Feat - Counterspell Momentum (PEACH)

[Qwertystop]

Counterspell Momentum
You have learned to harness some of the energy in a countered spell to empower an immediate response.
Prerequisite: Improved Counterspell, Heighten Spell
Benefit: After successfully countering a spell, as part of the same readied action, you may cast any spell with a casting time of a standard action or less. This spell is automatically Heightened (without adjusting its spell slot) to the level of spell countered, if it is lower level.



So, I was thinking on how counterspelling is usually so inefficient - at best you're trading actions and spell slots with an opponent for no net gain. I was thinking on a few examples from fiction that have powerful magician's duels as a battle of wills - lots of magic, yes, but nothing actually impacts, just an escalating counter-and-return-fire. (Not actually sure what things I was thinking of - the idea has, at this point, been separated from any examples)

So I decided to make that in D&D. My goal here was to make it so that you counter a spell and then your return spell is guaranteed to be stronger (the Heighten boosts saves, the capbreaker boosts quantity) than what was cast at you. Two casters with this feat can thus test their wills back and forth until the magic gets too Heightened for one of them to successfully counterspell.

The bit about the nonlethal damage was to mildly discourage using the feat to, for example, overcharge Shocking Grasp or Burning Hands to do quite a lot with a low-level spell. It should still be an option, but not without risk of flooring yourself in combat if you're not sure that the opponent can't dispel.


Thoughts?

[Garryl]

If you have two friendly sorcerers repeatedly counter each others' cantrips and low level spells, you can then end it with a 50th level Finger of Death or something at someone else entirely (or cast any other save or lose that can benefit from an inordinately high save DC). It does take the actions of two characters for a round, and it takes 1 spell slot apiece per +1 DC so you can't use it too often each day, but this feat does have the potential to trivialize save DCs a few times per day with a bit of preparation.

[Qwertystop]

If you have two friendly sorcerers repeatedly counter each others' cantrips and low level spells, you can then end it with a 50th level Finger of Death or something at someone else entirely (or cast any other save or lose that can benefit from an inordinately high save DC). It does take the actions of two characters for a round, and it takes 1 spell slot apiece per +1 DC so you can't use it too often each day, but this feat does have the potential to trivialize save DCs a few times per day with a bit of preparation.

I considered that, but keep in mind: it's actually two spell slots per +1 DC. You have to counterspell before you can return fire. Also, every step of the way there's the risk of not making the check (once it reaches level-appropriate spell levels, maybe a bit higher if you've boosted Spellcraft above max for counterspell purposes). Plus, if you don't start it off with a higher level spell, you have to work your way all the way up.

Finally, it does need to target the caster of the spell you're countering. If you're bouncing power between yourself and a friend, the best-case for weaponizing it is an AOE or multi-target spell, and it still has to be aimed partially at your ally. If your ally is expending resources to be immune - at that point you're having two characters each get poor feats, plus however much wealth (or other build resource) is needed to get immunity, and there's a good chance your enemy could have the same immunity, if they're tough enough for it to be worth spending all your spell slots on it.

Buffing is possibly the most abusable case, I think, but most spells with level-based durations don't cap their duration anyway, do they? So it's just capbreaking on the effects.

[Garryl]

Ah, I missed the part about the targeting. That deals with that problem. You can still use it to supercharge scaling buffs, but there are other ways to do that with less fuss. I guess all that's left to say about this feat is "cool".

[Qwertystop]

Hmm... should this be on the Wizard's bonus feat list? Opinions?

[Qwertystop]

After commentary by Djinn_in_Tonic, I've decided to tone this down a bit to cut the buff shenanigans and avoid the extra risk (enemy casters likely being higher level than you). Removing the tennis parts and the capbreaker - you counter, you get a spell with free Heighten.