Silence as a counterspell.

[Mathius]

If I ready an action to cast silence when I notice spellcasting and I target the area instead of the caster do the lose the spell they were about to cast if it has a verbal component or can they change their action to something else?

If they have a move action remaining would you allow a reflex save to get out of the area and still cast the spell? I know there is no raw for this.

If a silenced object is in an air elemental's whirlwind would you prevent all casting withing 20 feet of the the air elemental? Can the elemental drop the object?

[Captain Xenon]

well, even if it doesn't stop the spell, you still force a concentration check for casters in the spell radius. by similar logic, hold person is also a counter-spell as it prevents the spell from being cast.

[Seraphimpunk]

silence has a 1 round casting time. i don't think you can "ready" spells unless they take a standard action or less to cast.

so without a quickened silence, i don't think this would work.

other options: someone drinks a potion of silence, and then readies an action to move toward anyone they see casting*

* you're trusting a non-caster to know what casting looks like. and hoping the enemy isn't using an SLA, SU ability, or any Still feat/metamagic rod.

In the case they do get silenced, as they're casting, i'd nerf the spell they're casting ( unless its silenced already ), but allow the caster to finish the rest of their round after the interrupt action. like moving back to try and get away from the silence.

[claymade]

Mathius wrote:

If I ready an action to cast silence when I notice spellcasting and I target the area instead of the caster do the lose the spell they were about to cast if it has a verbal component or can they change their action to something else?

Well, you couldn't do this in the first place, because Silence is a 1-round action. You'd have to do something like cast it on an object, and then ready an action to throw the object if you wanted to even attempt it.

I wouldn't allow them to decide to not cast after getting hit by the spell, since you can't make that decision after taking damage after provoking an AoO, or getting targeted by a normal counterspell, etc. And Reflex save to move out of the radius is not, indeed, RAW.

I think they do just lose the spell if you can successfully land it.

[Seraphimpunk]

holding the spell on an item is nerfed too. 3.5 silence was minutes/level, pf silence is rounds/level. so even the potion route only lasts 3 rounds. fwiw.

[Claxon]

It depends on how you treat the wording of readied actions and whether or not you force the player to do whatever action you interupted.

Personally, if you can cast a quickened silence (as someone pointed out it normally has a 1 round casting time) you could do so either on the caster or an object near them or a point in space near them. However, I would also allow them to move first (attempting to get out of the area) and then cast. Of course, this could cause problems for them in terms of provoking attacks of opportunity (for movement or casting) and having to make concentration checks if damaged for the AoO from casting. And even if they can't move, or don't want to move I wouldn't force them to cast the spell. The can always choose to simply not use that action.

Many people disagree with my interpretation of the readied action rules but thats just how I run it. Othwerwise readied actions become a little too powerful IMO, but thats just me.

[Mathius]

I missed the 1 round casting time so that solves the issue for me. I think I will just have the caster put it on ranged weapons that other mooks will use or something.

How much damage would you have to do with a piercing weapon to say that the arrow/bolt/spike lodges in the caster instead of just damaging then falling to the ground? Makes a difference for flying casters.

[Democratus]

You could just attack the square the caster is standing in with the silenced arrow. That would be fairly easy to hit and you wouldn't have to worry about building custom "sticking out of you" rules.

[Mathius]

The issue is when the caster is flying more then 20 feet off the ground witch is common in the double digit levels.

[Democratus]

Hmm. In this case you may have to create custom rules. I don't think RAW has anything to say about projectile weapons sticking out of your body once you have been shot.

Casters in double digit levels are a handful.

[Kayerloth]

Yep best to just give it to an companion who is willing to get up in the wizard's face. Definitely off in home rules territory given the very abstract nature of CRB D&D hp and damage.

[Seraphimpunk]

don't forget its an emanation, so i think you can cast it on a rock , and then if you need to, put the rock in a bag. without line of effect, the rock is no longer emanating silence, and allied casters can cast for a round. then you can ready to take the rock out if the enemy caster starts doing something.

i'd planned to bring silence to the party, and carry a lesser rod of silent metamagic with my cleric. but the one round casting time, and 1 round/ level duration meant i never actually had time to pull that trick, or prep it before a combat.

[Mathius]

It has not been done in party yet but one the animal companions has huge defenses and is decent in melee. He would be a perfect target for silence since getting rid of him is difficult and at 11th level you can prep it early and let some of duration run as you do other things. With this party 11 rounds could be 2 or even 3 combats and that includes getting from one to the other.

[Seraphimpunk]

metamagic extend can help the duration too. 2 minutes + 2 rounds covers two rounds prep and 20 rounds of combat... which is overkill at 11th level

[Mathius]

If one party of 4th to 6th can by rod of extend spell it might be worth it for them but by 11 it is not as big a deal.