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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 9271513" data-attributes="member: 8461">It's an issue in 3.0 also; 3.5's attempt to "solve" it was really to introduce the footnote I mentioned before (in the magic item crafting costs, which introduces a multiplier based on the spell's duration). If we're talking about bringing back the hour-per-level buff spells of 3.0, my guess (and I want to stress that this is just a guess) is that the designers thought that the variable values for how much of a bonus those granted would make them less palatable compared to simply buying/making items with a static boost (i.e. you'd rather have gloves of dexterity +4 than take a chance on getting a mere +2 from a cat's grace). It's sort of the reverse of the "magic items are less effective" idea you mentioned before.I'm not sure what you mean by "generally frowned upon," since we do have (some) buffs that mimic magic items; fox's cunning isn't really any different than a headband that grants a +4 enhancement bonus to Intelligence. For that matter, they don't stack with each other, since they're both enhancement bonuses. Really, I think the issue here is to make this an issue of either spellcasting classes specifically, and/or the way spellcasting itself works and/or overhauling how magic items are created. Trying to work the overall bonuses into the encounter design math is not only very indirect, but essentially makes the problem into the party's problem rather than the spellcaster's, which I think it more trouble than it's worth.The default 3.5 situation seems to presume that magic items are (as a generality) just as good as the buff spells. Better, in many cases. The Core Rules don't have a "+6 enhancement bonus to an ability score" spell, but there are magic items which grant exactly that. So that's certainly better off for the no-caster party. Greater magic weapon tops out at a +5 enhancement bonus to hit and damage, the same as a +5 magic weapon. Barkskin tops out at a +5 to natural armor, the same as an amulet of natural armor. You can get a better resistance bonus to saving throws with the spell resistance spell than with a cloak of resistance, but the latter applies to all saves whereas the former applies only to spells, SLAs, supernatural abilities, and magic items, etc.That's leaving aside the issues of most buffs operating on a sliding scale anyway, where they become more effective over time as your caster level goes up (albeit with an eventual cap), whereas magic items are static in what they offer. The "better buffs, slightly worse magic items" idea you're proposing just doesn't seem like it's going to work without a lot of retooling; and even then, I don't think it's going to retool the roll of buffs the way you're hoping it will. You're still going to have issues of recalculating things if something is dispelled, comparing bonus types on magic items to overlaid buffs to see if they stack or not, etc.</blockquote>

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