Comments on: Buffing is not Teamwork

By: Titus

Titus — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:49:56 +0000

Yes, 4E soundly fixes all of this. Huzzah.

By: Mason

Mason — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:55:29 +0000

I’m not sure casting a buff spell every round qualifies as “playing”. I mean, at that point, it’s more like plate spinning. At least with the longer duration buffs, you can cast them during downtime and then when you get into combat, the caster can then cast spells that effect the enemy. If your party expects you to cast *all* your spells as buffs and then be a jerkwad with a light crossbow for the rest of the day, that’s not so much a flaw in the casting system as it is fellow players with somewhat unrealistic expectations.

4e’s innovation to me seems to be the option to “buff/heal *and* do something else”. I’ve only played a few games of 4e, but what I’ve noticed is that most things that help the other players tend to be piggybacked onto other actions, like attacks. The cleric attacks, and gives me a healing surge, and so on.

By: ben robbins

ben robbins — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:28:29 +0000

Re how 4e rates on the ‘buffing is not teamwork’ meter, here’s a quote from my original post (above), April 2006:

“The problem is the spellcaster doing the buffing is actually playing less. If the spellcaster had to cast buffs every round just to keep up (such as if the buff only lasted one round), then the spellcaster could buff but still be a participant in the combat.”

Done and done.

By: Nikolai

Nikolai — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:48:31 +0000

higgins:
In 4e, you can cast certain spells all day, certain spells once per encounter ( to be recovered after a short rest), and certain spells only once per day. No more preparing spells, or spell slots, or mana points, or any of that bother.

By: p

Wed, 14 May 2008 22:23:11 +0000

Ok, no one has posted on this in a bit..but i’m just reading it now.

Since I love playing clerics I run into this a lot. I have all these cool spells, but what do I cast? Some form of Cure and buff spells. I don’t mind buffing others. My current cleric can hold his own in pretty much any martial situation (at our level of course).

This is why I have fallen in love with (shameless plug that gets me nothing coming) Monte Cook’s Book of Experimental Might. The ideas about healing in there are lots of fun. Basically the “healer” doesn’t use up his heals per day, rather a character can only get healed X amount of times a day. That puts it on the other characters and allows a group to adventure longer before a cleric runs out of cure spells and everything crashes to a halt for the “night.”

By: 77IM

77IM — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:29:24 +0000

I kind of disagree with this article. It sounds like most of your complaints are with particular design flaws in 3rd Edition D&D. While I agree these are real problems (I’ve played the wizard who wants to lightning bolt but instead is pressured into haste), I don’t think they can be generalized to apply to all buffing mechanics. In general, buffing is teamwork, almost by definition (since it requires a team), and in some games it can be very dynamic and interesting.

By: higgins

higgins — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:59:39 +0000

higgins: Sounds like D&D 4th Edition is following your line of thinking!

Really? The first information rather gave Diablo-like feel but if you say so… Yet I’m never going to believe they are going for flexible magic! Or did you just mean the resting aspect? Could you elaborate your point please?

By: Will

Will — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:24:00 +0000

Irving: I’d say teamwork is the fighter getting into a good position to allow the rogue to flank and get sneak attacks. It’s the druid casting /entangle/ to keep the melee brute enemies in place, while the ranger peppers the hapless beasts with arrows. Stuff like that.

higgins: Sounds like D&D 4th Edition is following your line of thinking!

Ben: Excellent observations.

By: higgins

higgins — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 10:46:02 +0000

I think the dog is buried in the system design − the spellcasters get their spell refreshments once in 24 hours. Why oh why? Why cannot spellcaster regain their power after a regular rest or after a long pause after the casting? And how does it make sense, that spellcasters leave their most powerful spells for the last, to act as a hidden trump? Shouldn't the spellcaster be tired from all the casting that went on before? I have also never understood the reasoning behind "preparing spells" if to leave out the game balance issue. If spells weren't prepared in advance and one could regain his power while not casting spells, this really wouldn't be an problem. I designed my own magic system to deal with these issues.

By: Irving

Irving — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:35:25 +0000

So, I’m curious. If buffing isn’t teamwork, what is?

By: Ping

Ping — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 08:44:03 +0000

Bull Strength a gateway drug. Killing me… but only because it’s so true.