One of my players had a brainstorm and tried to combine maneuvers and Spell Combat; this didn't even make it off the character sheet due to 3/4 BAB with a penalty being an obvious non-starter.
Not that I've been the biggest fan of the Magus, but what about maneuver mastery?
One of my players had a brainstorm and tried to combine maneuvers and Spell Combat; this didn't even make it off the character sheet due to 3/4 BAB with a penalty being an obvious non-starter.Not that I've been the biggest fan of the Magus, but what about maneuver mastery?
3/4 BAB delays entry into combat expertise, and therefore the feat chain required to make manuevers worthwhile. Since you then cannot make a lvl 1 character who does not provoke, and cannot take the prereq feat until level 3, you can't effectively use mauevers until level 5 without provoking. The +6 BAB requirement on the improved version means you wont be taking it until level 9, 2 levels behind full BAB classes and 3 behind the fighter. At that point, manuevers are losing some of their effectiveness unless you fight high class leveled humanoids alot.
3/4 BAB delays entry into combat expertise, and therefore the feat chain required to make manuevers worthwhile.
Combat Expertise only requires Int 13?
The +6 BAB requirement on the improved version means you wont be taking it until level 9, 2 levels behind full BAB classes and 3 behind the fighter. At that point, manuevers are losing some of their effectiveness unless you fight high class leveled humanoids alot.
But after 3 levels, it's the same as the fighter. So, is it an issue about those 3 levels?
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3/4 BAB delays entry into combat expertise, and therefore the feat chain required to make manuevers worthwhile. Since you then cannot make a lvl 1 character who does not provoke, and cannot take the prereq feat until level 3, you can't effectively use mauevers until level 5 without provoking. The +6 BAB requirement on the improved version means you wont be taking it until level 9, 2 levels behind full BAB classes and 3 behind the fighter. At that point, manuevers are losing some of their effectiveness unless you fight high class leveled humanoids alot.One of my players had a brainstorm and tried to combine maneuvers and Spell Combat; this didn't even make it off the character sheet due to 3/4 BAB with a penalty being an obvious non-starter.Not that I've been the biggest fan of the Magus, but what about maneuver mastery?
Slight corrections. No BAB req on combat expertise. No BAB req on improved maneuvers. +6 on Greater maneuvers
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Slight corrections. No BAB req on combat expertise. No BAB req on improved maneuvers. +6 on Greater maneuvers3/4 BAB delays entry into combat expertise, and therefore the feat chain required to make manuevers worthwhile. Since you then cannot make a lvl 1 character who does not provoke, and cannot take the prereq feat until level 3, you can't effectively use mauevers until level 5 without provoking. The +6 BAB requirement on the improved version means you wont be taking it until level 9, 2 levels behind full BAB classes and 3 behind the fighter. At that point, manuevers are losing some of their effectiveness unless you fight high class leveled humanoids alot.One of my players had a brainstorm and tried to combine maneuvers and Spell Combat; this didn't even make it off the character sheet due to 3/4 BAB with a penalty being an obvious non-starter.Not that I've been the biggest fan of the Magus, but what about maneuver mastery?
combat casting feat tax still pushes it out to level 5 to avoid provoke for anybody but humans.
I've been looking over the Magus, and it seems to me that it's Pathfinder's version of the Hexblade. Honestly, It seems very paladin-like in its design. Unlike the Paladin, however, it seems to not really know what it wants to do. The class burns through spells far too quickly, and takes far too many penalties to effectively cast in combat, and even if everything goes according to plan, one combat and the Magus is done (at low levels). There are also things about the Magus that simply don't feel right, like the ability to wear heavy armor, or even medium armor. Maybe that's just my personal preference, though. I don't know, to me it seems like the Magus is trying to replace the Eldritch Knight, and doing a pretty poor job of it, at least as written. I just don't see the point of the class when, IMHO, Eldritch Knight is good as is. It's a PrC I have fun with, especially for two character concepts that don't generally fit together all that well (fighter and wizard types).
The magus is squishy.
I wonder if there should be a way to make him cast in combat (I mean, while attacking) not only offensive spells but defensive buffs too..
This, and arcana should be more frequent.
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The solution is quite simple.
Have an ability that grants Quicken Spell/Sudden Quicken x/day. Probably starts at 1/day, and increases every 4 levels. Spell Combat is basically a more complicated and worse version of this.
Then improve the bonded weapon aspect.
Add in some channeling a la duskblade (replacing/improving spellstrike).
Improve the magus arcanas in effectiveness, and somehow improve how they can use it (instead of just burn a spell slot).
If the class is bound to 1H weapons, make the melee damage output better instead of being outstripped by 2H weapons. It'll be lower than other classes, but not laughably so. Use spells, channeling, and magus arcanas to nova and do more for one or two encounters per day.
Hopefully Paizo will recognize the problems and address them.
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The magus is squishy.I wonder if there should be a way to make him cast in combat (I mean, while attacking) not only offensive spells but defensive buffs too..
This, and arcana should be more frequent.
"As a fullround
action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –4 penalty. He can also cast any spell with a casting time of 1 standard action from the magus spell list."playtest book
I'm a bit late to the party .... but I really wanted to give it a look over and see where it's falling short, how it works, how it *could/should* work, etc before really coming in to say much.
Honestly ... my first impression is "what the heck is it trying to do?" I say this by looking at the hodge-podge of class abilities - there's stuff from all over here.
It's ... interesting, but also overwhelming. At times, confusing and clearly jarring regarding either placement in progression, or function.
Honestly, everyone has pointed out the glaring issues that stare back at me, so it's kind of set on that front - I'll just say that if it's a flaw that's been noted, I support it being a flaw.
I've really only got 3 suggestions to "fix" it really, and it's not even all that fleshed out. My thoughts are to go back and revisit the 3.x Swashbuckler and his "Perceptive Strike" feature (or whatever it is) that grants +int to damage inflicted (it was usable only against SA-type targets, though - PF opend that up a bit, so it would be only *more* useful now, and fitting to the concept).
Second thing - go and look at the Bladesinger of 2e and 3.5 - less the 3.5, but more of the "one weapon dedicated bond/training" of 2e. In particular, I'm thinking of say a level of dedication that grants just a +x amount (honestly, I'm thinking to just make it a full bab progression for that ONE and ONLY ONE weapon in this character's hands). I'm thinking it's a sort of training and dedication thing - they get to have full BAB, but for 1 and ONLY 1 weapon, PERIOD! It's not crazy if it's just 1 weapon, and it makes them more vulnerable than other types to the "disarm" and "sunder" techniques really.
Third Thing - more just a general mining of the 3.5 bladesinger/duelist sorts of advantages and flavor. Light armor-type only (exclusively even). Maybe riff a *tiny* bit off of Fighters for say like 1 degree of Armor Training and/or Weapon Training (or just forgo that weapon training thing and just go w/the 1 wpn full BAB concept).
I mean ... right now it's looking like a hearbreaker class to me. It's a decent idea ... but so much is wrong with it that it just falls short.
I *want* to love the concept ... but after the study and review I've done, I just can't do it. I can't recommend it for anything other than "revise the hell out of it, or homebrew it, and THEN we can talk about putting it to use."
The magus is squishy.I wonder if there should be a way to make him cast in combat (I mean, while attacking) not only offensive spells but defensive buffs too..
This, and arcana should be more frequent.
"As a fullround
action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –4 penalty. He can also cast any spell with a casting time of 1 standard action from the magus spell list."
playtest book
yeah, I forgot my mistake. I was flat out wrong!
Better this way ;)