Feat of Counterspell?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I'm playing in a low level martial heavy party with a Ranger and a pair of Paladins as our healers and casters. Things are actually going pretty well.

Looking forward to mid tier I'm hoping someone finds a wand of fireball or a way to cast Counterspell. Does any book have something similar to:

Feat:

Mage Warrior.

You have seen enough spells being cast against you to hone your skills at interrupting them in non magical ways.

Improve your CHA, WIS or INT by one and you gain the ability to use your reaction to make a weapon attack with a weapon you are already equipped with on a creature visibly casting a spell to force a concentration check to prevent the spell from being cast.

[Pex]

Mage Slayer, Player's Handbook

[ZRN]

There's a feat called Mage Slayer that's almost exactly what you're looking for:



Mage Slayer

You have practiced techniques in melee combat against spellcasters, gaining the following benefits.

When a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature.
When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration.
You have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by creatures within 5 feet of you.



Your ranger could also take the Monster Slayer subclass, which lets you do this at a 60-ft range at level 11.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

There's a feat called Mage Slayer that's almost exactly what you're looking for:



Your ranger could also take the Monster Slayer subclass, which lets you do this at a 60-ft range at level 11.

Nice! Shows I play a caster more often.

I think the 5ft thing has been the limiting factor on us never picking that. But our Ranger

Let me simplify my thoughts and keep my pet idea from obsoleting Mage Slayer.

Mage Warrior

Improve your CHA, WIS or INT by one.

You have practiced techniques in combat against spellcasters and you gain the ability to use your reaction to make a weapon attack with a weapon you are already equipped with on a creature visibly casting a spell to force a concentration check to prevent the spell from being cast.

Edit- fix pasting disaster

[deadman1204]

Don't give them a way to cast counterspell, its probably the stupidest ability in 5th ed. As a reaction, anyone can shut down the BBEG and turn them into a pointless nothing.

Its incredibly broken. If DM's did it to players as much as players used it, you wouldn't have any casters in the game, cause every player spell would get shut down. Counterspell is the pinnacle of bad game design - which says alot for 5th ed.

[Person_Man]

Don't give them a way to cast counterspell, its probably the stupidest ability in 5th ed. As a reaction, anyone can shut down the BBEG and turn them into a pointless nothing.

Its incredibly broken. If DM's did it to players as much as players used it, you wouldn't have any casters in the game, cause every player spell would get shut down. Counterspell is the pinnacle of bad game design - which says alot for 5th ed.

This.

One of the worst parts of earlier editions is that high level magic granted you god like powers while also having a number of ways to completely negate it. So you could either end combat on the first round with a fantasy nuclear weapon, or you were worthless. (And the same was true of many, but not all, magical enemies). I hope they nerf or remove it from One D&D (and also give non-full casters more cool abilities at high levels).

[Leon]

Don't give them a way to cast counterspell, its probably the stupidest ability in 5th ed. As a reaction, anyone can shut down the BBEG and turn them into a pointless nothing.


Well if you insist on the BBEG being only a bland ass spellcaster and nothing else you get what you get.

[Mellack]

Note that Mage Slayer feat does not actually stop the spell from being cast. The caster can get hit for casting, and lose concentration after casting, but the spell still gets off. Not going to stop them using cone of cold or disintegrate on someone.

Your proposed feat is basically giving someone a 3rd level spell that they can do at will, and as only a half feat at that.

[JNAProductions]

Note that Mage Slayer feat does not actually stop the spell from being cast. The caster can get hit for casting, and lose concentration after casting, but the spell still gets off. Not going to stop them using cone of cold or disintegrate on someone.

Your proposed feat is basically giving someone a 3rd level spell that they can do at will, and as only a half feat at that.

How much damage are you doing in one attack?

At 21- damage, it’s a DC 10 Con save to avoid losing the spell.
At 22+, it starts to scale up.
Assuming you hit, of course.

It’s good-but it’s not a proper Counterspell.

[Mellack]

How much damage are you doing in one attack?

At 21- damage, it’s a DC 10 Con save to avoid losing the spell.
At 22+, it starts to scale up.
Assuming you hit, of course.

It’s good-but it’s not a proper Counterspell.

It is not exactly counterspell, it might be an easy check or it could be an impossible one, depending on the damage done. It is also possible to be done from much father away than counterspell. A sharpshooter longbow user could be doing this from 500+ feet away.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

It is not exactly counterspell, it might be an easy check or it could be an impossible one, depending on the damage done. It is also possible to be done from much father away than counterspell. A sharpshooter longbow user could be doing this from 500+ feet away.

There are a lot of threads aboir martials not being strong enough. I have some sympathy even if I'm not entirely in line. How about we talk away the half part of it?

Mage Warrior:

You have practiced techniques in combat against spellcasters and you gain the ability to use your reaction to make a weapon attack with a weapon you are already equipped with on a creature visibly casting a spell to force a concentration check to prevent the spell from being cast.

[Azuresun]

Don't give them a way to cast counterspell, its probably the stupidest ability in 5th ed. As a reaction, anyone can shut down the BBEG and turn them into a pointless nothing.

Its incredibly broken. If DM's did it to players as much as players used it, you wouldn't have any casters in the game, cause every player spell would get shut down. Counterspell is the pinnacle of bad game design - which says alot for 5th ed.

In theory, being able to shut down enemy spells is a good idea. In practice, it takes one of two forms:

--Spellcaster players disengage because they're getting Noped all the time.

--Enemy mages might as well have not shown up--they get shut down 1/round until the party huddles round them and kicks them to death.

[Kane0]

I'm playing in a low level martial heavy party with a Ranger and a pair of Paladins as our healers and casters. Things are actually going pretty well.

Looking forward to mid tier I'm hoping someone finds a wand of fireball or a way to cast Counterspell. Does any book have something similar to:

Feat:

Mage Warrior.

You have seen enough spells being cast against you to hone your skills at interrupting them in non magical ways.

Improve your CHA, WIS or INT by one and you gain the ability to use your reaction to make a weapon attack with a weapon you are already equipped with on a creature visibly casting a spell to force a concentration check to prevent the spell from being cast.

There is the PHB Mage Slayer feat, but it has some strange limitations so I use this version:

Mage Slayer:
- You can make an Opportunity Attack against a creature that begins to cast a spell within your reach, potentially causing that creature to lose the spell if the attack hits and they fail a Concentration saving throw
- When you damage a creature with a melee attack you gain advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects they use until the end of your next turn

Ask your DM first of course.

[Amechra]

I mean... this would arguably be a pretty balanced cantrip:


Counterspell
Casting time: 1 readied action, which you may trigger when a creature within 60ft of you casts a spell.
Range: 60 feet
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous
You attempt to interrupt a creature in the process of casting a spell. Make an ability check using your spellcasting ability. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level. On a success, the creature’s spell fails and has no effect.

Counterspell's issue isn't that it shuts down opposing spellcasters (which, in my opinion, is the reason you brought your own spellcasters in the first place) — it's that it's basically free for anyone and everyone who has it to spam it against any opposing spells, and that it unduly privileges whichever side that collectively has more high-level spell slots.