play out in the game however, especially if you've got a LOT of spellcasters.


Kaisoku wrote:
Not sure how that will play out in the game however, especially if you've got a LOT of spellcasters.

This could work, as well. We don't get to gather more than about once a month, so it'll have to wait until December before I can try some of the ideas.

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Since we're in the homebrew forum anyway, I suggest this:

Instead of messing with the existing counterspelling rules, just make an actual spell called "Counterspell". Give it a casting time of an immediate action. Make it, I dunno, a 3rd-level spell. You would cast counterspell when an enemy caster in range (maybe Medium range?) casts a spell. If the enemy's spell is the same spell level as counterspell or lower, the spell is countered automatically (no check). If the enemy's spell is of a higher level than counterspell, then you have to make a CL check (DC = 10 + enemy's CL) in order to counter it. Maybe have counterspell add a little bonus to this check? Dunno. Anyway, give something like that a shot.

It has the nice side-effect of making Heighten Spell cooler, both to make your counterspell counter bigger stuff and to get your own stuff past enemy counterspells.


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DungeonmasterCal wrote:
But with all the hundreds (thousands, maybe?) of spells available, what are the odds that both you and your enemy have the same spells readied?

The odds are better than you think.

Most of the spells out there are lame and/or weak. Trap options. As in, "never take this spell because there are much better options for you at this level".

If you discard those because nobody ever uses them, you whittle those thousands of options down to just a few spells of each level on each list. Now the odds get much greater that you can counter an enemy's spell (if he's the same or similar class using the same spell list) because he is almost surely casting a good one and you have almost surely prepared all the good ones today, or at least most of them.

And keep a couple Dispel Magics on hand for the odd time out when an enemy is casting a crappy spell. Or just let him cast it because it's crappy and be glad he didn't prepare a better spell.


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I really liked Paolini's depiction of caster duels in the Inheritance series. It was based on telepathy and mental defenses. A duel was basically just 2 wizards staring at each other, while internally they were sending "mental lances" at each other's mental defenses. Once one wizard broke through, he could read the opponent's thoughts and out maneuver any counterattacks.

That level of telepathy seems outside the scope of the game, but I like the idea of a mental wrestling match. You could create a Mental Maneuver thing comparable to Combat Maneuvers. Make it a Charisma-based opposed check. Winner gets to cast his spell. It would still have to be a readied action, but if you win, you get to cast YOUR spell instead of him. Maybe a feat could let you use your NEXT standard action instead of your PREVIOUS one (i.e. readied action).

Note: I really like Charisma as a force of will. Personally, I'd like to see ALL casting based on Charisma with maybe spells known or something based on Wis or Int. My point being, that's probably coloring my idea of how cool this would be and why I chose Charisma. Rules being what they are though, I could see an argument to use another ability for the Mental Maneuver bonus than Charisma. Also, There might need to be a Base Casting Bonus (ex. caster level) to replace BAB for a Mental Maneuver bonus.

This hasn't been playtested or anything. Just spitballing...


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I think it's from Ultimate Magic but you do get to counter spells as an immediate action during a Spell Duel. There are other specific rules.

I've seen counter spelling a lot, especially in high level games that turn into Time Stop/Dispel/Disjunction wars.

My players had their wizard trained to open big fights with a Time Stop+Haste+Mages Disjunction+any other buffs you can manage. This made fights short and boring. An enemy caster who can counter that (combination of swift action and readied action) makes for a much more interesting fight.

By the end of said fight, the Ranger decided to ready an action, identified the spell Fickle Winds, and successfully countered it and crippled the enemy defenses.


DungeonmasterCal wrote:
The idea I'm tinkering with is something like this; You're a spellcaster and an enemy caster is about to cast something. As a swift action, you roll a d20 + your primary spellcasting ability and the level of any spell you wish to sacrifice to release energy to counter the spell. The enemy caster has to roll an opposing roll using the same method to overcome your counterspell attempt. This idea will probably get ripped to shreds, but it's all I have at the moment.

