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So I want to do a test of a Magus with Words of Power on Monday or Tuesday so I thought a baseline performance ought to be created. I realize that this board is no longer really monitored by Devs but that's ok since this is mainly for me until I refer to it for next weeks release of Words of Power.
The rules for the arena are this: There will be a fight randomly chosen from among the monsters of CR4 through death. The combatants will be chosen by a random number generator from the Monster DB at d20PFSRD.
Between each fight, the Magus will be able to use one of his CLW potions or a Pearl of Power. Our intrepid hero may also make use of the party healer at this time and receive healing. He has 2 Cure Light, 2 Cure Mod, and 2 Cure Serious available to him. If he makes it past CR 8 I might give him a Cure Critical or two. These will be cast by a level 8 Cleric.
Human Magus 8
Str 10
Dex 22
Con 12
Int 16
Wis 8
Cha 10
Traits
Heirloom Weapon (Aldori Dueling Sword)
Fast Talker
[I realize that these are not totally optimized but it's the Magus I'll probably play and represents a bit of balance between social and combat optimization]
Feats
1h: Combat Casting
1: Weapon Finesse
3: Aldori Duelist (This is basically Dervish Dance for the Aldori Dueling Sword. It’s silly that a feat like that should only be available to one weapon)
5: Dodge
5b: Weapon Focus (Aldori Dueling Sword)
7: Arcane Strike
Arcana
3: Concentrate
6: Empowered Magic
Equipment (33k)
+2 Mithral Chain Shirt (4100)
+2 Aldori Dueling Sword (modified to +3 with Arcane Weapon) (8020)
Light Hammer
Ring of Protection +1 (2000)
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 (2000)
Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2 (4000)
Headband of Vast Intelligence +2 (4000)
Cloak of Resistance +1 (1000)
Pearl of Power 1 (1000)
Pearl of Power 2 (4000)
Bag of Holding I (2500)
5x Cure Light Potions
HP 59
AC 25
Fort 8
Ref 9
Will 6
Init +6
BAB +6/+1
Full Attack +17/+12 d8+12 (2-handed)/d8+14(2-handed +Arcane Strike)/d8+9 (1-handed)/d8+11 (1-handed + Arcane Strike)
Spells
1st
4x Magic Missile
1x Shield
2nd
4x Scorching Ray
1x Mirror Image
3rd
1x Fly
1x Haste
1x Displacement
On to the fight!
CR 4 – Algoid from the Tome of Horrors
Algoid wins Initiative and opens with Mind Blast. Magus passes his Will save.
Magus moves 30’ and attacks(5) 22 damage, 20hp
Algoid uses shocking grasp, threat, confirms, 43 damage, 16hp.
Magus full attacks (14, 4) two hits, kills Algoid.
Between fights, the Magus takes advantage of a Cure Mod and a potion of CLW, heals for 29 (45hp)
CR 5 – Ochre Jelly (sigh)
Ochre Jelly wins Initiative (I’ve had crap Init rolls.) Moves forward 10’
Magus drops his Sword and draws his Light Hammer. Casts Magic Missile 20 damage, 43hp
Ochre Jelly moves forward 10’
Magus takes a 5’ step backwards.
Ochre Jelly moves forward 10’
Magus takes a 5’ step and full attacks (19,3) two hits, 11 damage, 32 hp
Ochre Jelly slams (1) misses
Magus full attacks (9,9) two hits, 6 damage, 26hp
Ochre Jelly slams (17) misses
Magus full attacks (14,3) two hits, 6 damage, 20hp
Ochre Jelly slams (19) misses
Magus full attacks (7,9) two hits, 8 damage, 12hp
Ochre Jelly slams (16) misses
Magus full attacks (14,1) one hit, 4 damage, 8hp
Ochre Jelly slams (18) misses
Magus full attacks (14,15) two hits, 7 damage, 1hp
Ochre Jelly slams (18) misses
Magus full attacks (7,7) two hits, 7 damage, Ochre Jelly dies
Damn, that was long and brutal. Stupid Jelly.
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Between fights the Magus drinks one more potion, heals for 13, 58 hp
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CR 6 – Half-Field Minotaur
Magus Wins Initiative casts Shield (AC now 29)
Minotaur uses Powerful Charge (1) misses.
Magus 5’ steps, full attacks (20,8), threat confirms, 54 damage, 3hp
Minotaur Full Attacks (18,17,1,1) one hit, 26 damage, 32hp
Magus Full Attacks (15,11) two hits, Minotaur dies.
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Between fights he chugs another potion and uses the Cleric’s CLW, 19 total healing, 51hp
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CR 7 – Water Naga
Magus wins Iniative. Moves 30’ and attacks (1) misses.
