While I haven't (yet) gotten any of my players to take the Magus out for a test drive I've read through the prior and the current version of the class. The current version improves almost every area of the original but... I can't shake the feeling that the Greater Spell Combat and True Magus abilities are lacking in utility.
By 14th level, assuming at least a 16 Intelligence for the character, a Magus is going to have a +19 bonus to his or her Concentration check to cast defensively versus a maximum DC of 20 (to get off a 5th level spell defensively). From what I've read the concentration check doesn't automatically fail on a 1 meaning that the Magus is casting defensively already without the possibility of failing or, at worst, with a 5% chance of failure.
So why, then, does a Magus need to reduce his or her attack bonus down further to increase a bonus to a check that's virtually automatic already?
The True Magus capstone just takes it even further. By 20th level the Magus is enjoying a +25 bonus at the very least vs a maximum DC of 27 to cast defensively. While the other benefits of the True Magus ability are good I don't feel like they measure up to the rest of the Magus class or to the other classes we've seen so far.
From Greater Spell Combat I was actually expecting to see something that eased the penalty to attack rolls when Spell Combat was used since Improved Spell Combat gave a bonus to the spellcasting side of the ability. But the 'combat' part of Spell Combat seems to be ignored in favor of consistently buffing the casting side of the equation.
True Magus, as its highest level ability, I think should offer the options of increased DC, attack bonus, or bonus against SR as well as letting Spell Combat be done as a standard action rather than a full round action.
