Lately I’ve been reading many opinions on D&D Twitter about DMs using counterspell against PCs being “bad”.
Lets discuss and find a better approach!
Why does counterspell feel bad
Lets take a look at what happens in the game. Usually, it goes something like this:
Player: Alright. That’s it. I cast fireball, centered on the bastard!
Party: Yes!
DM: You see the necromancer smile. His fingers twist into an arcane mudra. The ball of fire winks out of existence half way to it’s destination.
Party: Nooo!
Player: …
This sucks for two reasons:
- The player spends a resource (a spell slot and an action) and gets nothing;
- nothing interesting happens in the fiction (story) of the game, it’s a stalemate.
Granted, behind the scenes the DM knows that the necromancer now has one fewer spell slots, and used their reaction. Some would say that both sides have spent resources, right?
True, but that’s usually invisible to the players and has no effect the game. That’s why it does not have any impact on how all of this is perceived by players at the table.
Coupled with the “nothing interesting happens” element, it’s costly, boring, and feels unfair (even if it isn’t).
So how to make it more interesting? Here’s a couple ideas.
How to make counterspell interesting
Variant: Power discharge
Casting spells means wielding awesome power and directing it. Perhaps in your world this kind of power does not simply vanish when countered, it needs to go somewhere. Usually in an explosive discharge.
This approach is particularly fitting when a destructive spell is countered, evocation staples – fireball or chain lightning.
However, you can also apply this approach to illusion and enchantment spells – releasing the energy in the form of psychic damage.
Variant: Meeting of minds
A different approach would be what I call a “meeting of the minds”. When two spellcasters wrestle for control of the arcane energy of a spell, sometimes a connection is formed between them.
Variant: Power vortex
This variant is for epic mage battles. You know, those encounters where spells fly left and right, and countermagic is not going to be used once as a “gotcha”, but likely several times at least, by both sides.
Variant: Clash of wills
Finally, there’s this trope – often seen in fantasy, as well as superhero comics – where two powerful beings are locked in a magical clash of will of some sort.
Flames erupt from the fingers of the tiefling sorcerer and are pushing against an equal and opposite blast of ice magic from the lich king… Who will prevail?
Magic duels of this sort are something I sometimes wish were possible in D&D.
Unfortunately, making these fun would take more than a couple paragraphs of writing, and there’s much to think about to make sure these scenes are fun and dynamic. So this variant will have to marinate a bit in my brain.
Liked the writing? Don’t miss the next one – follow me on Twitter. And, if you can, buy me a healing potion. Thanks!
