Hey everyone,
A while back I remember a thread with a lot of good ideas. It suggested that we try to have a thread full of actual game data of the Magus in our games and suggestions based upon those results with some kind of standardised form. This will create an easy place for Jason to find data from games that use the Magus in actual play that can separated and easily analysed. Let's make this thread the place for that.
Here's my suggestion for a format, but post better suggestions if you have them (obviously we won't have actual playtest for a little while, but I plan to run a party with a Magus through Rescue at Azlant Ridge, since I own that PFS Scenario, and I hope to have the results in this thread).
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Brief Description / Name of Published Module (this will let people skip if they would be spoiled by that module)
Brief Info on the Party Setup (include at least race/class/level for each character, and any other info you think might be pertinent, especially if you were using anything 3rd party that you think might have changed the playing field)
Series of Summaries of Battles/Situations with Analysis of Magus (give us a feel how the Magus contributed and how she compared to and interacted with the others)
Final Analysis, Thoughts, and Suggestions (any words of wisdom you learned from this scenario)
How long is this playtest going to be underway?
Here's the Magus I plan on testing, from levels 1-10 (may do the rest later). Further posts in this thread will be her playtest data. I hope to test her in several five-man groups to test her viability as a 'fifth man', a frontliner replacement, and a caster replacement--
Fighter, Wizard, Rogue, Cleric, Magus
Magus, Wizard, Rogue, Cleric, Bard
Fighter, Magus, Rogue, Cleric, Bard
Str 18
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 14
AC 15 (11 touch, 14 flat-footed)
Fort: +4
Ref: +1
Will: +0
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike
Skills: Know[Arcana] +7, Know [Dungeoneering] +7, Know [Planes] +7, Ride + 3, Spellcraft +7, Use Magic Device +2
Concentration: +4 (+10 casting defensively!)
Spells: Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp
Spells per Day: 0-3, 1-2
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +6 to hit, 1d6+4 damage
Possessions: MW Rapier (free with trait), Chain Shirt, random gear
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Schala, Human Magus 2
Str 18
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 22
AC 15 (11 touch, 14 flat-footed)
Fort: +5
Ref: +1
Will: +1
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat
Skills: Know[Arcana] +8, Know [Dungeoneering] +8, Know [Planes] +8, Ride + 3, Spellcraft +8, Swim +4, Use Magic Device +3
Concentration: +5 (+11 casting defensively, +9 for Spell Combat)
Spells: Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, Unseen Servant
Spells per Day: 0-4, 1-3
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +7 to hit, 1d6+4 damage
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +3 to hit, 1d6+4 damage
Longbow +2 to hit, 1d8 damage
Possessions: MW Rapier (free with trait), Chain Shirt, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
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Schala, Human Magus 3
Str 18
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 30
AC 15 (11 touch, 14 flat-footed)
Fort: +5
Ref: +4
Will: +1
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier)
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador)
Skills: Climb +6, Know[Arcana] +9, Know [Dungeoneering] +9, Know [Planes] +9, Perception +0, Ride + 3, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +9, Swim +4, Use Magic Device +4
Concentration: +6 (+12 casting defensively, +10 for Spell Combat)
Spells: Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
Spells per Day: 0-4, 1-4
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +9 to hit, 1d6+5 damage
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +5 to hit, 1d6+5 damage
Longbow +3 to hit, 1d8 damage
Possessions: +1 Rapier, Chain Shirt, Longbow, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
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Schala, Human Magus 4
Str 19
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 39
AC 17 (12 touch, 16 flat-footed)
Fort: +6
Ref: +4
Will: +2
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier)
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon
Skills: Climb +7, Craft[Jewelry] +7, Know[Arcana] +10, Know [Dungeoneering] +10, Know [Planes] +10, Perception +0, Ride + 4, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +10, Swim +6, Use Magic Device +5
Concentration: +7 (+13 casting defensively, +11 for Spell Combat)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Glitterdust, Mirror Image
Spells per Day: 0-4, 1-4, 2-2
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +10 to hit, 1d6+5+1d6 damage
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +6 to hit, 1d6+5+1d6 damage
MW MTY Comp Longbow +5 to hit, 1d8+4 damage
Possessions: +1 Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +1 Chain Shirt, +1 Ring of Protection, MW MTY Comp Longbow, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
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Schala, Human Magus 5
Str 21
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 48
AC 18 (13 touch, 16 flat-footed)
Fort: +6
Ref: +4
Will: +2
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat,
Skills: Climb +8, Craft[Jewelry] +7, Fly +4, Know[Arcana] +11, Know [Dungeoneering] +11, Know [Planes] +11, Perception +0, Ride + 4, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +11, Swim +7, Use Magic Device +6
Concentration: +8 (+14 casting defensively, +12 for Spell Combat)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Web
Spells per Day: 0-4, 1-5, 2-3
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +11 to hit, 1d6+8+1d6 damage
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +7 to hit, 1d6+8+1d6 damage
MW MTY Comp Longbow +5 to hit, 1d8+6 damage
Possessions: +1 Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +1 Chain Shirt, +1 Ring of Protection, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +2, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
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Schala, Human Magus 6
Str 21
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 57
AC 19 (13 touch, 17 flat-footed)
Fort: +8
Ref: +6
Will: +4
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic)
Skills: Climb +8, Craft[Jewelry] +7, Fly +6, Know[Arcana] +12, Know [Dungeoneering] +11, Know [Planes] +12, Perception +0, Ride + 4, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +12, Swim +7, Use Magic Device +7
Concentration: +9 (+15 casting defensively, +13 for Spell Combat)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-5, 2-4
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +12 to hit, 1d6+8+1d6 damage
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +8 to hit, 1d6+8+1d6 damage
MW MTY Comp Longbow +6 to hit, 1d8+6 damage
Possessions: +1 Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +1 Chain Shirt, +1 Ring of Protection, +1 Cloak of Resistance, +1 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +2, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
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Schala, Human Magus 7
Str 21
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 66
AC 21 (13 touch, 19 flat-footed)
Fort: +9
Ref: +7
Will: +5
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour
Skills: Climb +8, Craft[Jewelry] +7, Fly +8, Know[Arcana] +13, Know [Dungeoneering] +11, Know [Planes] +13, Perception +0, Ride + 4, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +13, Swim +7, Use Magic Device +8
Concentration: +10 (+16 casting defensively, +14 for Spell Combat)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Haste, Fly
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-5, 2-4, 3-2
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +13 to hit (+16 flanking w/partner), 1d6+8+1d6 damage
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +9 to hit (+12 flanking w/partner), 1d6+8+1d6 damage
MW MTY Comp Longbow +7 to hit, 1d8+6 damage
Possessions: +1 Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +1 Mithral Breastplate, +1 Ring of Protection, +2 Cloak of Resistance, +1 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +2, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
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Schala, Human Magus 8
Str 22
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 75
AC 21 (13 touch, 19 flat-footed)
Fort: +10
Ref: +7
Will: +6
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat
Skills: Climb +9, Craft[Jewelry] +7, Fly +10, Know[Arcana] +14, Know [Dungeoneering] +11, Know [Planes] +14, Perception +0, Ride + 4, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +14, Swim +8, Use Magic Device +9
Concentration: +11 (+17 casting defensively or Spell Combat)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-5, 2-5, 3-3
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +16/+11 to hit (+20/+15 flanking w/partner), 1d6+10+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +14/+9 to hit (+18/+13 flanking w/partner), 1d6+10+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
MW MTY Comp Longbow +8 to hit, 1d8+6 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +2 Keen Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +2 Mithral Breastplate, +1 Ring of Protection, +2 Cloak of Resistance, +1 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +2, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
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Schala, Human Magus 9
Str 24
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 84
AC 21 (13 touch, 19 flat-footed)
Fort: +10
Ref: +8
Will: +6
Initiative: +5
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault)
Skills: Climb +9, Craft[Jewelry] +7, Fly +12, Know[Arcana] +15, Know [Dungeoneering] +11, Know [Planes] +15, Perception +0, Ride + 4, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +15, Swim +8, Use Magic Device +10
Concentration: +12 (+18 casting defensively or Spell Combat)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-6, 2-5, 3-4
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +17/+12 to hit (+21/+16 flanking w/partner), 1d6+11+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +15/+10 to hit (+19/+14 flanking w/partner), 1d6+11+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
MW MTY Comp Longbow +8 to hit, 1d8+6 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +2 Keen Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +2 Mithral Breastplate, +1 Ring of Protection, +2 Cloak of Resistance, +1 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +4, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
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Schala, Human Magus 10
Str 24
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 18
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 93
AC 22 (14 touch, 20 flat-footed)
Fort: +12
Ref: +9
Will: +8
Initiative: +5
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training
Skills: Climb +9, Craft[Jewelry] +8, Fly +13, Know[Arcana] +17, Know [Dungeoneering] +13, Know [Planes] +17, Perception +10, Ride + 4, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +17, Swim +8, Use Magic Device +11
Concentration: +14 (+20 casting defensively or Spell Combat)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-2
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +18/+13 to hit (+22/+17 flanking w/partner), 1d6+12+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +16/+11 to hit (+20/+15 flanking w/partner), 1d6+12+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
MW MTY Comp Longbow +8 to hit, 1d8+6 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +2 Keen Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +2 Mithral Breastplate, +2 Ring of Protection, +3 Cloak of Resistance, +1 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +4, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +2 (Perception), random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up
For Jason's convenience, I'm going to start linking to any threads I find that have actual playtest data in them. Anyone else who notices them pop up is encouraged to help out and post a link up here. I'll also try to provide a format similar to the one I suggested, but my first link is to a thread that used pretty much exactly that format, so I'll just link it.
Here's another analysis of playtest data
Name: Benn Roe's Beggar's Pearl and Frozen Fingers of Midnight
Party Setup: Unknown, but it had a Magus2 and then a Magus3
Analysis: See linked thread.[
Here are the final 10 levels of Schala, the Magus I will be using in playtest, continuing the 10 levels posted above:
Str 24
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 18
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 102
AC 24 (14 touch, 22 flat-footed)
Fort: +12
Ref: +9
Will: +8
Initiative: +5
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier)
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat
Skills: Climb +9, Craft[Jewelry] +8, Fly +14, Know[Arcana] +18, Know [Dungeoneering] +14, Know [Planes] +18, Perception +13, Ride + 4, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +18, Swim +8, Use Magic Device +12
Concentration: +15 (+21 casting defensively or Spell Combat)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Stoneskin
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-6, 2-5, 3-5, 4-3
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +21/+16 to hit (+25/+20 flanking w/partner), 1d6+16+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +19/+14 to hit (+23/+19 flanking w/partner), 1d6+16+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
MW MTY Comp Longbow +10 to hit, 1d8+6 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +4 Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +3 Mithral Breastplate, +2 Ring of Protection, +3 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +4, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +2 (Perception), random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
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Schala, Human Magus 12
Str 25
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 18
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 123
AC 26 (16 touch, 23 flat-footed)
Fort: +14
Ref: +11
Will: +9
Initiative: +6
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier)
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike)
Skills: Climb +9, Craft[Jewelry] +8, Fly +16, Know[Arcana] +19, Know [Dungeoneering] +15, Know [Planes] +19, Perception +14, Ride +5, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +19, Swim +8, Use Magic Device +13
Concentration: +16 (+22 casting defensively or Spell Combat--autosuccess!)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-6, 2-6, 3-5, 4-4
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +23/+18 to hit (+27/+22 flanking w/partner), 1d6+17+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +21/+16 to hit (+25/+21 flanking w/partner), 1d6+17+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
MW MTY Comp Longbow +12 to hit, 1d8+6 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +3 Mithral Breastplate, +2 Ring of Protection, +3 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +4, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +2 (Perception), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pink Rhomboid Ioun Stone, Deep Red Sphere Ioun Stone, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
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Schala, Human Magus 13
Str 25
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 20
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 133
AC 28 (17 touch, 25 flat-footed)
Fort: +15
Ref: +12
Will: +10
Initiative: +6
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier), Critical Focus
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike), Heavy Armour
Skills: Acrobatics +14, Climb +9, Craft[Jewelry] +9, Fly +17, Know[Arcana] +21, Know [Dungeoneering] +17, Know [Planes] +21, Perception +15, Ride + 5, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +21, Swim +8, Use Magic Device +14
Concentration: +18 (+24 casting defensively or Spell Combat--autosuccess!)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
5-Teleport, Overland Flight
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-7, 2-6, 3-5, 4-4, 5-2
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +23/+18 to hit (+27/+22 flanking w/partner), 1d6+17+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier +21/+16 to hit (+25/+21 flanking w/partner), 1d6+17+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
MW MTY Comp Longbow +12 to hit, 1d8+6 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Shock (or other more useful element for the day) Rapier, +4 Mithral Breastplate, +3 Ring of Protection, +4 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +4, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +4 (Perception, Acrobatics), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pink Rhomboid Ioun Stone, Deep Red Sphere Ioun Stone, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
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Schala, Human Magus 14
Str 27
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 20
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 143
AC 28 (17 touch, 25 flat-footed)
Fort: +17
Ref: +13
Will: +12
Initiative: +6
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier), Critical Focus
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike), Heavy Armour, Greater Spell Combat
Skills: Acrobatics +15, Climb +9, Craft[Jewelry] +9, Fly +18, Know[Arcana] +22, Know [Dungeoneering] +18, Know [Planes] +22, Perception +16, Ride + 5, Sense Motive +0, Spellcraft +22, Swim +8, Use Magic Device +15
Concentration: +19 (+25 casting defensively or Spell Combat--autosuccess!)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
5-Cloudkill, Teleport, Overland Flight, Wall of Force
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-7, 2-6, 3-5, 4-5, 5-3
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +25/+20 to hit (+29/+24 flanking w/partner), 1d6+18+1d6+1d6 damage 15-20/x2
Greater Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier same as above
MW MTY Comp Longbow +13 to hit, 1d8+6 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Shock Frost (or two other more useful elements for the day) Rapier, +4 Mithral Breastplate, +3 Ring of Protection, +5 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +4 (Perception, Acrobatics), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pink Rhomboid Ioun Stone, Deep Red Sphere Ioun Stone, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
---------------------------
Schala, Human Magus 15
Str 25
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 20
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 153
AC 29 (17 touch, 26 flat-footed)
Fort: +18
Ref: +15
Will: +13
Initiative: +6
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier), Critical Focus, Disruptive
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike), Heavy Armour, Greater Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Quickened Magic)
Skills: Acrobatics +17, Climb +10, Craft[Jewelry] +10, Fly +20, Know[Arcana] +24, Know [Dungeoneering] +20, Know [Planes] +24, Perception +18, Ride + 6, Sense Motive +1, Spellcraft +24, Swim +9, Use Magic Device +17
Concentration: +20 (+26 casting defensively or Spell Combat--autosuccess!)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
5-Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Telekinesis, Teleport, Overland Flight, Wall of Force
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-7, 2-6, 3-6, 4-5, 5-4
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +27/+22/+17 to hit (+31/+26/+21 flanking w/partner), 1d6+19+1d6+2d6 damage 15-20/x2
Greater Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier same as above
MW MTY Comp Longbow +15 to hit, 1d8+7 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Holy Shock (or some better element for the day) Rapier, +4 Mithral Breastplate, +3 Ring of Protection, +5 Cloak of Resistance, +3 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +4 (Perception, Acrobatics), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pink Rhomboid Ioun Stone, Deep Red Sphere Ioun Stone, Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
---------------------------
Schala, Human Magus 16
Str 26
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 22
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 163
AC 32 (18 touch, 29 flat-footed)
Fort: +20
Ref: +16
Will: +15
Initiative: +6
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier), Critical Focus, Disruptive
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike), Heavy Armour, Greater Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Quickened Magic), Counterstrike
Skills: Acrobatics +19, Climb +11, Craft[Jewelry] +11, Fly +22, Know[Arcana] +26, Know [Dungeoneering] +22, Know [Planes] +26, Perception +20, Ride + 7, Sense Motive +2, Spellcraft +26, Stealth +19, Swim +10, Use Magic Device +19
Concentration: +22 (+28 casting defensively or Spell Combat--autosuccess!)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
5-Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Telekinesis, Teleport, Overland Flight, Wall of Force
6-Greater Dispel Magic, True Seeing
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-7, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, 5-4, 6-2
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +29/+24/+19 to hit (+33/+28/+23 flanking w/partner), 1d6+20+1d6+1d6+2d6 damage 15-20/x2
Greater Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier same as above
