wakedown's page

Wow! Balodek, marry this one!

Hasbro don't sell brands they have developed or acquired.

They mothball and then renew.

Not that it is very encouraging to the dnd staff, but it is different to how you suggest.

Ah, see as an investor who had a stake in Atari, I'm used to Hasbro selling off brands, so it's been a lingering thought about the D&D brand.

But you're right, they don't have a history of selling off rights to toy brands like Transformers/My Little Pony/etc.

So it would be a toss-up if they consider D&D a gaming brand like Atari and there is a willing buyer, or they consider it a toy brand like GI Joe and they mothball it for a decade...?

Hmmm. Speculation is fun.

I don't see Hasbro reaching deep into their coffers for their D&D brand anytime in the next several years.

I make this claim because Hasbro quarterly and annual reports treat the D&D brand like a red-headed stepchild (it's mentioned AFTER Duelmasters even!).

Hasbro explicitly states their new strategy is focusing on only a few of the brands and maximizing their synergy (ala Transformers movies and TV shows driving toy/game sales) OR introducing them to new, unsaturated emerging markets. When you have a top level corporate mantra being drummed like this, it's hard to get buy-in to any proposal that isn't 100% aligned (like a new edition launch).

2012 is all about Battleship and Beyblade. 2013 I bet Transformers and/or GI Goe again. They'd probably do a Monopoly movie/cartoon series ahead of D&D!

I'd guess this actually put the team that works on D&D in a dangerous position. In fact, their jobs are likely LESS secure than a Paizo employee. The brand has more value in a single sale to some crazy investor group pining over their nostalgic youth that it will generate in revenue. The D&D brand is one of the most likely assets they'd jettison to boost a revenue to hit a target they're about miss - say like 2012 when Battleship sinks? .. or perhaps 2014 when the Littlest Pet Shop movie (a random half-joke guess) doesn't live up to promise?.

Launching a new edition would be a major marketing expense on top of the R&D expense - they wouldn't do it frugally with start-up panache.

They're also probably dealing with backlash on launching new editions of classic products not living up to growth projections (from D&D's new online elements to the crazy new-fangled Monopoly). I imagine there's some Powerpoint chart(s) that have predicted huge improvements in the reach of the D&D brand (say a 5X-10X increase) based on "inclusion of MMO and online elements that will appeal to the current and future generations."

Anyway, summing up this guess...

With the steam running out of 4e, we don't see a 5e launch because it ends up timed with some year when Transformers/GI Joe steam has truly exhausted (and 2 other properties bombed) and the company is feeling tentative about new projects.

Yet..

We get lucky that someone with passion for the brand picks it up and reboots it! Or we see something tragic because it's a company like EA that put out the highest bid for the rights :(

The problem could be with another one of the feats on the list (I've intentionally left out the list to try not to spoiler UC this early on).

However, another one on the list is Power Attack, and you could conceivably be playing a cavalier with a 12 Strength and have the same issue with needing to select Power Attack to move on to combat feats.

In the Gendarme archetype for the Cavalier, one of the features is:

"He gains bonus feats at 1st level, 5th level, and then every three levels thereafter, but must select these bonus feats from the following list:"

There are 7 in total listed, one of which is Spring Attack.

The wording then says; "If the gendarme has already selected all of the listed feats, then he may select his bonus feats from those feats listed as combat feats"

Now presumably a Human Cavalier could be built such that:

1st: Feat A (from the list)
Human: Feat B (from the list)
Cavalier 1: Feat C (from the list)
3rd: Feat D (from the list)
5th: Feat E (from the list)
Cavalier 5th: Feat F (from the list)
7th: ... whatever ...
Cavalier 7th: He's down to he last feat from the list, which is Spring Attack.

Can he pick this up (Feat G aka Spring Attack) so that at 10th level he can pick any combat feat? -- even if he doesn't meet the prerequisites? (i.e. has a Dex 10).

Or, does he just pretend he doesn't need to pick Spring Attack and moves onto any Combat feat he does qualify for?

If it's the first case, he can pick it without the pre-requisites, is it only because it's the last feat on the list, or could he pick it without meeting the prerequisites earlier (say level 1?)

Question came up on this part of cavaliers ignoring the armor check penalty when making a Ride check to swift mount or swift dismount their personal mount companion.

This is the section in the rules:

A cavalier does not take an armor check penalty on Ride checks while riding his mount.

Is the act of mounting and dismounting (swiftly) part of "while riding his mount"? Or is it an area where he's not riding (yet or anymore), so his armor check penalty would count when he tries to quickly get onto his horse?

Hmph, I guess we never read that sentence before.

Looks like our tabletop group has house-ruled it then (I'm the primary DM so whatever I say goes anyway, LOL).

We specifically wanted to give elf PCs a bit of an advantage when they are only using 4 hours to rest each night.

A Bard is a good mechanical choice.

I had a hard time with the typos and formatting of the bard, the halfling and the half-orc -- so if I was DM that would have likely ruled them out.

That's why I thought all of us were good on spots. I also thought Holbrecht and Valeska would be good on spots too.

I was convinced Ravens was in when he started to roleplay as quirky.

I'd like to recommend a Cleric of Pholtus as your replacement PC should Dyrant meet his demise early.

Hey now, I thought you liked scoundrels?

Darn you quoted my typo before I fixed it!

Hey, I didn't say why I was keeping an eye on them... there's all kinds of reasons for that.

Someone needs to submit an application now as a goblin stable master named Snarltooth.

You've added an awesome dimension of humor to Ravens, I love it.

lol, figured what the hey. Every game can use a guy with +15 to Disable Device. This one, for example. ;)

LOL I almost felt out of my chair.

Don't forget it's a 15-pt buy, not that you'd lower your Dex.

What is the airspeed of an unladen taciturn raven?

Ditto on GM_Chris's dedication. This one has risen like a rocket to my favorite game.

I also passed on the two games you mentioned for similar concerns. I'm right about at my maximum capacity for work-time distraction.

Meh. The long long application process and the chaos in the bar has me worried for the intentions of the judge. It's been too long and too odd. We'll see what happens.

Even though there's a dozen or so submissions, there's many with very little depth and some have had so many typos I'd say it's hurting their odds. Coming in late would be a boon since you'd avoid association with some of the chaos.

Plus you'd have Ravens the bird-man to talk to!

EDIT - I think it's his first game as a GM.

TBH, I'd say now's the perfect time for fresh blood to come in and steal the show.

If I could read the GM's mind, I'd say a cunning social rogue would have really good odds in this one (versus say a half-orc warrior rogue).

Excellent idea. Not sure I want to use that word or include various chains around my neck, but the flavor makes for a very good idea.