Naga takes 5’ step, casts Mirror Image 4 images.
Magus takes 5’ step, Spell Combat with Magic Missile, (3,9) 2 near misses destroy 2 images (2 remain) Concentration is success (8), Magic Missile deals 11 damage, 65hp.
Naga takes 5’ step, casts Magic Missile, 14 damage, 37hp
Magus takes 5’ step, Spell Combat with Magic Missile, (19,11) threat confirms, both hit images Concentration is success (18), Magic Missile deals 11 damage, 54hp.
Naga’s a punk and 5’ steps to cast Mirror Image, 3 images
Magus takes 5 foot step and full attacks (9,7) One hit destroys image, near miss destroys another, 1 remains.
Naga takes 5 foot step and casts Magic Missile, 11 damage, 26hp
Magus takes 5 foot step and full attacks (19,8) threat confirms, crit destroys last image, hit deals 18, 36hp.
Naga takes a 5 foot step and casts Mirror Image (4 images)
Magus takes 5 foot step and full attacks (5,18) 2 hits, 2 images destroyed. Magus weeps.
Naga takes 5 foot step and casts Magic Missile, 10 damage, 16hp
Magus initiates Spell Combat, 2 Scorching Rays (7,13) two hits, 24 damage, 12hp. Strikes with sword (10,7), 1 hit actually goes past the images too in a streak of luck dealing 13 damage. Water Naga dies.
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Crap, that was rough. The Naga’s spell casting was seriously rough for our Magus friend. In a party situation it would have probably been easier since it would be harder to 5’ step away from everyone forcing concentration checks of which it would fail 40% of the time.
Between fights the Magus uses the Cleric’s Cure Serious and uses a potion for 24 total, 40hp. At this rate I’ll never use those Pearls of Power.
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CR8 – Nabasu (Note: I bet myself $10 I’ll die here.)
Nabasu wins initiative. Moves 30’ activates Death-Stealing Gaze. Magus saves. Bites (14), hits and sneak attacks, 18 damage, 22hp
Magus Spell Combats, Haste concentration (16) succeeds. Strikes (11,11,11) [bizarre, right?] 3 hits, 48 damage! 55hp
Nabasu takes a 5’ step and casts Mass Hold Person. Magus fails (6) and is paralyzed.
Magus saves again and fails (3).
Nabasu coup de grace’s the poor Magus. Sad times.
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So, the Magus was pretty good, dealt decent damage with and without Spell Combat. I thought the unholy pummeling I got from the Algoid (I accidentally did damage for the animated tree, which is why it did so much) was going to be my downfall but it was the Hold Person that got me.) The Magus I built has a slight Will save issue, though my save would have to be really high to overcome the crap rolls there.
Edit: Frak. Just spotted another mistake. Arcane Weapon should have boosted the sword to +4. Not that it would have made much of a difference but still...
Alot of good work.
I don't want this to sound like a gripe- its actually just a curious question.
Since you are actually randomly rolling for everything how do you expect to discern any balance issues? Wouldn't it be a better idea to assume an average roll of 10 (or some other static number) so the test is comparable all the way through?
As it is- all you really have is alot of showing that good rolls and bad rolls can make a big difference in combat, rather than any real showing of the ability of the magus itself as a class.
-S
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Alot of good work.
I don't want this to sound like a gripe- its actually just a curious question.
Since you are actually randomly rolling for everything how do you expect to discern any balance issues? Wouldn't it be a better idea to assume an average roll of 10 (or some other static number) so the test is comparable all the way through?
As it is- all you really have is alot of showing that good rolls and bad rolls can make a big difference in combat, rather than any real showing of the ability of the magus itself as a class.
-S
I agree with you in a sense. But I have, personally, done a lot of math hammer on the Magus. I have a good sense of how it does on average. I wanted to see how it does when put up against random monsters that wanted to kill him.
But when you have poop rolls it can skew results which is why I noted all rolls. At least now, when I refight this I can also see if the rolls are really different.
Besides, If its easy for Words of Power to do more damage than existing spells or provide better buffs, we won't need to playtest that, just tinker with it. I think that I really need to see if it provides so much flexibility that I'm able to better deal with some of the situations I faced.
For example, a spell like Magic Missile at level 1 that would have allowed me to hit all the Mirror Images or at least make the attack rolls and see would have been nice. Something to boost my saves, though I probably wouldn't have prepared it unless it also had Heroism like attack or damage bonuses.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Sure :) Like i said, you put alot of work into it.
I, myself, have no interest in the Magus as a class (I feel other classes do it fine) but its interesting watching and reading the playtest process in general.
Thanks for answering the question :)
-S