Durations!

One thing that 3rd edition simplified and 4th edition got rid of was durations. In 1st and 2nd edition each spell had a unique duration and a unique range. In 3rd edition that got rid of these fairly meaningless distinctions and basically gave spells one of four duration (round/level, minute/level, 10 minutes/level, and hour/level) and one of three ranges (close, medium, long). Fourth edition wanted to be even simpler and removed durations completely. Fourth edition replaced durations with several things. One is that most beneficial effects only last a single round. Negative effects last until the victim makes a saving throw. And some effects are maintained by spending a minor action maintaining them. Certain abilties like a 'stance' just gives a benefit the entire encounter.

So clearly 4th edition went to some effort to remove the tracking of durations. But is it worth it? The notion was that tracking durations was something extra you had to track in combat and that slowed things down. I use a javascript intiative tracking tool to track durations. It makes things extremely easy, but it also demonstrates some things. Any minute per level spell basically lasts the entire combat. The 10 minutes per level spells last for several combat and the hour per level spells effectively last the whole day of adventuring. And at a certain level the round per level spells usually last the entire combat. So what calls do I need to make. Because of my tracking tool tracking durations is easy. So the calls I need to make are whether a spell that they cast is still on for a later fight. Frankly I don't see these calls as particularly difficult to make.

So although I actually like the systems fourth edition uses to replace durations, I don't see durations as such a horrible thing. The only thing that irks me is one round buffs in 4th edition, but I suppose this forces coordination and teamwork since your buff only affects your allies and you want them to use their best attacks during that one round.