Do you like spell and effect durations?

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Maybe limit the number of buffing enchantments a character can wear. Sort of like the layering of different spells causes something similar to distorted harmonics or something that cancels spells cast on the same creature or object.

This way there is less of a chance for this to cause problems.

Of course they could do it my way and just discard most of them. I kind of think that because of bounded accuracy we aren't going to see strong buffing spells any way.

My main issue here isn't really stacking buffs, though that is a topic on its own. It's really more about tracking time with more detail than I like or can handle well. I am really bad at estimated time on a scale larger than rounds (during combat) but smaller than days.

Also, on another level - Having spells have exact measurable durations like "1 minute per level" really just sucks the magic out of magic IMO. People could feasibly start measuring spell durations to figure out a spellcasters level! I don't like levels to be an in-game reality like that, and magic being so clearly defined isn't really interesting to me either.

Another random idea (well, not really random - magical flight is a potential balance and gameplay issue in my experience):
Fly
You or another creature you touch gains 60 ft flight. The spell stays active as long as you and the target are conscious, and neither you nor the target have taken an extended rest.
Maintaining the spell requires some concentration. If you cast another spell while Fly is still active on the target, the target descends 60 ft. If you do not spend an action on your next turn to stabilize the spell, the target descends another 60 ft and the spell ends. If the target is still in the air, the target falls the remaining height.

 

[Jacob Marley]

We must have very different play-styles. In my 30 years of gaming, I can't remember a single adventure that lasted less than a day. There probably was one, sometime, but it sure wasn't normal. Many forays into a single dungeon require camping in the dungeon, and some adventures have multiple locations. Non-dungeon adventures involve days of exploration, negotiation, spying, etc.

I was using "adventure" merely as a placeholder based on [MENTION=6670763]Yora[/MENTION]'s description above; I'm largely indifferent to the terminology.

My preferred gaming style is closer to a West Marches/Wilderlands wilderness-exploration campaign with a heavy dose of player-driven plots and political and court intrigue. I also like tracking duration.

 

[Jester David]

I liked 4e's method until I tried it, and had bonuses change on a round-by-round basis. As a player I could never keep track of ally buffs, especially ones that only applied to certain creatures. And I had to constantly remind players (and the DM) what my effects were.
So much more of a hassle than short duration spells and tracking roubds ever were.

As such, one round buffs should be rarer yet more significant.

Debuffs work well on a countdown. Save ends works, but sometimes it should last a set time. The countdown adds drama and is often easy to track.

Effects that last for the encounter are handy, but I enjoy effects that can last for multiple fights. Buffs where you can just write down the bonus and forget.
From a verisimilitude perspective I dislike encounter buffs. If you have two short back-to-back fights why does the buff expire but if you have one super-long mega fight it keeps going? Tracking duration in minutes solves that.

 

[tlantl]

My main issue here isn't really stacking buffs, though that is a topic on its own. It's really more about tracking time with more detail than I like or can handle well. I am really bad at estimated time on a scale larger than rounds (during combat) but smaller than days.

Also, on another level - Having spells have exact measurable durations like "1 minute per level" really just sucks the magic out of magic IMO. People could feasibly start measuring spell durations to figure out a spellcasters level! I don't like levels to be an in-game reality like that, and magic being so clearly defined isn't really interesting to me either.

Another random idea (well, not really random - magical flight is a potential balance and gameplay issue in my experience):
Fly
You or another creature you touch gains 60 ft flight. The spell stays active as long as you and the target are conscious, and neither you nor the target have taken an extended rest.
Maintaining the spell requires some concentration. If you cast another spell while Fly is still active on the target, the target descends 60 ft. If you do not spend an action on your next turn to stabilize the spell, the target descends another 60 ft and the spell ends. If the target is still in the air, the target falls the remaining height.

I like random duration spells that I, as a DM, can determine the length of. I loved the way a lot of 1e spells had such widely different durations that using some spells regularly meant a very bad disaster is that much more likely to happen. I never heard of parties flying from place to place because it was a safe and reliable exploit that made you move faster as well as totally mobile. That is until 3e.

 

[Elf Witch]

I don't mind them I like the way 3.0 did mage armor one hour per level I hated what 3.5 did with the ten minutes time.

I think an hour or a minute is easier to deal with.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Having spells have exact measurable durations like "1 minute per level" really just sucks the magic out of magic IMO.

How about "NdX + A rounds/minutes/hours per level"- where "N" = number of dice; "X" = type of dice; "A" = Ability score bonus from casting stat- rolled by the DM to maintain the air of mystery and uncertainty?

Things like Feats, the benefits of Specialization or access to Domains could affect N or X or both. High ability scores being a simple bonus adds a slight modicum of certainty, as you'd expect from a more gifted caster.

 

[drothgery]

I'm mostly with the OP on this one.
1 hour/level is effectively 'all day' anyway.
10 min/level basically encourages running from one encounter to the next (until you're high enough level that it's a few hours, at which point it's effectively all day).
1 min/level is either 1 encounter at low levels or 'run and you might get two encounters of it' at high levels.
1 round/level is either minutia in combat at low levels, or just effectively until the end of combat.
Random components to duration often have huge effects at low levels and are overwhelmed by fixed components at high levels.

Of course, I don't really like 4e-style (save ends) effects either; duration needs to be tracked while in combat, and it's often not as good as a simple until end of next turn.

 

[Ratskinner]

I prefer more natural/fluid durations like consciousness, concentration, 4e's save mechanic, etc. For the sake of flavor, I also don't mind durations like "until sundown". I don't think that keeping track of spell durations is all that heinous a chore, but that's not the question. The question is whether its worth the effort for the result...and that, I think, it usually isn't.

I'd also like to see more spells end with a "kick". The last couple of editions seem to want everything to fail safe. How about a Fly spell with a duration of "when either you land or stop concentrating." Seems like that would stop the invisible flying caster problem.

Generally speaking, I'd like magic to work less like "fantasy science" and more like magic...if that makes any sense. I think its possible and preferable to use keywords and the like to make simple readable spell lists that don't look like database output.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I get that...but D&D isn't a Storyteller game. It's pretty crunchy. So on a certain level, its powers, spells and the like will be kinda crunchy, too.

 

[Harlock]

I came to dislike long duration buffing spells in my 3e days, as my players I evolved a ever-increasing list of standard buff spells to cast while adventuring. Each of the spells was undeniably effective, but the combination of the layered spells combined to create a huge gap between the buffed and unbuffed power level of the group, which made encounter creation very difficult.

Spell durations directly affect this issue, as medium and long spell durations last for multiple encounters and encourage players to sprint between encounters to maximise the benefit of the buffing magic.

It looks like buffing magic is coming back in the new edition. If I run the new edition I will need to come up with a limit on buffing magic, as I came to hate long lists of buff spells as disproportionately effective (ie more effective than they should be, dominating other strategies), and contributing to short adventuring days.

One would hope with "flat math" those bonuses would be small, and I also hope that they do not stack. Of course, that remains to be seen.