CONCENTRATION

A rule that limits how many sustained magical effects a caster can maintain at once — typically one — and breaks the effect if the caster takes damage or casts another concentration spell.

• SOLO-DEV COST MEDIUM
• TIMING TURN-BASED
• COMMON IN CRPG · RPG · TACTICS

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition made it a central balancing lever, and CRPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 and Solasta implement it faithfully: hasting an ally means you can't also hold a summoned wall, and every hit you take risks the spell collapsing. Designers use concentration to prevent buff-stacking (the degenerate pattern where a prepared caster enters every fight with six layered effects) and to create counterplay — enemies can focus fire the caster to strip a powerful effect. Key decisions: whether breaking concentration requires a failed check or is automatic, which effects count as sustained, and how clearly the UI telegraphs what a caster is holding. Pitfall: if the concentration check is too easy to pass, the limit becomes bookkeeping without tension; if too punishing, players stop using sustained spells entirely and the mechanic deletes its own design space.

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