The thing about the typical Magus is that it's forced to use an inferior combat style (single one-handed weapon) in order to use it's melee/casting abilities, and it has to use it's melee/casting abilities to spend spell resources on making up for it's inferior combat style.
That's kind of the point.The Magus does not need prime combat abilities because of the incredible amount of burst damage it can do in addition to the amount of versatile options it's wizard magic can accomplish.
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On the general issue:
I think the problem that a lot of people have with the Magus really is their status as burst damage characters, and specifically as some of the most controlled burst damage characters in the game.
See, you don't remember the times the Magus just did okay in combat, you instead remember the times he one-shotted the main villain. Yes, the first are more common than the second, but the Magus can burn hard and help make the second happen much more often than most other people can if he saves up his resources for it.
Thus Magi aren't necessarily the most powerful class, but they're one of the most likely to steal the spotlight in a particular important encounter. That makes them seem more powerful even if they aren't actually.
I'm an old GM. I just started running a homebrew campaign after a hiatus of many years from 3.5. A lot of my players are kind of new to the culture -- and really a lot of them are ROLE players, that is, building characters and not so much war machines. I suspect that the Magus in my group, who has a bit more experience than many of the others, was drawn to the class precisely BECAUSE of his tendency to Power Game.
Stepping aside from the general discussion for a moment to address this particular issue:
I think your problem is stated right here. It's not about the Magus Class, but rather about the fact that this PC cares more about optimization, and thus optimized more, than the other PCs. Differing levels of optimization can make any Class seem overly powerful.
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Magi are for middling or high optimized groups.
Low op groups shouldn't have a Magus. They are too strong in a party of 13 strength fighters, twf rogues, healbot clerics, and fireball wizards.
Yeah if you know for sure which one is the boss it makes it easy for the magus. If the magus starts getting famous I wonder if savaay villans would use someone disguised as themselves which would let someone other than the magus. I think this should be done about once a campiagn. Although if they take the decoy hostage could open up awesome roleplaying opportunities for the party. And then have the next adventure be the real crime lord. Or maybe next encounter if the bbeg decides not to flee this could be fun if I had a homebrew with an optimized magus and roleplayers
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First, I love the concept of the sword-and-spell warrior. For me, a spellsword would mingle spell-use with swordplay, buffing while attacking or throwing fire rays. Conceptually, my problem with the Magus is a single ability: Spellstrike.
It is so damn good that it shoehorns an entire class into the cookie-cutter mold of high-damage touch-attack spells fishing for scimitar crits. It forces the whole class to focus on one specific (and boring) kind of spell. If magi didn't have Spellstrike, they would be buffing themselves mid-combat, throwing around a few blasting spells or dispel magic to debuff enemies. We would have buffer magi, blasting magi, debuff magi. Note those are all somewhat possible but are such inferior choices than the regular magus that they are generally ignored. It introduces those awful damage spikes (1d6/level spells were never supposed to crit on a 15) that most people negatively associate with the Magus.
The second part comes from my experience playing alongside one mid-level magus (on Rise of the Runelords) and playing with a high-level one (on Wrath of the Righteous). They tend to be one-trick ponies inside and outside of combat. Their skills are limited (they perform the "arcana" side of skills well enough but that's it), they have very few utility spells. They are too limited to fulfill a wizard's role in a group and too redundant if the party has an actual wizard (their skills simply overlap too much and the wizard will have a better bonus/more skill points/better knowledges).
They depend on too many rolls to function normally in combat. In order to achieve that "big burst", the magus has to:
1) Succeed at an attack roll (with Spell Combat's -2 penalty on top of its 3/4 BAB).
1a) Succeed on another attack roll to confirm that juicy critical (not a given).
2) Suceed on a concentration check (ALSO not a given).
3) Suceed on a caster level check against spell resistance (a swingy roll most times, specially because magi generally don't invest in this).
4) Check physical damage against DR.
5) Check energy damage against energy resistance/immunity.
Most high-level enemies have a lot of incidental resistances, spell resistance and even random immunities. Most demons have damage reducation, SR, electricity and cold immunity and other resistances valued 5 or 10.