MW MTY Comp Longbow +16 to hit, 1d8+7 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Holy Shock Frost (or some better elements for the day) Rapier, +5 Mithral Breastplate, +4 Ring of Protection, +5 Cloak of Resistance, +4 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +6 (Perception, Acrobatics, Stealth), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pink Rhomboid Ioun Stone, Deep Red Sphere Ioun Stone, Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone, Luckstone, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
---------------------------
Schala, Human Magus 17
Str 26
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 22
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 173
AC 34 (19 touch, 31 flat-footed)
Fort: +20
Ref: +16
Will: +15
Initiative: +6
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier), Critical Focus, Disruptive, Greater Weapon Focus (Rapier), Staggering Critical
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike), Heavy Armour, Greater Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Quickened Magic), Bonus Feat, Counterstrike, Bonus Feat
Skills: Acrobatics +20, Climb +11, Craft[Jewelry] +11, Fly +23, Know[Arcana] +27, Know [Dungeoneering] +23, Know [Planes] +27, Perception +21, Ride + 7, Sense Motive +2, Spellcraft +27, Stealth +20, Swim +10, Use Magic Device +20
Concentration: +23 (+29 casting defensively or Spell Combat--autosuccess!)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
5-Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Telekinesis, Teleport, Overland Flight, Wall of Force
6-Disintegrate, Greater Dispel Magic, Mislead, True Seeing
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-7, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, 5-5, 6-3
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +30/+25/+20 to hit (+34/+29/+24 flanking w/partner), 1d6+20+1d6+1d6+2d6 damage 15-20/x2
Greater Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier same as above
MW MTY Comp Longbow +16 to hit, 1d8+7 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Holy Shock Frost (or some better elements for the day) Rapier, +5 Light Fortification Mithral Breastplate, +5 Ring of Protection, Ring of Freedom of Movement, +5 Cloak of Resistance, +5 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +6 (Perception, Acrobatics, Stealth), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pink Rhomboid Ioun Stone, Deep Red Sphere Ioun Stone, Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone, Luckstone, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
---------------------------
Schala, Human Magus 18
Str 26
Dex 19
Con 20
Int 22
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 219
AC 36 (21 touch, 31 flat-footed)
Fort: +23
Ref: +19
Will: +16
Initiative: +8
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier), Critical Focus, Disruptive, Greater Weapon Focus (Rapier), Staggering Critical
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike), Heavy Armour, Greater Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Quickened Magic), Bonus Feat, Counterstrike, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Reflection)
Skills: Acrobatics +23, Climb +13, Craft[Jewelry] +11, Fly +26, Know[Arcana] +28, Know [Dungeoneering] +24, Know [Planes] +28, Perception +22, Ride + 9, Sense Motive +2, Spellcraft +28, Stealth +23, Swim +12, Use Magic Device +21
Concentration: +24 (+30 casting defensively or Spell Combat--autosuccess!)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
5-Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Telekinesis, Teleport, Overland Flight, Wall of Force
6-Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Forceful Hand, Greater Dispel Magic, Mislead, True Seeing
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-7, 2-7, 3-6, 4-6, 5-5, 6-4
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +31/+26/+21 to hit (+35/+30/+25 flanking w/partner), 1d6+20+1d6+1d6+2d6 damage 15-20/x2
Greater Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier same as above
MW MTY Comp Longbow +19 to hit, 1d8+7 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Holy Shock Frost (or some better elements for the day) Rapier, +5 Moderate Fortification Mithral Breastplate, +5 Ring of Protection, Ring of Freedom of Movement, +5 Cloak of Resistance, +5 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Physical Perfection +6, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +6 (Perception, Acrobatics, Stealth), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone, Luckstone, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
---------------------------
Schala, Human Magus 19
Str 31
Dex 19
Con 20
Int 22
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 231
AC 36 (21 touch, 31 flat-footed)
Fort: +23
Ref: +19
Will: +16
Initiative: +8
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier), Critical Focus, Disruptive, Greater Weapon Focus (Rapier), Staggering Critical, Power Attack
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike), Heavy Armour, Greater Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Quickened Magic), Bonus Feat, Counterstrike, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Reflection), Weapon Call
Skills: Acrobatics +24, Climb +15, Craft[Jewelry] +11, Fly +27, Know[Arcana] +29, Know [Dungeoneering] +25, Know [Planes] +29, Perception +23, Ride + 9, Sense Motive +2, Spellcraft +29, Stealth +24, Swim +14, Use Magic Device +22
Concentration: +25 (+31 casting defensively or Spell Combat--autosuccess (even if the enemy has Disruptive)!)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
5-Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Telekinesis, Teleport, Overland Flight, Wall of Force
6-Acid Fog, Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Forceful Hand, Greater Dispel Magic, Mislead, Transformation, True Seeing
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-7, 2-7, 3-6, 4-6, 5-6, 6-5
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +34/+29/+24 to hit (+38/+33/+28 flanking w/partner), 1d6+22+1d6+1d6+2d6 damage 15-20/x2
Greater Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier same as above
MW MTY Comp Longbow +20 to hit, 1d8+7 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Holy Shock Frost (or some better elements for the day) Rapier, +5 Moderate Fortification Mithral Breastplate, +5 Ring of Protection, Ring of Freedom of Movement, +5 Cloak of Resistance, +5 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Physical Perfection +6, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +6 (Perception, Acrobatics, Stealth), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone, Luckstone, Manual of Gainful Exercise +5, random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
---------------------------
Schala, Human True Magus 20
Str 32
Dex 20
Con 24
Int 22
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 283
AC 37 (22 touch, 31 flat-footed)
Fort: +26
Ref: +20
Will: +17
Initiative: +9
Feats: Combat Casting, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Rapier), Dodge, Arcane Strike, Outflank, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Rapier), Weapon Specialisation (Rapier), Critical Focus, Disruptive, Greater Weapon Focus (Rapier), Staggering Critical, Power Attack
Traits: Desperate Focus, Heirloom Weapon
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador), Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault), Fighter Training, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Dispelling Strike), Heavy Armour, Greater Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Quickened Magic), Bonus Feat, Counterstrike, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Reflection), Weapon Call, True Magus
Skills: Acrobatics +26, Climb +16, Craft[Jewelry] +11, Fly +29, Know[Arcana] +30, Know [Dungeoneering] +26, Know [Planes] +30, Perception +24, Ride + 9, Sense Motive +2, Spellcraft +30, Stealth +26, Swim +15, Use Magic Device +23
Concentration: +26 (caring about the casting defensively bonus is for losers)
Spells:
1-Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Grease, Mount, Obscuring Mist, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2-Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Web
3-Displacement, Haste, Fireball, Fly, Phantom Steed, Sleet Storm
4-Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
5-Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Telekinesis, Teleport, Overland Flight, Wall of Force
6-Acid Fog, Chain Lightning, Contagious Flame, Disintegrate, Forceful Hand, Greater Dispel Magic, Mislead, Sirocco, Transformation, True Seeing
Spells per Day: 0-5, 1-7, 2-7, 3-6, 4-6, 5-6, 6-6
Attacks:
Heirloom Rapier +35/+30/+25 to hit (+39/+34/+29 flanking w/partner), 1d6+23+1d6+1d6+1d6+2d6 damage 15-20/x2
Greater Spell Combat with Heirloom Rapier same as above
+1 MTYx11 Comp Longbow +22 to hit, 1d8+17 damage 20/x3
Possessions: +5 Holy Shock Frost Flaming (or Speed instead of elements, etc) Rapier, +5 Moderate Fortification Mithral Breastplate, +5 Ring of Protection, Ring of Freedom of Movement, +5 Cloak of Resistance, +5 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow, Belt of Physical Perfection +6, Headband of Dazzling Intellect +6 (Perception, Acrobatics, Stealth), Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone, Luckstone, Manual of Gainful Exercise +5, Manual of Bodily Health +4, Manual of Quickness of Action +1, Pearl of Power (two spells), random gear, paid to scribe an extra level 1 spell, extra gold to save up and buy Stoneskin diamonds
I understand that Wisdom and Charisma are relegated to dump stats quite often, but is there a viable build that does not require a Magus to have the common sense of a red slaad and the personality of a badger (taken from the 3.5 Player's Handbook for a bit of comedic effect really)?
I understand that the Magus is a MAD class (what does the acronym stand for anyway?), but is, say, a build of Str 14, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 10 for an elf or 14, 14, 13, 16, 12, 10 for a human or half-elf a viable option? Something along those lines concerning ability scores anyway. Of course, such a Magus takes a rather big hit when using Spell Combat at lower levels...
Ah, brainstorming! How I love and despise thee... :-)
4. With high Strength score, why use two feats on Rapier?
I think it is probably because of the threat range of 18-20/x2. I guess one could substitute rapier for scimitar in this case, since Strength is the higher ability score and no Weapon Finesse feat is taken. Of course, for wielding a scimitar in one hand, there is that yummy Dervish Dance feat... :-)
Hey guys,
I'm happy to respond about Schala, but I'm going to do so in this new thread in order to keep the density of actual playtest data in this thread as high as possible for Jason's ease of access. Please come over there and check out my answers!
~RE
A few more playtest links.
Here's one from Fiddlersgreen on the MAgus Playtest Thread (since it is in the middle of the thread, I reproduce the text of the post in the spoiler below:
Name of Scenario: Unknown
Party Setup: Level 15, had a Magus instead of a Druid and also known to have a Fighter and a Wizard. The rest is unknown
I decided to skimp on weapons and relied on arcane weapon instead, which worked rather well since I upgraded my gear rather quickly by picking up captured weapons as I went along. After the second day, my weapon was consistently the strongest in the group. Furthermore, improved invisibility meant that I was often hitting flat-footed ACs, which meant that against some enemies, I could hit reliably even without burning spells on Arcane Accuracy.
About 1/3 of my starting wealth went into pearls of power, another 1/4 went into my armour and defensive items, and the rest into stat-boosting items and scrolls and misc items (including lesser metamagic rods of extend and dazing spell). I ended up being alright for defence, though I say my role more as a tactical striker-I'd charge up a spellstrike (intensified shocking grasps were a favourite), let the wizard and fighter mess things up, then use my better mobility to target the more vulnerable enemy targets. Oh and dazing elemental aura worked beautifully too, and actually helped my defence indirectly whilst increasing my damage as well.
Spell combat worked rather well at this level, although I have to admit that I was mostly using intensified shocking grasps (but with the promise of new touch spells coming out, I'm not too worried about this at the moment). Between arcane accuracy and improved invisibility, hitting was not that much of a problem (although the wizard's heroism spells surely helped-but hey, the fighter was relying on those too, so I don't feel bad about that). And concentration was not hard at all.
However, I did find that I was burning spells very quickly, and found myself wishing I'd spent more on pearls of power rather than defensive items.
My conclusions from the test:
1. The magus needs more spell slots, or a "spell pool", and this really should be substantial-certainly more than just level+INT modifier that was suggested somewhere on another thread. Do consider a scaling progression of some sort. We have yet to reach the main BBEG, and I'm already finding that in fights where I decide to go all out, I barely have enough high level spell slots to last a single battle. I was truly dependant on my pearls of power for staying power.
2. In terms of combat power, the magus is certainly strong enough at level 15 (with the important caveat that he can't maintain that power for more than 2 fights at the most, and could foreseeably burn all his power in a single large fight). I am not sure, however, how he fares at lower levels, and I might leave the testing to other players who are in games at those levels.
3. Feedback on the arcana: Improved invisibility was extremely useful in keeping me from becoming over reliant on arcane accuracy, and I imagine that at lower levels, hitting reliably might be a genuine problem. I had to use it constantly when I got glitter-dusted. Hasted assault is practically mandatory at level 9. Dispelling strike is recommended for level 12. Reflection is AWESOME. It will not repel an enemy mage's best spells, but it will certainly make you just about immune to quickened spells (of course, it burns up your spells too, but this goes back to the sustainability problem). Use with spellcraft so you know when to use it, and it will be invaluable. Critical strike...I ended up not testing because I was changing weapons based on what I could find (which was not always a weapon with a wide threat range) and because I thought I would be alot more reliant on arcane accuracy then I ended up being. I could see it being useful if one dedicates himself to using a scimitar or rapier, but not before you get improved invisibility.
4. The Magus does also face a problem with swift action usage. When I was fighting the enemy mage, my use of reflection meant that I could not rely on my other arcanas, which was a problem because he also glitter-dusted me. Perhaps a better capstone would be to allow the Magus 2 swift actions per round, with a caveat that he'd still be capped at 1 quickened spell per round.
5. Overall, a fun class to play, but runs out of juice really quickly. I certainly enjoyed him whilst I had spell slots to burn. Pearls of power are HIGHLY recommended.
And here's another--link here
Name: wakedown's Goblin Rumble
Party Setup:
Party summary - all 1st level:
Human Fighter, Scale, L-Sword & Hvy Shield; Dodge, W-Focus, Toughness; S16 D14 C16; Hp17 AC19; Combat: +5 (1d8+3)
Human Barbarian, Greatsword; Power Attack, Cleave; S18 D14 C14; Hp12, AC15; Combat: +5 (2d6+6) or +7 (2d6+9) raging
Human Cleric of Erastil (Growth,Fur); MWP Greataxe, Lighting Reflexes; Spells: Bless, Shield of Faith, Enlarge; Domain: Enlarge (swift), +10ft speed (swift); S14 W16 Ch14; Hp10, AC14;Combat: +2 (1d12+3)
Elf Magus; Rapier, Leather; S12 C12 D16 I16; W Finesse; Hp9, AC15; Spells: Color Spray, Shocking Grasp;Combat: +3 (1d6+1)
Half-Elf Alchemist; Dagger, Leather; S14 C12 D12 I16; Point Blank; Hp9 AC13; Mutagen, Cure Lt, Shield; Combat: +2 (1d4+2)
Encounters/Analysis: See linked thread.
I understand that the Magus is a MAD class (what does the acronym stand for anyway?)
Multiple Attribute Dependency
You can also use MADS class (Multiple Attribute Dependency Syndrome) as it's almost a disease once you have it. There's no cure, and it's painful your entire life.
Ah, finally! Thank you kindly mate. I had figured out the meaning, but not what the acronym actually stood for. :-)
Ah, finally! Thank you kindly mate. I had figured out the meaning, but not what the acronym actually stood for. :-)
No problem.
Here's another playtest link
Name: IkeDoe's level 1 to 2 Gauntlet
Party Setup: A Magus and a Fighter, level 1 and then 2 (full details on the thread)
Encounters/Analysis: See other thread.
Thanks for pulling this together Rogue.
Making my life easier gets you +1 points.
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing(( points have no value and cannot be redeemed for anything... ))
:)
No problem! I can only imagine what it would be like working on the Bestiary 2 all day only to come back and see all the threads with all the strong opinions and insults and try to find the ones with playtests. Hopefully this thread will continue to be dense with links to playtest data that will make it easier to see the consensus in play.
Good luck and keep drinking those potions of Barkskin!
~RE
I started a thread a long time ago asking for exactly this. Thanks for compiling the data. I will probably read this thread if nothing else from the playtest forums.
I hope all the playtest posters latch on to this as a way of ensuring Jason reviews their contributions. Thanks again.
I started a thread a long time ago asking for exactly this. Thanks for compiling the data. I will probably read this thread if nothing else from the playtest forums.
I hope all the playtest posters latch on to this as a way of ensuring Jason reviews their contributions. Thanks again.
Ah yes yes--you were the "smart people" I mentioned in my OP who had the thread with "good ideas". Sorry for failing to credit you properly!
Ah yes yes--you were the "smart people" I mentioned in my OP who had the thread with "good ideas". Sorry for failing to credit you properly!
Many others gave valuable feedback.
On with the playtest reports!
Not to steal Rogue Eidolon's thunder (or toot my own horn) but here is the playtest data I gathered from my magus-as-villain encounter tonight.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Brief Description / Name of Published Module a slightly up-leveled outtake from Hook Mountain Massacre (dropped into my Kingmaker campaign), lower level of Fort Rannick - a 10th level magus (modified from Rogue Eidolon's Schalla sample character) was added as a buddy for Lucinda.
The magus in use, as an NPC, had no traits and NPC-grade gear (more or less), though he did have whatever PC point-buy stat array Rogue Eidolon used (20 pts I assume), as I was mostly using the magus 10 that s/he posted:
Schalla II, Human Magus 10
Str 20 (24 with bull's strength)
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 18
Wis 7
Cha 7
Hit Points: 83
AC 20 (12 touch, 19 flat-footed)
Fort: +10
Ref: +7
Will: +6
Initiative: +1
Feats: Arcane Strike, Combat Casting, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword), Intensify Spell, Step Up, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (bastard sword)
Class Abilities: Spellstrike, Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Familiar--Alfador)*, Arcane Weapon, Bonus Feat, Magus Arcana (Empowered Magic), Medium Armour, Improved Spell Combat, Magus Arcana (Hasted Assault)*, Fighter Training
Skills: Climb +9, Craft[Jewelry] +8, Fly +13, Know[Arcana] +17, Know [Dungeoneering] +13, Know [Planes] +17, Perception +12, Ride + 4, Spellcraft +17, Swim +8, Use Magic Device +11
Concentration: +12 (+18 casting defensively or Spell Combat)
Spells Prepared:
1-Color Spray, Enlarge Person, Grease, Hydraulic Push, Shield, Shocking Grasp
2-Bull's Strength, Glitterdust, Mirror Image, Intensified Shocking Grasp (x2)
3-Displacement, Elemental Aura (I used acid), Haste, Fly
4-Fire Shield (I used cold flames), Stoneskin
Attacks: Using Arcane Strike (+3) and Arcane Weapon (keen, frost) base attack (+7) STR (+7 with BS) and WF (+1):
Single Attack (Vital Strike/Spellstrike): +18, 2d10+13+1d6 cold, 17-20/x2
Full Attack + Spell Combat: +16/+11, 1d10+13+1d6 cold, 17-20/x2
Possessions: +1 bastard sword (functioning as +3 keen frost in his hands), +1 chain mail, +1 Ring of Protection, +1 Cloak of Resistance, +1 Amulet of Natural Armour, MW MTY Comp Longbow (never used), Headband of Dazzling Intellect +2 (Perception), scroll of greater invisibility (CL 7)
Brief Info on the Party Setup
Irena - halfling barbarian 2/fighter 8 (halfling sling staff specialist)
Pierre - halfling barbarian 1/sorcerer 9 (air elemental bloodline)
Gersemi - dwarf fighter 4/cleric 6 (Pharasma, waraxe specialist)
Lilly - half-elf rogue 5/bard 5
plus a couple of NPCs
Shalelu - elf fighter 4/ranger 3 (archer spec)
Jakardros - human ranger 8 (TWF spec)
Kaven - human ranger 3/rogue 4 (archer spec)
Series of Summaries of Battles/Situations with Analysis of Magus
The PCs had been making a series of hit-and-run raids on Fort Rannick but also had a traitor in their midst. The party eventually decided to hole up in a rope trick in the tunnels under the fort. The traitor left a message for Lucinda and she sent in the magus, her hired gun, to take care of the PCs.
ENCOUNTER #1: Battle inside the rope trick
Pierre, Gersemi, Jakardros on watch, others asleep.
Fighting inside a rope trick brought up interesting questions about how big it is; after talking with a few other folks I decided that the RT was exactly as big as it needed to be; that is, it existed insofar as the spaces of the creatures inside it. The space within had to be adjacent to the rope. Creatures could move around but had to stay adjacent (side-to-side) to other creatures - basically, every space had to stay contiguous with at least one other (and at least one space touching the rope). Think of it like a battle taking place inside a giant sausage casing. Long story short: The battle was cramped (no chance to pop off AoE effects without hitting party members).
