Counterspelling

[Maquise]

I would like to hear some opinions on the "legitimate, if seldom used, means of neutralizing a spellcaster." How often does it come up in your games? Do any of you use it?

I would think that in order for it to be effective, you would need a fair amount of intelligence, specifically the knowledge of what spells your enemy have. If you have a GM like me who likes to put a caster in every encounter, though, what then?

[NeoPhoenix0]

the mystic backlash feat from complete mage and the wildstrike capstone ability for the wild mage are probably rarely used.

mystic backlash doesn't really stop them it only damages them when the successfully cast a spell.

wildstrike gives their spells a 50% chance of producing a rod of wonder effect instead of the usual effect.

[Gerrtt]

If your DM puts a caster in every counter and you want to have the best chance of counterspelling all of them then your best bet is to prepare lots of Dispel Magic/Greater Dispel Magic. This will obviously use up your spell slots on something that isn't really optimized in terms of how to best use your spell slots or your actions in combat. But it's your best bet if your goal is to be universally counterspelling opponents.

I've also never once used the counterspell action, but I have been in a game where it made the difference between winning and losing the encounter that the party wizard was making counterspell actions every turn.

[Solophoenix]

I prefer to ready an action to cast something like Sound Lance, instead. Forces a high concentration check (~DC46+Spell Level at CL8) or they lose the spell, effectively getting the same effect as a counterspell, but you've also done something towards beating them, rather than just keeping them busy.

[Gerrtt]

I prefer to ready an action to cast something like Sound Lance, instead. Forces a high concentration check (~DC46+Spell Level at CL8) or they lose the spell, effectively getting the same effect as a counterspell, but you've also done something towards beating them, rather than just keeping them busy.

This is an example of what I am talking about; why bother counterspelling when you can hit a spellcaster hard and achieve the same effect without having to make a caster level check. Force them to make a concentration check instead.

[Malachei]

This thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277801) might help, it also has a link to the Counterspelling Compilation.

[Jack Zander]

Wizards and sorcerers aren't really suited to counterspelling. You want silence on your spell list.

[WhatBigTeeth]

Clerics do it well. Inquisition Domain is awesome for it and Divine Defiance and Battlemagic Perception are some of the easiest ways for Clerics to foul up enemies plans outside their own initiatives.

But if you ever want to counter in the standard "ready an action to try to identify and cast the same spell the other guy uses" fashion, you're probably wasting your time.