Buffs and Maths (mini-rant)

[dungeon blaster]

Here's my solution, for you to pick apart at your leisure:

Each character can have his ECL in number of spell levels of buff spells active at one time. Trust me, those spell levels add up fast.

For monsters, the limit is class levels + 1/2 HD, or caster level, whichever is higher. Most monsters actually have a fairly low limit.

Another possibility I considered, but didn't use, was to limit spells to one spell of each school.

 

[Driddle]

I despise the use of the word "buff" as shorthand. It's lazy, and it sucks the life out of fantasy roleplaying scenes.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I despise the use of the word "buff" as shorthand. It's lazy, and it sucks the life out of fantasy roleplaying scenes.

Wow uh. . . is "augmentation by means other than mundane" OK by you then, perchance?



Mm, spinach.

 

[Mouseferatu]

One solution that a friend of mine suggested is to have each buff take up a chakra; that is, a magic item slot. That way, you have a single pool from which to draw the total number of effects that are active on you at any given time, be they from spells or magic items.

Neither he nor I ever sat down to develop the system beyond the hypothetical stage, though, so I have no idea if it could be made workable or not.

 

[Driddle]

Wow uh. . . is "augmentation by means other than mundane" OK by you then, perchance?



Mm, spinach.

Right-o. Huge difference. :\

"Hey, wiz, buff our tank so he can pull the aggro."
"Huh?"
"Gee, I'm sooooo sorry. Try this, then: Augment the heavily armored guy holding the d10 sword by means other than mundane."
"Yeah. MUCH better. I'll just call up my Non-Mundane Augment spell here in a second. I think I stored it in my 'F7' scroll, or maybe 'F6'. I forget..."

Now THAT's roleplaying!

 

[Nightfall]

I'm all for TPKs.

 

[FireLance]

Buff cards or spell effect cards would be a great idea, as would having limited "slots" for augmenting magical effects (aka "buffs" for the brevity challenged ). To keep things simpler at lower levels and for beginning players, perhaps the number of slots could increase with level, from 1 at 1st to 5th, 2 at 6th to 10th, and so on.

To further improve the "player interface", cards could even print different bonus types in different colours, e.g. green for luck bonuses, red for morale bonuses, blue for insight bonuses, and so on.

 

[Nightfall]

I'm just wanting to see what PCs would do if all they go were enhancement buffs while the other guys got luck, insight, profane, titanic...

I'm evil that way huh?

 

[I'm A Banana]

I wouldn't mind seeing a reduction in the "types" of bonuses. Rather, I'd like to see most types of buffs stack, but have a limit to the number a given character can have at a single time.

House Rule: When you are "buffed", the buff takes up a slot. The slot is analagous to a magic item slot.

So "Bull's Strength" affects your arms. Now, you can't get any more arm-buffs until BS wears off.

Bard's Song affects your head. Now, you can't get any more head-buffs until the song wears off.

De-buffs work similarly, and begin by removing the buff in the slot. For instance, poison affects the heart. When you take poison damage, the first thing it does is dispel heart buffs. Then it deals it's ability damage or whatever.

IMC, I vastly simplify buffs, too. There's a limited number of fairly simple effects that give you the total net gain rather than just an adjustement. For instance, the notes under Bull's Strength say:

+2 to Attack and Damage
+2 to Climb, Swim, and Jump checks
Carrying Capacity Increase

(etc.)

That way, there's no tracking cascading effects that hit one ability score or trait, but have ramifications throughout your character.

 

[Gold Roger]

I think buffs are necessary, but are terribly done in D&D.