Following the traitor's note, the magus cast the following buffs: stoneskin, mirror image, bull's strength, shield, fly, fire shield, greater invis (scroll) and the PCs didn't roll high enough on perception to notice him. He entered the rope trick and snuck invisibly through the traitor's square (in my version, Jakardros turns out to be the traitor, as Lucinda uses his tragic backstory to manipulate him) and ends up next to Pierre.
SURPRISE ROUND: One big spellstrike/vital strike stab vs. Pierre with intensified shocking grasp + arcana empower = lots of damage; 51 from the spell (Pierre has electricity res 20) plus 24 more from stabbies (Pierre also had false life).
ROUND 1: Lilly wakes up and, assessing that there's an invisible person around doing big damage glitterdusts the entire party (except herself), revealing the magus. All three NPCs are blinded. Kaven ends up blinded for the entire combat. Irena attacks from prone (to avoid standing and getting AoOed) and plinks off some images.
Gersemi moves around RT to attack position, natural 20... vs. an image. Pierre steps back to cast... and the magus uses Step Up. Pierre is glitterdusted so can't go invisible (his first choice) so defensively casts scorching ray (electric damage).
ROUND 2: Lilly steps away and casts magic missile (failed Spellcraft check to recognize the shield spell). Irena stays on the ground and keeps attacking.
Shalelu fires arrow and misses. Jakardros reveals his treachery and flanks and full attacks Pierre. Hits only once. Kaven cowers, blinded.
Gersemi moves to attack and hits and image, then vs. stoneskin, taking cold damage from fire shield. Pierre uses electric ray again.
ROUND 3: Lilly steps away and does bardic music. Irena attacks from prone and hits, stoneskin blocks damage, she takes cold damage (that 1d6+10 no save on every hit started adding up).
Shalelu fires arrow, hits (stoneskin blocks). Jakardros full attacks Pierre and hits once but provides flanking for magus next turn.
Gersemi drinks a curing potion. Pierre... I don't remember what he did this round! :)
There's a little fuzzy memory around PCs actions on rounds 4-5, but for the magus, ROUND 4:
The party starts to get worried. Jakardros isn't doing much damage but he's a distracting and flanking threat to help the magus. Pierre delays, and after Gersemi cured Irena back positive, on her turn she attacked the magus again, hitting and doing damage but getting knocked back negative by fire shield damage.
At this point, before the magus' turn on ROUND 5, Pierre uses action points to get an extra action, which he uses to dismiss the rope trick. He then moves into position and dimension doors away with Irena, Gersemi, Lilly, and Shalelu, leaving the magus, Jakardros, and the still blind (and whining) Kaven behind.
Final Analysis, Thoughts, and Suggestions
1. Obviously, the encounter setup was favorable for the magus, cuz he got to buff and the party, for the most part, did not.
2. The cramped space favored the magus because it forced melee (although characters could have exited the RT via the rope at any time, they could not have participated much in combat).
3. Glitterdusting the party inconvenienced the sorcerer but was a godsend vs. the otherwise greater-invis magus.
4. This magus was built to basically dare the PCs to melee him, with damaging effects for hitting him (fire shield) or even being close to him (elemental aura), avoid hits (MI, disp, shield), and frustrating their attacks even when they hit (stoneskin). He WANTS to be in melee with you, and inside the rope trick he could keep the party from getting too far away.
5. The magus did not use all of his stuff..
BATTLE 2: Lucrecia's lair
The party retreated but decided to cure up and then return to press the attack. The bad guys (and Kaven) retreated to Lucrecia's place to cure up (she can do a little curing) and set up a new fight.
I'm getting sleepy so this'll be much shorter and focus on the magus:
He used grease along with Lucrecia's illusion to set up a trap for PCs coming into her chamber through an illusionary door and wall while he lay in wait with a readied attack. Unfortunately, the person who actually came through the wall was Pierre under greater invisibility (couldn't see him, so no AoO), who also made his save vs. the grease and turned around and left the room back through the illusionary wall.
The magus was still flying but had now used enlarge person to get better reach. During the fight he used spell combat to use hydraulic push to shove Irena down the hallway outside the room (and domino-bull rushed her into Pierre), but really I should've done it the other way; bull rushed them *INTO* the room (and into the area of the grease). He had already cast a glitterdust through the wall when he heard the invisible Pierre walking around and talking to other PCs/casting spells.
The magus also hasted himself and his two allies, which was quite a handy boost.
When the party's fighters clustered, he used Spell Combat to drop a color spray on them (everybody saved).
He eventually got whacked by Pierre just spamming fireballs through the illusionary wall into the room while Gersemi blocked the corridor (she was also flying so he couldn't move over the top of her).
The illusionary wall proved interesting for the battle, as it blocked line of sight and the two sides were basically attacking through it blindly - even after they disbelieved, the illusion was still there; they just knew it wasn't real and not solid, but it still blocked LOS. So all of the fighting was 50% miss chance. Blind fight would've come in handy. That dragged out the fighter end of the fight on both sides, to the point where 3 fireballs later (and no more cold flames fire shield to prevent fire damage) the magus went down.
Final Analysis, Thoughts, and Suggestions
1. For a class able to use energy attack spells, I was surprised to see resist/protection from energy weren't on the magus spell list.
2. More touch spells for the magus to use with spellstrike please!
3. By the end of 2 fights the magus was mostly outta gas. He still had Arcane Strike and Arcane Weapon, but that was about it. I think he cast every spell.
4. The PCs' ACs were pretty decent, in the high 20's for the most part (Lilly's was in the low 20's in the first fight, but buffed up to AC 28 for the second.)
The magus' concentraction checks were near-automatic for spell combat. At low levels, I know it's much harder, but at 10th it was a non-issue.
The ability to cast and full attack was fun, easy to use, and very effective, as you could cast defensive spells (displacement) and attack, cast area attack spells (color spray) and attack, cast touch attack spells (shocking grasp) and attack, or cast offense/defense spells (elemental aura) and still attack. It's a tempting option, and leads you to burn up your spells pretty fast.
I thought the ability worked fine. Thumbnail summary:
1. A 10th-level magus with PC stats but NPC-level gear (i.e., about 1/4 what a PC has) kicked the crap out of a party of 10th level PCs (with a couple of underleveled and under-geared mooks on the PC side and one on his side) - HOWEVER, in a constrained melee environment and having a buffing advantage. He had the advantage in prep, they had the advantage of numbers, actions, and a heavy edge in gear.
2. In the second fight, with the party now fully buffed and with him with another ally (and some of his buffs still running) and he still held his own quite well and dished out pretty big damage with his enlarged bastard sword (2d8+15+1d6 two-handed, +11 one-handed).
3. If there had been a third fight, he'd be a backline fighter and that would be it as soon as his longer buffs ran out.
So, that's my playtest report.
Not to steal Rogue Eidolon's thunder (or toot my own horn) but here is the playtest data I gathered from my magus-as-villain encounter tonight.
Not at all--thanks so much for doing the work of posting the link for me!
And thanks to Jason N. for using my format from above and the Schala build (the first use of it to my knowledge in actual playtest)--glad it worked out well for you!
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Greetings,
I know that the Bulmahn is a male, but I would still deign to assist him in the betterment of my Class and so I give this Playtest report of my endeavours this past night.
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Module: The Skinsaw Murders
Exploring Foxglove's Townhouse and The Seven's Sawmill
Party Setup: 5th Level Party
Paladin
Rogue
Swashbuckler (Tome of Secrets)
Fighter
Arcane Bloodline Sorcerer
Priest of Sarenrae (Tome of Secrets)
and Me
Battles and Party Contribution:
Unfortunately I missed the battle in Foxglove's Townhouse as three of us (the Lawful ones - Paladin, Fighter and Me) went to request assistance from the authorities in gaining entrance to the dwelling lawfully. While we were gone, the rest simply helped themselves and fought what lay within without us.
We have however fought one group of four Skinsaw Cultists (and I believe we are about to fight another), so I will relate that battle to you:
Paladin was tied up the entire battle by the water wheels machinery. :(
Rogue didn't do anything in the battle.
Swashbuckler helped take out one Cultist and then attempted to help rescue the Paladin.
Fighter helped take out two Cultists.
Sorcerer cast two poorly rolled Magic Missiles.
Priest also helped take out two Cultists.
And I took out one Cultist alone, although it wasn't as quick as it should have been.
Final Analysis, Thoughts, and Suggestions:
While it wasn't much of a fight, I still noticed a few things.
1) At early levels, it can be difficult to make the Concentration check needed to properly pull off Spell Combat. As such I believe that it is vital that a Magus take Combat Casting. As such I feel that they should receive this Feat for free at 1st or 2nd level, since one shouldn't have to spend a Feat slot on something that practically every Magus needs to take.
2) While I ended up making the Concentration Check, I didn't make the Attack Roll to hit. :(
I know it gets better, but -4 to hit makes using Spell Comabt fail more often than it works. I managed to hit the following round no problem and insta killed my opponent using the Shocking Grasp I cast the round before, but casting in one round and then hitting in the next is poor resource management when I simply could have cast the Shocking Grasp and (probably) killed the guy vs. Touch AC in one round rather than wait and try it against using his regular AC in the next.
3) I didn't cast my buffs for the fight because with the few buffs I had available, I didn't want to waste them in case we came up against something harder upstairs.
4) My biggest problem was the lack of Touch Spells available to use with Spellstrike. I realize you've stated that more Touch spells will be available in Ultimate Magic, I still can't see there being the amount necessary to give me the flexibility and choice I need when using pretty much the core ability of my Class. I think that a few of the existing ones should definately be included (Touch of Fatigue and Vampiric Touch I'm looking at you specifically) on the Spell List.
I'm also wondering why Energy Resistance selections weren't abvailable?
Also regarding Spells, I am questioning why a number of the ones on my Class List are there (Beast Shape and Elemantal Body for starters).
Why Invisibility but no Vanish?
I also realize that it treads on the Summoners toes a little, but I think Summon Monster might be a good inclusion as well.
All in all I wasn't happy with some aspects of my performance, but since I insta killed my opponent (not counting the time it took me to do so) when I did hit, I didn't think I went to shabby either.
P.S. If you hadn't figured it out, this Alias is the Character I used and has everything included as I played it. :)
Thanks for putting things together here, rogue. Incidentally, w.r.t. my playtest, we also had a cleric in the mix. So it was a 4-man team with cleric, fighter, wizard and druid(replaced temporarily by a magus). All in all, it was a decent mix (though we felt the pain of lacking a rogue from time to time).
I might post a more detailed run-through of our playtest later, but for now I'd just like to post a summary of the 2 main observations I've made about the magus thus far from the playtests thus far. Hopefully some of this will be helpful to Jason as he considers the playtests.
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1. The Magus comes into his own at later levels, although some reports have him under-performing at lower levels. From psionichamster's post, it appears that he can still be a decent contributor at lower levels too.
=> Perhaps it might be worth considering rearranging his abilities rather than adding to them (spell combat might come in later since it is difficult to use effectively at lower levels, whilst arcane weapon might be given earlier if he seems to consistently underperform at lower levels).
2. The magus has a sustainability problem, by all reports. Most playthroughs that give positive feedback about the Magus seem to involve him using his abilities. Alot. But doing so quickly drains his limited number of spell slots. This can be offset by pearls of power, but I reckon this at least should be solved by adding a class ability.
=> I would suggest a number of "generic" spell slots that correspond (not necessarily 1-1) with the spell slots he gets for preparing spells, only they can't be used for actual spells, but only for powering arcana. This gives him a range of power to cater to the situations at hand rather than allowing him to expend all his power in a single fight, then being relegated to being a bench-warmer once that pool runs out. If nothing else, it will aid newer players in resource-management, which Magus-players will need, as well as making players less leery of using that extra resource (which will probably end up making their experience more fun).
3. For the most part, the Magus appears to work fine, and I congratulate the Paizo crew on the job they've done. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, as it were, when only minor tweaks are necessary.
=>But do not forget (as if you could) to shore up his options with new spells. Also, let us not forget the Eldritch Knight lurking in the background-I suspect that most of the new spells for the magus also be appreciated by the Eldritch Knights out there. Also, since both classes have access to fighter-feats, perhaps a couple of feats that require both caster levels and fighter levels, and that allow them to better-meld their abilities, might be worth considering. Off-the-cuff, perhaps a feat to address the "MAD-issue" raised by some might be worth considering.
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Fighting inside a rope trick brought up interesting questions about how big it is; after talking with a few other folks I decided that the RT was exactly as big as it needed to be; that is, it existed insofar as the spaces of the creatures inside it. The space within had to be adjacent to the rope. Creatures could move around but had to stay adjacent (side-to-side) to other creatures - basically, every space had to stay contiguous with at least one other (and at least one space touching the rope). Think of it like a battle taking place inside a giant sausage casing. Long story short: The battle was cramped (no chance to pop off AoE effects without hitting party members).
There's a Map Pack for this...
Brief Description / Name of Published Module - War of the Burning Sky, The Indomitable Fire Forest (levels 3-5)
Brief Info on the Party Setup - Party consists of, all lvl 3 using 25 point buy: Human Paladin of Cayden Cailean, Aasimar Cleric of Pharasma, Half-elf Shifter Ranger, Human Diviner, and Elven Magus. We were using the critical hit cards, but I ran the numbers without them for playtest data.
Eteran Briyojh, Elven Magus 3
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 10. Chain Mail. AC 18 (22 when shielded)
Traits : Warrior of Old (+2 Initiative) Gifted Adept (+1 caster level on one spell, in this case Shocking Grasp).
Feats : Weapon Finesse, Dervish Dance.
Scimitar +6, 1d6+4 18-20 Crit range.
Important Spells - Daze, Touch of Fatigue, Shocking Grasp, Shield.
Magus Arcana - Concentrate seems like a no brainer her.
Build Notes - Increased threat range on a scimitar for my spellstrikes? Why yes I will. Also, Dervish Dance lets you reduce the MAD issue somewhat, and allows you to keep a healthy dex for ranged touch attacks as well.
Battle
Series of Summaries of Battles/Situations with Analysis of Magus
Battle One, The ghast's tree
Oh hey look at that, it's a tree with a dead body in it. We should poke it with a stick! AGGGH its alive! It's a Ghast!
1st round - (Scimitar "charged" with shocking grasp) Spell combat, to hit misses, Daze lands however, and our ghastly opponent misses his next action.
2nd round - wait a tick, what's that nois.... 9 skeletons raise from the earth around the tree. ho boy. Cleric channels, wiping the board clean of skeletons and the paladin clobbers the Ghast.
1st combat impressions - The to hit penalty for spell combat seemed a little daunting to me at first, mostly because I was concerned about not having taken combat casting (which would be my next feat choice, by the way). Spell combat worked though, and I took a good hard look at the cantrips for the first time in a long time.
Battle Two, Flaming Goblins! Not the fabulous variety, mind you.
6 goblins and a shaman in a cave (Goblins have the following special rule - When killed, they rise from the dead one round later unless doused with water. Each may only do this once)
Round One - come here you little (Spellstrike hits on a total of 17) 25 damage! Hot damn! (19 Electric, 5 Slashing).
Round Two - Spell Combat casting failed, used concentrate, recast shocking grasp and used.... Spellstrike to deal 25 damage again. (17 Electric, 8 Slashing)
Round Three - Spell combat misses on both attempts.
Second Combat Impressions - Spellstrike, I love you. I did take some damage from a burning hands spell, and a critical hit from a gob, but survivability wasn't an issue so far. Burst damage is the name of the game with the Magus so far.
Third Combat
More goblins (9 of them with an additional shaman and chieftain)
Combat went easily, spent the first two rounds lobbing cantrips (ray of frost, acid splash). The most noticeable thing that happened was two critical hits...
Critical Hit One, Spellstrike with Shocking Grasp - 42 Damage (18 Slashing, 26 Electric)
Critical Hit Two, Spellstrike with Touch of Fatigue - 14 Damage.
Final Analysis, Thoughts, and Suggestions
At level 3 Magus is an effective burst damage supplier. Access to the knowledge skills can really help out, and you've got a high int. Spellstrike with a high threat range weapon is fantastic from the get-go, Spell Combat is useful. With a few more levels and combat casting any hesitation to use Spell Combat would go right out the window. Personally I liked that it wasn't a sure thing right off the bat, you are a low level character after all and dice rolls are supposed to matter.
I can't see a reason NOT to take the following (mechanically) : Weapon Finesse, Dervish Dance, and Magus Arcana Concentrate. Some of the other Arcana were cool but they were all higher level and I couldn't justify sacrificing a spell at lower levels for a +1 to hit or to my AC. There needs to be another good option for the first Magus Arcana pick, just for variety.
All in all, it was noted that the Magus was useful to the party, I had fun playing it, and it DID fill a niche that no other single class fills.
I think that it would flow into Duelist fantastically, by the way (mind you, dervish dance makes your scimitar a piercing weapon).
GM Perspective: Council of Thieves: The Sixfold Trial
Party: Dwarf Inquisitor 4 (Asmodean worshipper, Fire domain), Human Wizard 4 (Generalist), Halfling Cleric 4 (Irori, Knowledge/Rune Domains), Human Magus 4 (Converted from Fighter 1 / Wizard 3)
One of my Council of Thieves players has converted his Fighter/Mage into a magus at level 4. He took Combat Casting, Arcane Strike, and Power Attack. (Human, 1st, and 3rd level feats)
He's currently wielding a +1 Bastard sword. I'm granting him the proficiency since he had been using a greatsword until this point. In the end it's an effective +1 damage from the longsword a magus has default proficiency with.
