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So I have a player who will be getting Counterspell as a Sorcerer and I'm trying to help him figure out how the spell works. Start the merry chase! First we get sent to the section on Dispelling, on page 197. Here we find out that Dispelling is a Counteract Action. Off to page 319! Here we get a table that...I don't know. I think one side is the level of the effect to be countered and the other is the level of the spell slot you need? I think? This gets weird though because the text seems to say that you compare the spell level slots straight across--that a caster casting Magic Missile in a third level slot and a player trying to counterspell it with a first level slot would take a -10 to their roll, for example.
When attempting to counteract an effect, compare the counteract level of the effect with the counteract level of the ability you are using. A spell’s counteract level is equal to its spell level...If your ability has a higher counteract level than that of the effect to be counteracted, you automatically succeed. If your ability’s counteract level is the same as the effect’s counteract level or lower, you must succeed at a check using the relevant skill or ability against the DC of the target effect. You take a cumulative –5 penalty to this check for every level by which your ability’s counteract level is lower than the target’s. If your ability is 4 or more counteract levels lower than that of the effect you are trying to counteract, your attempt automatically fails. On a successful counteract check, the condition or effect immediately ends.
So I'm not sure about my interpretation of that at all, but it seems to be what the text is saying. Problem is, it's not at all what the chart is saying. The chart is weird.
But mostly I'm concerned by this part:
If your ability’s counteract level is the same as the effect’s counteract level or lower, you must succeed at a check using the relevant skill or ability against the DC of the target effect.
That doesn't even look like words to me...
So you roll a check? Like Arcana? Against "the DC of the target effect". I have no idea where to even find that. There's the table of DCs of various difficulties by level in the Difficulty Classes section under Game Mastering. Is that what we're talking about? At what, the High difficulty? So a 19 at 4th level? And the roll takes a -5 for each level higher the spell your countering is from the slot you're blocking it with?
Is that right?
Related question, is it no longer possible to use dispel magic as a counterspell for a spell you don't know/have prepared? If so, why not?
First off, they need to get rid of all instances of the phrase "counteract level" because what they actually mean is "spell level." That would help a lot. I know some class feats and so on also counteract things like fear or poison, but they always do so with a counteract level of half the user's level, so they could just say they counteract as an Xth level spell.
Second, my interpretation of "relevant skill or ability" is the skill associated with the kind of magic you are using in your counter attempt. If you are casting a divine spell as a counterspell you use Religion, if you cast an arcane spell as a counterspell you use Arcana, etc. If I'm wrong, well, hell if I know how I'm supposed to come to a different conclusion from the text.
Third, my interpretation of the DC is that it is actually the save DC of the spell you are trying to counter. If the spell doesn't have a save, you still calculate the DC as if it did - 10 + caster level + ability mod etc.
Fourth, dispel magic is essentially an ex post facto counteract check, but by rules as written (which I don't agree with), because it doesn't specifically call out use as a counterspell, you can't use dispel as a counterspell except against dispel.
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A bigger issue is, how are you supposed to ever be able to counterspell at all? Identifying a spell being cast is a feat for some reason (one that isn't even a prerequisite for counterspell), which takes your reaction. After which you have no reaction to counter with. So you have to counter blind, which means you'll always fail unless you can read the enemy's mind.
Was the intent that you automatically and instantly recognize any spell being cast that you also know and/or have prepared? That seems to be the only way for counter to work. But they need to actually state that somewhere in the rules if this is the case.
Counterspell needs a rework. As fuzzy pointed out, you basically need 3 feats to even be able to counterspell. Counterspell, Recognize Spell and Quick Recognition. And then you can only counterspell spells you have prepared and ready at the time, which also prevents you from countering spells that are not available to you. As far as I'm concerned counterspell doesn't exist in this edition.
If this is intended, it's horrible gamedesign because it tricks players into making a heavy investment into something that is usefull maybe once in a whole campaign.