Voracious Dispelling as a Counterspell

[sjeshin]

Are there any rules governing using spell like abilities as a readied action? I am not sure if I can use the Voracious Dispelling invocation for a warlock as a counterspell. I know as a player the answer would be "ask the DM." but I am the DM. At our tables a lot of us DM and it is simpler for us to start with RAW and make sensible changes as needed and warlocks make great bad guys. Having a circle of lesser warlocks protecting their master with readied counterspells sounds interesting but I don't see any rules for this.

[heavyfuel]

It's the rules as for everything else, so yeah, you can use it to counterspell.

[Darrin]

Are there any rules governing using spell like abilities as a readied action? I am not sure if I can use the Voracious Dispelling invocation for a warlock as a counterspell.


Unfortunately, there's a solid brick wall of RAW between what you want to do and the rules. Monster Manual p. 315:

"Spell-like abilities cannot be used to counterspell, nor can they be counterspelled." (emphasis added).

So, while you *could* ready an action to use an SLA... you can't counterspell with it. As far as readying an action goes, you can ready any standard action, so that should work well enough. If you want to trigger the voracious dispelling right after an opponent casts a non-instantaneous spell, you could then dispel an ongoing spell effect, but this isn't the same as counterspelling.

I wanted to use a similar trick for an Iron Chef build, but it fell apart when I saw that rule in the MM. I found a work-around of sorts... Witchborn Binder 6 can counterspell with an SLA, but fitting it into the build with the secret ingredient meant the build was nearly useless until 20th level.

[Boci]

Unfortunately, there's a solid brick wall of RAW between what you want to do and the rules. Monster Manual p. 315:

"Spell-like abilities cannot be used to counterspell, nor can they be counterspelled." (emphasis added).

Some interpret that to mean you cannot counter a fireball spell with a fireball SLA and vice versa, and that it would still allow you to use dispel magic to counter even as a spell like ability, as that's a feature of the spell itself.

[Troacctid]

Specific beats general, and a spell-like ability that specifically says it can be used to counterspell, as in the case of Dispel Magic, can be used to counterspell.

That said, I usually prefer to ready an Eldritch Blast and force a Concentration check, since that way you get to deal some damage and potentially land an eldritch essence debuff.