1 min per level spells and why they suck

[hong]

Now I'm playing in one with 28 point buy characters, and the party needs those buffs very badly.

There are these things called "magic items", which provide enhancement bonuses of between +2 and +6 to a stat. Perhaps you should save up to buy some of them.

 

[BryonD]

Spoiled? Depends on the game. I've played in some that had characters in the 40 point range, where the various long-lasting buffs were a luxury, and probably a bit excessive - although at higher levels, they were hardly cast on everyone in the party, since they weren't that badly needed and the casters often preferred having some 2nd level utility spells left.

Now I'm playing in one with 28 point buy characters, and the party needs those buffs very badly. At 1 minute/level, they'll be next to useless - like I said, no way is it worth to loose that much healing in exchange for a minor benefit that lasts through one combat. I'd have to be an idiot to waste a 2nd level spell to give myself or the fighter +2 to hit for one combat when I can just Bless the whole party and use Divine Vigor. And the party rogue, who's probably only alive at this point thanks to Endurance is going to be really happy about this...

It's going to hurt characters badly at low levels, because someone got the idea that being able to use it for most of the day at higher levels, when they're nice but not that relevant in the greater scheme of things was a bad thing.

Putting a cap on the spells of 4-5 hours would have been a much better way of dealing with this then the ridiculous 1 minute/level duration... Which, as someone pointed out, also extremely reduces their utility when it comes to prolonged skill use, encumberance, endurance, and so on.

If the threats being thrown at a 40point party are comparable to the threats beign thrown at a 28 point party, then spell duration corrections are not the problem.

As to prolonged skill use, I say, all the better. Now the fighter, barbarian, ranger will be expected to be tough because he is tough, not because some cleric or wizard saved him from being a lightweight.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

There are these things called "magic items", which provide enhancement bonuses of between +2 and +6 to a stat. Perhaps you should save up to buy some of them.

But wouldn't that be at the expense of other items?

 

[hong]

But wouldn't that be at the expense of other items?

Life wasn't meant to be easy.

 

[mmu1]

(sarcasm)
Not that any DM would be able to tailor the opponents to the PCs' capabilities, oh no, perish the thought! The poor PCs will get slaughtered by uber-monsters unleashed by killer DMs in 3.5E since they absolutely have to have stat boosts!
(/sarcasm)

I don't know about your DM, but I don't use the same opponents on parties whose members have AC 25 and 100 hitpoints a piece at one level and on parties whose members have AC 17 and 60 hitpoints a piece...

Hey, that's a great idea - let's play with characters built with 15 points, no spells or magical items, and pointy sticks for weapons, because, after all, the DM is going to hold our hand the whole way.
There's no need to be self-sufficient and try to overcome challenges by applying your own resources effectively. It's so much more fun to just hope the DM is nice enough to pull the punches.

 

[mmu1]

There are these things called "magic items", which provide enhancement bonuses of between +2 and +6 to a stat. Perhaps you should save up to buy some of them.

Do you play in games where you get to mail-order anything you want when you need it from the catalogue in the back of the DMG?

 

[hong]

Do you play in games where you get to mail-order anything you want when you need it from the catalogue in the back of the DMG?

If you have no magic items at all, you have bigger problems than just a lack of buff spells.

But never mind! Clearly it seems that "mmu1", if that is the REAL SOUND he makes, values self-sufficiency above all else. This is because "mmu1", if that is his REAL CLONE NUMBER, has been playing D&D in the old-school style, where he walks ten miles through the snow, uphill, both ways, to the game. It must be a signal revelation to "mmu1", if that is his REAL COUNTERSTRIKE CLAN, that there's more to the game than just how well he can strangle a snake with his bare hands. Not that there's anything wrong with strangling a snake with your bare hands, I hasten to add. If you know what I mean, and I think you do.

 

[Mark]

Not that there's anything wrong with strangling a snake with your bare hands, I hasten to add. If you know what I mean, and I think you do.

I guess that's where the expression hong like a horse is derived. Part of it anyway, and I think you do...

 

[Endur]

4 miles uphill both ways in the winter time

It was "walk to school four miles uphill both ways in the winter time".

We were very careful to not mention whether or not there was snow.

Ten miles is a bit much for a morning walk.

 

[mmu1]

If you have no magic items at all, you have bigger problems than just a lack of buff spells.

That's just as absurd as a game in which you can have any magical item you possibly want as long as it's within the level-based wealth guidelines... Never said that was the case. In fact, unless someone with such a keen sense for sarcasm as you took my comments about "no magic and pointy sticks" at face value (unthinkable!), I can't imagine why you'd get that impression. So, why the pointless hyberbole?

Not all of us run/play in games where people can make magical items at will by imbuing them with XP.