Character was actually rolled, so his stats are admittedly higher than most. The relevant ones being an 18 strength and a 15 (possibly 16 after leveling to 4) intelligence. I will get a character sheet copy from him sometime in the next few days. He has fairly high stats in con/dex as well (+2/+3), but that shouldn't effect how the class plays round to round but rather whether it can take a hit. Many of my players rolled fairly well in this game.
Series of Summaries of Battles
We had ended the previous session after the party jumped into the cell block after room B5 in the Asmodean Knot. The inquisitor did a bang-up job of roleplaying his character and managed to completely outmaneuver the devil in the cell block, and I rewarded him with a rather fun weapon that many GM's of the series should agree belongs in the hands of an Asmodean Inquisitor!
They quickly continued on to the pool room with the magus in front. They opened the door and did not enter the room. (Cautious players. They know I tend to bump CR's up to keep them on their toes.) Cleric decides to throw a stone into the water, initiating combat with 3 lacedons and a lacedon ghast.
The magus is currently at the choke point, and the inquisitor is 5ft behind him with his shiny new reach weapon. The cleric is behind the inquisitor, and the wizard behind all of them. This being 5 ft corridors, the magus is plugging the gap. The magus immediately is paralyzed by a lucky shot from the ghast for two rounds. (This becomes a theme. I thoroughly beat the Magus down all day. Player loved the attention.) The Inquisitor, Cleric, and Wizard manage to decimate half the encounter in two rounds with his shiny new intelligent weapon that outright loves him and isn't forcing ego checks at all. (Match made in Avernus, I tell you.) The magus unparalyzes with a ghast still standing and two hand chops it into dust.
The players then manage to work their way down the slippery tunnel after the pool room via some quick use of knotted ropes, and end up doing the various "Phobia" rooms. Most of this is taken care of by the wizard and magus's store of burning hands scrolls (Considering we still had a wizard in the party I allowed him to keep scrolls he had made prior to conversion to keep conversion simple.) It's good to know what happens when a wizard and magus work together. And what happens is charred spider swarms, several burned snakes (Inquisitor with a reach weapon helped quite a bit there too), a decent amount of fried stirge, and several elementals cleaved in half by two handed bastard sword swings. Then again, the phobia chamber isn't exactly difficult.
They get their commune questions for beating the trials, and I give them the 5 word long answer version because yes/no questions suck and it's a storyline reward. They find out that "The outcast king" is the strongest monster in the knot, and that the outcast king guards the vault.
They then backtrack to the chain sphere floating over the infernal pit fiend engine room. Magus gets clipped by the chain sphere and grappled, and the party commences beating the sphere down. I made this more aggressive than it should have been because I want them to feel a little guilty come book 4. Anyway, the Inquisitor critically sundered it with the intelligent glaive, breaking the grapple, and the magus managed to get a shocking grasp/broadsword strike off on the thing, which more or less slagged it. A second shot from the inquisitor ended the fight.
The players then entered the heart of the knot. I run the heart of the knot a little differently, and this is relevant to how the Magus did his thing. I run the knot as a 16 story spiral staircase that loops back upon itself. IE, you can actually see floor 15 under floor 16, and floor 16 under floor 1. The catch is the spiral stairs never let you climb between levels. You end up back where you started. Hooray for the labyrinth physics of the asmodean knot. You have to jump between levels or use the doors on the level (which follow the layout of the map). Whenever anyone moves between levels, I roll for doors opening and closing.
So as you might imagine, this room is built to split the party between different floors. Imagine the scooby doo scenes where the party is running into and out of doors at varying places in a hallway and none of them make sense. This is what we're channeling. Eventually, the magus is carrying the halfling on his back to keep the healer near him, and the inquisitor and wizard who have been forcibly separated from the party are attempting to get back to their friends.
Which is when the tiefling assassin who has been plotting their demise strikes. She's invisible, and I've changed her feats a little and given her greater trip progression because I want to see if I can knock the halfling off the edge for fun. (He gets saves to hit the lip each level and the gravity doesn't accelerate nearly as fast as normal. I'm not trying to kill him, just split them up a bit because an assassin shadowdancer WOULD.) Anyway, she trips the magus and then opportunity attacks him. He's flatfooted so she gets a sneak attack in, punching a kidney for nearly half his HP in damage. The Cleric manages to catch the lip of the stairwell. Everyone rolls initiative.
The assassin wins intitiative, and stabs the magus in the other kidney. Oh, and he's failed his poison save and takes some strength damage. He's now sitting at 2 HP and is taking strength damage. However, the wizard and inquisitor know there's a fight on, as they're in the same room just 5 floors up (roughly 100 feet up). Inquisitor fires a crossbow at her and hits her (She's not expecting fire from that direction and is flat footed against it) The wizard looks at me, smiles, and says "I cast Blindness on her!" and I roll a 2. Wizard gets massive accolades from the entire table, and shouts at the assassin "If you're really nice, lady, I MIGHT dismiss that."
Magus stands up, as does cleric, smiles at me and says "I just got stabbed in both kidneys. Screw neutral good, I'm neutral PISSED-OFF. I spell combat a shocking grasp and slash her!" She's blind, so he naturally hits her low low AC after flat footedness, taking her from 10 damage to less than half of her 71 HP. Assassin takes attacks of opportunity from everyone as she chugs a gaseous form potion, and a round of combat later she's at 60 something damage. She manages to escape under the stairs, but the neutral pissed off magus walks across the floor and hard casts a scorching ray into her, which knocks her unconscious and sends her falling for 2d6 points of damage to the next floor and brings her to EXACTLY negative constitution. Cleric manages to stabilize her, and they spend an hour making sure she won't die and clapping her in manacles of cooperation. Unconscious target can have fun with no saving throw.
I say that in the hour they've managed to explore the crazy room enough to get a feel for it and just lay it out because there's no longer any reason to bog gameplay down with it since the encounter is clear. They then head to the waste pit with the water elemental. They almost fall down the stairs, but the wizard and magus prepared feather fall that morning. (I love having good players.)
The wizard uses the levitate wand he found earlier to levitate the inquisitor, who carries the cleric over the water. The Magus has boots of spider climbing and walks horizontally along the edge of the pool. The Wizard wisely stays at the mouth of the room far far away from danger. The water elemental strikes the inquisitor and cleric as they float towards the island with the symbol on it, and drags them into the filthy water. The Magus gets initiative and takes a flying two handed sword strike into the water from above, and does a fair bit of damage to the elemental since it's still above the water. The elemental activates a vortex and sucks down everyone except the Magus who reflex saves out. The Magus manages to swim to the island and unleash a scorching ray which the water elemental fails to drench. The cleric commands the elemental to "fall" more or less ending the whirlpool effect and the wizard finishes levitates both of them out of the water. A few more attacks go by, the Magus misses most of his, and the water elemental tries to knock them all back into the water. The wizard ends this one by hitting the pool with a shocking grasp once everyone is clear of the water.
The party decides to bunker down in the phobia room with the fairly friendly Imp, and takes a full night's rest. They know there's an alternate exit down here somewhere (and I had denied them the ability to retreat through the main doors because they'd had it too easy in the play. Like I said, they're good players. Gotta up the ante sometimes.)
They bypass the mummy encounter because the inquisitor is holding the glaive bearing its master's spirit. They coup de gras it to release the thing and finally head in to deal with the outcast king.
I heavily modified the outcast king, giving it the grab special ability with its tentacles and upgrading its longswords to bastard swords (Because my magus player is using bastard swords and no one is using longswords, and damned if the Inquisitor gets an intelligent weapon and the magus doesn't get squat.)
Anyway, the outcast king fight goes fairly well but it's here that I realize something is wrong with the Magus spellstrike ability. The wizard casts invisibility and enlarge person on the Magus (they know which room the outcast king is in from some very well worded communing with the imp). The magus opens the door but is invisible and manages to win initiative and get inside along with the Inquisitor (who it appears opened the door) before the mobs get to react. The mobs blast out of the water and assault the Inquisitor. My players being badasses, they think ahead and most of my attacks are turned aside by armor and protection from evil deflection bonuses. Over the course of this fight, which was rather involved, the Magus was going to run into a problem. He could not land a hit with spell combat. I realized this when he rolled a 12 and wouldn't have landed his attack by 4 or 5. Considering he's already having to defensive cast most turns to charge the strike, I was not happy with this. Until this point it hadn't been a real problem but the touch AC on this thing was 10. Shocking grasp is one of the spells that is designed to wreck this thing.
So I immediately houseruled that spellstrike will discharge the touch spell if the melee attack lands on touch, even if the weapon doesn't make it through. This immediately solved every major flow problem with the magus we'd been experiencing. Suddenly the magus consistently started putting out 12-25 damage per round depending on whether the spell landed, the melee weapon landed but the spell fizzled, or whether the spell and melee landed, or whether the spell and melee fizzle/missed or whether the entire thing crit and dear god something got liquified. (That poor lemure). The Inquisitor managed to killshot the thing with the intelligent weapon and I gave it an appropriately cinematic death, and then watched my players drool over the various awesome loot. Session ends.
So, 8 total combat encounters.
Ghasts: Magus got paralyzed early, but came back to do a decent bit of work at the end. They're ghasts, this happens. Other players get to shine.
Pyro/hemato/ophidio/arachnophobia: Magus does his thing and cuts things to shreds. Burns a bunch of scrolls of burning hands (CL4) but hey that's why the wizard made them.
The Assassin: Magus gets dropped from full HP (39) to 2 HP over the course of the surprise round and being beaten on initiative. However, once the Wizard blinds the assassin, the Magus gets his chance for GLORIOUS RETRIBUTION, temporarily shifts to Neutral-Pissed-Off, and drops the assassin all the way to exactly negative con from 60+hp in 3 rounds.
The Water Elemental: Magus gets an early hit in, and manages to spell combat a spell, but takes a few rounds to land a hit to deliver it. The rest of the party does a good amount of heavy lifting.
The Outcast King: With the entire party having more or less fully recovered minus some extreme ability damage, the outcast king presented a fairly rounded challenge to the party (6 attacks a round 3 of which are grab attacks will do that). All kinds of entertaining, and everyone definitely contributes to victory in this one. Magus would have been severely reduced in efficacy had I not spot-houseruled spellstrike as I did, though. He could not hit the outcast king's AC after spell combat. At least not reliably. Between spell resistance, a fair AC, and having to defensive cast, the Magus was not in for a fun fight by RAW.
Final Analysis, Thoughts, and Suggestions
I was surprised by how effective spell combat was on the casting side, but initially very unhappy with the performance of the melee side.
The player is not a new player and knows he could lose a spell or two during combat. Through more or less the entire Asmodean Knot the player lost very few (possibly none? I can't recall.) spells to defensively casting. He consciously chose to use only 1st level spells during defensive casting periods, to minimize the chance of failure. As a GM, I find this in line with what I expect from this class. The mechanics currently encourage you to only use spell combat with lower level spells such as shocking grasp. This is a good thing, and should stick around.
However, the -4 penalty to melee attacks definitely cramped the melee side of the character. At several points in the knot the character would cast a shocking grasp, channel through the weapon, hit touch AC but miss actual AC. Spellstrike is very clear that this would not trigger the resolution of the touch spell. I quickly came to the conclusion that this is a foundation level problem with the class.
I instituted a house rule shortly afterward that allowed the magus player to connect with a touch spell provided an attack cleared the target's touch AC. If the attack does not also clear the target's actual AC, the weapon portion of the damage does not resolve. This improved the flow of play significantly, normalizing the damage dealt to opponents, while allowing for fairly impressive "Spellstrike soft criticals" with some significant damage output. Both the player and I agreed that this improved the feel of the class significantly.
As far as flow of play, the one handed/open hand combat works extremely well when the player knows to shift to a two handed stance with power attack and has the strength to back it up on the damage front. Arcane bond significantly assists with relevant damage output at level four, as well. The ability to slap keen onto a weapon that is typically toting a touch spell around is downright terrifying. Power attacking, arcane striking, two handed shocking grasp imbued bastard sword critical hits end combats. Skip Puree, go straight to liquefy. The damage potential this class has on single targets is staggering.
The player expressed a fairly low opinion of the level 3 arcana choices, which I echo. The low level Magus does not have enough spell slots to use the arcane accuracy or spell shield arcana. Pretty much ever. Both of these arcana are awful and were awful when we saw their precursors in 3.5 in the form of feats. Silent and still magic do not have scaling uses per day which make them unattractive compared to the rogue talents and rage powers these seem intended to match. Broad study only appears relevant to characters that are either ridiculous or completely useless. (Casters do not multiclass well. Never have in 3.x and never will.) Concentrate is one use per day, which is pathetic, but having heard the horror stories of failed spell combat the player took it. Maneuver mastery seems to be the most versatile of the low level arcana and is the only one I currently think is worth taking, as it is a static bonus that doesn't require the expenditure of resources and does not have limited uses per day. Familiar could be worthwhile for roleplaying reasons or if someone really wants the alertness and skill focus aspects.
Current suggestions:
1) Combat casting is a feat tax for this class and one they must address. This feat should be included in the class in the same way that monks get Improved Unarmed Strike. Power attack and Arcane strike are also very feat tax-ish, but the class can function without them, where it absolutely breaks down without combat casting.
2) Spellstrike with touch spells rarely resolves when combined with spell combat due to the removal of touch AC from the touch based spell. Allowing touch based spells to resolve so long as the roll beats touch AC, and then adding the damage from weapon strike if the roll beats actual AC completely smooths magus damage output as far as our group is able to tell.
3) Spell combat's -4 penalty to melee is extremely debilitating. Spell combat should consider spells as a light weapon and begin with a -2 penalty to the attack rolls with the weapon in hand. Most combat based misses were very near misses, and this reduction puts magus attack rolls in line with two-weapon fighting rogues, and drives them to seek flanking positions to counter the penalty.
4) 3rd level arcana options are mostly terrible. Broad study is irrelevant to a pure magus. All of the metamagic options are terrible. Arcane Accuracy and Spell Shield exacerbate the magus's extremely limited casting due to bard progression. Concentrate is bad. Familiar and Maneuver Mastery appear useful on paper, but I haven't been able to test them. Adding a Combat Casting arcana in the same vein as the rogue's "Finesse Rogue" talent can solve the primary issue of the feat tax on this class and give a viable option for a 3rd level arcana. I have posted most of my suggestions for solutions to the Arcana issues in the Stickied arcana thread.
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Much as I would love to give the class the full playtest treatment, all my group are parents of young children, and can't get together as much as we'd like.
I have been toying with builds, and watching the threads, though, and I hope my comments here and elsewhere doesn't get binned, for being an old fart with more enthusiasm than free time.
I'd like to echo the previous poster in several of his findings;
Current suggestions:
1) Combat casting is a feat tax for this class and one they must address. This feat should be included in the class in the same way that monks get Improved Unarmed Strike. Power attack and Arcane strike are also very feat tax-ish, but the class can function without them, where it absolutely breaks down without combat casting.
Since it's the general finding that Concentration checks in PF, for defensive casting at least, are only difficult at the low levels, Combat Casting is the sort of feat that can be given away for free early on, since it shouldn't make any difference to a high-level caster, who should by then be acing Defensive Casting checks.
The only effect it will have on a caster, at all levels of play, is to improve the ability to ignore disruptive damage. And given that the Magus' place (unlike a Wizard or Sorcerer) is to actually be in combat, that doesn't strike me as a bad thing, rather, it's entirely appropriate that they should be better at this.2) Spellstrike with touch spells rarely resolves when combined with spell combat due to the removal of touch AC from the touch based spell. Allowing touch based spells to resolve so long as the roll beats touch AC, and then adding the damage from weapon strike if the roll beats actual AC completely smooths magus damage output as far as our group is able to tell.
The current damage output with stored touch attacks is very swingy, with either two sources of damage going off at once, or none at all.
Making this change will allow some rounds to go by where one of the effects goes off, thus levelling the feast/famine spikes, and making the Magus appear more of a contributor.
Given that some enemies may not even last more than a couple of rounds, if the other PCs jump in to 'show him how it's done', it could happen that several encounters go by with the magus being perceived to have done absolutely nothing worthwhile.
It only takes one or two rounds of unsuccessful actions for many players to become dispirited, especially if others in the group are adding their own, less than complimentary commentary.
The one fight where everything, eventually, comes together may be too little, too late to offset the griefing from rest of the table.
As one who's played a few TWF Rogues, I've had my share of this; the rounds where both Sneak Attacks go off are often complete overkill on some hapless mook, and still don't stop the earache for the rounds when the poor Rogue was 'dancing round like a big fairy' (their words).
Often the others will be totally unsympathetic, blaming the failure on the choice to use TWF, the attack penalties being seen as self-inflicted.
Which leads to...
3) Spell combat's -4 penalty to melee is extremely debilitating. Spell combat should consider spells as a light weapon and begin with a -2 penalty to the attack rolls with the weapon in hand. Most combat based misses were very near misses, and this reduction puts magus attack rolls in line with two-weapon fighting rogues, and drives them to seek flanking positions to counter the penalty.
Held touch spells should be treated as light weapons.
You can't get more light than a hand with nothing in it, except ectoplasm.4) 3rd level arcana options are mostly terrible. Broad study is irrelevant to a pure magus. All of the metamagic options are terrible. Arcane Accuracy and Spell Shield exacerbate the magus's extremely limited casting due to bard progression. Concentrate is bad. Familiar and Maneuver Mastery appear useful on paper, but I haven't been able to test them. Adding a Combat Casting arcana in the same vein as the rogue's "Finesse Rogue" talent can solve the primary issue of the feat tax on this class and give a viable option for a 3rd level arcana. I have posted most of my suggestions for solutions to the Arcana issues in the Stickied arcana thread.
I've posted before on the arcana options which eat spells; the bonuses are too small, and too short-term.
Given that I could give myself a (conditional, but still) +3 to hit, and +1d6/level damage from using a spell slot to cast Shocking Grasp, which lasts indefinitely until discharged; why would I blow it for the sake of +1 to hit for one measly round?Given that I could cast Shield, for +4 shield AC, lasting 1 minute/level, why would I blow that slot in return for +1 shield AC for 1 round?
