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OVERVIEW
While they aren’t the cliché that the dex magus is, the strength magus is hardly wanting for power. However, it is something of a letdown that the magus is basically restricted to one-handed weapons. They can admittedly still spellstrike with a two-hander, but then they’re missing out on one of their main abilities with little to show for it, and the supremacy of large critical threat ranges compared to the lack of advantage for high critical multipliers can be fixed. The mindblade takes until level 13 to answer the former, doesn’t answer the latter, and comes with the possibly unwanted conversion to psychic magic.
The meteor knight is supposed to cover this, with all of its features useable with any melee weapon you can wield and rewarding higher critical multipliers. I realized about ¾ of the way through that this setup was screaming for a bladebound falcata, and I think that’s great. Spell Combat is now purely for keeping up some damage while buffing and can no longer be used for mini-flurry. The early access to medium and heavy armor comes from an early draft that was actually supposed to get Armor Training and full movement in armor, but I figured that much wasn’t necessary.
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METEOR KNIGHT
The meteor knight uses the raw might of their weapon to enforce their arcane abilities, landing explosive spells to overwhelm their enemies’ defenses.
WEAPON AND ARMOR PROFICIENCY
A meteor knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light and medium armor. They can cast magus spells while wearing light or medium armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a meteor knight wearing heavy armor or a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass meteor knight still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
HEAVY SPELL COMBAT
As a full-round action, a meteor knight can make one attack with a melee weapon held in one hand at a –2 penalty and can also cast a spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action; this spell cannot be one that requires an attack roll. If they cast this spell defensively, they can decide to take an additional penalty on the attack roll, up to their Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on the concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attack still takes the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attack first.
At 4rd level, a meteor knight may use both hands to wield their weapon during the attack.
At 8th level, a meteor knight may use Heavy Spell Combat as a standard action.
This ability replaces Spell Combat.
HEAVY SPELLSTRIKE
When a meteor knight delivers a spell through Spellstrike, the DCs of all saving throws made in response to the spell are increased by the critical multiplier of the weapon used -2.
This ability alters Spellstrike.
HEAVY ARMOR
At 7th level, a meteor knight gains proficiency with heavy armor. They can cast magus spells while wearing heavy armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a meteor knight using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component.
This ability replaces Medium Armor.
METEOR CRASH
At 8th level, as a full round action, a meteor knight can cast an area of effect spell strengthened the weapon they wield. The DCs of all saving throws that enemies make in response to the spell cast increase by an amount equal to the critical multiplier of the meteor knight’s weapon. This ability can only be used with spell that has a shaped area of effect (cone, line, sphere, etc.). This ability cannot be used with spells that produce multiple areas of effect. If the spell has a radius, the meteor knight must center the radius on themselves.
This ability replaces Improved Spell Combat.
CALAMITY WARD
At 8th level, when a meteor knight prepares their spells, they can choose to lose one prepared spell of any level they can cast. This allows them to designate a number of creatures up to the level of the spell lost +2 whenever they cast a spell. The designated creatures gain a bonus equal to the meteor knight’s Intelligence modifier on saving throws against spells cast by a meteor knight. Damage dealt to the designated creatures by spells cast by a meteor knight also decreases by the meteor knight’s caster level + the meteor knight’s intelligence modifier. This decrease is applied after factoring in resistances, vulnerabilities, and the outcomes of saving throws.
This ability replaces the magus arcana normally gained at 9th level.
PENETRATING MAGIC
At 13th level, if a meteor knight is wielding a melee weapon enhanced by their arcane pool, they gain a bonus on caster level checks to overcome spell resistance equal to the critical multiplier of the weapon.
This ability replaces Heavy Armor.
METEOR CHARGE
At 14th level, a meteor knight may cast a spell delivered through Spellstrike in place of the attack at the end of a charge. In addition to the +2 bonus on attack rolls and -2 penalty on AC for charging, the spell cast has its saving throw DCs increased by 2. Effects that augment damage dealt on a charge only apply to the weapon damage and not any damage dealt by the spell.
This ability replaces Greater Spell Combat.
UNSTOPPABLE IMPACT
At 20th level, a meteor knight does not need to make concentration checks to cast defensively when using their Heavy Spell Combat, Spellstrike, Meteor Crash, and Meteor Charge abilities.
This ability replaces True Magus.
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MAIN CONCERNS
- Poorly worded abilities and/or abilities that require more specification
- Any unfair breaking of action economy (Heavy Spell Combat as a standard action is most suspect)
- Being overpowered in any other way (like maybe those DC increases)
- Whether this is actually a helpful archetype for users of two-handed or high crit multiplier weapons
- Whether something about this archetype buffs a weapon style I didn’t intend, particularly if it benefits them more than it does the two-handers and high crit wielders.
CHANGES SO FAR
- Removed "At 6th level, this increase becomes equal to the critical multiplier of the weapon used" from Heavy Spellstrike