SamhainIA wrote:
then "allowing pre buffs all the time makes casters better in general than non casters" as an argument come into play
There are going to be times when pre-buffing doesn't make sense (GM's call) but in an actively hostile environment, I'm okay with casters saying they have their Arcane Shield, or Vestments of Larissa, etc. up. I might allow 1 party-wide pre-buff as well (Usually Benediction of the Gods).
The other side to the argument is, if the casters have to spend the first 12 ticks of combat casting all their buffs (that they would need to have the correct 'stats' for a fight), that makes them non-participatory for a lot of things.
There's no 'easy' answer and a lot of times it's going to depend on the adventure. I don't think I've yet had any of my bad guy spend time buffing things that they would generally have up in a hostile environment or when the threat of attack was imminent.
John