KyriaTheMystic's page

"While we intend to keep the necromancer firmly as a spellcaster rather than pushing it to “gish” territory, we will be looking into ways to make the occasional scythe attack more engaging."

This is incredibly disappointing to hear. Especially after the work for both of the subclasses (Warpriest update and the new Battle Harbinger) that make Cleric able to be a relatively effective martial caster mix. I don't want to 'occasionally' strike with a scythe. Like come on the responses to the stuff you already had was fantastic why shy AWAY from what was clearly a point of interest in the playtest? Stuff like this and the Sure Strike errata are making me really question design decisions of late.

Alright, while some of these changes to Magus are appreciated I must admit the nerf to Sure Strike just baffles me on a fundamental level. Especially since I can't think of a thing it was honestly doing outside of Magus that would be remotely troublesome.

I've been playing a Magus for some time, currently at level 12 in a ongoing campaign (having played other pre and post Remaster classes for perspective) and I have to tell you this nerf just hurts. Magus design is so action costly, and so focused on the damage from Spellstrike, NEEDING to hit Spellstrike, that this spell is a necessity.

My actions on any given turn basically become Move, Sure Strike, Spellstrike, Arcane Cascade, or Recharge/Conflux. While Hasted by another party member. Do this until I run out of gas and then feel bad as my damage and accuracy falls through the floor.

If I don't hit Spellstrike I have functionally nothing to fall back on. Being down 2 MAP stages any attack trait action or maneuver after the fact is just not under consideration.

I have such limited Spell Slots that if I don't dedicate some manner of my character to investing into scrolls or other such items I am done after a few rounds. Which feels awful. Especially since pulling a scroll out takes an action we simply don't have unless I dedicate even more of my character's build to specifically easing that pain point.

If I don't do that, I have to potentially ask one of my party members to be a character oriented around scrolls or a support caster when they might now want to. And now, what, I have to wait until they can constantly cast Haste AND True Target now that Sure Strike is nerfed?

We seriously fundamental overhaul of Magus if this is the kind of balancing you're going to do. It just doesn't feel like this class fits the current system and design philosophy compared to new classes and remastered classes.

Because the action economy is so tight and the need to hit Spellstrike so great, and our resources so limited that it's honestly just made for way too low of lows compared to the few highs I've gotten from hitting a crit once in a while. These moments on Magus honestly feel worse than any other class I've played in the system.

From the initial playtest it's apparent that the designers want to give Necromancer the ability to somewhat get into melee.
Between 8 HD base, Reaper's Weapon Familiarity at level 2, Osteo Armaments at level 8, and Bind Heroic Spirit at level 18.

However I feel given that their weapon proficiency never expands past Expert, that at the very least Bind Heroic Spirit should come way before level 18 and come at level 10-12, and scale to allow them to at least hit as well as Master proficiency Martial characters. They'll never outdamage them, but as seen in Bind Heroic Spirit's ability to generate thralls on a successful strike that's not entirely the point. It would just be another avenue of engaging with their powers as a necromancer and their thralls.

That, or as might come after the playtest and with the official release, a Grave Knight/Death Knight like Grim Fascination or class archetype that allows for this and/or medium armor proficiency. Maybe they'll even have additional feats to buff this playstyle.

Still my feedback for the ability to be both melee and a caster remains that your ability to hit comes online way, way too late and doesn't scale enough.

Otherwise Necromancer is pretty sick, genuinely excited to see how it ends up when finalized.