The point is that the power of the buff spells were never in the power of the spell itself, but were nearly all concentrated in the duration .
Without the 1 hour/level duration, they are just not competitive with other short buff spells. 1 hour/level was probably excessive, but 10 mins/level was a useful for a group of encounters without lasting all day.
Defensively speaking, for example, the wizard was almost always better off preparing Mirror Image compared with Cat's Grace or Endurance. He would gain peripheral benefits from CG or End, but in terms of 'survivability', unless facing multiple wizards, it was not a realistic choice. Mirror Image, which provides (at 3rd level) an average 3.5 extra images, effectively saves the fighter from roughly two successful attacks. Unless the two successful attacks are doing a combined damage of three hit points or fewer, the wizard is better off with MI over End. Unless the players receives four successful attacks hitting on 17s, or equivalent (which, in a one-to-one combat takes an average twenty combat rounds, almost certainly longer than the new duration of CG in practical terms), MI is better than CG for defense. Mage Armour is patently superior to CG for defense; as is Shield.
In terms of offensive buffs, BS is now superseded by boom-spells in terms of damage output. Though it's hard to measure precisely how much extra damage BS is going to provide, since it depends on so many factors such as iterative attacks, enemy AC, charge, feats etc., it's going to be hard-pressed to match the effective 35 damage cap for MAA, unless the party is using a 'Go! Go! Before the buff runs out!' attitude to dungeon-crawling. In wilderness encounters, it's almost a non-starter. Flaming Sphere is almost certainly going to get a better damage output per round, unless the Reflex saves are absurd or, once again, the 'Go! Go!' attitude to adventuring is adopted.
Re the mental buffs, their main utility was clearly that of DC boosting. Is the DC boost now competitive with other direct-damage spells? Unlikely until very high levels, when stat-boosting items are far more the norm. The damage output of just simply another direct-damage spell was likely to supersede that of the spell, unless the enemies have very good saves, or the wizard is very high level or has very high DCs indeed.
The animal buffs are still useful. They will still get routinely cast before end-boss rooms. But then so will Displacement, Fly, Mirror Image, Aid, etc. etc. The point of buffs is that you precast them. If you precast them daily, so what? You also precast Mage Armour, Greater Magic Weapon, Magic Vestment and others. At 1 min/level, the animal buffs are probably not worth 2nd level- or if they are, they're certainly at the weaker end.
Without the 1 hour/level duration, they are just not competitive with other short buff spells. 1 hour/level was probably excessive, but 10 mins/level was a useful for a group of encounters without lasting all day.
Defensively speaking, for example, the wizard was almost always better off preparing Mirror Image compared with Cat's Grace or Endurance. He would gain peripheral benefits from CG or End, but in terms of 'survivability', unless facing multiple wizards, it was not a realistic choice. Mirror Image, which provides (at 3rd level) an average 3.5 extra images, effectively saves the fighter from roughly two successful attacks. Unless the two successful attacks are doing a combined damage of three hit points or fewer, the wizard is better off with MI over End. Unless the players receives four successful attacks hitting on 17s, or equivalent (which, in a one-to-one combat takes an average twenty combat rounds, almost certainly longer than the new duration of CG in practical terms), MI is better than CG for defense. Mage Armour is patently superior to CG for defense; as is Shield.
In terms of offensive buffs, BS is now superseded by boom-spells in terms of damage output. Though it's hard to measure precisely how much extra damage BS is going to provide, since it depends on so many factors such as iterative attacks, enemy AC, charge, feats etc., it's going to be hard-pressed to match the effective 35 damage cap for MAA, unless the party is using a 'Go! Go! Before the buff runs out!' attitude to dungeon-crawling. In wilderness encounters, it's almost a non-starter. Flaming Sphere is almost certainly going to get a better damage output per round, unless the Reflex saves are absurd or, once again, the 'Go! Go!' attitude to adventuring is adopted.
Re the mental buffs, their main utility was clearly that of DC boosting. Is the DC boost now competitive with other direct-damage spells? Unlikely until very high levels, when stat-boosting items are far more the norm. The damage output of just simply another direct-damage spell was likely to supersede that of the spell, unless the enemies have very good saves, or the wizard is very high level or has very high DCs indeed.
The animal buffs are still useful. They will still get routinely cast before end-boss rooms. But then so will Displacement, Fly, Mirror Image, Aid, etc. etc. The point of buffs is that you precast them. If you precast them daily, so what? You also precast Mage Armour, Greater Magic Weapon, Magic Vestment and others. At 1 min/level, the animal buffs are probably not worth 2nd level- or if they are, they're certainly at the weaker end.