Converting higher level spells makes even less sense than for 1st-level slots.
If I blow a level 2 spell, I want an effect equivalent to Bull Strength (for attacks) or Blur/Cat's Grace (for defence).
If I blow a level 3 spell, then I want the equivalent of Elemental Aura, Fireball, Haste, Lighting Bolt (for offence) or Displacement (for defence).
For 4th level, I should be using these abilities to throw up swift Fire Shields and Stoneskins.
Hasted Assault suffers from the same disconnect between the resources used and the benefits gained.
I can Haste every one of my allies, for 1 round/level by default, or I can change that spell, so I haste only myself, for three rounds?
Under what circumstances would this ever be a good idea?
And this leads back to my first paragraph, where I'm having to play with myself, having no-one to playtest the class with, because no-one can be tempted to give up their precious weekend to play the class at all, in its current form.
Link to a rather good playtest from hexcaliber.
Description: Party is in a world with floating continents and skybridges between islands. Party was escorting a merchant when they were ambushed in a fog cloud that limited visibility to 20 feet.
Party Setup: Madriel Windblossom (Tiefling Rogue 1), Finnius Fizzlecrank (Gnome Alchemist 1), Valen Lecrois (Human Paladin 1). Each player has approximately 10k worth of inherited magic items, including primarily a +1 weapon in each case. All characters were built using a 25 point buy. The CN magus was 4th level and built using 20 points and standard NPC gear, using several scrolls to gain an advantage.
Summary: The magus knew they were coming, and as such had put up a crude barricade along the skybridge, which was 80 feet across. The party heard him through the fog and challenged him, at which point the magus pulled out a scroll of expeditious retreat and used it. The party moved forward separately, but not far enough to spot him, allowing the magus another round to prepare, which he used to cast shocking grasp. Moving closer, Valen spotted the magus but was unable to reach him. Finnius moved forward under the effects of expeditious retreat, but moved in the wrong direction to initiate combat, while Madriel chose to sneak through the fog in hopes of gaining the drop on the magus.
The magus moved forward to attack Valen, but missed, and the paladin missed in return. Finnius attempted to hit adjacent squares with his bombs or attack with his crossbow for the combat, but proved largely useless until the final round due to mediocre rolls. Valen hit the magus hard twice, to which the magus did not manage to respond well until he critical hit Valen with a critical hit with a shocking grasp, which would have killed the paladin several times over. (I use custom hero points, which he used to survive.) Madriel critical-sneak attacked him from behind and rolled near-minimum damage, at which point she was bull-rushed off the bridge (caught herself on the spars, but was out of the combat.) In the end a bomb dropped the magus into the deep negatives and the party regrouped.
Final Analysis & Thoughts: The magus had a 3 level advantage, decent gear and a couple of rounds to prepare, but was relatively lackluster. Despite taking the Focused Mind trait, he had to roll a 10 or better to cast his 1st level spells with Spell Combat, which he only managed once out of 3 times. The tie to his spellcasting left him out of resources incredibly quickly, and thus he lost many of his options for combat due to the limited feat selection (which is normal). My opinion is that the magus would be better served by an ability that isn't tied to his spells at first or second level, much like Clerics, Sorcerers, Wizards and other such classes get abilities that are usable a number of times per day based on their primary casting attribute. Such might mitigate some of the issues I saw. I am ignoring issues with Spellstrike and Spell Combat, as I understand they are under revision.
This thread is an island of sanity in a world gone mad.
Agreed. Great thread with some actual playtest data is really nice to see.
Agreed. Great thread with some actual playtest data is really nice to see.
Yes--thanks so much everyone for keeping the density of playtest data high (@Snorter--I think you have some good insights even without playtesting, and thanks for your feedback, but if you'd like to dialogue about it more, might you start up a new thread for that? Thanks!)
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Playtest Data for The Witchwar Legacy
I forgot to note in the thread that all the PCs were Human. Hope this helps with playtest data!
Link to a rather good playtest from hexcaliber.
Thank you. I totally forgot to link it in here.
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Battle One, The ghast's tree
Oh hey look at that, it's a tree with a dead body in it. We should poke it with a stick! AGGGH its alive! It's a Ghast!
1st round - (Scimitar "charged" with shocking grasp) Spell combat, to hit misses, Daze lands however, and our ghastly opponent misses his next action.
Sorry for the nitpicky derail, but Daze won't work on a Ghast. It only affects Humanoid (type) targets of 4HD or less.
Ironically I've done this exact encounter in a former campaign... guess there really aren't many original ideas left in the world afterall.
--Vrocking Grasp
Battle One, The ghast's tree
Oh hey look at that, it's a tree with a dead body in it. We should poke it with a stick! AGGGH its alive! It's a Ghast!
1st round - (Scimitar "charged" with shocking grasp) Spell combat, to hit misses, Daze lands however, and our ghastly opponent misses his next action.
Sorry for the nitpicky derail, but Daze won't work on a Ghast. It only affects Humanoid (type) targets of 4HD or less.
Ironically I've done this exact encounter in a former campaign... guess there really aren't many original ideas left in the world afterall.
--Vrocking Grasp
not nitpicky at all... correct :-) We still get hung up on ghouls, I'm an old employee of games workshop and in Warhammer ghouls are actually alive. Thanks for the correction!
I'm not sure if this belongs here, but I felt this was the best place to put it (since there are intelligent people here who will critique appropriately). I, as of yet, haven't gotten a chance to playtest the magus (though I will very soon), but I have read over the playtests of several other posters (everyone on this thread and linked threads, plus others) and decided to compose a "compiled list of suggestions." I hope this helps. And please, if you see something wrong here, please critique. It's the reason playtests even reach us.
Magus Suggestions
Combat Casting: At level 2, the Magus gains combat casting as a bonus feat, whether he possesses the prerequisites or not.
-The reason for this is that, with the magus’s signature ability, Spell Combat, he must cast defensively, and takes a penalty on the check. It’s very hard to cast defensively at low levels anyway, so this is normally considered a feat tax, and should be given at level 1 or 2, when he gains spell combat.
Spell Combat Modification: If the Magus uses a spell with a range of touch or personal, then the penalty to attack rolls is reduced to -2 (as if using a light weapon in your off-hand with two-weapon fighting) and then reduced to a -0 penalty at 8th level.
-The reason for this is that spell combat’s major hindrance is a -4 penalty to attack rolls. From what has been stated, the strategy pretty much revolves around either hitting with your weapon or succeeding on casting your spell, whereas it should be the ability to do both. That’s the point of Spell Combat, to marry these two concepts instead of penalizing them so much that it’s easier just to be a wizard.
Ability Reassignment: The bonus feats, medium armor, heavy armor, and fighter training abilities should be reassigned to be part of the Magus Arcana selection (with minimum levels equivalent to when you would normally get them). In addition, Magus Arcana should be given at every odd level instead of every 3 (including level 1).
-This feels more personal than anything else, and I think speaks to the style of the class. Some people have suggested putting the armor proficiencies in the magus arcana slot, and I agree. I think they’re just abilities that eat up slots on its table. In addition, they really ruin some of the flavor of the class (it essentially switches from a lightly armored mobility warrior to a heavy-armor spell-tank midway through its progression. That should be optional, not required). The same goes for the fighter training, which just feels tacked on. Forcing one class to emulate another is no way to build a base class (great way to build an archetype, though). As for the bonus feats, I felt that they would be better served in the Magus Arcana slot to free up space for more original abilities. Besides, with all the complaining about weak-sauce low-level magus arcana powers, wouldn’t it be nice to just be able to choose a feat?
Arcane Pool: The magus gains a number of Arcane Points equal to his level + his intelligence modifier. The magus can spend these points in place of sacrificing a prepared spell for his magus arcana abilities (one point per level of the spell that would normally be sacrificed). He cannot spend more points than his highest level spell available to cast. In addition, he can spend 2 points per spell level to emulate casting a prepared spell for use with his spellstrike.
-This has been voiced quite a bit. The magus needs to be able to use his abilities more often, and they all suck spells. Ergo, an arcane pool. He sucks up his points instead of his spells. Can he still expend a prepared spell if he feels the need? Yeah, sure, but it makes it an option instead of a necessity (maybe a last-ditch effort thing). At first, I was going to only give it ½ level + int, but then decided to add in the spellstrike bit. With that, he can now use one of his signature abilities more often and still be able to use his magus arcana powers.
As it stands, if these changes were implemented, the table would look like this:
1 Arcane pool, cantrips, magus arcana, spellstrike
2 Combat casting, spell combat
3 Magus arcana
4 Arcane weapon
5 Magus arcana
6
7 Magus arcana
8 Improved spell combat
9 Magus arcana
10
11 Magus arcana
12
13 Magus arcana
14 Greater spell combat
15 Magus arcana
16 Counterstrike
17 Magus arcana
18 Weapon call
19 Magus arcana
20 True magus
I like it, since there’s room in the mid-levels to give the class some nice, flavorful class powers. I did move weapon call, but I thought it should have come earlier anyway.
In addition, these suggestions cam up. They just didn’t affect the table, so I decided to put them below it.
More Touch Spells: It has been universally announced that more touch spells are coming. However, we’re missing some of the staples of this generation. Touch of Fatigue and Vampiric touch are conspicuously missing, and in general we need more to play with.
More Magus Arcana: In addition to it being every other level, I think we need a more versatile amount of powers to have fun with. Maybe one that grants 1d6 elemental damage per spell level sacrificed or something. In general, this aspect is just begging for more.
Hope this helps. And always remember to critique if you think something is wrong. That's what these playtests are for, isn't it?
I'm not sure if this belongs here, but I felt this was the best place to put it (since there are intelligent people here who will critique appropriately). I, as of yet, haven't gotten a chance to playtest the magus (though I will very soon), but I have read over the playtests of several other posters (everyone on this thread and linked threads, plus others) and decided to compose a "compiled list of suggestions." I hope this helps. And please, if you see something wrong here, please critique. It's the reason playtests even reach us.
Hey xxxTheBeastxxx,
Your feedback is valuable, but to make the playtest data in this thread easier to find for Jason, I've made a new thread here where people can chime in about your proposed changes and have a more serious discussion of your ideas.
Cheers!
RE
I use the Magus today both as a Villain and as a Hero
As a Villain he worked very well, he was up against 3 PCs, 13th lvl orc rogue with a fachion (lots of crits) a 13th lvl alchemist mutagen build with claws, 12th lvl ranger with two long swords and vital strike (I am not for Min/Maxing, come on pick a tactic, but hay it is he Character and I have never said anything to him)
The Magus did better then expected, the player did not really know what to do and ran away and gave the Magus a lot of rounds to throw spells at them and buff him-self and when they got close he knocked the alchemist down into the negatives but not dead, by this point the magus was pretty low on hit point but so where the PCs and could have killed at least one more of the PCs but ran to fight another day.
E
The end of this encounter left the magus with not a whole lot left for the rest of the day, used up most of this spells and all of his 4 arcana for the day, Maximized magic, Critical Strike, Concentrate , and Hasted Assault. I was not trying to conserve at all during that fight but he dose seem to burn out quickly.
When the table turned and the PCs and the Magus found them self's on the same side later The Magus got 2 Crits with shocking Grasp and ended up with an illusion fighting the last alchemical altered troll and then sending him 3 round into the future (lucky rolls and crit card you should get them)
The Players think that both of the Crit card effects are Tricks of the Magus so they felt that he was a little over powered plus they got there butts Kicked in the fight before hand, but I say right now as is the magus is very good in a single encounter but runs out of steam, not sure if that is a bad thing really but he does burn threw his spells kind of fast and they do not always work. Of course this game when really well for the Magus, both solo and as part of a team.
I like his spell list and I like the prepared caster with a spell book, and ¾ base attack, not to much of either and the Magus Arcana make for a great Magical Melee blend, you cannot tell where the magic ends and the Martial begins, this is in my opinion the best “Magus” type Class (no more Gish for me) for a balanced mix of the two.
Things that I think might need some attention, Touch spells which I am sure there are going to be more but right now there are not many, other then that for spell I like the list so far, good mix of Defensive, Offensive and Utility. Spells per days is pretty high but they are used for so much and at least a few cast spells are going to fail. Both Spellstrike and Spell combat are pretty awesome and I like that you have to make Concentration checks often, not sure why just feels right and kind of reminds me of ad&d psicnics, buts a little risk into it, but with a lot of arcana using spells as well it seem like there still are not enough spells per day some times. But over all not to bad on the magic
the fighter Training is cool as well, being able to specialize and great focus is pretty good, with one handed weapons and a Free hand to cast you have to be pretty good with your weapon and this help, but the Fighter Training only lets to take I think 3 fighter feats, and I had more to say but after really thinking about it I don't think a change is necessary I would just like to get the 12th level fighter feats to help with the Martial ½ at higher levels, but I am thinking that some arcana might better serve that purpose then more fighter feats.
I Hope I was not to long winded to be of help, and thanks
Not part of the review just a very short over view of the story of the game
(If you want to know how the Magus switched sides, Magus got hired to Kill the PCs or his Niece was going to be killed by the troll of Absalom after we found the secret lab hidden in the sewer for him disguised as a human noble related to Dr. Bensi Shule and about 2 mouths of intrigue and alchemical altered trolls, which in the end we could not stop the Mad Alchemist Troll in the end, be he could not keep make the save VS. the Burn Blight either so in the end we won)
Okay guys--here is almost all of the Azlant Ridge playtest I promised. I'm only missing Act 3 for Tier 3-4, which I'll hopefully get back to. But I'd like to get my playtest up so you can all see it for a while before time is up. All in all, I've done eight full runthroughs of the adventure, with four more that have done two encounters each. This clocks in at ~64 encounters.
Name of Module: PFS Scenario 2-02: Rescue at Azlant Ridge
Party Setup:
My group ran this adventure four times each at all three tiers. We had a party consisting of Schala the Magus (see earlier in this thread for her full stats at all levels), Nadia the Cleric of Desna, and three out of four of Glenn the Fighter (greatsword damage specialist), Locke the Rogue (two-weapon-fighting finesse specialist), Janus the Wizard (Necromancer), and Edward the Bard (archer build with Lingering Song for staying power). Thus, we had four different five-man teams that replaced either the Rogue, the Fighter, the Wizard, or the Bard with a Magus.
Details of all Encounters (LONG)--
Glenn and Schala failed a DC 6 Perception check to avoid the ambush and were surprised. Everyone else was fine. Schala rolled three natural 1s, but she still killed one of the closest mooks on her second action in one hit, and then she engaged the enemy commander (Fighter3) and prevented his charge. She successfully tanked him until she dropped him, and she dealt 21 of his 25 damage with her attacks then finished off the staggered commander in a successful attempt to scare off the remaining mook. Glenn the Fighter absolutely destroyed two of the mooks and nearly the last one except he rolled a 2. Nadia the Cleric got lucky on a crossbow attack that dropped another mook early on, but she had to heal Edward a lot (to be fair to Edward, he took a x3 critical hit from a mook). Edward sang for one round and used Lingering Song, firing his bow or being unconscious for the rest of the fight. Janus, contemptuous of these fools who couldn't even reliably control their own horses, only used Ray of Frost for pinpoint attacks on enemies who were low and to deal the last 4 damage to the heavily armoued boss.
Tier 1-2, No Fighter, Combat 1 (Janus used 1 Colour Spray):
Locke and Schala advanced for the commander, leaving the casters to deal with the three enemies coming from behind (they had to do this so Locke could have a flank and do Sneak Attack). This...didn't work as a strategy, since the back three PCs had no frontliners and kept missing the NPC mooks with their ranged attacks, so Janus got frustrated and tried a Colour Spray, but both the commander and horse made the DC 16 save. The commander's AC was difficult (AC 19), but on the second round of their flank, after no luck thus far in hitting him, Locke and Schala both connected for max damage (Locke had more dice, so this meant he did 1 more damage, though Schala has the better average). These two blows were enough to drop him, so the five mooks at perfect health all fled as per their morale instructions.
Tier 1-2, No Bard, Combat 1:
Locke moved out when he heard the movement from the periphery of the camp. As enemies emerged, Janus and Nadia missed with Ray of Frost and crossbow, while Glenn moved toward one of the mooks and Schala, with a Natural 1 on Initiative, advanced to help Locke eventually flank. Locke struck the leader with an unconfirmed critical for minor damage, and the enemy mooks shot a barrage of failed arrows. The leader tried to move to avoid a flank and give his allies room, but he couldn't control his horse, and then he missed with his lance. Janus's Ray of Frost struck a mook and Nadia finished it, but Glenn just couldn't connect. Schala took a stray blow and struck back at the mook who shot her, but she missed as well. Locke barely managed to tumble into a flank, but his Sneak Attack against the leader, while a hit, was unsatisfyingly weak. Unable to control his mount, one of the mooks took an AoO from Glenn that finished his bow shot before it started. The leader rolled a natural 1 against Locke, as his ally at the party's rear missed as well. Janus's Ray of Frost barely missed its mark, though Nadia's crossbow finished that foe, as Glenn began the long journey over to the surviving enemies. One of the mooks tried to back away and fire at Schala, but she felled him with a parting blow. The last mook was nearly dropped as he fired at Locke in melee, and his arrow missed anyway. Schala retained her flank against the leader, but she just barely couldn't find a weakness in his breastplate (could have used the Bard there, not that the leader was even close to dropping, of course). Locke dropped the final mook, and the leader surrendered. The party ended the encounter with no resources expended and only hit once, when Schala suffered a mere 3 damage. Party contribution was quite balanced--Each character dropped a mook on their own except the Cleric and Wizard, who teamed up and took down two.
