What do you think of one min per level spells?

[Ridley's Cohort]

You keep saying this, and it's just not true.

Would you turn up your nose at...

... (Str) an additional +1 to +2 melee attack bonus *and* an additional +1 to +2 damage bonus *and* the ability to carry more?...

Not to mention all the skills that get better with higher stats. Not to mention their uses as temporary counter-measures to some poisons or debilitating spells. Not the mention the other creative uses you can get out of higher stats.

I don't see how the stat-buffing spells are "utterly hopeless" as 2nd level spells, even with their shortened duration. They may not longer be "must have" spells, but that in and of itself is a change for the better.

Well, we could compare with, say, Divine Favor (1st level spell), which gives a +2 luck bonus to attacks and damage when cast by a 6th level caster. The bonus keeps going up.

Or we could look at Protection from <alignment>. +2 Deflection to AC and +2 Resistance bonus to ALL saves, not just one of them.

Or we could look at Shield or Mage Armor or Shield of Faith. Those look better than your examples to me.

Enlarge would be a point in your favor.

Overall, I do not see that, say, a short term +4 bonus to Str is out of line with other "one combat" spells of 1st level. Perhaps "utterly hopeless" is too strong a statement of E-B's part. But he is undeniably correct that a spell that would fit right in with the 1st level spells makes a very unpromising 2nd level spell.