As for this idea, this makes sorcerers kill wizards in any duel, because sorcerers can cast more spells than wizards. So if a sorcerer squares off in a magical duel with the wizard, he can just counter all the wizard's spells until he runs out and then use his remaining spells to destroy that poor wizard fool.

OK, I know that magical duels are not the common metric for determining whether a rule is sound, but this counterspelling rule puts a premium on Spells/Day in all situations. For example, a group exploring a dungeon full of cultists has a wizard in the party, he'll run out of counterspells much faster than a sorcerer would, so the group will have to camp and rest sooner if they bring a wizard.

Arguably, this is true now if that party brings someone who casts a lot of counterspells, except that, by RAW, counterspelling is difficult and awkward so nobody really does it. They might not have that particular good spell prepared (or they already used it earlier today) AND they might not want to ready a counterspell action because there is too much chance they won't even be able to counterspell so they have wasted their action.

Your rule lets anyone counterspell at any time. Nobody will cast anything in battle without enemy spellcasters countering all the time. I would. I would consider a decent chance to keep our barbarian from running in fear is MUCH more useful than saving my Bestow Curse (for example) for a future fight I might not even have.

In short, what your rule proposes is this: Whenever there is a combat between two groups that both have spellcasters, nobody will be able to cast anything without it being countered. This will become so common that the only casting classes worth taking are the ones with the highest number of spells/day (e.g. sorcerers).


Hmm...hadn't thought of that. Good point.


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DungeonmasterCal wrote:
Share your ideas with me, please.

I don't like your idea that you roll to see if it works then he rolls to see if it doesn't work. Too much rolling, and you have double the chance of failure which amounts to (roughly) 1/4 the chance of success.

Also, it's not a swift actin since you can only do those on YOUR turn. You need to make it an immediate action.


DM_Blake wrote:
Also, it's not a swift actin since you can only do those on YOUR turn. You need to make it an immediate action.

That makes sense.


DungeonmasterCal wrote:
So, does anyone have an alternate way to counter other spells?

Here's an idea I used back before Pathfinder took over:

How about using the existing Spell Resistance rules instead? It's a viable game mechanic that can be repackaged as a counterspell mechanic.

When an enemy caster starts casting, you can counter by burning a spell slot or prepared spell. If you do, you resist his casting even if the spell doesn't allow Spell Resistance - you're doing this before he finishes casting. You resist his 'gathering of energy", or whatever, before his spell even exists, so whether the spell allows SR or not is irrelevant.

The result is that you create a pseudo spell-resistance that he needs to overcome. You roll nothing. He makes one standard roll to overcome the spell resistance. If he fails, you have countered his spell.

The DC of this roll would be something like 10 + your Caster Level, but even better is 10 + the minimum caster level to cast whichever spell you used (this way countering with a high-level spell is more effective than countering with a low level one). But you also get to add any CL bonuses you might have. So, for example, if you are a wizard and you have a class ability that lets you cast "fire" spells at +1 CL, you could counter an enemy's Black Tentacles spell by using a Fireball spell. Your minimum CL to cast that is 5 and you add +1 because it's fire, so the DC is 10 + 5 + 1 = 16. Your opponent needs to make a Caster Level check against DC 16 to overcome your attempt at countering.

As I said, I used this idea but it didn't matter much. Nobody ever really counters anything. Probably because I still required the readied action. Maybe getting rid of the readied action is the best solution, but as I stated in my earlier post on this thread, that tips the power balance in favor of the casters with the most spells/day.


That's a really good idea. And like I said, quite frankly counterspelling has only ever come up a couple of times in my games. But there are a few players who get to come over occasionally and most of them have characters with at least some spellcasting ability. And one of them uses "non standard" spells that most other casters wouldn't likely have memorized. Plus I allow certain 3PP companys' material, so that increases the unlikely hood that both casters would know the same spells.


DM Blake - probabilistically that is the same as the Dispel Magic counterspell option except the other guy rolls EXCEPT for the any spell to counterspell. Personally I think that is too powerful but it is workable in a mage only duel where all damage is non-lethal (usually).

