Magus Arcana that allows spontaneous casting

[LucidZzz]

The idea is a magus arcana that allows a Magus to cast a spell from his spellbook that he has not prepared that day. Doing so would require x points to be expended from his arcane pool where x is equal to the level of the spell that he wishes to cast.

For example:
A Magus has the spell Fly in his spellbook (a 3rd level spell) but he chose not to prepare it that day. He can spend 3 points from his arcane pool to cast Fly. Likewise, if the spell he wished to cast was Unseen Servant (a 1st level spell) he would only have to expend 1 point.

Should there be a Magus level required before this arcana can be selected? I thought 6 or 9 felt about right.

What's everyone's thoughts? Especially on the power level of such a thing.

[MrCharisma]

This already exists:

IMPROVED SPELL RECALL wrote:

At 11th level, the magus’s ability to recall spells using his arcane pool becomes more efficient. Whenever he recalls a spell with spell recall, he expends a number of points from his arcane pool equal to 1/2 the spell’s level (minimum 1). Furthermore, instead of recalling a used spell, as a swift action the magus can prepare a spell of the same level that he has in his spellbook. He does so by expending a number of points from his arcane pool equal to the spell’s level (minimum 1). The magus cannot apply metamagic feats to a spell prepared in this way. The magus does not need to reference his spellbook to prepare a spell in this way.

If you want to add this as an arcana (for the archetypes who lose this ability - for example) this is a good place to start.

So 1 point per level is probably right, but I'd say I'd gate it at level 12 (at least) since this is an ability the Magus gets at 11th level. Just having it be a spontaneous casting (rather than replacing a spell already cast) makes this slightly more powerful than the Improved Spell Recall. However this costs an arcana so that may not be so bad.

It is worth noting that there are a number of archetypes that specifically lose this ability, so giving it back at the cost of just 1 arcana might break things a little bit.

[Cyrad]

Plus with spell recall, the magus is essentially already a spontaneous caster.

[MrCharisma]

Cyrad wrote:

Plus with spell recall, the magus is essentially already a spontaneous caster.

Yeah, since Magi tend to specialise in 1 damaging spell* I'm a big fan of PREFERRED SPELL. You can prepare all your utility spells & if you need to do some smiting you spontaneously cast your one spell. If you need that spell back you can Recall it.

*It doesn't have to be Shocking Grasp ... it just usually is. Also taking ELEMENTAL SPELL is a really good idea if you're doing this.

[LucidZzz]

MrCharisma wrote:

This already exists:

IMPROVED SPELL RECALL wrote:

At 11th level, the magus’s ability to recall spells using his arcane pool becomes more efficient. Whenever he recalls a spell with spell recall, he expends a number of points from his arcane pool equal to 1/2 the spell’s level (minimum 1). Furthermore, instead of recalling a used spell, as a swift action the magus can prepare a spell of the same level that he has in his spellbook. He does so by expending a number of points from his arcane pool equal to the spell’s level (minimum 1). The magus cannot apply metamagic feats to a spell prepared in this way. The magus does not need to reference his spellbook to prepare a spell in this way.

Ahhh of course, I forgot about this in my sleep deprived tangent of research and character development. I have a mother was a sorcerer and son is a magi that isn't as spontaneous/not-living-up-to-mom type of thing going on. Might keep working at an archetype to better suit this character so he gets access to this before 11th level... we'll see.

[glass]

LucidZzz wrote:

Ahhh of course, I forgot about this in my sleep deprived tangent of research and character development. I have a mother was a sorcerer and son is a magi that isn't as spontaneous/not-living-up-to-mom type of thing going on. Might keep working at an archetype to better suit this character so he gets access to this before 11th level... we'll see.

Sounds like an Eldritch Scion to me: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus/archetypes/paizo---magus -archetypes/eldritch-scion/

_
glass.