A single bad roll can throw your entire turn out and you're left with the rest of your attacks with a low bonus and mediocre damage. When the magus works well, it does it too well for some. The rest of the time it is mediocre.
Eh, there are far more OP classes out there, the thing that worries me about magus is that it seems like it has fewer optimization paths available to it than other classes and the intensified shocking grasp is so build lite it seems like its presence homogenizes the different builds a bit much.
I go high strength high int high pool magi.
Much more well rounded less build diversity though (spam extra pool feat).
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Magi are for middling or high optimized groups.
Low op groups shouldn't have a Magus. They are too strong in a party of 13 strength fighters, twf rogues, healbot clerics, and fireball wizards.
I think this is a solid point. Similar to the Summoner, the Magus isn't overpowered, but it does have a fairly low optimization floor. It only takes basic system competence to build a reasonably optimized magus.
Honestly, trying to lift the optimization floor seems to be a something of a trend with new Paizo classes. Compared to something like a Slayer or Investigator, the core classes are a lot easier to mess up.
I'd like to see an archetype that replaced the usual spellstrike with something like "Spellslash: as part of a standard attack action, you may cast a spell that affects no more than one target and apply it's effect to the target of your attack if it hits. If the spell has a saving throw, the target must roll twice and take the worse result. This spell may be cast as if it has no somatic component, but fails if you miss the target of the attack."
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In hindsight, I think Spellstrike should have been limited to a number of times per day.
In hindsight, I think Spellstrike should have been limited to a number of times per day.
Spellstrike is one of the Magus's flagship features. Killing it off like that would warrant a re balancing of the entire class, especially since the only fighting technique that works with Spell Combat, a single handed weapon with open offhand, utterly depends on Spellstrike to give level appropriate damage.
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Killing it off like that would warrant a re balancing of the entire class.
Nah, Spell Combat is the major draw here. A magus can still cast shocking grasp & full attack without spellstrike, you just miss out on 1 weapon attack in a round.
At level 8 & beyond that's still 2 attacks & 1 spell per round, all you're missing is that extra 1d6dmg weapon attack.It'd nerf the class a bit, but it wouldn't call for a full re-balance.
Having said all that, I really don't see the problem with the Magus. As others have pointed out, you can counter a magus with a longer day (5 encounters instead of 4), multiple enemies instead of 1 (shocking grasp only hits 1 enemy), Concentration Checks (Disruptive) & Damage Resistance... oh, and spell resistance.
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Pfff. Archetype: Remove spellstrike. Move spell combat to level 2. Arcane pool equals level+int mod not 1/2 level plus int mod. Replace magi spell list with wizard spell list.
Name: Eldtrich Magus.
It feels to me that action economy really favors magi. Full Attack, plus a spell (that may give an additional attack) + another attack for basted and a slew of swift actions mean that the magi can do multiple things while other characters are still tying their shoe laces.
I love the class, even less optimized builds like the staff magus but I feel guilty even playing that build.
Pfff. Archetype: Remove spellstrike. Move spell combat to level 2. Arcane pool equals level+int mod not 1/2 level plus int mod. Replace magi spell list with wizard spell list.
Name: Eldtrich Magus.
I'd play that ... it's way better than the current magus.
PS. I'm not entirely sure why you're moving spell-combat to level 2 though, it just seems to make it more annoying to start with ... maybe to avoid dipping?
Pfff. Archetype: Remove spellstrike. Move spell combat to level 2. Arcane pool equals level+int mod not 1/2 level plus int mod. Replace magi spell list with wizard spell list.
Name: Eldtrich Magus.
I'd play that ... it's way better than the current magus.
PS. I'm not entirely sure why you're moving spell-combat to level 2 though, it just seems to make it more annoying to start with ... maybe to avoid dipping?
Level 2 is a dead level otherwise. Level 1 is boosted by the expanded spell list.