Yeah, I wouldn't directly grab the word or the exact rituals, but the overall structure seems to be good inspiration for what kind of game the GM is aiming for.

Thanks. I'm not quite sure how the RP is taking place in the recruitment thread. At the moment, things are a little choppy and Q&A oriented.

Maybe he'll make it clearer when he expects that to start.

My thoughts? Add some "maester" flavor to Ravens, and give your organization some motivation to send you off wherever we'd be headed.

Sorry to hi-jack the SCAP OOC thread... maybe we'll see some of you guys jump in. Looks like some RotR AP mixed in, now.

How would you handicap our chances in the Stolen Lands? I would hear your thoughts.

I'm not sure I'm good at predicting these. I've seen a lot of DMs error for mechanically sound parties versus working out personalities and player's who will actively participate (i.e. picking up the lone cleric submission when the player maybe posts twice a week and has nothing beyond "I'm an orphan the church took in").

I think you're 99% likely to get in either way (mechanics or beyond). You're the lone druid submission and you have something cool thematically for a GM who professes to be modeling a campaign after AGOT.

I wasn't sure what my odds were, but then the GM took the time to write all that prose for my character, so he has an investment there. I should be pretty solid on both mechanics (as a limited number of heavy warriors are submitted) and hook that the GM could abuse to use me to advance the story.

If accepted, I look forward to playing a dodgy knight - it will be a stark contrast to Glim.

It has the appearance of a good campaign. I was a little shocked to see a lot more apps for the other Kingmaker thread.

Dotting, as this is the only AP I've never seen nor played.

I like making lists, so here's one with all the submissions.

Trilton Stoutheart, half orc paladin
Landon Highmoon, human fighter
Kythas, elf ranger
Gan Laccaran, half elf ranger
Lord feint: half elf ranger or djinn blood sorcerer
Qualin Lyir, half elf ranger/magus or Ridley Blix, elf synthesist

Jaelle, half elf rogue

Lily, half orc druid and companion "Eye Ball"
Razinthar Rockwalker, dwarf druid
Kystra, half elf oracle of lore

Avarthiel, elf abjurer

Looks like an elven village is re-locating, 7 of the 11 submissions are elf-blooded!

Hmm, interest for a Psion, Sorcerer or possibly Witch.

Let's see how the dice gods treat him:

Often overlooked about Daze:

"After a creature has been dazed by this spell, it is immune to the effects of this spell for 1 minute."

I'm generally hesitant to see an arcane power pool implemented to be the fix to the low level magus lack of oomph.

In terms of it's role in the meta-game, I see the magus as a calling to the player who likes martial characters and gets a massive headache when he tries to think about playing a full-bodied wizard.

If a magus has two mechanics to keep track of, he becomes sort a 3.5 multi-classed wizard/psion - having both prepared spell slots and "power points" to fuel powers that are different than the prepared spells - especially when/if he can spend points in differing increments in mid-level play.

Also, I'm not a fan of a system that gives the magus the ability to cast four 1st-level spells a day. Suddenly he becomes as good as the wizard with an arcane bond, or better than the wizard with an animal familiar - in terms of how many spells he can put out at 1st level.

Really, two 1st-level spells is just right (IMO), he just needs the ability to do "something else" maybe 3 more rounds per day at 1st level, since he may have 30 rounds he's acting in in that day. Coincidentally, this magic number of 3 is both his # of cantrips and his likely Intelligence modifier - so powering this "extra low level something" might as well be based on one of those 2 mechanics.

Ah, I forgot to add that while the spontaneous sacrificing is meant to make it feel like there's more variety to the magus, there was another element to try to fix the low-level "I can do stuff in one 3-round fight, then I'm a commoner for the day" issue.

Specifically, a 1st-level magus would have this ability:

Arcane Reserve - a magus can choose to power an ability that would normally consume a spell instead by using some of their arcane reserve. They can do this a number of times per day equal to their Int modifier. The magus selects a cantrip that they could cast an unlimited number of times per day to power this ability. Once used, that cantrip can no longer be cast until the magus rests again. When using this ability, it functions as if a 1st level spell was sacrificed.

What this would allow most magus in the level 1-3 range to accomplish is to take one of their 3 cantrips, give it up the rest of the day, and get something interesting to do when they'd otherwise be bored. The numerical gain isn't substantial (+1d4 damage for 1 round; +1 on a skill check; +1 to AC for 1 round) it's at least fun to make a decision and get something.

Plus, this would allow cantrips like Detect Magic (+1 to a skill for giving up a divination) or Mage Hand (+1 to an attack for giving up a transmutation) to do something interesting - even if it's just once a day.

The net result would be a 1st level magus that feels like he has "5 magus things a day he could do."

A magus arcana could even enhance the Arcane Reserve ability to no longer consume the cantrip, and instead be usable 3+Int times per day.

As I slept on these, I really liked the idea of this being part of the core class - whether as the benefit of spellstrike, or the benefit of arcane weapon (granted at level 1).

The idea would be magus arcana could actually help a magus specialize and become more distinguished from another magus in the field. Someone who specializes in sacrificing abjurations could distinguish himself from someone who is a generalist, or someone who sacrifices divinations.

For example, some magus arcana could be:

Journeyman of Fire
When you use your spellstrike ability to sacrifice an evocation[fire] spell into your weapon, the damage dice is increased to 1d6 and lasts an extra number of rounds equal to your Int modifier.

Master of Fire
When you use your spellstrike ability to sacrifice an evocation[fire] spell into your weapon, in addition to it's regular effect, a successful hit against a creature can burst nearby creatures into flames, causing splash damage equal to the minimum damage rolled against the primary target. The magus is excluded from this effect.

Journeyman of Defense
When you use your spellstrike ability to sacrifice an abjuration spell into your weapon, the AC bonus increases by +2 and lasts and extra number of rounds equal to your Int modifier.

Master of Defense
When you use your spellstrike ability to sacrifice an abjuration spell into your weapon, the AC bonus gained counts towards your touch AC. You also receive this bonus to your CMD against combat maneuvers.

Journeyman of Insight
When you use your spellstrike ability to sacrifice a divination spell into your weapon, instead of gaining a bonus to a skill check, you can instead gain the ability to detect invisible creatures as per the spell See Invisibility for a number of minutes equal to the sacrificed spell.

Master of Insight
When you use your spellstrike ability to sacrifice a divination spell into your weapon, instead of gaining any other effect, you can instead choose to gain the benefit of Clairaudience-Clairvoyance for a number of rounds equal to the sacrificed spell.

One of the things I love in our games is that newer APG classes like the Inquisitor and Witch, in their signature class abilities, present a good option for roleplay - while in the heat of combat.