What you might do is alter the Improved Counterspell feat;

Impvd Counterspell wrote:

You are skilled at countering the spells of others using similar spells.

Benefit: When counterspelling, you may use a spell of the same school that is one or more spell levels higher than the target spell.

Normal: Without this feat, you may counter a spell only with the same spell or with a spell specifically designated as countering the target spell.

to

Benefit: with your action to counterspell, after the spell is corecctly identified succeed at a Spellcraft check of DC 10 +2*SplLvl to use a spell of the same school and level, otherwise you must use a spell of the same school and that is one or more levels higher than the target spell.
This normally means you will have a reserved action to counterspell, then make a Spellcraft check to identify the spell, and after identification make a second Spellcraft check to use a spell of the same school and level.
If you choose the wrong spell (misidentify) and guess, both spells go off simultaneously with their normal effects.

Spell Focus(School) and greater spell focus(School) adds their bonus to your counterspell attempt if the target spell is of the same school as the feat.

Skill Focus(Spellcraft) would help with spellcraft rolls as usual.


Honestly, most spells people take could be reduced to a list of 6-10 or less per spell level. There usually isn't that much variance.

One thing that's critical here is knowing your target well. If Mage A knows Mage B tactics and commonly memorized spells, well Mage A has a real leg up on Mage B. It's all about the preparation!


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I have a houserule that you can counterspell as an immediate action, however it eats up as much of an action on your next turn that it would have normally taken to cast the spell in the first place.

i.e. Countering Fireball with another Fireball will cost an Immediate action, and a standard action of your upcoming turn.

As insanely lenient as that is, I still haven't seen a single counterspell. ):


Zenogu wrote:
As insanely lenient as that is, I still haven't seen a single counterspell. ):

Have some encounters start using that rule against the PCs.

One of two things will happen. Either you'll hate it because the monsters lose actions and gain no benefit except preventing the spell so you'll eventually stop doing it as impractical, or your players will hate it because it shuts their casters down but then they'll figure out they can do it to you at which time everyone will be shut down - but at least you'll see some counterspells...


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Counterspelling / Mage Duels

No readied action is necessary. As a free action you can designate a single target as being observed for signs of spell casting. (This action has no other effect other than designating who you are paying attention to and letting the DM know that he has to call out that so and so starts casting a spell rather than just saying 'the bad guy casts fire ball every one give me a dc X reflex save")

When that opponent or any opponent within 5 feet of the target starts casting a spell with a casting time of standard or longer you can give up the move action of your next turn to attempt to counter the spell. Countering the spell in this way works as written in the rules in all other ways.

I will generally also allow someone to burn a spell with a reasonable excuse to counter a spell as a counter spell. For example if the player sees an opponent casting magic missile but he has no evocation spells to use as a counter he can chose to burn shield instead though the shield spell does not have any other effect beyond countering the magic missile.

This also allows for mage duels, and fun/dramatic scenes where a wizard is yelling "I can't keep this up much longer - kill that caster now!"


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While I don't have anything in particular to add to the thread, I will say I agree we need new counterspell rules. It's sad when readying an action to cast magic missle on a caster when they start casting is better.


DM_Blake wrote:
Zenogu wrote:
As insanely lenient as that is, I still haven't seen a single counterspell. ):

Have some encounters start using that rule against the PCs.

One of two things will happen. Either you'll hate it because the monsters lose actions and gain no benefit except preventing the spell so you'll eventually stop doing it as impractical, or your players will hate it because it shuts their casters down but then they'll figure out they can do it to you at which time everyone will be shut down - but at least you'll see some counterspells...

You're right! I'll probably start implementing more spellcasting baddies.


DM_Blake wrote:
As for this idea, this makes sorcerers kill wizards in any duel, because sorcerers can cast more spells than wizards. So if a sorcerer squares off in a magical duel with the wizard, he can just counter all the wizard's spells until he runs out and then use his remaining spells to destroy that poor wizard fool.

