Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition - now with turn-based combat

[Average Manatee]

Buffing is not *that* bad. Most of the game you'll buff once with long time buffs at the start of a dungeon and then once again with short time buffs for the bosses. My first playthrough on both Kingmaker and Wrath were with manual buffing and it was not overly obnoxious on core difficulty. If you're constantly needing to rest and re-apply short term buffs for every fight then that's a sign you should just lower the difficulty level.

Or better yet, maybe up to for example 6 total spell levels (so 3 level 2 spells, 6 level 1, 2 level 3, 1 level 6 - or some kind of mix).

I don't think that would work, the thing with D&D is that a lot of buffs tend to be hard counters to things and your survival is very binary on whether the boss roasts you in one spell or you have fire protection up, or whether half your party is held or you have freedom of movement up.

I think the best option is some combination of either:

1. Most/all buffs become party wide spells
2. Long duration buffs get a UI similar to bubble buffs on the camping screen which has them automatically cast after you rest as a semi-permanent effect until the next rest. Make any spell that lasts more than 20 mins qualify for this, sort of like how the mythic in Wrath works to make spells last all day.