This is actually how I play my magus to a point. I spend every feat on extra arcana points and rarely use spellstrike. I am disappointed with how much I'm regulated to blasting spells. Expanding the spell list really helps in playing a less pure damage focused magus. Expanding the arcana pool just lets you take more real feats and flesh out your martial or caster ability. Without spell strike you really are just a subpar warrior and subpar wizard with better action economy.
Pfff. Archetype: Remove spellstrike. Move spell combat to level 2. Arcane pool equals level+int mod not 1/2 level plus int mod. Replace magi spell list with wizard spell list.
Name: Eldtrich Magus.
I'd play that ... it's way better than the current magus.
PS. I'm not entirely sure why you're moving spell-combat to level 2 though, it just seems to make it more annoying to start with ... maybe to avoid dipping?
Level 2 is a dead level otherwise. Level 1 is boosted by the expanded spell list.
This is actually how I play my magus to a point. I spend every feat on extra arcana points and rarely use spellstrike. I am disappointed with how much I'm regulated to blasting spells. Expanding the spell list really helps in playing a less pure damage focused magus. Expanding the arcana pool just lets you take more real feats and flesh out your martial or caster ability. Without spell strike you really are just a subpar warrior and subpar wizard with better action economy.
Oh yeah that's fair. I'm totally in love with the Hexcrafter for that exact reason - expanded spell list (Not hugely expanded, but between that and hexes it's way more in line with what I want to do).
But hey, when the Eldritch Magus hits stores let me know ;D
How exactly is this class meant to keep up their attack bonuses into the later levels? Once you get a decently-enchanted Weapon your main accuracy buff becomes less effective, plus you've got to deal with the -2 from Spell Combat. It's actually less accurate than a core Monk early on, and that class is infamous for their low attack bonus. I've built one or two myself and struggle to keep that decent.
How exactly is this class meant to keep up their attack bonuses into the later levels? Once you get a decently-enchanted Weapon your main accuracy buff becomes less effective, plus you've got to deal with the -2 from Spell Combat. It's actually less accurate than a core Monk early on, and that class is infamous for their low attack bonus. I've built one or two myself and struggle to keep that decent.
- Accurate Strike
- Arcane Accuracy
- Bane
- Shocking Grasp
- Greater Invisibility
- Monstrous Physique/Elemental Body
Depending on archetype and metamagic feats, you may also be able to debuff your opponents into oblivion.
How exactly is this class meant to keep up their attack bonuses into the later levels? Once you get a decently-enchanted Weapon your main accuracy buff becomes less effective, plus you've got to deal with the -2 from Spell Combat. It's actually less accurate than a core Monk early on, and that class is infamous for their low attack bonus. I've built one or two myself and struggle to keep that decent.
Arcane accuracy. Add INT to your to-hit. I grabbed the arcana to put heroism and protection from energy on my list.
I polymorph for an extra +1 to-hit because I'm strength based (it's more a damage utility reach buff).
Then another +1 from hastes assault (or haste)
By my count you get within 1-3 to-hit of a fighter. Magi are not the best smackers in the game, they are merely decent with 6th level casting.
I'm probably going of suggest our group removes spell strike all together. It is so good - particularly when combined with a high crit weapon. It is also unnecessary for a fighter-mage. Instead of allowing them to cast spells and fight at the same time it gives them the ability to deal regular amounts of damage far out of other characters league at the same time as making a full attack. Arcana make it laughably easy to hit which is fine - but not in combination with obscene amounts of damage.
Does the magus have to spellstrike off his own list, or can he use touch spells from other classes? My quick read didn't find a reason he couldn't, but it's easy to miss stuff like that.
Yup
At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list
Although this can be circumvented with the Broad study Arcana
Now I'm just killing time but is the requirement for Broad study to be 6th character level, or a 6th level magus?
6th level Magus.
Now I'm just killing time but is the requirement for Broad study to be 6th character level, or a 6th level magus?6th level Magus.
It should be noted - VMC rules give any class access to Spellstrike and Spell Blending.
How exactly is this class meant to keep up their attack bonuses into the later levels? Once you get a decently-enchanted Weapon your main accuracy buff becomes less effective, plus you've got to deal with the -2 from Spell Combat. It's actually less accurate than a core Monk early on, and that class is infamous for their low attack bonus. I've built one or two myself and struggle to keep that decent.
