Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 12th ever episode of our third level spell series. Today we have an amazing spell for us and if you’ve been playing d&d for any real measure of time i am almost certain this spell has saved your neck on multiple occasions. Today we’re going to be taking a look at counterspell that’s right ladies and gentlemen the one and only.
This spell is usable by the sorcerer, warlock and the wizard and it is found in the good old players handbook where it belongs let me tell you a d&d would not be as great as it is right now without this spell. Man is it a great book. That being said, let’s take a quick look at its mechanics we can figure out exactly what it is.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Casting Time: 1 Reaction *
- Range/Area: 60 ft
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
- School: Abjuration
- Attack/Save: None
- Damage/Effect: Negation
The effect at a glance is as followed: Interrupt the spell of 3rd level or lower. If the spell is above 3rd level, you can make a check using your spellcasting ability to attempt to interrupt the spell: the dc is 10 plus the spell’s level.
The cast time is 1 reaction, the range is 60 feet which is actually pretty impressive. The duration is instantaneous and at higher levels the spell is stopped if it is at least equal in level to the spell slot used. So you want to stop at fifth level spell for sure hit it with a 5th level spell slot. Make sense, great!
The components are just somatic which is pretty cool! you basically just flip it the bird and the flutters off. I think that’s hilarious, man what great looking spell and the school is abjuration as i’m sure you’ve probably already guessed. Now without further ado let’s take a look at its full description so you can get the full effect.
Description
You attempt to interrupt a creature in the process of casting a spell. If the creature is casting a spell of 3rd level or lower, its spell fails and has no effect. If it is casting a spell of 4th level or higher, 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.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the interrupted spell has no effect if its level is less than or equal to the level of the spell slot you used.
* – And that reaction by the way is considered to be one which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell, as i’m sure you’ve already guessed cuz it kind of makes sense based off of everything that we’ve gone over already.
To reiterate an earlier point anyone who’s been playing d&d for any real measure of time probably has a story or two related to counterspell. Honestly i got a couple but it wasn’t me who’s using it. I actually have a nasty habit of never taking the spell, to be fair strange as it may sound i don’t usually pick full casters. I really like the quarter and half casters i’ve been particularly in love with the arcane trickster for sometime.
Now i just really like the play style but let me tell you this spell has personally saved the party i’m in a ton of headache namely up against well-known spells like fireball 5e that would probably destroy us since we have a nasty habit of huddling together. I just think it’s great! Be sure to mention any stories you have about counterspell down beneath in the comment section. I’m always super curious to see as you guys say. That being said, let’s come up with some alternative uses here.
Alternative Uses
One of the obvious ones is using it to help you punch up. In a battle of magical strength it actually very rarely comes down to spell slots per save or even spells cast assuming they all do damage. The biggest thing it comes down to is essentially initiative.
Casters as i’m sure all of you know have a very low hit die pool what that means is when it comes to caster versus caster combat hue strikes first usually comes out on top. Because all the other cast tries to do is just wallop them with this highest level spell slot that does the most damage and bam he’s fried for lack of a better term.
This is what gives you the advantage, counterspell essentially turns it into more like a chess game than anything else. Can you counterspell a counterspell? So can you justify using a higher level spell slot on counterspell against his potentially unknown spell. It’s kind of a risk, kind of a gamble but it can also be calculated as well.
As a dm i always love to throw hints as to what spells are being cast, for example if they want insight i’ll have them roll a quick arcana check, whether with advantage or disadvantage if they personally can cast the spell i’ll have them roll it with advantage, if it dispel they’ve seen before i’ll have them do a straight roll, if it’s a spell they’ve never seen before i’ll have them roll with advantage and i’ll tweak the DC accordingly.
I’ve had a lot of luck with this in the past so if you guys think it’s a good idea, be sure to let me know same if you have any other ideas on how to help casters figure out what spell is being cast before they has coutnerspell.
Another great use for this is actually it confusing foes. So being that the components are just somatic, it makes sense he can actually cast it from the shadows so if there’s this big court wizard that appears and he’s trying to intimidate his lesser understudies, it’d be kind of funny if you just counterspelled him in the middle of casting a super impressive spell something like pyrotechnics maybe.
And he’d look all confused and a little bit ashamed and his students might get a good laugh out of it, i think that’d be kind of fun. This is also a great spell used when you have to protect people. I mentioned this example a lot because it’s one of my favorite quests to give out, protect the fragile NPC, it’s fun because although it is combat based, it’s not DPS focused it’s actually quite the opposite.
Turns into a very careful planning, very creative approaches and ultimately its strategy. This is a great spell to have in your pocket if you’re going up against anything like that. Also check out this dispel magic 5e.
Conclusion
That being said, let me know if you have any alternative uses, ideas, thoughts, questions, comments, concerns or stories i really do love hearing from you guys. That being said, i hope you all have a great day and as always happy casting. Also read counterspell 5e bard.