By this I mean the Inquisitor can appeal to their deity when they use their judgement and switch it around during a climatic battle, beseeching their god for protection from harm in 1 round, while in the next asking for retribution. The witch, while using a ward hex in one round can move to giving someone a dirty look in the next via the evil eye. The players at the table love getting into character.

The magus strikes me as a class that can reward creative characters and provide a combat-oriented roleplay outlet at the same time.

Basically, rework spellstrike so that a magus can spontaneously lose ANY prepared spell to power a spellstike. Depending on the spell they lose, the effect of the spellstrike varies.

Upside: You don't need to go to something dull like an 'arcane pool' which is only a raw number to keep track of. Also, you don't have to allocate half of your already scarce spell slots to touch spells.

Basically, you'd have a section for spellstrike that tells you depending on the spell you lose, what happens. You can activate your spellstrike by giving up a spell as a move action to power your next standard action attack.

N is the level of the spell spontaneously sacrificed.

Evocation [fire]: Your weapon gains the flaming property, doing +Nd4 fire damage for N rounds on successful hits.

Abjuration: Your weapon provides extra defenses, granting +N to AC for N rounds.

Necromancy: Your weapon drains strength when it hits for the next N rounds, draining N strength per hit.

Transmutation: Your weapon gains +N to hit for the next N rounds

Enchantment: A non-lethal attack by your weapon, if it hits, can put the target to sleep for N rounds if they fail a DC10+Int+N Will Save.

Divination: By holding your weapon, you gain a +N insight bonus on one of the following types of checks for N rounds: Survival, Perception, Spellcraft or concentration checks.

The outcome - hopefully - is a chance for a player to really describe how their False Life spell (if it was on their list) becomes a strength-draining effect, or to describe how their True Strike spell suddenly helps them find water in the desert using their rapier as a diving rod.

Plus, it rewards variety in spell preparation - which IMO - is always a good thing.

Something along these lines would help - at least in our case where we playtested low levels and tried to emulate the elf magus archetype (which we read somewhat as a bladesinger).

What it came down to for us, is we felt a straight Wizard would have been more enjoyable to implementing a faithful elf fighter/mage - at least at level 1 and 2 - when the spellstrike and spell combat abilities seemed prone to failure, and were unspectacular.

You can argue that we should be more aggressive on Strength and min-max, but we don't tend to play that way on ability scores - at our table, min-maxing scores to 7-8s is unusual.

Elf, 20-Point Buy
S12 D16 C12 I17 W10 Ch10

Here's the Wizard 1
Spells Per Day: 1st) 1(base)+1(bonus stat)+1(school)+1(bond)

Hp7 AC13 (Dex)
Arcane Bond Mwk Rapier (from Elf) +4 (1d6+1)
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Scribe Scroll

Transmutation: could be used for +2 Dex to make melee attack become +5 (1d6+1)
.. or ..
Foresight: could be used to roll twice for attack rolls 6 times a day

Here's the Magus 1
Spells Per Day: 1st) 1(base)+1(bonus stat)

Hp9 AC15 (leather, Dex)
Rapier (from Elf) +3 (1d6+1)
Feats: Weapon Finesse

Basically, the masterwork bond for the Wizard coupled with having double the spells coupled with the school power makes the wizard a more attractive melee damage dealer at 1st level - at the cost of sacrificing 2-3AC (from light armor) and 2HP.

The schools are significant in many cases - the Foresight school alone can make the Wizard outshine the Magus as a sword-wielder at low levels.

But the Wizsrd could even go above and beyond with those 2 extra spells per day - a pair of Mage Armor, or a pair of Shield or a pair of Enlarge or a pair of Touch of Gracelessness. Having 2 extra among this list means 2 more combats of a 5-10 combat day, you have something more interesting going on and are more competent in melee than the Magus that doesn't have those buffs/debuffs for those fights.

I won't even begin to add how much free Scribe Scroll will actually tip the scales for the Wizard melee character over the Magus melee character once the Wizard gets his first 13g, 25g, 38g, 50g and a chance to go shopping in town for ink.

The wizard was already better in sword-only melee than the magus when they aren't expending spells (the masterwork weapon + school ability ensures that). On two combats when the the magus expends his 2 spells (for spellstrike or straight casting), the wizard is likely matching that - maybe coming up short 1-2 damage on the spellstrike round, if it's a successful hit.

Then for those other 10-12'ish combats earning 2nd level, the Wizard has 2 more spells, and more realistically, 3-5 scrolls to fully outshine the Magus in melee.

The penalty is pretty steep at low levels, especially level 2.

I'm very much in favor of *something* here. A level 2 magus has three 1st level spells. If the magus doesn't want to completely ignore his 1st level main-feature ability of Spellstrike, at _least_ one of those is shocking grasp, if not two of them.

At level two, this is actually better damage than his rogue buddy - he gets a whopping +2d6 on top of his weapon, while the rogue needs a flank and is only getting +1d6. Although, the rogue doesn't get -4 to hit when making a sneak attack, and on top of this only get a 50/50 chance to concentrate to do the extra damage. This is certainly a steep price to pay, when with 3 spell slots, you can only do this twice a day - whereas, usually in our "Day of 7-10 Encounters" a rogue is getting at least 12 rounds of sneak attack damage dice.

I'm also not a fan of adding more dice rolling to the game, so by not having the concentration check, you do streamline the game.

A possible mechanic might be to remove the spell failure chance if the Magus volunteers to cast the spell at a lower caster level. For example, if a 2nd level magus casts his shocking grasp as a 1st level caster, there's no need for the concentration check.

This still feels a bit weak, as a 2nd level magus who allocates all 3 spell slots to Shocking Grasp - in a day of encounters - gets +1d6 damage three times - and that's not counting the impact of -4 to hit.

I think the spell list is goofy for the Magus. I would like to see something where the Magus picks certain schools, and can cast from those schools. Maybe the Magus can cast and learn spells from three or four schools. That way- a) there's no need for a spell list, b) it maintains the flavor of a Magus not having the breadth of learning that his wizardly counterpart has, c) there's no need for a separate spell list and d) the Magus gets new spells as they come out in new supplements and can easily import spells from 3.5 books for backwards compatibility.

For some reason, I can all but picture a Feat in Ultimate Magic, or a magus arcana as "Pick an arcane spell not on your list. Now consider that spell as part of your list."

The spell list, in our 1st level playtest at least, wasn't a factor. There wasn't a lot of "I wish I could take X spell at its not on the list." We had a little debate if you could take Sleep or Vanish - if any of us would have taken those over other 1st level spells. We passed on Sleep, figuring "this guy is supposed to be in melee so Color Spray is just as good" - given Sleep takes 1 round to cast.

