Can you counterspell a counterspell?

6 thoughts on “Can you counterspell a counterspell?

  1. Derek says:

    if the original caster, of say a fireball spell, is targeted by a 2nd caster with counterspell, then the original caster tries to counterspell the counterspell… doesn’t the original caster lose the fireball spell anyway, as they had to abandon casting it in order to cast the counterspell?

    • Brian says:

      He casts fireball with his action, counterspell with his reaction. There’s no reason he would lose the fireball spell. There’s nothing saying he must abandon casting the fireball.

    • Brian says:

      There’s nothing requiring the first caster to “Abandon casting” the fireball. Fireball costs an action, counterspell is a reaction.

  2. Peter Gillman says:

    you could only counterspell a countersprell if the the last person to cast is the first to finish, Cheap universe destroying bomb get 10 wizards to counterspell each other, the last one has to finish his ‘reaction’ before the first one has even begun and you can tear a hole in the fabric of space time by destroying causality!

  3. Shawn says:

    Counterspell doesn’t state it happens after a spell is cast. It states that it happens to interrupt the spell at the time it is being cast. “You attempt to interrupt a creature in the process of casting a spell.” Their action is not finished. How can they spend a reaction to cast a spell in the middle of casting another spell?

    • Counterspell (any Reaction Spell) is fast enough that it can be incorporated into even the in-process casting of an Action spell (or even a Ritual spell). It’s literally exampled in the SA(C) at WotC’s site, for example.

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