Tier 1-2, No Wizard, Combat 1:
Locke and Schala advanced as Glenn moved to take care of the threat from the back. Nadia readied and fired a stray shot at the first enemy to emerge in view out of the brush, and Edward sang an inspiring song. Locke reached the leader and struck him weakly. A mook got a very lucky shot against Locke into melee for heavy damage (Rolled a 20, and needed a 19 to hit AC 18 in melee). Glenn got into the enemies' faces, and the leader attempted to capitalise on the luck of his minion to finish Locke but found that his luck was the polar opposite (Natural 1). Schala moved into a flank and hit him hard, but Nadia's luck and that of her target were no better than the enemy leader's. Due to her being in melee, the mook firing at Schala could not find an opening for his shot, and Edward showed Nadia how it's done with a one-hit knock-out of the foe she had been targeting for two straight rounds. Glenn's quarry attempted to flee but took a parting blow from Glenn that dropped him immediately. Locke made a sneak attack to the leader's vitals, but it still was weaker than Schala's normal hit, Schala dodged another attack, Glenn advanced to the rest of the action. Desperate to break the flank, the enemy leader got an extremely lucky blow against Locke that slew the Rogue instantly (triple damage Lance critical for above average damage--I'm going to pretend this was just a deep KO to -13 HP for future encounters because otherwise this playtest won't provide good data about what it's like to be missing a Wizard for the future encounters). Horrified and acting immediately after, Schala nearly managed to return the favour, but the foul Aspis Consortium warrior managed to deflect the blow slightly into only a normal hit. His effort was not enough to prevent him from dropping, though it saved him from death, and his remaining allies fled into the brush. Despite the freak critical against the Rogue, this was the fastest win of the bunch, winning on the third action of the third round (all other wins were on round 4 or later). This was mainly due to the fact that Janus conserved his spells and thus was least useful in this encounter.
Continuing Onward in Tier 1-2, the party decides that Schala should receive the Aspis Consortium leader's +1 Chain Shirt since of the frontliners who wear Chain Shirt, her AC is lower than Locke's (and in the one with no Locke, it's even more of a no-brainer, since Edward stays in the back and the others use Medium Armour). This raises her AC to 16 for the remaining encounters.
Tier 3-4, No Rogue, Combat 1 (Janus used 1 Colour Spray, Nadia used 1 Luck Touch):
The Aspis Consortium was very lucky and pretty much got the drop on the PCs--moving into advantageous positions and even firing a shot at Glenn (which missed) on the surprise round. Thanks to Armour Training, Glenn partial charged and dropped a mook, Janus moved to try to find a good place to cast a spell, Nadia fired her crossbow and missed, Edward sang a song, and Schala used a scroll in preparation for being charged by the lance-wielding leader (who she couldn't reach just yet). As expected by all, he tried to charge her, but he couldn't control his mount well enough, just barely, so he had to settle for buying himself distance to charge her at the next opportunity. The mooks shot another volley of failed arrows, and then Glenn hustled over next to another one. Janus moved forward and released a Colour Spray, which managed to stun the leader only briefly and his horse not at all. Nadia Luck Touched Schala, and Edward made struck well against a mook. Schala charged and leapt over the log in the road, striking with great might against the enemy captain. With 55 damage, the leader, Captain Calgredine, previously at full health, dropped dead in one blow, his body arcing with deadly electricity (thanks, Bard Song and Luck Touch!). Horrified of the might of the Magus, the remaining mooks scattered to the four winds. As the very first battle of the new tier, it is also the most kickass thing Schala has done thus far (in the order we are playing these).
Tier 3-4, No Fighter, Combat 1 (Janus used 1 Colour Spray, Nadia used 1 Luck Touch, Schala used 1 Shocking Grasp):
Enemies got into position, Janus, Schala, and Locke advanced, and shots were fired, though everything missed except a glancing blow from Nadia to one of the mooks. Janus's Colour Spray stunned the captain for one round and once again failed to affect the horse. The captain was stunned and incapable of doing anything, and his horse, uncontrolled, bucked slightly in fear. Nadia's shot was returned in kind by a mook, and Locke took the opportunity of Calgredine being stunned to go behind him and make a solid blow. Edward sang a song, and Nadia moved up to Schala and gave her a Luck Touch. Two more mook misses saw Schala use Spell Combat. Schala's plan was to use her prebuffed Spellstrike Shocking Grasp (cast from her scroll), and if something was still moving, to follow up with the Shocking Grasp she actually prepared as a touch attack. It's lucky she used a 1st-level spell. She easily hit with both attacks, but even with the Luck Touch, she rolled poorly on Concentration and almost lost the spell. The captain was at 4 health after the initial attack and was shocked near to death by the follow-up. All five of the mooks fled in terror.
Tier 3-4, No Bard, Combat 1 (Schala used 1 Shocking Grasp, Janus used 1 Colour Spray):
The Aspis Consortium was ridiculously lucky and received three Natural 20s out of six for initiative, going before the whole team except Glenn, who was particularly alert this time. Glenn would have none of this, and he managed to partial charge a mook out of the battle in one slash. Calgredine signalled the ambush and rode out of the brush, followed by a barrage of misses from his quick-moving minions. Nadia's crossbow proved equally ineffective. Locke delayed, while Schala used a scroll to up her defense, and Janus readied an action to Colour Spray if the lance-wielding captain charged the lady magus. Glenn hustled over to another mook, ready to repeat the process. True to form, Calgredine charged, but Janus's readied action proved his undoing, as it stunned him and knocked his horse unconscious, dropping him prone to the ground without his lance or shield. Locke delightedly ended his delay and took the flank for an easy sneak attack, but the attack was underwhelming. Nadia had been planning to Luck Touch Schala into a crazy Spell Combat combo that was sure to hit the prone and defenseless Calgredine, but the captain was already screwed enough by this point, so she conserved her resources and fired a shot against a mook for a minot scratch. The mooks proved unable to fire into the big melee with their leader, and the one up next to Glenn lost control of his horse and dropped his defenses, taking a critical swing from Glenn that killed him instantly. The prone stunned enemy with no shield was clearly no match for Schala, and she followed Glenn's lead, with a horrifying critical attack that, combined with Locke's underwhelming sneak attack from before, killed the captain outright. The other enemies fled.
Tier 3-4, No Wizard, Combat 1:
This time our heroes were well-prepared for the attack. Edward took a shot and missed, Locke advanced, and Glenn partial charged and KOed a mook, all before the Aspis thugs could do anything about it. Calgredine took a good position to charge Locke as his minions took their own positions and fired a counterattack that missed Edward. Nadia managed to hit for piddling damage, and Schala moved up to help with the captain. Edward sang a song. Locke pondered his options and decided to charge the captain lest the captain charge Locke with a lance. Weak as this attack was, at least it still hit. Glenn moved over to threaten another mook. Calgredine snarled in frustration and lashed out at Locke with a quick jab of his lance and a moderate wound, then retreated to where he could better manage a charge, Locke swinging and missing at the escaping villain. The mooks shot Nadia and nearly struck a critical blow to Locke, who was by this point bloodied. Realising that Locke needed her help, Nadia hustled over toward the action. The final mook's horse panicked, and Glenn lashed out, only to miss embarrassingly, as the mook managed to fire off a stray shot. Not wanting the captain to get away like last time, Schala sprinted behind him, leaving an opening for a nasty attack from Calgredine. Edward continued his failed archery routine, and Locke charged, this time into a flank for a nice solid sneak attack. Glenn's attack was still embarrassingly poor, but the mook was equally bad at getting out of the way, so she fell to Glenn's sword, as he moved to reinforce his allies on the other side of the field. Weakened but confident that he could drop someone, Calgredine attacked Locke, but his lance did not strike true. He urged his horse unsuccessfully to get out of the flank. Edward's failed archer buddy from the other team continued the miss chain, and the others attempted to prevent Nadia's advance to heal with a pair of failed shots. Nadia kept moving forward, and Schala made her first attack of the battle, dropping Calgredine and ending the fight, as the others fled.
Tier 6-7, No Rogue, Combat 1 (Schala used 1 Shield, Janus used 1 Shield, Nadia used 1 Bless and 1 Hold Person):
The ambush began with mooks firing accurate but pathetically weak attacks at Janus and Glenn. Edward sang and two mook missed Schala as Nadia cast Bless. The captain moved to where he could charge Schala, and Janus cast Shield. Another mook shot Glenn again, so Glenn countered with a partial charge that easily hit (~+20 to hit vs AC 16) and badly hurt the mook archer. Schala also cast Shield, preparing for the inevitable charge. A barrage of arrows struck Schala and Janus's magical shields, though Edward took a small hit as he fired a pair of arrows at Glenn's target, dropping her just barely. Nadia readied a spell in case of Calgredine's charge--a Hold Person, and sure enough the captain galloped next to Schala and was about to attack with his lance when he was suddenly paralysed. Janus coup de graced the captain, and Calgredine died instantly. The remaining mooks made a hasty retreat.
Tier 6-7, No Fighter, Combat 1 (Janus used 1 Obscuring Mist, Nadia used 1 Bless)
The enemies fired a series of attacks that managed to hurt Janus somewhat and Locke barely at all. Locke moved forward towards the enemies. Janus hissed out a Shield spell to prevent himself from becoming a pincushion, and Schala joined Locke up front. After getting grazed slightly himself, Edward began an inspiring song. Calgredine moved outward and back to set up a charge for himself, and Nadia moved forward and Blessed the party. Edward and Locke each took another minor blow as Locke charged Calgredine to protect himself from taking a mounted cavalry charge. Locke's charge was successful, if extremely weak. Janus was in an intersection, so he called forth an Obscuring Mist, thus making all the enemy archers on the side away from the leader unable to fire without some serious remanoeuvring. Schala charged Calgredine as well and struck forth with a seriously impressive hit (very high rolls led to 47 damage on a non-crit--next level with her Keen enhancement, it would have also threatened a crit!). A mook near the leader got a lucky hit on Locke, and another, stymied by Janus, galloped about trying to find an end to the infernal mist, eventually succeeding. Edward then followed her and shot her once. Calgredine knew who he wanted to kill above all--the b*$*! who just struck him with a blow that would kill a normal man, and so he stabbed her quickly twice, solid blows each, and galloped back to avoid a flank. Nadia sprinted over to where she would be better able to heal, trusting the fog to protect Janus. The other two mooks, on the far side of the fog from all the rest of the action, spur their mounts forward and into the mist, hoping to contribute once they find their way out. Locke manages to tumble around Calgredine and readies an attack for when Schala advanced. The mook nearest his leader tries to help shoot Schala, but his attack fails. Janus leaves the mist and shoots a Ray of Frost at Edward's quarry. Schala graciously took the flank, triggering Locke's readied action, which nearly finished Calgredine. Schala herself, not realising just how close Calgredine was to dropping, used Spell Combat. Her attack hit for nearly as much as Locke's sneak attack, killing Calgredine immediately. Since a follow-up attack with Shocking Grasp was unnecessary, she used a cantrip to fire at another enemy, which is very lucky because she concentrated extremely poorly and would have lost any other spell (whereas cantrips were guaranteed for her). The mooks immediately fled in terror.
Tier 6-7, No Bard, Combat 1 (Janus used 1 Obscuring Mist, 1 Colour Spray, and 1 Grave Touch, Nadia used 1 Bless)
The fight began poorly for the PCs--Despite Uncanny Dodge, a mook managed to land a critical shot against Locke (two 20s in a row, what can you do?). Glenn also took a hit, so he charged forward and nearly dropped a mook (maximum damage but he can't drop one in a hit any more). Continuing their string of luck (read: 20s and 19s), another mook shot Locke. Janus laid an Obscuring Mist, and the other mooks missed. Mooks got lost in the miss, and Locke charged Calgredine for a minor hit. Miraculously, the mook that fired into the melee managed to hit Locke again since the rogue dropped his defenses for the charge. Nadia sprinted forward. Janus knocked out a horse and stunned two mooks that were wading through his mists. Calgredine missed Locke and moved away, provoking an attack from Locke which also failed. Schala sprinted up to Calgredine and the other nearby mook fired and retreated. Glenn advanced into the mist and Locke charged and missed Calgredine, while Nadia advanced, dodging an arrow. Janus used his touch of the grave on the prone mook whose horse he knocked out. Calgredine fumbled around with his lance and then provoked an attack from Locke and Schala, not suspecting that she would shock him within an inch of his life (62 damage critical). Schala acted immediately after and charged, taking him to the edge of death (he bled to death on his next turn).
Tier 6-7, No Wizard, Combat 1 (Schala used 1 Shield, Nadia used 1 Hold Person)
Calgredine set up for a charge, and Nadia, seeing this, prepared to hold him in place and prevent it. Schala, Glenn, and Locke each took a minor shot as Edward sang a song of joy and inspiration. Schala prepared for the charge by putting up a Shield. Glenn moved up to protect the casters, and Locke moved to a place where he could easily flank Calgredine after the charge. Two more enemy shots misfire. As Calgredine charges, he suddenly is held by Nadia's magic, and Locke makes a solid sneak attack. Firing into melee, two other mooks missed Locke, and Edward fired two solid shots into an uninjured mook. Schala made a coup de grace and Calgredine got insanely lucky (He beat a DC 40+ save with a natural 20). Glenn's mook backed off a bit, so Glenn moved over to another. Locke delivered another coup de grace, and this time Calgredine wasn't as lucky, dying instantly.
Coming out of this fight, the party gives Edward the +2 Chain Shirt from Calgredine because Locke wouldn't get his full max dexterity from it. This puts Edward up by 1 AC for the remainder of the scenario. The +1 Longbows are honestly worse than what the PCs already have despite being magical because of not being mighty, so people hang onto them in case of DR (they will wind up using them on the wraiths).
Tier 1-2, No Rogue, Combat 2:
While Schala, Janus, and Nadia were all entranced by the giant golem statues, Glenn and Edward went to look ahead. They couldn't hear the unmoving dead, so when Glenn moved in to check, he awakened the Azlanti guardians. They mindlessly advanced and swung ineffectually with broken scimitars. Glenn missed with his attack, and Edward sang, while Janus couldn't get a good shot with Disrupt Undead and missed as did Nadia's morningstar. Schala moved into a flank and then got a completely unnecessary critical hit that killed a skeleton five times over. After dodging more pathetic attacks, Glenn killed another skeleton. Janus and Edward shot ineffectually through cover. Nadia drew her crossbow instead and missed as well through cover. Schala also missed through cover, and the skeleton missed Glenn. Glenn was the only one with no cover to the skeleton and barely hit thanks to bard song, destroying it. Then every ally missed due to cover. Glenn once again barely hit and killed a skeleton, and the next skeleton missed him. Edward managed to confirm a critical and killed another skeleton. Schala advanced to the last skeleton but missed, and everyone else missed due to cover. Schala critted again and killed the last skeleton. Flawless victory, no resources expended.
Tier 1-2, No Fighter, Combat 2:
Locke heard the quiet scraping of the skeletons and blocked the hallway, as the skeletons began to clatter out. Locke's blade had no effect against the hard bone of the skeleton, so he cursed, as Nadia pulled out his light mace and handed it to him. Edward sang a song, and Schala managed to strike from around the corner at a major joint and kill the thing easily despite not bludgeoning it. Janus shot a Disrupt Undead over Locke's shoulder, and despite the cover, he destroyed another skeleton. A third skeleton managed to hit Locke with a lucky slash of its broken scimitar, and the others tried to get through but had no room. Locke missed the skeleton, and Schala managed to smash another one from around the corner with her inappropriate weapon (1d6+2 through the DR is still usually 4 or higher). Janus hit another one through the cover, but this time his Disrupt Undead was not quite disruptive enough. The nearly-collapsed skeleton missed Locke twice, and Locke nearly tripped with an incompetent swing of the mace. Schala waited for Janus, who finished what he started easily, and as a new skeleton advanced, her readied attack once again pierced a vital spot and destroyed it despite the cover. The last skeleton missed Locke consecutively, and Locke couldn't connect with it either. This time, Janus and Schala were stymied by the cover. After two more failed attacks from the skeleton, Janus came through with a max-powered Disrupt and ended the creature's unlife (three kills for Disrupt Undead and three for Schala, both at a -4 to hit).
Tier 1-2, No Wizard, Combat 2:
This time the party was oblivious to the skeletons and about to walk in when a skeleton, which won initiative, instead clattered right out up to Locke, who had been looking for traps. This shocked the party, some of whom didn't even hear the skeleton's approach. Locke managed to collect himself and slash with shortsword ineffectually, realising that he needed a bludgeoning weapon to smash the bones as Nadia called that information out to him and swapped him his light mace for his main shortsword. Locke stepped out of the way and allowed Glenn an unhindered swing, which crumbled a skeleton instantly. Edward sang of conquest over death, and Schala moved up, ready for battle at last. Another skeleton advanced and failed to hit Glenn. Locke managed to hit with his light mace, smashing the nearest skeleton. Yet another advanced, and once again it failed to hit Glenn. Glenn smashed it contemptuously. Another still advanced, and even still it failed to hit Glenn. Schala shattered its weakest point. When another skeleton advanced and failed to hit Glenn, Locke managed a critical strike, which smashed its ribcage into shards. When the last skeleton advanced and didn't hit Glenn, Glenn crumpled it into a pile of bones.
Tier 1-2, No Bard, Combat 2:
This time the skeletons were obvious to pretty much everyone, so they got into places as the creatures rustled forward. Nadia warned Locke to use his light mace and helped him switch his weapon. After Locke missed, Janus fired a Disrupt Undead through soft cover and managed to destroy the skeleton in front. Glenn missed as well due to cover, but Schala struck true and destroyed another. The skeletons advanced, and one of them missed Locke twice. Locke barely missed the skeleton, but Glenn took care of it, though Janus's spell flew harmlessly into a wall. As another advanced, Schala missed it due to cover, and it attacked Locke and missed. Locke, Janus, and Glenn all missed, but Schala struck true. Unfortunately, since she was not using a bludgeoning weapon and the blow was glancing, the skeleton managed to barely survive, striking Locke successfully and solidly, which Nadia healed with her wand. Locke and Janus missed, but finally Glenn hit and finished the thing. Another skeleton advanced and missed Locke, and Schala missed her counterattack, as did Locke and Janus. Glenn's critical attack was ruined by the cover from the wall, but he still crumbled the creature. The last skeleton missed Locke as well, and Schala couldn't hit it, but fortunately Locke managed a critical smash with his mace that finished the thing.