Given how tight the spell castings are - you're using your touch spells just to try to be compete in a losing DPS race against rogues, and then using them again to power class abilities - a broader selection might even be frustrating.

Magic Weapon, Shield, Magic Missile, Grease and True Strike are way better choices than shocking grasp and color spray at level 1 (IMO).

His build is really tough at level 1, like a Paladin going for high Dex for "optimized" AC.

Maybe thing could have been better if the player had started with a different understand of what he could actually do at level 1.

With slightly different stats: STR 14 DEX 14 CON 12 and INT 15 taking Arcane Strike as his first level feat (alternatively take Dodge - it will be usefull).

Keep the rapier, it hardly the worst choice.
No way to say this politely, but if you choose to war leather if you could wear a chain shirt - do not complain about getting hit.

So you can end up with Shield and Magic Weapon as spells prepared, +2 attack with your rapier doing 1d6+3. AC of 16 wearing a chain shirt.

Since we spent some 2 hours discussing the playtest, a lot of these topics came up.

Chain shirt didn't happen since it's a 100G purchase, which is a rare event at 1st level. I believe we ran Magus with 3d6x100 starting gold, and the player had about 110G to spend.

Obviously one of the top things at the table that was discussed was "you should've gone with a Strength build." I think that's one reason why we wanted to try to play the elf archetype so closely, since the picture in the PDF is for an elf.

The general thinking for the elf is buying a 14 is only 5 points - so might as well at least buy a 14 Dex and 14 Int, as those both bump to 16 with the racial modifier (effectively being worth 10 points in a point buy). Getting a 16 Strength would cost the remaining 10 points, and leave the Elf with C8 W10 Ch10 - not a pretty HP modifier, so you need to at least buy a 12 in your Con for 2 points. Once you do that, your Strength tops out at 15.

At any rate, he ended up pursuing the elf as a finesse fighter, which should be an acceptable path to take and enjoy a character. He wasn't expecting to do OMG damage - just have an enjoyable role in the party, like a melee ranger or paladin with a 14 Strength. As he planned on basing his attack rolls on Dex, Weapon Finesse was an obvious feat to bump up his hit bonus from a measly +1 to +3, which is a pretty solid investment at 1st level.

I do think, with an extra feat, Arcane Strike would have been a possibility, although we debated Combat Casting. When it comes down to it, Arcane Strike is +1 damage when you hit, and he felt hitting more as important rather than damage. To be honest, if it wasn't a playtest, Scribe Scroll would have been the player's top choice, but without a promise of future accessibility to ink supplies, he went with Finesse so he could be passable in combat. When you think about it, as you level with a Dex/Int magus, you should be relying on spells as the damage source, and not Strength+Power Attack builds.

As far as the spell list - he picked his two spells - Color Spray and Shocking Grasp based on how he felt the class was sold. Obviously you get Spellstrike at 1st level. If you didn't take Shocking Grasp, you are basically saying - hey I'm going to ignore the bulk of my 1st level feature ability. If he did that, we wouldn't have been able to playtest that feature at all!

Finally, he picked Color Spray, since without a wizard or bard in the party, it's arguable the single most potent 1st level spell he could take - nobody else in the party had the ability to satisfy a battlefield control role (outside of alchemist bombs). Believe it or not, color spray was his strongest contribution, as he took out ~2 foes with each casting (he only got in 2 castings over 2 days IIRC).

He played the character based upon how we both perceived the designers wanted to encourage it to be played - as an elf since that was pictured; and as someone who tries to spellstrike at 1st level, since it was the main ability granted at that level.

Too bad Daze is utterly useless against a Hyena, rabid or otherwise (affects only humanoids 4HD or lower).

Oh, we got the Daze right, it was against a human. The ray of frost was used against the hyena.

Any class can feel souped up by companions - heck, you can play a Commoner with a 2H weapon and a 16 Strength and feel pretty good at level 1 if you roll well, and get some flanks, a Bless or an Inspire Courage.

I finished writing up some of our game table debate (it's a Friday, what else would I do?) comparing the Magus with the Inquisitor, mostly based on comments like "hey if the magus was an arcane inquistor, it would be perfect!"

Remember, our playtest was level 1, so my focus is in making the class a great one to play at level 1, so the player wants to keep playing it, versus retire it early.

The Basics
Both have same BAB and d8 HP.
Inquisitor is 6 skills/level and has 20 to choose from
Magus is 2 skills/level and has 12 to choose from

Inquisitor gets medium armor, shield, simple weapons, crossbows, and their deity's favored weapon (often the weapon they choose to use).

Magus gets light armor and martial weapons.

Spells And Abilities
Both get 1 spell per day, and likely 1 bonus from their primary ability.

Inquisitor: Domain(C), judgement 1/day(B), monster lore(D), orisons(A), stern gaze(E)

Magus: Cantrips(A), spellstrike(B)

Comparing 1st Level Abilities

(A) Let's call the cantrips and orisons equal. An inquisitor can Daze, ask for Guidance. The Magus can Ray of Frost, Daze. (I know there's more, but these are practical ones being spammed beyond Light & Detect).

(B) Let’s call the Judgement (1x/day) and Spellstrike as meant to be equal. It’s actually in favor of the Inquisitor, since the judgement is:
* More flexible (AC, hit, heal, damage)
* Doesn’t consume a 1st level spell to use
* Is a “big battle” ability, meaning a battle that will typically be 3-10 rounds long; thus over this battle, a judgement will be on average +3HP in extra damage/hits, whereas the spellstrike is basically a +1.75HP effect in that “big battle”

(C) The domain is a pretty big deal, depending on the domain chosen. You can probably give a Magus full access to a Wizard school at 1st level to give them something else to do each day.

(D) Monster Lore is pretty cool, it takes an Inquisitor and gives them a bonus to something thematic to them (Knowledge checks) to balance the fact they are Wisdom-based and probably have a low Intelligence. Magus actually has a similar problem; they have skills like Intimidate and Use Magic Device which rely on Charisma (likely a dump stat). You could potentially create the same thing, letting them add their Int bonus to these skills.

(E) Stern Gaze is also a neat flavorful ability – great that it adds some thematic mechanics, and gives players something to enjoy outside of combat. Mechanic-wise, you almost want to give the Magus the same thing to their Concentration and (?) checks – to represent, like the Inquisitor, how pursuit in their class is specialization in something (i.e. for inquisitor rooting out evil and for magus the art of casting while in intense combat). My only objection is this would do little to give them use out of combat.

Magus Arcana at 1st?
For (D+E) you could probably just give them a magus arcana at 1st level. Why not? How much power creep is it? Get +1 to hit once (arcane accuracy)? Get +1 AC once (spell shield)? And they are giving up a spell for it, no less.