- Accurate Strike
- Arcane Accuracy
- Bane
- Shocking Grasp
- Greater Invisibility
- Monstrous Physique/Elemental Body
Depending on archetype and metamagic feats, you may also be able to debuff your opponents into oblivion.
So they're supposed to blow pool points every time they full-attack for Arcane Accuracy or Accurate Strike? Their pool isn't exactly huge to begin with, just 1/2 lvl + INT. I figured Shocking Grasp would come up with the bonus to bit metal stuff, but that shoehorns you into a specific build and doesn't work against stuff like animals or elementals that don't wear armor or use weapons. Greater Invisibility comes online at 10, which is pretty late, and many creatures have ways to deal with that soon after. I guess it's mostly polymorphing?
So they're supposed to blow pool points every time they full-attack for Arcane Accuracy or Accurate Strike? Their pool isn't exactly huge to begin with, just 1/2 lvl + INT. I figured Shocking Grasp would come up with the bonus to bit metal stuff, but that shoehorns you into a specific build and doesn't work against stuff like animals or elementals that don't wear armor or use weapons. Greater Invisibility comes online at 10, which is pretty late, and many creatures have ways to deal with that soon after. I guess it's mostly polymorphing?How exactly is this class meant to keep up their attack bonuses into the later levels? Once you get a decently-enchanted Weapon your main accuracy buff becomes less effective, plus you've got to deal with the -2 from Spell Combat. It's actually less accurate than a core Monk early on, and that class is infamous for their low attack bonus. I've built one or two myself and struggle to keep that decent.
- Accurate Strike
- Arcane Accuracy
- Bane
- Shocking Grasp
- Greater Invisibility
- Monstrous Physique/Elemental Body
Depending on archetype and metamagic feats, you may also be able to debuff your opponents into oblivion.
Level 10 is approximately when your arcane pool stops helping with accuracy. It's not till level 9 that your Arcane Pool has to be put into something other than "+1 to hit & damage", which means until then your AP is keeping you on-par with the full BAB martials.
This is a 3/4 BAB class with access to 6th level spells & Spell-Combat. They don't need to be able to keep up with Fighters/Rangers/etc all day long, in fact they shouldn't be able to. What they can do however, is save their resources until they're needed, and hit the things that really need hitting.
If you're having trouble hitting your enemy, the following Arcana can help you: Accurate Strike, Arcane Accuracy, Bane Blade & Maneuver Mastery. And that's just the ones that directly effect your to-hit (and I've probably missed some). There are a whole lot more that can help you avoid missing (Wand Wielder?).
And Spells. Don't forget spells.
You can buff yourself, de-buff your enemies, maneuver safely round the battlefield, simply blast your enemies from afar, lay down some battlefield control (like a wall). There are so many options here I can't even cover them. You don't NEED to hit your enemy if you can make them irrelevant without hitting them.
It should be noted - VMC rules give any class access to Spellstrike and Spell Blending.Now I'm just killing time but is the requirement for Broad study to be 6th character level, or a 6th level magus?6th level Magus.
Unfortunately Spell Blending is useless unless you are a Magus because it specifically adds the spells to the Magus Spell List.
Spell Blending (Ex): When a magus selects this arcana, he must select one spell from the wizard spell list that is of a magus spell level he can cast. He adds this spell to his spellbook and list of magus spells known as a magus spell of its wizard spell level. He can instead select two spells to add in this way, but both must be at least one level lower than the highest-level magus spell he can cast. A magus can select this magus arcana more than once.
How exactly is this class meant to keep up their attack bonuses into the later levels? Once you get a decently-enchanted Weapon your main accuracy buff becomes less effective, plus you've got to deal with the -2 from Spell Combat. It's actually less accurate than a core Monk early on, and that class is infamous for their low attack bonus. I've built one or two myself and struggle to keep that decent.
Spell Blending to pick up heroism (using the Extra Arcana feat at 7th level) can help.
