That's not the way the presets would work based on what I was suggesting with presets. Presets would be set up prior to combat. You'd access the Reactions screens and set up the conditions that would trigger the Reaction. You can tweak them during your character's turn, but for the most part they are set up by you NOT during combat. That's the whole point of presets.
For Counterspell, you set up the conditions outside of combat and activate it IF you want to use it in an upcoming battle. Or, like Passive Mode, you leave it active all the time because you always want to use it if you've prepared it. There would be a default list of spells that you would want to always counter that would trigger the reaction, and you could tweak the list to your specifications.
Okay, that's better than the system I was considering "preset," and I suppose I should add that to my list of reaction systems. "Pre-combat DAO-like Reaction Tactics." However, this is still a lot of things to keep track of. I can very much see new players getting immediately overwhelmed when presented with so many options. Ironically, Counterspell is probably one of the easiest abilities to preset, because you'd almost always want to counterspell ANY enemy spell of level 3+, and do that over any other reaction.
I still don't particularly like the fact that you have to choose which reactions are "On" during your turn, but having criteria on them would mitigate that somewhat.
Originally Posted by GM4Him
Finally, Gale's Counterspell. Yeah, this would take a bit longer. I'd pull up his reactions and turn off AOO because I wouldn't want to waste his reaction on AOO. I then check the default list of spells for Counterspell and I uncheck those spells I don't want to trigger it, ensuring that only those spells I do want to trigger it are checked. Edit: keep in mind though that there is already a default list. You're just tweaking it. Maybe the list has Darkness on it and you think that would be a waste of a level 3 spell slot to counter it. You click and uncheck it. Done. It's only a little work if you don't like the default list.
Having a default list would certainly help. If implemented, you should be able to toggle individual spells AND toggle all spells of the same level.
Originally Posted by GM4Him
Imagine if the above combat scenario happened where Nere wasn't first. It could very literally happen like this:
Duergar casts Shield of Faith. Prompt. Counterspell? You click No. Another duergar casts Enlarge. Prompt. Counterspell? No. A duergar hits Astarion and does 4 damage. Prompt. Uncanny Dodge? You click no. Thrinn hits Astarion. She does 25 damage. Prompt. Uncanny Dodge? Yes. Duergar casts Enlarge. Prompt. Counterspell? No. Mindmaster casts domination spell. Prompt. Counterspell? Ponder a bit. Should you? It's a pretty serious spell. You finally decide. You're saving it for Nere. No. Nere casts Misty Step. Prompt. Counterspell? No. Nere casts Lightning Bolt. Prompt. Counterspell? Yes. Nere triggers Lae'zel's AOO. Prompt. Use AOO with Maneuver? Pick Maneuver.
This is a very real potential. Is it not?
It is a real potential, but the likelihood of a turn being that terrible is really small. Like, this is an exaggeratedly large amount of enemy spellcasters that go in the exact order and make the exact wrong spell decisions such that you wouldn't counterspell until the last enemy's turn. It's also ignoring other reactions, like if an enemy attacks your mage on the 1st or 2nd turn, you may cast shield which would use your reaction earlier.