Summary
Just to be competitive in power/breadth at 1st level, adding in magus arcana and wizard school access brings them to maybe 80-85% of the Inquisitor.

I'd almost go as far as to give them another signature ability besides spellstrike, and make spellstrike be a magus arcana they could pick up instead if they wanted to go down that route.

I think the Magus really needs something cool like those domain abilities that it can use 3 + Int times per day (or some other number of times) without using up her spells, available from the lowest levels--this will simultaneously give her something to else to do when she runs out of spells and also help preserve her precious spell slots for important encounters.

In our multi-hour debate, we came to the same conclusion. Otherwise this class is real punishment to play at low levels.

I'm one of the DMs that says "absolutely not" to the class being full BAB or getting more spells per day, as it would tread too closely to full fighter or full wizard.

But spellstrike as the only thing it gets to make up for being "in the middle" is terrible, just terrible. Especially given 1 + 1 bonus spells per day. To make any use of spellstrike, you occupy at least 1 slot with Shocking Grasp (or a similar unreleased spell). For this sacrifice, you get a 50/50 shot to do 1d6 (3.5) damage. At 1st level, the net basically is you reserve a spell slot for 3.5 * 0.5 = 1.75 damage one time per day.

You might as well pretend spellstrike doesn't exist at 1st level.. it's mathematically almost the same benefit as using a whetstone (which of course my player pointed out, he wouldn't be able to use on his rapier, or an elven thinblade if we had a house-rule for one).

How does your cleric gain 3 standard action per round? Enlarge person is a full round action.

The growth sub-domain... as far as I can tell, we were playing it correctly.

Growth Subdomain
Enlarge (Su): As a swift action you can enlarge yourself, as if you were the target of the enlarge person spell. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Daze and Ray of Frost are cantrips, cantrips are unlimited. Being afraid to "waste" them makes no sense.

He wasn't afraid to use expend these, at all.

His concept, as an elf magus had him as a bit of a snobbish elf (aren't they all), and he was having an interchange with the other PCs about his ancient elven techniques being superior to the human's rough-and-ready techniques.

So, him sitting back at range and firing off ray of frost or daze at lst level was more of an issue of being less in character, than him feeling like he would consume his resources.

That said, he did manage to cast a ray of frost (versus use his elven longbow) against a rabid hyena. This resulted in debate whether the elf would've used his longbow +3 (1d8) or ray +3 (1d3) against something that is AC14 or touch AC12. We decided he'd probably rather take the -2 to hit, to likely do 4.5 damage over 1.5 damage.

He also managed to use daze twice - mostly in combat situations to optimize his actions. Specifically, round 1 started, his weapon wasn't out yet so he couldn't charge the flat-footed opponents. So he would cast Daze, and draw his weapon in round 1. Then round 2 he would charge the non-flat footed opponent.

Of course, the fighter and barbarian had charged, swung and hit in round 1 (being able to draw their weapon during a charge from the +1 BAB) and were way ahead in hogging the glory.

This is another one of those subtle areas where the magus doesn't hold up to the +1 BAB classes that I think is overlooked... (not being able to draw with a move action).

Yeah, literally we spent maybe 2 hours discussing - but we were all over the place in topic.

He said he would've liked to use an Elven Thinblade to be "most in character", and I agreed it probably makes the most sense for an elf magus. Likely it's just a piercing version of the Aldori sword that is available as a martial weapon to elves.

Our campaign games, I tend to like the use the slow progression, so this player would see maybe 40 encounters before he hit level 3. A lot of my players will actually retire characters "they aren't feeling" after the first 5-10 encounters (it happens maybe once per campaign).

A lot of the times, it has to deal with RP interplay (i.e. a shady character having difficulty getting in his groove around the good paladin and cleric).

We brought up, "but hey at level 2 you'll be able to cast your shocking grasp and attack as two actions" or "you'll be able to swing and cast color spray in the same round". He just imagined the level 1 fights he already was in, and doing 1d6+3 (say 6) extra damage to the boss.

He then (rightfully?) pointed out that the cleric was able to enlarge in the same round and attack. Or the alchemist could enlarge/mutagen in the same round and attack. Or the barbarian could rage in the same round and attack. So to him, getting an enlarge/daze/color spray/s-grasp in the same round was no big deal, except his had 50% odds of failing and gave him a -4 to hit (making it also likely to fail specifically against bosses when he would be most wanting to use this action)

Summary: Long, but the magus player was fairly bored, and was jealous of most of the rest of the party during level 1 play.

Party summary - all 1st level:

Human Fighter, Scale, L-Sword & Hvy Shield; Dodge, W-Focus, Toughness; S16 D14 C16; Hp17 AC19; Combat: +5 (1d8+3)

Human Barbarian, Greatsword; Power Attack, Cleave; S18 D14 C14; Hp12, AC15; Combat: +5 (2d6+6) or +7 (2d6+9) raging

Human Cleric of Erastil (Growth,Fur); MWP Greataxe, Lighting Reflexes; Spells: Bless, Shield of Faith, Enlarge; Domain: Enlarge (swift), +10ft speed (swift); S14 W16 Ch14; Hp10, AC14;Combat: +2 (1d12+3)

Elf Magus; Rapier, Leather; S12 C12 D16 I16; W Finesse; Hp9, AC15; Spells: Color Spray, Shocking Grasp;Combat: +3 (1d6+1)

Half-Elf Alchemist; Dagger, Leather; S14 C12 D12 I16; Point Blank; Hp9 AC13; Mutagen, Cure Lt, Shield; Combat: +2 (1d4+2)

Fight #1
Traveling with caravan that is attacked by about 8 goblin minions, led by a mounted goblin warchanter/archer and a second goblin warrior type. Was meant to be the lone fight for the day, so a good one for everyone to use all of their abilities.

Most of the PCs had to move to engage. The fighter "tank" went to the mounted goblin, who had 2 other goblins protecting it. He walked past 2 goblins who got their AOOs and both missed his AC19. The barbarian raged, ran up to a pair of goblins starting a fire, and hit with a cleave, doing I believe 11 damage to the pair (his +7 to hit easily made the 13-14AC). The alchemist spotted another pair, lobbed a bomb, hit blowing up one for 6 damage, and injuring the other for 3. The Cleric cast Bless for everyone. The magus, not seeing any large groups left, worked his way around behind the leader to set up a flank (took the full round since he didn't have Acrobatics to avoid the AOO).

In terms of being attacked, the tank was missed, the goblin warrior ran up and missed the cleric barely. Out of the little goblins, the alchemist took a few points and the barbarian was hit once for a few points.

