How exactly is buff math any different from tracking round to round modifiers that refresh when a person hits?
You cast the buffs and they're up for the duration the majority of the time. What buffs are you talking about? Bull's Str is +4 enh to str. That's +2 hit and damage on average. How hard is that? And tracking off a hash mark every round isn't that hard.
I never really understood the dislike of long-term buffing magic. I could do all the adjustments in my head on the fly. I knew every feat in the book. I always figured any DM had the rules memorised and only had to pull out the books for odd situations that might require a bit of research. Buffing magic was never a problem in any campaign I've been in.
Actually, it was very rare in my campaign for "buff" spells to be up for the duration of the combat. At higher levels, it was a matter of both sides casting Greater Dispel Magic, Chain Dispel or similar until both sides were completely, or nearly completely, debuffed.
We have a guy in our group that does a lot of RPG playtesting and editing of RPG rulebooks and he still had trouble with a lot of the rules. And, I work in accounting & finance for a living and still had trouble with the math. It's not that it's complicated overall, it's just remembering what applies when and where. It's not just a +4 from Bull's Strength, which adds +2 to hit (if you're not using Weapon Finesse, which two PCs in my party did) and +2 to damage, but it's also +3 to damage if you use the weapon two-handed... and then you get another +3 to damage if the cleric had cast
Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, but only a flat +3 and not +4 for two-handed weapons. And, if the dwarf using his waraxe decides to switch from 2 handed to one-handed, it's another calculation there. And then, if you're subjected to
Blasphemy by an evil cleric 1-5 levels higher than you, you suffer 2d6 Strength loss, which is NOT a drain or damage, and therefore not preventable by
Sheltered Vitality, which prevents ability damage and drain, but not untyped ability loss, which is seemingly the case with Blasphemy. However, Sheltered Vitality would protect you against the strength damage from
Unholy Aura. But, you then have to calculate a -3 or -4 to hit, and a -3 to -6 to damage... but, then you also have to recalculate encumbrance for the lower strength to see if the PC is now heavily encumbered, overly encumbered or just "suffering" from medium encumbrance and still not overly hindered. However, if he is too heavy, he may not be able to move at all.
But, then if you're in an anti-magic zone, the belt of giant strength is no longer functioning, but then you gain back the Strength loss from
Blasphemy (I think), so it may partly cancel out, but maybe not.
And, just because you can do all the adjustments on the fly doesn't mean that every one of my 8 players could do it on the fly, especially when casting/having 7-8-9 buffing spells up in a combat was not uncommon for both sides at higher levels. I wish I had the time to memorize all the rules, but work & family take up a lot of my time, and when even the rules guys in our group are pouring through their rulebooks on certain situations and spells in combat, it's not a great situation.
Have fun doing whatever it is you have fun doing.