Tier 3-4, No Rogue, Combat 2:
A few party members heard the stirring ghouls and tried to move to better positions, and suddenly, a ghoul emerged from the shadows, staring down Glenn with a mindless hatred. Glenn had a more intelligent hatred, however, so he slashed it in twain. Janus called upon the power of darkness to command the undead, and two of the ghouls became his servants. Another ghoul moved to attack Glenn and missed. Nadia missed it with her crossbow, Edward sang a song, and Schala slashed the ghoul into pieces despite the ghoul's cover. Another ghoul advanced to attack Glenn, and this time its luck was extreme, hitting Glenn three times (rolled 18, 19, and 20, not confirming). Glenn managed to resist all the disease and paralysis, but it still hurt fairly badly. Roaring in pain, he chopped that ghoul in half. As the last uncommanded ghoul moved up after Glenn, Janus ordered his new minions to flank and attack it. Though Glenn escaped unharmed this time, the ghoul that responded first to Janus's order managed to kill the last enemy ghoul. With the sounds of battle outside, Janus managed to convince Nadia and Glenn not to destroy his ghouls yet--they could be useful against the incoming charau-ka.
Tier 3-4, No Fighter, Combat 2:
Here Locke heard the ghouls and took the point, fighting defensively to avoid being paralysed, which caused the ghouls to need a Natural 20 to hit him. With Janus once again controlling two of them, no good guys were hurt and the other four ghouls fell to Schala's blade (Locke helped, but he couldn't get a flank in his amazing defensive position, so he didn't drop anything).
Tier 3-4, No Wizard, Combat 2:
Once again Locke heard the ghouls and took point, fighting defensively. With Glenn, who was guaranteed to kill a ghoul in one hit, and Schala who did so almost all of the time, they managed to kill five of them very quickly, but the sixth got in a lucky blow and paralysed Locke. They killed it immediately thereafter--four kills for Schala and two for Glenn.
Tier 3-4, No Bard, Combat 2:
This time Locke didn't hear the ghouls so Nadia had to take point, fighting defensively as Locke did (and the ghouls still needed a 20 to hit her). Janus got control of two of them, and the rest of the team brought the others down easily--two each for Schala and Glenn.
Leaving this encounter, all parties with Janus in them have two ghouls to use against the charau-ka in the last section. In parties with Edward, he takes the orb to try to wrack his brain for bardic legends about it, and otherwise Locke takes it because it's very shiny.
Tier 6-7, No Rogue, Combat 2 (Schala used 1 Haste, Nadia used 2 CPE and Restoration, Glenn lost 1 permanent Con):
Edward had prebuffed Schala and Glenn with Heroism before entering the locked area. This one was tougher than the earlier tiers because there was no effective bottleneck for incorporeal creatures. The wraiths were silent and thus had surprise, drifting outward mindlessly to confront the party. Edward sang a song of life and joy to inspire his allies. Nadia blanched at the sheer number of undead and channeled positive energy, and all the wraiths hissed and burned slightly. Wraiths attacked Glenn and Nadia, trying and failing to drain away their lifeforce. Janus commanded one of the wraiths and told Nadia to stop attacking that one. A wraith attacked Schala as well, and she also avoided losing her vitality. Realising the threat was high, Schala the most difficult and rewarding of her techniques--she performed Spell Combat, casting Haste on her allies and stepping to flank a wraith, striking twice and hitting both times, though the wraith still stood. Another wraith attacked Schala thanks to her new positioning, but this time she dodged it. Glenn called out his thanks for the Haste and attacked Schala's target twice more, finishing it off, with a final slash to strike a new target. Edward shot that same wraith twice. Nadia channeled more positive energy, avoiding Janus's wraith begrudgingly, and she destroyed the one wounded by Glenn and Edward. The wraiths struck Glenn and Nadia again, and this time, Nadia felt a good portion of her lifeforce sap away. She screamed in terror. Janus shot missiles of force at one of the wraiths and nearly destroyed it, but it survived and continued its assault on Schala, though she once again staved off Nadia's fate. She struck the wraith with a blow that would have surely pierced vitals on a corporeal enemy, but it mattered not, for her blow dissipated it nonetheless. Then she pivoted and stepped forth to rescue Nadia with another attack, but it wasn't quite enough. Glenn makes a failed attempt to finish off the wraith on Nadia, grits his teeth and tries again, but his strike brings it merely close to a second death, and his final attack is another failure. Even a single one of Edward's arrows is enough to slay the thing, however, and Edward sends his other two to strike the last foe uncontrolled. Not realising that these particular wraiths are mindless and expecting that it might switch to fight her, Nadia takes a total defense. The wraith, however, is mindless, and it strikes Glenn again. Surprisingly, it manages to get a tiny bit of Glenn's fortitude from the attack, recovering it slightly. Still, this is not nearly enough to prevent two attacks from Schala and another from Glenn from ending its unlife. Nadia used Restoration on herself because Glenn was mostly okay (he only lost 1 Con, but she lost 6).
Tier 6-7, No Fighter, Combat 2 (Schala used Haste and Scorching Ray and lost 4 permanent Con, Janus used his scroll of Command Undead, 1 Chill Touch, and 1 Magic Missile, Nadia used Spiritual Weapon and Restoration, Edward lost 6 permanent Con, Locke lost 1 permanent Con):
Edward had prebuffed Schala and Locke with Heroism before entering the locked area. Suddenly, wraiths streamed silently to confront the party. Janus commanded one of them. Another wraith attacked Schala and missed. Edward sang a song of delicious beer and pretzels, and Locke discovered why a Rogue is not the character you want the most against incorporeal undead, hitting for one puny attack. Not a fan of pretzels, one of the unintelligent undead attacked the source of the noise, hitting Edward and draining much of the Bard's meagre lifeforce. Another caught Nadia unaware and took a bit of her lifeforce as well. Shivering with the chill of the grave upon her soul, Nadia called out to Desna and touched Schala for good luck. Schala used Spell Combat with Haste, successfully casting the spell and hitting a wraith twice for good measure. Unable to realise how weak Locke was due to lack of intelligence, one wraith attacked him, hitting but failing to drain the tenacious treasure hunter's vitality. Schala took another wraith touch, which hit but did not drain her essence. Janus didn't like the way the fight was going, and he rolled exceptionally well on Knowledge to figure out that something was weird about these wraiths, so he took out his scroll of Command Undead and indulged in a hunch, and he was rewarded when another wraith fell under his command (the one menacing Edward). Schala took another innocuous hit, and Edward backed away slightly and fired three arrows at the only injured wraith, adding to Schala's start, and Locke slashed away three more times for minor damage. Nadia took an extremely dangerous hit from the wraith attacking her, nearly a critical drain and one that left her looking pale (she is now down 8 Con). Wishing she had known about the undead and prepared Death Ward, Nadia instead called on a Spiritual Weapon, which chipped away at the injured wraith. Schala used Spell Combat to shoot rays of flame at Nadia's tormentor after destroying her own wraith with one hit out of two. Locke was hit again and this time lost a bit of his life essence too. Janus cast Chill Touch and sent away Nadia's tormentor in a panic. Schala lost some life essence as well. Edward hit three times with his bow, and Locke hit three times with his shortsword. slightly outperforming Schala's two attacks when combined together, and the Magus's final blow finished that wraith, saving Locke from future attacks. Janus didn't bother with his Chill Touch, firing force missiles at the last wraith standing before them. It continued attacking Schala, but fortunately the Magus avoided losing more constitution. Edward renewed his song, and Locke hit three times, and between Nadia's Spiritual Weapon and two hits for Schala, one that would have been a critical hit against a corporeal foe, the wraith was destroyed. Licking their wounds, the group prepared for the return of the fleeing wraith, backing into a corner so that they could see the approaching wraith, which was too dumb to cleverly hide their approach by gliding through the wall. Sadly, Haste and Spiritual Weapon were over, but even so, with a hit from Schala and Locke on the approach and a barrage from Edward, it only managed to make one attack, hitting Schala but leaving her lifeforce intact, before they destroyed it utterly in response. Though not heartless to Edward's plight, Nadia only had one Restoration, so she chose to restore her own 8 lost constitution.
Tier 6-7, No Wizard, Combat 2 (Schala used 1 Haste, Nadia used 1 Spiritual Weapon and 1 Channel Positive Energy):
Edward prebuffed Glenn, Locke, and Schala with Heroism before entering the locked area. The wraiths silently flowed forth from the walls and the party was taken completely by surprise. Still, Glenn reacts to any surprise by slashing it with a sword, and today was no different, hitting a wraith twice. Nadia called forth a spiritual manifestation of Desna's favoured weapon, and it struck home. Lashing out at the still-surprised Schala, the fastest wraith was stymied by the Magus's protective ring. Another wraith lashed out at Glenn more successfully, but at least Glenn staved off the worst of the attack. Edward sang a song of sixpence, as he and Locke took attacks from wraiths, Edward's lifeforce sapping away slowly. Another attack on Schala was thwarted, but Nadia was struck, though not badly. Schala blanched at the prospect of facing all these undead without the group's necromancer, and she attempted a Spell Combat, successfully casting Haste for the team and barely hitting with some poorly-aimed attacks (fortunately she hit on rolls of 3 and 5--she actually only missed on a 1, despite Spell Combat. This is due to Edward) and destroying one of the wraiths attacking her. Locke made three accurate but weak attacks, and Glenn followed up with three accurate but much stronger attacks, taking out Edward's wraith. Nadia's Spiritual Weapon struck down as she called to Desna to smite the undead with positive energy. Glenn managed to dodge his wraith's attack, and Edward stepped back and shot three arrows at the most injured wraith, which was too distracted to hit Locke properly. Schala dodged another attack, but Nadia took another iirrelevant hit. Gripping her blade tightly, Schala finished Locke's wraith in one blow and spun around to hit Nadia's as well. Locke joined her, though his three attacks continued to total to one of Schala's own. Glenn bumbled around a bit, but his two successful attacks finished off Nadia's wraith. Nadia returned the favour, directing her Spiritual Weapon to strike at Glenn's wraith. Glenn took yet another inconsequential attack. Edward hit Glenn's wraith twice, as Schala's wraith proved its continued incompetence by fumbling about impotently. Schala destroyed Glenn's wraith for him, and Locke began the fight on Schala's wraith, hitting three times. Glenn roared to get the wraith's attention, though it ignored him due to being unintelligent, so he slashed it three times and destroyed it. Even though Edward had barely lost any vitality, everyone else had someone stayed fine, so Nadia used a Restoration on Edward.
Tier 6-7, No Bard, Combat 2 (Schala used 1 Haste, Janus used his scroll of Command Undead and 1 Magic Missile, Nadia used 1 Prayer, 1 Spiritual Weapon, and 1 Restoration):
The wraiths surprised everyone again thanks to moving in utter silence, as usual. Janus sensed the aura of undeath and reacted first, commanding one of the undead to his service and noticing as he gave it instructions that its mind seemed curiously absent. Glenn dodged an attack from a wraith, but Schala and Locke each took minor hits. Glenn struck with two powerful blows, and Schala attempted to bring everyone up to speed with a Spell Combat Haste spell, but sadly, the spell failed, so she made a single attack against the injured wraith. Locke dodged the touch of another wraith, as Nadia gave a Prayer to Desna and Locke attacked the injured wraith twice more, and yet it would not fall. The final wraith made an attack on Nadia, but missed. Janus pulled out his scroll of Command Undead and tagged another wraith as his loyal minion, lightening the load on poor Locke. Glenn and Schala each took an inconsequential hit from a wraith, and Glenn destroyed the highly-injured wraith before moving on to a new target. Still a bit upset about her failed Haste, Schala's attack was weak, if accurate. Locke's remaining wraith hit him with a weak attack, and Nadia conjured up a Spiritual Weapon to smite the undead, while Locke, distracted by his mild pain, only dealt minor damage. Nadia continued the tradition of being hit by the wraiths and keeping her vitality intact. Janus fired forth four missiles of force to destroy the injured wraith, and Glenn began the assault on Nadia's wraith, slashing into the undead twice. Schala performed a follow-up, and Locke was struck again, losing much of his life essence. With Locke's attacks and Nadia's spiritual weapon, they destroyed Nadia's wraith before it could attack her. This left only Locke's last wraith, which Glenn hit twice and Schala once, leaving the wraith a single attack which missed Locke before it was summarily annihilated. Nadia restored Locke's substantially weakened fortitude with a Restoration.
In parties with Edward, he takes the orb to try to wrack his brain for bardic legends about it, and otherwise Locke takes it because it's very shiny.
Tier 1-2, No Rogue, Combats 3/4/5/6/7 (Schala used 1 Colour Spray, Janus used 2 Colour Spray and 1 Grave Touch, Nadia used 1 Channel Positive Energy):
Edward went comatose. Janus advanced and Colour Sprayed the Charau-ka. Glenn was very lucky and knocked it out in one hit. Schala nearly did so as well, as Nadia checked on Edward. Janus couldn't even hit a stunned target with his Ray of Frost, so Schala finished off her previous target. Janus used his last Colour Spray and knocked out the next group of two charau-ka. Schala and Glenn killed one together, then the other. Nadia got an extremely wimpy critical on the other. Janus's Ray of Frost missed again. By this point the Monolith and Champion were killing each other, by which I mean the Monolith was mostly unharmed and the Champion was about to die. Schala got another critical and killed the stunned enemy, then the Monolith killed the big ape and Edward returned as the wall was repaired.
As a new wave approached, Janus readied a Ray of Frost and Nadia shot one of them with her crossbow. Shrieking and extremely fast, one charau-ka advanced at Nadia, but it missed, as did Schala's retributive attack. Glenn was very lucky again and defeated the charau-ka, injured as it was from the Ray of Frost. Glenn was soundly smacked by the other's club, as Edward sang a song about flowers and unicorns. Nadia moved to aid the others in hitting the final ape, and as Janus frightened the creature, Schala and Glenn killed it. Two more apemen appeared, and one advanced on Glenn but missed. Meanwhile, Nadia missed with a crossbow, Janus used his Grave Touch, Schala used Colour Spray to stun one of them, and Glenn missed. The unstunned charau-ka misses completely. Edward shoots weakly but at least he hits, and Nadia shoots the stunned monkey, and Janus's Ray of Frost missed it, but Schala struck with a powerful blow that defeated the unstunned ape. Glenn would have missed any legitimate target, but he hits because his foe is stunned, knocking it out.
Finally, two more apes appeared on the cliff for the end of the encounter. Schala struck too quickly for the apes to react with a powerful strike. Nadia fired her crossbow but couldn't connect. One of the charau-ka savagely clubbed Glenn extremely hard with two attacks. Janus used another Touch of the Grave. Schala was clubbed as well. Glenn attacked but couldn't bring his sword to bear, so Edward sang a song about bears. Schala finished off the apeman that she had been attacking, and the uninjured charau-ka was mildly crushed by falling dying comrades. Nadia called upon Desna to heal all her allies. Glenn got clubbed yet again. Janus fires Ray of Frost and hits for minor damage. Glenn hit for serious damage, but it still stood, so Schala ended the fight and took its head with her blade. Victory!
Tier 1-2, No Fighter, Combats 3/4/5/6/7 (Schala used 1 Colour Spray, Janus used 1 Colour Spray, Nadia used 1 Channel Positive Energy)
Nadia and Schala tag-teamed the first charau-ka, and the other swung a flurry of misses. Janus shot a Ray of Frost, and Locke flanked and sneak attacked. Schala managed to knock off the last one, but two more appeared. Nadia, Janus, and Schala hit one of them and staggered it. The other counterattacked against Schala with a solid thwack. The other charau-ka knocked itself out missing Schala, as Edward Monolith continued its attack on the Champion. Locke took a flank, and combined with Nadia and Schala, they beat the monkey into the ground.
But then more monkeys came! Edward sang a song about how awesome it was being a monolith. Janus Colour Sprayed but both apes somehow stayed conscious, despite all odds. One ape smacked Janus lightly, so Locke took the flank and stabbed it in the gut, and the other ape took the flank on Locke but missed. Later, Schala attacked the injured monkey but missed, so Edward shot it. Janus stepped back and missed with a Ray of Frost. Locke took a pair of beatings. Nadia had to heal Locke with her wand, and he was still pretty tenuous at best. Locke attacked twice--thanks to the ridiculous flanking, he managed to sneak attack each of them once, staggering the one that was low. The healthier charau-ka decided to knock out the insolent rogue, and Locke began to bleed to death. Schala struck the stronger ape and Edward the weaker, dropping both. As two more apemen emerged, Edward sang a song about how brave Locke had been to get himself nearly killed. Schala used a Colour Spray that was totally successful, and then everyone just wailed on them until the apes were dead.
Then a few more apes tried to crash down the cliffs. Locke struck before they could react, followed by Schala, but that wasn't quite enough to finish one of them. Schala took a brutal counterattack. Edward finished the injured enemy, and Janus used his Touch of the Grave on the remaining foe. Nadia healed Schala with her wand. Locke and Schala pounded on the monkey, but they barely failed to drop it. Shivering in fear, it missed Schala with all its attacks. All the casters tried to finish the ape and failed, so Locke took the finishing blow. Victory!
Tier 1-2, No Wizard, Combat 3/4/5/6/7 (Schala used 1 Colour Spray):
Schala used a Colour Spray and took out one ape. Nadia and Locke missed the other one, and Glenn attacked the one that the others missed and deals heavy damage, but the ape strikes back with its club. Schala easily kills the charau-ka in revenge for hurting Glenn, and Nadia heals Glenn. Locke pathetically missed the stunned monkey twice. Glenn and Schala tag-teamed it and killed the damned dirty ape. Two more of them came, but Schala hit it hard, and despite Nadia's poor aim, Locke made a really weak critical attack, but it was enough to finish the monkey. Glenn just barely missed the other ape thanks to his bard's being a giant monolith and not singing for him, and the charau-ka bit him. Schala moved over and slashed the ape hard, and even Nadia hit for a bit with her crossbow. Locke tried to flank and failed again. Glenn knocked the injured monkeyman out with ease.
