Why is Speak with Animals concentration?

[FloatingToadThing]

Genuinely curious about this. The tabletop version isn't and it's a non combat spell with niche applications so I see little reason why it needed this change.

[dolby]

Especially when you can just drink a potion.

The whole thing is just a gimmick right now anyway, maybe they added something but i doubt it. At best you get some loot... and some weird txt how you can kick a squirrel. Who ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kicks a squirrel?? psychos! Good way to educate kids i guess.

Anyway, wasting spells slots on it is just weird. Especially for ranger it's down right trap... Just make it a class ability and be done with it.

[BW022]

In 5e, concentration is a mechanic used to avoid having dozens of spells up at a time which made 3.5e (especially at mid to high-levels) an exercise in having spell casters buff everyone with five or six spells every combat. Haste + bless + prayer + fly + protection from evil + bull's strength + cat's grace + etc. Such combats were boring, took way too much time, needed too much paperwork at the table to track all the effects, became unbalanced when you couldn't buff, made dispell magic insanely powerful/time consuming, etc.

5e avoids this be selectively choosing some spells as concentration to avoid repeated stacking. You can either have barkskin or call lightning -- not both. This also make spell selection and choice of casting important. A 'weak' or 'base' spells do not have concentration to make them viable. Mage armor or mirror image aren't that powerful... yet are useful because they don't require concentration.

Speak with animals is a utility spell. As such, there isn't really any balance issue in having it up or casting it while you have a barkskin or something else up. Many utility spells do not have concentration for this reason. It is unlikely to be cast in combat anyway, and if it is it probably a rare case when it might be useful (it still takes an action, spell slot, and needs to be memorized) and in the cases where it might be useful... you really don't want to penalize a druid, bard, nature cleric, or warlock (with beast speech) from using it.

[War Maiden]

Originally posted by dolby:

Especially when you can just drink a potion.
At best you get some loot... and some weird txt how you can kick a squirrel. Who ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kicks a squirrel?? psychos! Good way to educate kids i guess.

I kicked that squirrel. That little jerk bit me, could have given me rabbies if it wasn't for my nifty Amulet of Silvanus and Lesser Restoration spell. So yes, I punted that little anklebiter with a smile on my Lolthian Druid Drow female face.