Round 2, the Fighter swung his longsword against the leader and hit (+6 to hit) for 9 damage. The Cleric used his domain power (6 uses a day) to Enlarge himself as a swift action, then moved into to try to grapple the goblin warrior. With his large size, he grappled successfully. The alchemist lobbed another bomb, killing the one he singed earlier, and injuring another. The barbarian sliced through another (even though he rolled a 7) for 15 damage. The magus decided to use "his big move for the day" against the boss - and FAILED the concentration check of DC17 (he rolled a 12 but only had +6).

The goblin warrior wiggled free from the cleric, and a couple ran over to defend their leader. The fighter was missed again (AC19) and the magus took 4 damage from a goblin mook who rolled a 13 (AC15). The magus player was definitely feeling like the "lamest player" - since he was half dead and hadn't done much yet.

Round 3, the Fighter swung again against the boss and missed. The alchemist cleaned up the rest of the stray mooks with splash damage, and the barbarian and the cleric teamed up on the warrior. The cleric did like 13 damage with his greataxe, and the barbarian added another 15. The magus took a 5 foot step and used his last spell to color spray 3 goblins, including the leader. The 2 mooks fell unconscious, although it was only DC14, it was close.

The rest was just clean-up, the barbarian couldn't miss much (he only needed a 7-8 to hit and was 11-21 damage). The alchemist lamented not being able to use his mutagen..

Speedbump Encounters (5-7 of them)

The party was “ready to keep going” and track the goblins to their camp – as most felt they hadn’t used up even half their daily abilities. The cleric suggested “I can still enlarge myself several times a day, still have a 1st level spell, and a bunch of channel energy” (he used 2 to heal up the party, with a 1 and 5 rolled). The fighter was good to go. The alchemist pointed out that he didn’t even use an extract or mutagen yet, and had tons of bombs.

The magus, however, was the one pulling to rest for the night. “I used all my spells… well except Daze I guess”. It was true, he used everything he had for a fairly unspectacular performance. While all the other classes used a fraction of their abilities (I’d guess 1/3rd) for pretty impressive ones all around.

Long story short – the party rested – especially since we were “doing this for the magus playtest” and there wasn’t much good in seeing a 3/4 BAB class without buffs or sneak attack or skills run around with a rapier.

If you fast forward to the next day, there were several low CR speed-bump encounters. There was some interesting RP where the Barbarian tried to predict the weather using Survival or catch a deer for a meal. They ran into some bear traps which the Alchemst disabled using his Perception and Disable skills. The magus, with high Int, ended up with ranks in Intimidate, Acrobatics (without +3 bonus), Arcana, Spellcraft and UMD. Of course, he wasn’t great at most of these – since they were Charisma based, and there was little chance of him having that as a high ability.

In most of the speedbump fights, the magus was really tight on using his two spells. He used Daze once, but the barbarian, alchemist, cleric and fighter really continued to outshine him as he played conservatively. He was really just a guy with +3 (1d6+1) in combat without any skills or sneak attack. There was some joking at the table that he could be playing a High Strength Commoner or High Dex Commoner and be as effective if he wasn’t going to use spells (which forced him to use a Daze and Ray of Frost), although you could argue he was better off firing a longbow for +3 (1d8) as Ray of Frost at +3 (1d3) against some of the low AC fodder.

Final BBEG Fight
Anyway, they finally got to the camp – and the big fight broke out. Sure enough, the magus failed his concentration check again on Shocking Grasp. He then spent some time getting into position for a Color Spray and finished the fight delivering coup-de-gras since (in the player’s words) “I’m so worthless compared to everyone else”.

Unfortunately, it didn’t end well – the player suggested he’d probably re-roll if this was a real campaign as he just didn’t feel competent as everyone else. He had a bunch of fun fluff where he was trying to be an Elven Bladesinger, but his combat ineptitude and lack of use outside of combat really got to him.

Summary
Ultimately, the magus was poor at any of the things that were needed:
+ He wasn't good at fighting a boss (like the barbarian, fighter and cleric were, or a rogue or monk might be to tumble into position)
+ He wasn't good at taking out groups of mooks (like the alchemist was)
+ He was mediocre at crowd control (Daze, Color Spray)
+ He wasn't good at skills outside of combat, his most flavorful skill being Intimidate with a 10 Charisma

In our recap, we discussed how maybe he should have been a big strong half-orc magus, but the player griped that he wanted to play the stereotypical elf bladesinger, which given Elf racial bonuses, would be a Dex fighter, not a Str one.

We had a debate on how the iconic on page 3 was built. Was he high Dex or high Str? What weapon was he using? You wouldn't want an Elven Curve Blade (it's 2H). It's not a rapier (which he thought would be the best 1H weapon for him at 1st level). We then degenerated into discussing how "the class might work at 1st level if it had a Heirloom Weapon Sawtooth Sabre".

Anyway... that's our playtest. I don't think the players have the energy to attempt another one.

It occurs to me, through a little play-testing and reading the forums, that maybe the Magus is just missing some feats that were inevitably part of the plan - and that how a couple of feats could make a dramatic difference to the class.

For example, based on past classes and fighting styles, these feats could conceivably exist:

Extra Magus Arcana
Prerequisite: magus arcana class feature.
Benefit: You gain one additional magus arcana. You must meet all of the prerequisites for this magus arcana.

Improved Spellstrike
Prerequisite: spellstrike class feature
Benefit: When you miss with a touch spell delivered by the spellstrike class feature, you do not lose the spell.

Sword and Spell Fighting
Prerequisite: spell combat class feature, Dex 15, BAB +1
Benefit: When making a full round attack with a light weapon and a free hand to use spell combat, your main-hand weapon penalty is reduced to -2 from -4. Further, you receive a +2 on your concentration check to cast the spell defensively.

Spontaneous Spellstrike
Prerequisite: ability to cast an arcane touch spell
Benefit: When you take this feat, you gain the ability to lose a prepared spell to instead gain a touch spell you already know of the same or a lower level as the sacrificed spell.

Lingering Touch
Prerequisite: ability to cast an arcane touch spell
Benefit: When you use a touch spell that deals instantaneous damage, you retain some of the spell's charge the next round, and can use the spell again, but it deals half damage (i.e. 1d6 becomes 1d3).

I know a lot of folks will complain about having class-specific feats in order to bolster what they may feel is an inherent failure of the class to provide the feature. However, most melee combat classes require feats to be competent in their combat style (i.e. TWF, Power Attack, etc)

With a couple feats, you have a viable choice outside of always taking Combat Casting. For example at 1st level - getting rid of the utter pit of despair at losing one of your 2 spells on a missed attack or concentration check makes that level a little more bearable - especially since at 50%-65% chance of failure. You might go a whole level without ever feeling your class feature is providing valuable benefit, otherwise - and heavily consider a re-roll.

