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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sagiro" data-source="post: 1408711" data-attributes="member: 726">I'm of two minds about these spells.Mind #1 thinks that the 3.0 method was broken and worth fixing.  I can only speak of experience in two games -- one as a DM and one as a player -- but in those two games the "animal buff" spells are used for a vast majority of all 2nd-level spell slots.  At 1/hour per level, they're too good compared the alternatives.  As a high level cleric, being able to give myself and my partymates between 17 and 38 extra hp per day (bear's endurance) is a no-brainer.  Granted, in that game a) we aren't festooned with stat-boosting items, and b) there are 9 characters in the party, so there's always someone who can benefit from an animal buff.  In a game with only four characters, all of whom already sport multiple stat-boosting items, the hour-per-level versions wouldn't be as unbalancing.  Anyway, Mind #1 grows weary of the 10+ d4's rolled at the start of every adventuring day.  Mind #1 also agrees with the poster who points out that once animal buffs become the all-day-every-day status quo, DM's will adjust combat difficulties across the board to compensate.  Lastly, Mind #1 thinks that a spell that causes 20 other spells never to be used isn't good for the game. Mind #2 concedes that at one minute per level, the pendulum may have swung too far in the other direction.  The two failure cases for spell design are a) everyone takes it all the time, and b) no one ever takes it.So, Mind #2 can't help but wonder: what bonus would these spells have to give in order for them to be taken about as often as other useful spells?  What if they gave a flat +6 bonus for 1/minute per level?  Does that make them more attractive than hold person or resist paralysis or silence or levitate or mirror image?  If not +6, what about +8?  Surely there is some bonus that strikes the right balance with a shortened duration. -Sagiro</blockquote>

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