Then the charau-ka started coming over the walls! Glenn hit one hard and nearly dropped it, so Schala stepped in and finished it easily. Edward sang about walls are misunderstood, and Locke slid in for the flank and hit once. Nadia fired a stray shot, and Glenn finished the battle. Unfortunately, two more monkeys showed up six seconds later. Glenn got a critical swing and flat-out killed one of the monkeys in a single blow. In return, the comrade was so enraged that it dealt heavy damage to Glenn. Schala tried to help but missed. Edward sang about how great that sword slash just was. Locke flanked and slashed the apeman for major damage. Nadia healed Glenn poorly, but Glenn didn't care because he defeated the other one too.
The last of the charau-ka poured over the cliffs. In a freak display of luck, both apes acted first, and the first one did a string of absolutely maximal blows, dropping Glenn instantly. Glenn stabilised, at least. Schala got revenge with a masterful attack that dropped an ape in one hit. Nadia gave Locke the flank, so Locke stabbed quickly twice, finishing the last enemy with a critical strike. Victory!
Tier 1-2, No Bard, Combat 3/4/5/6/7 (Schala used 1 Colour Spray, Janus used 2 Colour Sprays)
Two horrible charau-ka appeared along with their champion, and Locke went comatose, as a Monolith began to emerge from the interior. Schala moved forward and Colour Sprayed the two smaller apes, and both of them were stunned. Glenn wailed on one of them, and Nadia shot at the other and missed entirely. Schala got a serious blow and knocked out the uninjured enemy as Glenn finished what he started. Shortly thereafter, more apes appeared, and Janus used his own Colour Spray this time, but surprisingly, one of them stayed active, making itself the obvious target. Schala attacked it and missed, but Glenn hurt it badly. Janus fired a Ray of Frost and managed to finish it, though Nadia continued to fail. Schala only managed to hit the stunned monster thanks to flanking it, embarrassing her a bit, but between her and Glenn, it was finished, and the Champion fell shortly thereafter, returning Locke to them.
Unfortunately, soon after, more apes came over the walls. Locke waited to find a flank, and Nadia fired her crossbow and missed. Janus used Colour Spray again, this time taking out both apes. Schala hurt one badly and Locke flanked to finish it off but missed. Glenn sighed and did the deed. Despite Nadia and Janus's general inability to hit and Locke missing a stunned target for the second time in a row, Schala and Glenn took care of the other ape. That's when two more apemen crashed the party. Nadia fired her crossbow and missed, and Janus, with little else to do, shot a Ray of Frost for minor damage. Schala hit hard and Locke ended his string of bad luck by dropping the evil monkey. The other charau-ka was blessed greatly by Angazhan, and it got a critical hit against Schala, almost a perfect one, which still didn't drop her, so then it smacked her again, and the Magus finally went down. "Schala!" shouted Glenn, as he rushed forward and dealt a mighty blow to the ape. Nadia managed to rouse Schala, and Locke struck a critical blow and finished the ape. After healing Schala up, the party thought all was clear--
And that's when those crazy apes came tumbling down the cliff! Nadia, Janus, Schala and Locke struck quickly and accurately before the monkeys could recover their balance, between all four of them barely doing enough damage to drop one of the monkeys. The other monkey angrily turned on Locke and attacked thrice, clubbing him once in the head. Glenn attacked but failed, Locke launched into a flurry of misses, and Schala struck with one solid blow. Nadia and Janus didn't have a good shot and missed as well. The monkey continued its attack on Locke, but this time it couldn't hit anything, and with a loud scream, a dying ally fell off the cliff and smashed it to death. Victory!
Tier 6-7, All Configurations, Combats 3/4/5/6/7:
These were pretty amusing but not good examples of Magus playtest, except to explain what occurred. In a nutshell--the Tier 6-7 encounters are not very good at ranged combat. Since Janus, Schala, and Nadia each had a Fly spell available, between two and three characters took to the skies and pelted arrows at the enemies, who could not hit them back without a natural 20 (several ranged increments out for thrown rocks). Janus learned one very interesting fact about the Charau-ka in a few of the encounters--they are of type Humanoid [Charau-ka]. This is relevant because he used both Darkness and attacking from just beneath the ground in order to get his wraiths some kills without running into the sunlight powerlessness issue. This led to controlled wraiths with more and more spawn under their own control, which made Janus's dark necromantic soul very happy. Anyway, the Chieftain was not only the only enemy that could even damage the wraiths (with Shilelagh) but also the only one that could potentially hamper flying PCs (by summoning flying things to attack them), so they disrupted her summon spells and just generally killed her first in each wave. This led to easy (though sometimes drawn-out) victories.
Final Analysis:
These playtests allowed me to note some subtle things about the Magus that were not evident from theorycrafting alone. For one thing, her damage was consistently higher than Locke the Rogue, even though Locke had the best DPS in the party at level 1 and level 4 when making full attacks and flanking. This was because most enemies didn't last long enough to give Locke a full attack while flanking, except the wraiths at level 7, who were immune to Sneak Attack.
Schala had an easier time hitting things than I had imagined at level 7--I gave her a paired flanker feat with Locke, but it turned out to be pretty much irrelevant, as even though she did get many flanks, she didn't need the extra +2 to hit. She was so accurate that she probably would have been better served with Power Attack, which would have put her damage on a hit near-equal to Glenn's without even using any magic (Glenn would be up only 2 points--he has a higher plus on his sword, Weapon Training, and Weapon Spec to Schala's Arcane Strike).
Even though in some cases Glenn had a lot more damage per hit than Schala in theory (calculating expected value, for instance), it turned out to be irrelevant more often than I thought it would be. For instance, Glenn's largest damage advantage was at level 1, where he did 16 damage on average (Power Attacking, of course) to Schala's 9.5 average (1 more with bard song). However, Aspis Consortium mooks died in one hit to an attack from either of the two, as did skeletons unless Schala rolled a 1, so they were more equal that it seemed. Against the Charau-ka at the end, he did get to see an advantage--he had a 1/9 chance to stagger an uninjured Charau-ka and a 1/6 chance to drop it outright. However, there was still a greater than 2/3 chance that he would take two blows to finish one, and Schala had a 5/6 chance to do the same herself. Obviously, this meant that the two together would finish a Charau-ka 100% of the time if they both hit, which was useful, but the main idea here is that even though Glenn had over 50% more damage on a successful hit (due to using a Greatsword), it wasn't nearly that big an edge in what they could do (due to massive overkill and parity issues).
Glenn's biggest advantage was at level 7 when he had an iterative and Schala did not. This is because they were both so accurate that iteratives were very likely to hit. Obviously level 7 is stacked poorly for the Magus, who gets both an iterative and the lessened penalties of Spell Combat at level 8 (though as I'll mention--Spell Combat wasn't so bad, even at levels 4 and 7).
The presence of the level 7 Edward was amazing for Schala, as Heroism and Inspire Courage essentially negated the Spell Combat penalty and made her hit on pretty much any roll, even with Spell Combat, while giving a nice damage boost.
Nadia the Cleric didn't have too much the do in any of the first two fights except the wraith battles in Tier 6-7. Between Schala and Glenn (and sometimes with help from Locke and Edward), things tended to die of damage, and Janus occasionally took foes out of the fight or did nice crowd control. That said, the readied Hold Person on the charging Calgredine was pretty awesome.
A Spellstrike critical from Schala with Shocking Grasp can one-shot kill any monster in Tier 3-4 with ease from full health (well of course except the CR 14 plot device monster). She cannot quite claim this at 6-7 because of the dice cap on Shocking Grasp, but with Intensify Spell (or just getting a good 2nd-level touch spell that does more damage than SG), she can take out Calgredine on a crit (she could already take out the Chieftains on a crit with just a Shocking Grasp, and the wraiths are immune to criticals).
Schala's available utility and battlefield control spells really give her (and the party) an edge in a tight situation. For instance, if she wasn't around with the wraiths, Janus would have had to Haste and lose the chance to take enemies out of the fight early or else the party would just lack the Haste.
Yes, Schala was pretty darn awesome at all three of the levels played, but she only felt like a "Magus" in every fight when playing her at level 4 and level 7. At level 1, you'll notice that she didn't even use any spells before the Charau-ka came out, and though she did quite well, a Commoner with 18 Strength could have also done that job for the most part. She basically threw like 1 Colour Spray and maybe a Shield and otherwise was just a Warrior. Granted this only applied at level 1, but see suggestions below.
Suggestions:
The Magus did really well, even in this module with 7 relatively high-EL encounters. However, I think there are some important changes that need to be made. That said, there's something even more important--changes that I hope you please will not make to the Magus in the next version.
1&2) There's no risk of either of these two changes, or so I hear, but please don't change the Magus to a full BAB class/Ranger casting class/full casting class, or a spontaneous caster. It works just great with the current chassis. The changes would be best made in the Magus's specials.
3) I don't know how likely this one is to be implemented, but a lot of people are suggesting it, so let me be the dissenting voice. Please please please don't make Spell Combat work like Flurry of Blows. That would essentially negate all attack roll penalties by level 5 and give a *bonus* to attack rolls with Spell Combat beyond that point. Spell Combat is a balanced class ability that offers high power at the risk of failure--you can see how Schala made use of it in several situations in the playtests, and it was extremely effective almost every time. I don't believe that Spell Combat needs a change for balance's sake--it's great that it encourages the Magus to use it with her lower-level spells. In fact, Schala's only real failure was on an attempt to cast Haste with Spell Combat when it was a brand new spell at level 7. She was too cocky there, as she would have succeeded if she had chosen a 2nd-level spell. Also if I had taken the Magus Arcanum Concentrate instead of Familiar, she would have been fine there, but I didn't want to be an absolute Concentrate monkey with the test character.
Now here are some changes from which I think the Magus would benefit:
1) This is a biggie--something minor to do lots of times at level 1. The Monk's Ki Pool progression is a bit too slow to start, though, I think. Perhaps 3+Int modifier + 1 for each Magus Arcana known (so it will currently cap out at 9 + Int mod at level 18, close to the Monk Ki Pool while being higher to start). There are a variety of small fun things that this ability could be. One of them that might be nice is the ability to use Spellstrike and some of those arcana that cost spell slots without paying spell slots. Something like "A Magus may spend 1 point from her Arcana Pool for every spell level to Spellstrike any touch spell she knows without expending a spell slot" "A Magus may spend 1 or 2 point from her Arcana Pool to activate Arcana that normally require spell slots to activate. If she spends 1 point, the Arcanum is activated as if she expended a spell of half her highest level available (rounded up), and if she spends 2 points, the Arcanum is activated as if she expended her highest level spell available." Maybe help with the 1/day things here as well--"For 2 Arcana Pool point, the Magus can activate Concentrate, Still Magic, or Silent Magic even if she has already used those abilities that day. For 3 points, she can activate Empower Magic an additional time. For 4 points, she can activate Maximize Magic an additional time. For 5 points, she can activate Quicken Magic an additional time." And these are just ideas that only work with the existing Arcana and mechanics available. Surely countless more ideas are available to use this resource, but my point is the Magus needs something here--I trust you to find something awesome to go here.
2) Arcana Changes--Spell Shield is horrible. Several others are extremely limited in usage, but I think my suggestion for getting more uses out of the arcana for Arcana Pool points make all of them contenders except Spell Shield. Spell Shield would be significantly better if it were at least some weird type of AC bonus like an "Arcane Bonus" or something so it could stack with the Shield spell and other cheap and easy means of getting minor shield bonuses.
3) It might be a good idea to make Arcana more frequent, perhaps every even level like Discoveries and Revelations. If you go that route, Magus definitely needs a good number more interesting Arcana available. One way to balance this increase might be to make the heavier armour proficiencies into Arcana--this also lets you get them earlier if the concept calls for a heavily-armoured Magus.
4) We know that new touch spells are forthcoming, but I think adding touch spells that have little extra effects that matter for Spellstrike would be really awesome--for instance, in the current list, the +3 to hit against metal armour for Shocking Grasp applies to the whole attack roll--that's a fun ability combo. So for instance, a 2nd-level touch spell called "Recurring Agony" that deals 1d6 damage per 2 caster levels (max 5d6) and then "On your next turn, the target of Recurring Agony takes an amount of damage equal to the amount he took on your first attack with Recurring Agony." Not too exciting for a Wizard, but with a Magus, you could use this to double your melee weapon damage as well. Other interesting possibilities come to mind--"Vitriolic Touch" which deals acid damage and adds the clause "The acid from your touch weakens the enemy's defenses. If this attack deals acid damage, the target's damage reduction is reduced by 5 until the end of your next turn." Or to capitalise on the higher critical rate of Spellstrike, something like "Unstable Spark", a level 3 spell that deals 1d6 damage per caster level (max 10d6) with the following special ability "Unstable Spark reaches its true potential on a critical hit, at which point, in addition to normal critical damage, a Shocking Burst lashes out at the target and all other creatures within a 5' radius except the caster for 1d10 damage per caster level"
5) Speaking of Spellstrike--it's great as a prebuff that you hold onto starting from long before the fight breaks out, but as it stands, it takes too many actions to be useful in combat except as a backup plan if your free touch attack misses. Charge an extra Arcana Pool point or something to make the casting of the spell in Spellstrike part of the same attack action as the attack itself (don't make it a Swift action or else it can't be used with Arcane Accuracy or Arcane Strike).
6) Fighter Training--This should probably come sooner so it can see more use. One tantalising possibility, perhaps, is to let them use their full Magus level as their Fighter level for selecting the class bonus feats only, thus making those feats particularly special and allowing them to get a small number of high-tier Fighter-only feats without grabbing them all and stepping on the Fighter's toes.
7) Combat Casting. Make it a bonus feat. Schala would have had some big problems without her strong Concentration bonus. Some people are asking you to not make it a bonus feat but then just give the Magus higher bonuses on her own (or smaller penalties for Spell Combat)--I believe the bonus feat is a better idea because otherwise people who are very serious about casting defensively can take the bonuses you give and then just take Combat Casting anyway, quickly reaching the point where they can automatically cast any spell defensively. For instance, if given a +4 bonus instead of Combat Casting, a Magus with 16 Int could cast defensively on a Natural 1 at level 3 and all levels 5+ if she still took Combat Casting and a trait for it (she would still have a 10% or smaller chance to lost a spell using Spell Combat).
Finally got the chance to playtest last night, and of course I forgot my notes at home today (typing from work). So I'll be brief.
I'm sitting my regular character out of our weekly game to bring in an elf magus. We're 8th level, 20 point buy, and use traits. This adventure is mostly mystery solving so we only had one fight.
The party including my elf magus consisted of a dwarf monk, gnome barbarian, human fighter, fey-touched human sorcerer, and one of those cat people from Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved (cleric with vow of peace DMPC for healing). We had just reached a distant port city and were wandering through the marketplace when an elven woman ran past us, pursued by several burly human thugs that shoved roughly by. Being goodly heroes we leapt into action.
Rd 1 - I glitterdusted four of the seven thugs and moved into position (the thugs were human barbarian 4's wielding improvised weapons). All four failed their saves and were blinded (some commoner 1's also were blinded, but that wasn't important yet). Bad guys go. The blind guys stood there rubbing their eyes. Three passed their save and regained their sight. 2 thugs attacked me, 1 threw a crate (missed) the other moved up and swung an oar at me (and missed). The last thug continued after the elf girl. Our sorcerer cast confusion, catching everyone I had caught with my glitterdust. They all failed their saves. Our fighter chased after the lone thug and the elf girl while our barbarian and monk both moved up into melee. Catboy cast bless.
Rd 2 - Spell combat time! I opted to play it a little safe and do a little self buffing, casting cat's grace on myself (weapon finesse style, damage comes from arcane strike, +'s on the weapon, and spells, of course), then attacking with my rapier (+1 keen shock thanks to arcane weapon). I needed a four to make concentration (I had combat casting), and had I failed I coulda used the concentrate arcana, but I rolled high, and then crit with my first attack and hit with my second attack. 30 damage total. The rest of the party melee's with anyone that wasn't confused, the sorcerer casts hold person on the thug that ran after the elf, the fighter opts to begin a coup de grace, and the confused commoners and thugs start babbling, running away in terror, bashing themselves into unconsciousness, or in one "oops" moment, a thug scored a critical hit on an innocent commoner and dealt 25 damage to a guy with 8 hp and a con of 11, and instantly killed him. Catboy sees the mindless horror and tries to shove (bull rush) a commoner away from another thug.
Rd 3 - More spell combat! I cast an empowered shocking grasp (magus arcana) and dealt 24 damage to the guy I was fighting, dropping him. I'd already declared spell combat and had nothing else to attack with my sword, so I just pumped my rapier into his fallen form a couple times to insure he wouldn't be getting back up. Fighter kills the held thug, monk and barbarian finish their respective opponents, everyone else is confused. Or healing, because that's all catboys are good for.
Rd 4 - We should just be mopping up now, right? Well, we woulda been, if the monk hadn't decided to use his throw anything feat to throw a crate like he saw a thug do earlier. Too bad he didn't read what the contents of said crate were. Crate hits thug and breaks open, releasing the assassin vine that was being transported somewhere for some reason. Most of my damage is electric (shocking grasp, shock weapon, etc.) so I poke the vine for 5 damage before the rest of the party kills it.
My observations: I was never hit, never failed the concentration check for spell combat, and was able to take down a raging barbarian just as quickly as the party's monk and barbarian. Doing that much damage did require spellcasting every round, though I only used first and second level spells.
This is a character I can see wanting rings of wizardry and using low-level slots even at higher levels (which is unusual, in my experience).
I'd be fine if spell combat remained as written, but I'd be happier if the magus got combat casting as a bonus feat as well.
I deliberately chose only arcanas that didn't eat spells, simply because I'd rather cast spells in spell combat than use them up for minor, short-term bonuses.