Buffs and Maths (mini-rant)

[interwyrm]

I don't like buffs, or buff-classes. In pen and paper, people forget to keep track of all the numbers, and in video games, buffing up before battle is time-consuming. In both cases, it's irritating. I move for the removal of all buff-spells, bard songs, and draconic and marshall auras. Make the maths simple! Who's with me?

 

[Aus_Snow]

Proper preparation makes it a breeze - as with so many aspects of RPG sessions. I see no problem with buffing effects. Or Buffy effects; whichever you like

Bring the buff.


Oh wait, you were kidding? Oops.

 

[billd91]

The maths are simple. And if you keep the PCs running scared, they don't have time to layer on the buffs very much.

Force the player to keep track of all that stuff. Buy a white board to track it. Something. And if the bonus is forgotten a few times, just move on.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Where's the "I like big buffs and I cannot lie" option?

Seriously, I've never seen more than 1-2 in use at a time in a PnP game, so it's never been a problem. In CRPGs, yes, but the computer tracks the bonuses.

 

[Henrix]

I really think there are a bit too many buffs now. Fewer bonuses would be better, or a limit on how many effects you can have on a character.

 

[Blue]

Buffs aren't just good, they are exceeding cool. It's a way to make team players.

If you get rid of buffs becuase you don't like the math, that means you also want to get rid of de-buffs because it's the same math, but in reverse. That tosses out a large number of offensive but not damage dealing spells.

"Throw a Web at them!"
"Nah, I don't want to be bothered with doing the math for what Entanged does to Dex."

Good luck,
=Blue

 

[shilsen]

I've been running a game for a 5 PC group including 2 druids, one multiclassed Clr and a wizard. So there's a LOT of buffing going on, and it's never caused a real problem. Nevertheless, since it does slow things down a bit, I just made three buff spells permanent on each of the PCs. I'm curious to see how much more powerful that makes them.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I move for the removal of all buff-spells, bard songs, and draconic and marshall auras. Make the maths simple! Who's with me?

Not me.
Grab some notecards, on each card write down one spell and their effect and any other information that you will usually have to look up.
Then give the stack of cards to your your buff-casters.
At higher levels it saves huge amounts of time.

 

[megamania]

The character sheets I have designed list out everything so it is easy to track buffs and know what counts and how much of it counts.


Its all about the prep work sometimes.

 

[Umbran]

Make the maths simple! Who's with me?

I guess perhaps I'm a bit snobbish - the math is simple addition. This should not be considered "complicated". Perhaps there's too much of it for your taste, but it isn't complicated by any stretch of the imagination.