Not really; the Sorcerer's spell slot advantage over the Wizard isn't nearly as large as you're making it out to be. Given he needs to win an opposed check to successfully counterspell, this isn't a foolproof strategy. The Wizard could easily have the Sorcerer beaten before running out of slots. More spell slots is an advantage, sure, but it's just one factor among many.

Quote:
I don't like your idea that you roll to see if it works then he rolls to see if it doesn't work. Too much rolling, and you have double the chance of failure which amounts to (roughly) 1/4 the chance of success.

As I understood what he's saying, it's an opposed check; the two casters roll off, add modifiers, and whoever gets a higher result succeeds. All things equal, it's a 50/50 shot of success.


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Make the arcanist exploits into feats?

PRD on Arcanist's Exploits wrote:
Counterspell (Su): By expending 1 point from her arcane reservoir, the arcanist can attempt to counter a spell as it is being cast. She must identify the spell being cast as normal. If she successfully does so, the arcanist can attempt to counter the spell as an immediate action and by expending an available arcanist spell slot of a level at least one higher than the level of the spell being cast. To counterspell, the arcanist must attempt a dispel check as if using dispel magic. If the spell being countered is one that the arcanist has prepared, she can instead expend an available arcanist spell slot of the same level, and she receives a +5 bonus on the dispel check. Counterspelling in this way does not trigger any feats or other abilities that normally occur when a spellcaster successfully counters a spell.

Feat:

Counterspell
Quashing your opponents futile attempts to struggle, you show your superior magical skill
Prerequisite: Ability to cast first level divine or arcane spells.
Benefit: You may after successfully identifying a spell, with spellcraft, while it is being cast expend an immediate action and a spell slot or memorized spell one level higher than the identified spell to attempt to counter it. If you do then attempt a dispel check as if using dispel magic. If the spell being countered is one that you have prepared or on your spells known list then you may instead expend that spell if prepared or a spell slot of the same level and receive a +5 bonus on the dispel check.

PRD on Arcanist's Exploits wrote:
Greater Counterspell (Su): Whenever the arcanist uses the counterspell exploit, she can expend any arcanist spell slot of the same level or greater than the spell to be countered (instead of the spell level + 1). The arcanist must have the counterspell exploit to select this exploit.

Feat:

Greater Counterspell
Your mastery of magic is unparalleled. You brush aside your opponent's spells with ease.
Prerequisite: Counterspell, Caster level 10
Benefit: Whenever you attempt to counterspell via the counterspell feat you may expend any spell slot or prepared spell of the same level or greater than the spell to be countered (instead of the spell level + 1).


Dasrak wrote:
Not really; the Sorcerer's spell slot advantage over the Wizard isn't nearly as large as you're making it out to be.

That is true. Between the arcane bond*, and the school slot, and more importantly: getting a spell level earlier, the difference is negligible, and in fact the wizard actually has more spell slots for a few levels.

If you give weight to those spell slots (higher slots being worth more), then the sorcerer is actually only even or losing for the first third of the game, still loses out every other level for the 2nd third, and only starts to win out consistently in the last third of the game.

Delayed spell progression is a real downer.

.

* Yes I know a sorcerer can get arcane bond, but it's far less likely than the Wizard going for it.


Covent wrote:

Make the arcanist exploits into feats?

PRD on Arcanist's Exploits wrote:
Counterspell (Su): By expending 1 point from her arcane reservoir, the arcanist can attempt to counter a spell as it is being cast. She must identify the spell being cast as normal. If she successfully does so, the arcanist can attempt to counter the spell as an immediate action and by expending an available arcanist spell slot of a level at least one higher than the level of the spell being cast. To counterspell, the arcanist must attempt a dispel check as if using dispel magic. If the spell being countered is one that the arcanist has prepared, she can instead expend an available arcanist spell slot of the same level, and she receives a +5 bonus on the dispel check. Counterspelling in this way does not trigger any feats or other abilities that normally occur when a spellcaster successfully counters a spell.