If you want to go a different route, magus 5/cleric (negative energy) 1/magus +1 (select Broad Study as the 6th-level arcana)/cleric +2/mystic theurge 10/(cleric or magus) +1 can gain some really nice buffs from the cleric list (blessing of fervor, deadly juggernaut, death knell, divine favor/power, magic vestment, righteous might, etc.; possibly also gaining heroism as a domain spell), as well as expanding both the available spell slots for using Spell Strike (with Broad Study) and the spells themselves (spontaneously converting cleric spell slots into inflict spells, arrow of law/dread bolt/shard of chaos*, contagion, searing light* for use against undead, fleshworm infestation, poison, etc.). You can also just cast spells like spiritual weapon when outside of melee range. You need to use buffs to keep up, but magus/cleric/mystic theurge has the buffs (and spell slots) to make it work.
*- You did take the Close Range arcana, didn't you?
So they're supposed to blow pool points every time they full-attack for Arcane Accuracy or Accurate Strike? Their pool isn't exactly huge to begin with, just 1/2 lvl + INT. I figured Shocking Grasp would come up with the bonus to bit metal stuff, but that shoehorns you into a specific build and doesn't work against stuff like animals or elementals that don't wear armor or use weapons. Greater Invisibility comes online at 10, which is pretty late, and many creatures have ways to deal with that soon after. I guess it's mostly polymorphing?How exactly is this class meant to keep up their attack bonuses into the later levels? Once you get a decently-enchanted Weapon your main accuracy buff becomes less effective, plus you've got to deal with the -2 from Spell Combat. It's actually less accurate than a core Monk early on, and that class is infamous for their low attack bonus. I've built one or two myself and struggle to keep that decent.
- Accurate Strike
- Arcane Accuracy
- Bane
- Shocking Grasp
- Greater Invisibility
- Monstrous Physique/Elemental Body
Depending on archetype and metamagic feats, you may also be able to debuff your opponents into oblivion.
Level 10 is approximately when your arcane pool stops helping with accuracy. It's not till level 9 that your Arcane Pool has to be put into something other than "+1 to hit & damage", which means until then your AP is keeping you on-par with the full BAB martials.
This is a 3/4 BAB class with access to 6th level spells & Spell-Combat. They don't need to be able to keep up with Fighters/Rangers/etc all day long, in fact they shouldn't be able to. What they can do however, is save their resources until they're needed, and hit the things that really need hitting.
If you're having trouble hitting your enemy, the following Arcana can help you:...
Arcane Pool stops helping at 10 if you have a +3 Weapon and don't take Bane Blade, which doesn't seem likely to me. Debuffing seems like a decent alternative since it doesn't take your full attack away, as long as you don't need the enemy to roll a save. 6th-level casting and secondary INT mean you likely have low save DCs.
I'm playing a Hunter right now getting permanent flank with Pack Flanking for +4 to hit on top of pretty competitive strength, entangling, tripping, etc and I still miss pretty often. I get a total +6 to hit, +8 if I'm using skirmisher tricks, before considering any further buffs from spells (which are admittedly few and far between with the Ranger/Druid lists). A Magus of the same level gets +2 from Arcane Bond, -2 from Spell Combat, and is effectively back to square one before spells and further Arcane Pool spending. The difference is that my bonus is almost always on (unless I run out of my 11 minutes of Animal Focus at level 9, which has happened once during a long dungeon crawl). His requires significant resource expenditure.
Speaking of non-spellstriking magi, I have an NPC my party is going to face soon that's a Spellblade - it's an archetype that gives up spellstrike for the ability to create a force dagger in their free hand. I made this NPC mostly for thematic reasons but now with the spell sense vitals (from the Dirty Tactics Toolbox book) he may actually be a real threat - even though he had to take the spell blending arcana to get the spell. Since he's 12th level, sense vitals will give him 4d6 sneak attack damage on every attack, and since he's dual-wielding because of his force athame he'll be getting 4-5 attacks per round. With the prescient attacks arcana he'll be able to cause his foes to be denied their dex bonus on their AC, so he'll be able to constantly get his sneak attack damage. His other spells are mostly buff spells such as monstrous physique, haste and the like.
