Houserule idea: scale Concentration by how much damage taken in a round

[TuggyNE]

Eldariel's post in "How much does increasing casting time change the game?" made me wonder just what the effects of one of his suggested changes would be, in isolation.

So, assuming the first two entries in the table of Concentration DCs were replaced (by "10 + half* total damage dealt | if any damage has been taken since the end of the character's last turn"), what would be the results? If possible, consider the impact for low-, mid-, and high-op. (TO and extremely high PO can be assumed to negate this disadvantage in some fashion, as they do for everything else.)

Obviously, readying actions to disrupt would be unnecessary, while AoOs from multiple nearby creatures and full attacks would become extremely important.

*Based on the current continuous damage modifier.

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1 Also, if you like, consider the additional effects of making all Concentration modifiers cumulative (+0 for vigorous motion, +5 for violent motion, +10 for earthquake, +5 for entangled, and so on).

[Phelix-Mu]

Hmm, it seems that this would make certain tactics more viable, but they are already tactics that the wizard can counter (surprise the wizard for more damage...nope...beat the wizard's initiative for more damage...nope...bum rush the wizard for more damage...good luck finding volunteers, etc).

So, what does it do? It raises the practical value of countermeasures that well-played wizards already use. Poorly played wizards (psst...npcs...j/k) will die more easily, but they already aren't the gods' gift to stamina. Foresight is more valuable, low-level spell blockers more valuable (to block those quickened spells).

Spellcaster v spellcaster, novaing becomes more attractive, I think. While the first few rounds are already the most lethal, the small chance of scoring big damage (via heavily metamagics crit-possible spells, expensive arcane fusion-like tactics, etc) now has a chance to cripple the enemy caster. High risk, but so is direct spell battle of any kind. So wizards that manage to plan appropriately and successfully defend against even more aggressive spell barrage will deplete faster. This makes chaining encounters against the wizard more attractive. Hmmm. Hard to do at even mid-op, though.

Well, in summary:
- Poorly designed or poorly played casters now die more easily.

- In particular, combat-capable casters (clerics, druids) suffer more (but only if something actually hits the caster...see the first comment).

- In higher op, the standard countermeasures (don't get surprised, don't get outnumbered, don't get hit) still work (most of the time), so this only seems to increase the chance factor of rocket tag (lucky hits hurt more, astounding failure is more fail, lucky arrow shots). Little seems to change, but a good mageslayer build may be more attractive.

- Increases value of damage-soak abilities (temp hp, for one, but now DR may be more attractive for a spellcaster).

- Certain spells become more lethal (word of pain, anything that lets damage sources overlap round to round, i.e., action economy), especially at low level. Nothing that isn't already true, though

- Value of magebane weapons increase. Hehe.

A complicated matter. I'm surely not the most expert in these matters, but I'm not sure this changes much except in low-op settings or with poorly played casters.

[TuggyNE]

So, what does it do? It raises the practical value of countermeasures that well-played wizards already use.

Or, in short, as I myself am fond of saying of caster fixes that don't, it targets those who are already weaker and mostly leaves the stronger ones alone.

Ah well, it was an interesting idea. Back to the drawing board!

- Increases value of damage-soak abilities (temp hp, for one, but now DR may be more attractive for a spellcaster).

Temporary HP wouldn't do anything; it's not HP lost that matters, but damage taken.

- Certain spells become more lethal (word of pain, anything that lets damage sources overlap round to round, i.e., action economy), especially at low level. Nothing that isn't already true, though

On the upside, a few things like acid arrow that are otherwise nigh-worthless become rather interesting. Power word: pain probably just needs to be re-leveled in any case.