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#1 Degobah Feb 06, 2004 23:32:23

Does anybody else have a problem with the Concentration rules? Having been playing at high levels for a while now (currently at 22nd) it seems like either the party wizard is combat casting and can’t fail, or is hit for so much damage while casting that the character can’t possibly make the roll. Of course, we’d noticed the problem even at about 5th to 7th level. As anyone has seen with the concentration rules, when combat casting rolls are made, a simple Concentration roll of DC (15+ spell level) is relatively easy for most characters to make. For a 1st level character it can be quite difficult, but by even 5th or 6th level the skill roll is virtually assured. This has the additional effect of making the feat Combat Casting virtually useless: while useful at 1st level, a player who wants to build for the future should choose something else or is wasting a feat. By very high levels, concentration checks are an almost meaningless die roll: barring a 1 there is almost no chance of failure, since Concentration skill goes up twice as fast as the DC of the check (Concentration generally is maxed out for +1 skill point per level, compared to at most a +1 DC per 2 levels as the character’s highest spell level useable increases). This leads to less drama or tension in a high-level game as the party wizard yet again rolls a 2 and passes the check. Currently for combat casting, a concentration check has a fixed DC: the obvious solution would be to make a Concentration check an opposed skill roll. This would mean both sides of a battle will have bonuses that follow the same scale, which is fair for both, and has the added effect of making Combat Casting useful even at higher levels- assuming both sides have similar level and skill ranks and max out their respective skills, combat casting could still make a difference at higher levels. Also to be balanced, if the casters are forced to spend skill points to get Concentration the opponents should be forced to spend skill points to counter it, rather than negating it totally with a feat, using base attack bonus to roll against it, or getting more uses out of a skill that is already very useful in other respects, such as Spot or Intimidate for instance. Therefore a new skill needs to be invented. Incidentally, the proposed skill can also plug another odd loophole--the game mechanic for Feinting that in a worst-case scenario can lead the unfortunate party rogue to waste a full-round action pitting his skill ranks in Bluff (max = Level +3) vs. another character’s skill ranks + BAB (max possible = 2 x Level +3), before making a single attack. As well as being grossly unfair, the game mechanic resembles nothing else and looks downright peculiar. Houserule: New Skill Duelling (Wis) Class skill for: Fighters This skill gives a character a combat awareness that lets them notice exactly what an opponent is doing. It lets you either spot weaknesses in an opponent’s guard to attack them when you would otherwise not receive an attack of opportunity, or detect some enemy attacks (e.g. feints) before they occur Attacking a spellcaster who is casting defensively: You may make a Duelling roll opposed to the caster’s Concentration check to find a weakness in their guard and attack. If your roll beats theirs, you may make an attack of opportunity as if they were not combat casting. This skill cannot be used effectively when grappling (since a grappling character does not threaten an area and so doesn’t makes attacks of opportunity anyway). Detecting a feint in combat: Your Duelling roll is opposed to the opponents Bluff check to determine whether the feint is successful (This rule replaces the standard sense motive + base attack roll). Note that Quicker than the Eye is still opposed by a Spot check instead of a Duelling roll. Reactive disarm: if you also have the Improved Disarm feat, you may use the Duelling skill to disarm someone who is having difficulty holding on to a weapon. On an opponent’s possible critical fumble (a “l”), you may force an opposed Duelling roll (modified for Dex instead of Wis) to flip away a weapon instead of letting the attacker attempt a Dex check. This counts as an attack of opportunity even though it uses a skill check. Weapon size modifiers apply to the skill check as they would to a standard disarm. Action: None. Using Duelling is either a free action or part of another action. Try Again: no Synergy: a character who has 5 or more ranks of Sense Motive gains a +2 synergy bonus on Duelling rolls. If a character has 5 or more ranks of Duelling they gain a +2 synergy bonus on Tumble checks to negate an opponent’s Tumble roll, if the optional counter-tumbling rules are used. Monster Note: any monster race that normally has Alertness or Expertise as a feats and martial weapon proficiency naturally may choose to buy Duelling as a class skill with Hit Die derived skill points. This can be adjusted at GM option to add or exclude certain monsters. Additional Notes: It might be advisable to add this as a class skill to other classes beside fighter. The combat casting problem has been addressed in other rules but not (in my opinion) very successfully. The Mage Slayer feat in the miniatures handbook (for example) gives a fighter the ability to prevent combat casting i.e all attempts to combat cast adjacent to them automatically fail. This has, ironically, the dubious honour of being both totally outrageous- Boccob himself can’t combat cast next to 1st level fighter with the feat. Another problem with trying to hit a caster in combat is that any character can simply take a 5-ft step and get away unless the attacker has reach. Another feat, Pressing Attack (which lets a character adjust their position 5-ft to follow someone taking a 5-ft step) can plug this, though it is still a very ugly exploitation of static combat principles: in reality someone moving 5 feet in combat would be followed, but in D & D combat an opponent has to wait until their turn. The other part of the problem with concentration-having characters at higher levels unable to pass their checks when damaged-is probably not as hard to fix: lowering the DC to (say) 10 +1/2 damage dealt + spell level (just to pull a figure out of the air) would seem more reasonable. This may be still quite difficult but not impossible for many casters.