Feat:

Counterspell
Quashing your opponents futile attempts to struggle, you show your superior magical skill
Prerequisite: Ability to cast first level divine or arcane spells.
Benefit: You may after successfully identifying a spell, with spellcraft, while it is being cast expend an immediate action and a spell slot or memorized spell one level higher than the identified spell to attempt to counter it. If you do then attempt a dispel check as if using dispel magic. If the spell being countered is one that you have prepared or on your spells known list then you may instead expend that spell if prepared or a spell slot of the same level and receive a +5 bonus on the dispel check.

PRD on Arcanist's Exploits wrote:
Greater Counterspell (Su): Whenever the arcanist uses the counterspell exploit, she can expend any arcanist spell slot of the same level or greater than the spell to be countered (instead of the spell level + 1). The arcanist must have the counterspell exploit to select this exploit.

Feat:

Greater Counterspell
Your mastery of magic is...

Did not know these existed!


I just wrote the feats.


Covent wrote:
I just wrote the feats.

Well, that would explain it, wouldn't it? :)

Thanks for them!


No problem enjoy. :)


doing something is better than stopping somebody from doing something else, especially if doing your thing stops them as a result.


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Klarkash-Ton wrote:
doing something is better than stopping somebody from doing something else, especially if doing your thing stops them as a result.

Generally speaking, you are correct. There may be some things that might stop you from doing those things however. Such as the enemy having impossibly high Spell Resistance, Saving Throws that will trump your spells, or a Globe of Invulnerability.

Yes, you can use a Dispel Magic against his globe, or use a Sicken/Shaken/Curse effect to lower his saves. However that will likely eat up your turn's worth of actions. While you were busy doing that, this may give the enemy time to cast his Time Stop, Dominate your party Ranger, or use Wall of Force to separate you from your friends.

Suddenly, you would kill for a successful counterspell.

It has a very tiny niche field of use. I would probably lump it into the same category of usefulness as Grapple, since one person is essentially "stopping" the opponent. And it probably doesn't get a lot of merit when you do pull it off. But you may inadvertently save the day by doing so.


DM_Blake wrote:


As for this idea, this makes sorcerers kill wizards in any duel, because sorcerers can cast more spells than wizards. So if a sorcerer squares off in a magical duel with the wizard, he can just counter all the wizard's spells until he runs out and then use his remaining spells to destroy that poor wizard fool.

OK, I know that magical duels are not the common metric for determining whether a rule is sound, but this counterspelling rule puts a premium on Spells/Day in all situations.

Great! Now when people insist that "limited use" abilities are supposed to be some sort of balancing factor, they might have an actual point!


Azten wrote:
While I don't have anything in particular to add to the thread, I will say I agree we need new counterspell rules. It's sad when readying an action to cast magic missle on a caster when they start casting is better.

Only when the first caster hasn't cast shield...

Scarab Sages

I don't know if its already been said but I've started using the dueling counter res from I think ultimate magic or combat.


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A similar topic here came up a while ago on these forums. My contribution was directly about counterspelling and is copied below.

Hugo Rune said wrote:

I like the idea of making counterspelling easier. What I've written here is more food for thought, not necessarily well thought out but some initial musings.

Counterspelling is an immediate action. If a successful spellcraft check is made then the spell can be countered by any spell that is a level higher, an equal spell from the same school, or from one level lower by an opposing school. If a spell is countered by a spell from the same school that is two or more levels higher then the energy is blown back and the effects of either spell (counterspellers choice) will impact the caster.

Opposing schools
Abjuration <-> Evocation
Conjuration <-> Necromancy
Divination <-> Enchantment
Illusion <-> Transmutation

Universal spells have no opposition but may be countered by any spell.

Counterspell Mastery is replaced with immunity to spell blow back.

Just some ideas to throw into the pot.

I've never actually progressed those rules from beyond the idea stage because counterspelling has never come up in my games and I'm happy with the games play currently without counterspelling being a thing that happens.

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