I'll see how it actually plays out in game and report back.
I'm frankly annoyed that sense vitals wasn't a magus spell to begin with, since it's thematically appropriate and synergies with prescient attacks. The lack of spell diversity of the magus spell list is probably my #1 issue with the class; there's just not enough variety to avoid feeling like you're getting shoehorned toward spellstriking with touch blasts. There's a ranged archetype in the Heroes of the Streets book that allows you to spell combat with a bow and spellstrike with spells that require ranged touch attacks. I was really excited at first until I looked at the magus spell list and saw how few spells are ranged touch attack spells: Ray of Enfeeblement, Snowball, Acid Arrow, Scorching Ray, Ray of Exhaustion, Contagious Flame, and Disintegrate.
Actually, now that I'm looking at the magus spell list and I'm really seeing a whole lot of touch spells they can normal spellstrike with either. In fact I didn't see a single spell 4th level or higher on the magus spell list that's a touch spell.
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The former is the most common, it's your battle cleric and eldritch knight and so on. The problem with them though is that they often feel less like a battle mage and more like a fighter that can supply their own buffs or a wizard who happens to be able to hit things if he feels like it.
So the Magus steps in and does a much better job emulating the types of warrior-wizards you see in video games who weave magic and martial skills together seamlessly. It's a much better model, imho.
I can't say I've ever had an issue with a character who can throw a Scorching Ray or cast Confusion one round and then hack something down with a weapon the next not feel like a 'battle mage', though it's true that blending magic straight into combat is much tougher on an Eldritch Knight or Dragon Disciple. Spell tactics - like an Admixture Wizard throwing Rime Fiery Shuriken with Opening Volley, or an Arcanist using Potent Magic to conjure a +2DC Dazing Shadow Weapon (Cestus) that they interchangeably daze targets with while also wielding a "main" weapon - can do some pretty interesting things. I'm currently toying with a "grim reaper" themed Void School Eldritch Knight that uses School Strike: Reveal Weakness to cripple enemy AC and saves before striking with a scythe.
With a Magus, I end up feeling like when every round involves slashing away and spellcasting generally just augments weapon attacks, it's less a 'battle mage' than some kind of Fighter with fun fireworks.
EDIT: And for that matter, ultimately the fireworks aren't really more effective damage-wise than what can be done with something like a Dragon Disciple swinging a greatsword.
Thoroughly agree with Rune - Magus would be an acceptable and interesting class without spellstrike. It would also make better villains, action economy to handle a party fight instead of slaughtering 1-2 of the group before falling.
For one arcane point your enactment to your magic weapon that you get is keeping you balanced with the BAB of the fighter and giving you extra damage. The 2/3 BAB feature really isn't a disadvantage. By the tame the magus gets to higher level they have so many points and spells that they don't need the weapon pluses and can put them into special abilities - speed?
Not sure why Bane weapon would be unlikely - it seems like an obvious choice!
For one arcane point your enactment to your magic weapon that you get is keeping you balanced with the BAB of the fighter and giving you extra damage. The 2/3 BAB feature really isn't a disadvantage. By the tame the magus gets to higher level they have so many points and spells that they don't need the weapon pluses and can put them into special abilities - speed?
Not sure why Bane weapon would be unlikely - it seems like an obvious choice!
I was saying that it should still be helpful at that level unless you didn't take that Arcana and had a +3 Weapon for some reason. Speed is worse than Haste since you use a +3 bonus for a single bonus attack with no other benefits. Bane Blade actually doesn't come online until Level 15 either. Their only class features that boost attack rolls either cost too many points (1/round with Accuracy) or actually get worse the higher your level is (Arcane Pool enhancement). Other than that you're stuck using spells to buff every combat just to have a higher attack bonus than a core Rogue. We all know how well they hit things.
Thoroughly agree with Rune - Magus would be an acceptable and interesting class without spellstrike.A level 2 magus without spellstrike using both his arcane pool and spell combat in the same round does less damage than a fighter just making a standard action attack with a greatsword while also being less accurate against anything not metalish and fighting concentration checks and requiring a full round action.
