I've read on different posts that the only use for concentration has been spell or magic based. I believe it was asked of us to point out other uses, and concentration has always been a favorite of mine especially in high stress situations.
I do wish to point out the the original description of Concentration states that any action that requires your full attention in combat is subject to a concentration roll.
For example:
A rogue is attempting to pick a lock on a door to allow the group to escape from a fight or is disarming a trap that is slowly threatening to crush the party while incorporeal undead attempt to attack them. In the midst of such a high stress situation I would require that the rogue make a concentration check to maintain his action.
Use of the heal skill in the midst of combat could require concentration.
I cant imagine it would be easy for a bard to maintain his performance while also dodging a fireball.
Climbing the side of a mountain while giants are throwing boulders at you or in the middle of an earthquake. (And climbing requires a lot of concentration even without such things, though I've never had a boulder thrown at me while scaling a cliff face...)
I've also used concentration in torture situations to keep from talking. (Though granted that could be done with a will save)
I've even been known to use it when people are firing arrows from the back of a moving wagon (or dragon) otherwise they incur penalties.
Basically any skill that both requires an action and provokes an attack of opportunity could potentially also require a concentration check.
I'm not saying keep it necessarily, but I wished to point out it's other uses and by putting it in Spellcraft it removes its potential from a variety of other situations.
For some reason, Jason just plain doesn't like Concentration (he considers it a "skill tax" on spellcasters). He did say that he's thinking of removing it from Spellcraft, though.
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Given to OP's outline of Concentration, I could actually see the argument for doing away with Concentration and simply adding to the DC for each skill.
That said, Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana) really seem to be an unecessary division. So - dump Concentration and dump Spellcraft. Keep Knowledge (arcana) for all things related. For anything requiring a Concentration check, simply add to the DC of the skill at issue.
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Except that not only Wizards and Sorcerers know about Magic. Spellcraft has a lot of uses in 3.5. Almost way to many. 3.5 also went pretty retarted about letting you use Knowledge Arcana for anything (like identify undead, get planer info, history, and find out local facts due to your knowledge of generic magic). It should be a skill task for casters, because it (they), does a lot of things.
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Except that not only Wizards and Sorcerers know about Magic. Spellcraft has a lot of uses in 3.5. Almost way to many. 3.5 also went pretty retarted about letting you use Knowledge Arcana for anything (like identify undead, get planer info, history, and find out local facts due to your knowledge of generic magic). It should be a skill task for casters, because it (they), does a lot of things.
Yeah, but this goes against the grain that 3.5 established by making all skills available to all classes - no restrictions beyond cross-class restrictions.
I wouldn't want to go back.
If I want to build a fighter whose focus is combating mages - and he's dumping ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft - I wouldn't want to see him denied.
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I'm all for moving "spellcasting concentration" into the Spellcraft skill (though I think Spellcraft should add whatever primary casting stat the character uses, not just INT).
That said, I would like to know how people who want to keep the Concentration skill justify it being based on CON. Pretty much every example of how it might be used is an exercise in mental focus, not physical resistance. Enlighten me. :)
I would like to know how people who want to keep the Concentration skill justify it being based on CON. Pretty much every example of how it might be used is an exercise in mental focus, not physical resistance. Enlighten me. :)
Great question. 3.5 (and actually every version of D&D back to the Basic set), as well as Pathfinder now, have all fallen into the trap of lumping various abilities together, when in fact they have nothing to do with each other.
For example, one would think that Concentration would be dependent on willpower, right? Unfortunately, though, there has never been a "Willpower" attribute per se in D&D/Pathfinder. Instead, it gets lumped into Wisdom, which is a waste-basket designation for common-sense, empathy, perception and willpower. Unfortunately, these four things are not necessarily related, and so one can wind up with a 90 year-old cleric with a high Wisdom score who can miraculously hear the slightest sound much better than any of his compatriots, due to his very high Wisdom modifier for the Listen/Perception skill.
My suggestion is that Perception and Willpower should be added to the current list of character abilities. This is the way it has been done -- and very successfully, might I add -- in other RPG's. That would solve a ton of issues, including which ability Concentration should be based on -- Willpower, of course!