Spontaneous casting of touch spells could be an important feat. This allows the Magus to pick up spells like Color Spray, Enlarge, Grease - and then as the day unfolds determine if he uses those, or reverts into the melee guy who adds some extra damage to his attacks.

Also of note, we don't know what the racial favored class variants will be... certainly elf and human will get something tasty.

My first impression of the magus is it feels a little one-dimensional for the new standard of base classes (compared to inquisitor, oracle, cavalier, etc). I realize archetypes could give variations, but the class does feel lacking compared to the new standard of base classes from the APG in it's non-archetype form.

I'd separate the modular mechanic of a magus into styles and suggest that a magus academy could teach it's students one offensive style and one defensive style at 1st level (like selecting a Cavalier Order, or an Oracle Mystery, etc)

For example, you might learn the "Spellstriking" offense and "Master of Force" defense in Nex, while the Chelaxian Academy of Magi might teach the "Fire and Brimstone" offense and the "Classical" defense.

I'd then narrow down the spell list to a more restricted list (say taking Color Spray, Shield, etc off the base list) and give back spells through the styles.

The following is just me vomiting up styles to try to communicate a rough concept of how this might work - it's not intended to be balanced, but only to thematically promote variety.

Offensive Style: Spellstriking (this is the class in beta)
Summary: Use light weapon and free hand to deliver spells
1st - spellstrike: cast touch spells through weapon
2nd - spell combat: attack and cast with full round action (-4, and -2 concentration)
4th - arcane weapon: gain +1 to apply to weapon enhancements
8th - improved spell combat: improve attack and cast with full round action (-2, and 0 concentration)
Skills: Add Intimidate and Escape Artist to class skills
Bonus Spells Gained: 1st - shocking grasp, 3rd - ?, 5th - ?

Offensive Style: Master of Rays
Summary: Mix up rays on alternative rounds with melee attacks
1st - elemental ray: pick an element type for a ray attack (i.e. fire, cold). Your ray does 1d4 damage plus your Intelligence bonus (as ray of frost). You can use this at will.
2nd - ray focus: you use your magus level instead of your BAB for determining if you hit when using a ray attack, you can discharge multiple rays per round for qualifying BAB (2 rays at 6th, etc..)
4th - discharge a ray as part of a melee attack once per round
8th - Your ray now applies fatigued, dazzled or a similar condition on failed save when it hits
Skills: Add Intimidate and Sleight of Hand to class skills
Bonus Spells Gained: 1st - True Strike, 3rd - ?, 5th - ?

Offensive Style: Deceptive Assailant
Summary: Mastery of misdirection
1st - distracting display as a move action; target loses -2AC to attacks, lasts 1rd on made save, lasts Int modifier rounds on failed save. AC penalty only counts for magus
2nd - deceptive movement - magical "fireworks" grant +1/2 magus level to acrobatics checks to avoid AOOs while moving, BAB equal to magus level on first attack after moving at least 10 feet and attacking
4th - you gain a single mirror image that can flank your current target, usable Int modifier times per day; grants flanking and attacks with same weapon damage type and dice as magus, only a single attack. Lasts 1 round per 4 magus levels.
8th - gain the spell blur, usuable Int modifier per day, castable only on self as a move action
Skills: Add Bluff and Stealth to Class Skills
Bonus Spells Gained: 1st - Silent Image, 3rd - ??, 5th - Cats Grace

Offensive Style: Fire and Brimstone
Summary: Something themed with fire
1st - as a full round attack, you can cast your bonus spell as a move action when combined with a full round attack - a number of times per day equal to Int modifier.
2nd - when casting a spell that does fire damage, you can reroll 1s on the damage dice
4th - you can modify a masterwork, +1 or better weapon to gain the flaming enhancement for the day. At every 4 levels after this, the damage dice of the the flaming enhancement increases (+1d6 at 4th, +2d6 at 8th, +3d6 at 12th...)
8th - when casting a spell that does fire damage, you can choose for the saving throw to be a Fortitude save versus Reflex save if you forgo the re-roll 1s ability.
Skills: Add Intimidate and Survival to Class Skills
Bonus Spells Gained: 1st - Burning Hands, 3rd - Flare Burst , 5th - Scorching Ray, 7th - Fireball

Defensive Style: Master of Armor
1st - light armor proficiency, with no casting penalty
7th - medium armor, with no casting penalty and no movement penalty
13th - heavy armor, with no casting penalty and no movement penalty
Bonus Spells Gained: 2nd - shield, 4th - ?, 6th - ?

Defensive Style: Master of Force
Summary: Note you don't gain any armor proficiency with this style, including light armor
1st - when casting spells that improve your armor class, their duration is effected as though Extended
7th - when casting spells that improve your armor class, their duration is 24 hours
13th - when casting spells that improve your armor class, the AC they grant is increased by +1 per 5 magus levels
Bonus Spells Gained: 2nd - mage armor, 4th - ?, 6th - ?

Defensive Style: Evasive Defender
Summary: Something for the magus who doesn't want to wear medium armor
1st - light armor proficiency, with no casting penalty
7th - gain Evasion and +1 AC while in light armor
13th - gain Improved Evasion and +2 AC while in light armor
Bonus Spells Gained: 2nd - ?, 4th - ?, 6th - ?

That's just a dump - I'm sure if I spent more than 20 minutes word vomiting, I'd be more clever.

One more..

Arcane Mitigation
A magus with this magus arcana can sacrifice one of his prepared magus spells as a swift action to negate incoming damage. For the purposes of a single incoming source of damage, the magus can gain +2 DR or energy resistance per level of the sacrificed spell. This defense lasts only for the purpose of that single attack and the arcana must be used before damage is rolled, but after the attack is confirmed. This magus arcana can be used a number of times per day equal to the Intelligence modifier of the magus.

What I liked about some of the APG "arcane" classes - i.e. alchemist and witch, was in a cleric-less party, they could take on some healing duty. This gives the magus a way, if rolled up in a party lacking healing, to bear some of the "healing" load for themself, not by healing, but by consuming less daily healing through DR. It could also be accomplished by granting temporary HP like false life, but that would be a little more powerful since it could "carry over" from attacks.

Mystic Arms
A magus may draw their weapon as part of a move action or charge action. At 4th level, the magus may draw their imbued arcane weapon as a free action. At 7th level, the magus may call their arcane weapon to their hand as a swift action from any unattended location within 30 feet. If the weapon is attended, this requires a disarm check and instead takes a move action.