I'm not impressed.
You know a Magus can take Power attack & 2-hand their weapon too. They just don't HAVE to do that ... options!
You know a Magus can take Power attack & 2-hand their weapon too. They just don't HAVE to do that ... options!Thoroughly agree with Rune - Magus would be an acceptable and interesting class without spellstrike.A level 2 magus without spellstrike using both his arcane pool and spell combat in the same round does less damage than a fighter just making a standard action attack with a greatsword while also being less accurate against anything not metalish and fighting concentration checks and requiring a full round action.
I'm not impressed.
Yes options! Except one of these options is more superior than the other.
You do realize that spell combat gives a penalty to attack rolls, and power attack adds even more penalties! So thank you keep the magus that can't hit the broadside of a barn and I'll keep the one with spellstrike.
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Yes options! Except one of these options is more superior than the other.
You do realize that spell combat gives a penalty to attack rolls, and power attack adds even more penalties! So thank you keep the magus that can't hit the broadside of a barn and I'll keep the one with spellstrike.
Well, the Broadside of a barn is likely a Gargantuan object, so it'd have an AC of -1*. Even a relatively small barn (Huge size) would only have an AC of 1* (at least it's positive this time).
Addressing your actual point though, you could use said spell to actually improve your chance to hit, or to buff your whole team, or to debuff your enemy... There's a whole lot you could still do without spellstrike.
Is a magus with spellstrike better than one without? Of course, but removing spellstrike isn't somehow making them less accurate. All you're doing is losing 1 attack per round.
I think the point he was trying to make is not that Spellstrike is bad, it's that it's obviously the best choice, so you never see any variation. According to This Page there are 117 spells a 2nd level magus can cast, yet only a handful ever get used. Removing spellstrike is gong to nerf the class, sure, but it's not going to remove it. It'll just become more of a utility class & less of a damager.
Rhedyn's "Eldritch Magus" idea with no spellstrike, but an expanded spell-list would see a lot more variation in builds.
*Object Armour Class = 10+Size Modifier(-4/-2)+Dex Modifier(-5)+Special Object Modifier(-2) (Damaging Objects)
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If we are going to start nerfing classes for going for their best options than I say it's only fair to start with 9th level casters, after all they have an easier time breaking the game than the magus.
Oh and nerfing a class with the goal of making it use other less powerful or efficient options is terrible design.
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Removing Spell Combat or Spell Strike from the Magus pretty much defeats the whole point of the class: Having a hybrid martial/caster that can actually fight and cast without ruining their action economy.
Magus isn't overpowered at all. There are many other classes that are just as good or better.
Unfortunately Spell Blending is useless unless you are a Magus because it specifically adds the spells to the Magus Spell List.
Broad Study is the aracna you want with a VMC into magus. It comes online with your first arcana, at 7th level.
So they're supposed to blow pool points every time they full-attack for Arcane Accuracy or Accurate Strike?
No, many of the buffs I listed come online at 10th level, the same point Arcane Pool stops increasing your to-hit chance (at least until 15th level and bane).
Greater Invisibility will easily last a full combat. Monstrous Physique and Elemental Body may last more than one. Heroism, if you take it, can last hours. A rimed Frigid Touch can debuff most opponents long enough to take them out and can be delivered without spellstrike if you are worried about AC.
With the Kensai archetype, Greater Invisibility is your default. The kensai gets Intelligence-to-damage against opponents denied their Dexterity bonus.
Removing Spell Combat or Spell Strike from the Magus pretty much defeats the whole point of the class: Having a hybrid martial/caster that can actually fight and cast without ruining their action economy.
Magus isn't overpowered at all. There are many other classes that are just as good or better.
Spell combat is needed for action economy.
Spell strike is only needed for a damage boost. It's possible to replace that and maintain power. Some have complained that their magi get stuck into being too much of a DPR character.
My current archetype idea:
Remove spell strike
Move spellcombat to level 2 and remove the -2 to-hit penalty
Replace magus spell list with wizard spell list
If that is still too weak, then change arcane pool from 1/2 level + int to level + int.