On this one I wanted something that was mildly useful at 1st level, and bridged one thing a full BAB class would get to do at that level. But that alone wasn't enough for spending your arcana, so it required a little improvement along with leveling.

Mystic Armor
A magus may imbue a set of armor much like they imbue a weapon. The magus gains an additional +1 worth of points to imbue their gear, and at least one +1 must be assigned to their armor. As part of preparing spells, they may allocate any of these points to either their weapon or their armor. As per weapon rules, if at least +1 is assigned to the armor, additional bonuses can be spent to apply conditions such as fortification, spell resistance, etc. A magus can don this imbued armor as part of a move action, as long as the armor is within 30 feet and within sight of the magus at any point during their round. The armor shimmers where it disappears and then magically appears on the magus. The magus must be 6th level for this arcana.

On this one I wanted a way for the magus to do a little something with their armor similar to their weapon. I also liked the idea of a sleeping, unarmed magus surprised, who could charge their assailant, magically calling their weapon and armor to their bodies in that surprise round...

I'll let the designers figure out how to balance...

Dazzling Blast
A magus with this magus arcana can sacrifice one of his prepared magus spells as a move action to create a blinding flash of light targeted at an adjacent enemy. The enemy must make a Fortitude save or be dazzled for 1d4 rounds. The DC for saving against this effect is DC10+(level of sacrificed spell)

Then perhaps a couple more (in a chain) with pre-requisites that can apply flat-footed, sickened, shaken or deafened conditions (with similar names like Deafening Blast and some level requirements). This gives a magus an alternative to attacking with touch spells with their offhand to instead apply debuffs.

That is the full image. You were expecting something else on the cover? The new iconic is called Rigby, and he's all about fists.

Whaa? I thought Riggby was a Cleric!

I'm of the mind that Channel Energy was significantly powerful because it was combined with multiple summons with DR10.

I'd try this house rule for a session or two and see how it changes the dynamic: When using the Selective Channel feat to exclude targets from the healing, it automatically excludes any summoned creatures.

Or you can house-rule that spell resistance blocks channel energy healing. The SR17 of the bralani would take -17 off the channel energy effect, so it would take an above average channel to heal them, and even then only a couple points. And there's no way for the bralani to control this SR against a channel effect.

For creatures without DR10, the healing in a single round isn't really that meaningful. At 8th level, its 4d6 or 14HP average.

Multiple allies with DR10 is very, very, very powerful at level 8 especially against many foes with multiple attacks that on average do 6-16HP/damage a hit. The channel is just icing to make the bralani invulnerable during fights of this composition.

It's an unspoken rule in D&D that all character creation rolls are supposed to happen in front of the DM (or another player) or through some automated dice rolling system online like invisiblecastle.

This includes HP rolls, otherwise you have people come to your table from last session and they always rolled 9 or 10 on their d10.

I'd always wait to roll in front of a DM - otherwise you'll hate yourself when you are alone and DO roll really well, since it's essentially a tree that fell in the woods that nobody heard.

As a result, since he has no real world myth to expound upon, we decided to not include him in Golarion—his "cool factor" is directly related to his history with Greyhawk, and that's not something I wanted to dilute by saying he's also in Golarion.

I'll give you that's a solid reason - I do like seeing names from old D&D lore surface up, gives the next generation of players some archaeology to do versus looking at you when you try to convince them a certain demon lord "was really cool back in the day".

Now I'm pining to play Tsojcanth again, but I can only imagine it would be painful by today's standards...

Another one of my favorites I miss as well - Fraz urb luu - although there's no reason DMs can't house rule them back in. Or simply suggest that a given demon has several names it goes by, and takes on both old and new names.

Say you have the following initiative:

18:Enemy
14:You

On your initiative, in round 1, you cast Summon, your riding dog or whatever appears on round 2 at init 14, Say you're only level 2, so it only lasts 2 rounds.

R1 I14: Begin Casting
R2 I14: Dog appears, attacks
R3 I14: Dog still around, attacks again

Does the dog disappear:

a) after attacking in round 3 at Init 14?

or

b) before attacking in round 4 at Init 4?

Obviously this is material since you have a summon for a little longer in (b) and it can take hits, provide a flank, or make an AOO.

In the case of (a) does it disappear before or after the caster's turn? (if it disappears before, then a flank could be lost).

I've always ruled they stuck around as per (b), measuring the duration from the moment the spell completed, but have seen many PbPs where folks measure it from the start of the casting.

Also, IIRC if enemy "Z" moves away from your ally "Y" (not using a withdraw action), you actually don't get the Attack of Opportunity either, since the enemy has soft cover.

Tactically this can be good for the players, too, as your fighter friend can stand between an enemy with a reach weapon and the party wizard to allow him to cast without having to concentrate.

Thanks for sharing the story.

You guys did a great job tactically on handling that fight - while the "weak stuff" came in, you buffed up with summons and haste, and created obstacles for the "harder stuff" when it arrived.

Obviously, if you were in a 60x60 open room, and 10 hill giants ran in from random directions - it would have been more difficult without preparation, especially to get full round summons up, and for them to be effective speed bumps, with so many ways to get to the party's interior.

I don't think your DM did anything wrong - although a killer DM might have had a hill giant use their +15 CMVB to grapple and pin each bralani, while the other 6+ rush past to grab the cleric and wizard. With the right timing, a couple grappled summons, a giant or two sneaking through to threaten the cleric and wizard, you should've felt an elevated threat and risk of dying in this fight.

It feels like the combination of the bralani speedbumps and channel energy that are the real combo here - channeling for ~14HP a round by itself is pretty meager If your summons were instead lower AC dire lions and each lion was taking an additional 20-40dmg/rd, the channel wouldn't have kept them up against the oncoming giants. A larger party (through summons) with multiple high DR "tanks" really showcased channel energy.

I don't know if I'd house rule a change channel if I was the DM in this case - are there other fights that were mechanically different where it mattered?

A recent example from our 8th level party... we took on a CR 14 encounter and won. No casualties. With a gimped barbarian and less than full resources. And we still had resources left afterward. That shouldn't be...

I haven't felt channel energy and selective channeling as broken yet. Perhaps more details on your fights and how it's affecting them?

A level 8 cleric heals 14HP per party member, on average with channel energy.

I'm trying to think of the best CR14 encounter with giants where the channel energy would be most powerful.

Four CR10 fire giants, each individually hitting 4 people in a 5-person party (ignoring the cleric?).

At 3 attacks/round per giant for 3d6+15 each (25.5 avg/hit) against a level 8 party, you should be seeing ~50dmg per giant inflicted per round. A single giant can kill a level 8 wizard (14Con; with 50HP) with 1 full round of attacks.

How did, or how could channel change this fight, in a material manner?