Accidentally posted this in the wrong forum last night. Sorry for the double post!
TOC :
Introduction
Playtest Group
Prior Impressions ( Original
Magus)
Revised Magus: Encounter List
Player - Voiced Concerns
Final Impressions
Introduction :
I 've been running a Council of Thieves campaign
that acquired a Magus (original version ) when a
new player joined the group during book 3 , after
the last round of official playtesting closed . He
upgraded the character to the new rules when
the revised version was released. Impressions of
the session follow .
Group (7 th level) :
Playtest Magus( v2 )
Rogue 6 / Shadowdancer 1
Fighter ( Sword- and- board )
Cleric of Desna
Arcane Sorcerer
Prior impressions : For reference , my
impressions of the (original ) Magus at 6 th level
were middling at best- - the class just had trouble
keeping up with other base classes damage or
utility wise . The player used spell combat a
couple times, then just gave up . The player
largely felt forced into the role of a mediocre
melee .
* Revised Magus*
Encounters (2 sessions ):
1 ) Roleplaying /Problem solving Encounter
The player was only loosely involved in the
roleplaying encounter; things took a turn for the
worse. Initiative was called , but the sorcerer
pulled out Memory Lapse successfully . The
group retreated . The group pulls out a bag of
tricks ( yes , they had a bag of tricks ) and the
Magus adds a dash of pyrotechnics to create a
cat - astrophic distraction .
Salient point : The Magus had just gotten the
revised rules for this encounter, and didn 't know
he could burn a pool point to prepare
pyrotechnics . As a result , he had bought a scroll
for this encounter . Subsequently he has stated
that he intends to reserve points specifically for
spell preparation . More on this later in 'Player
voiced concerns '.
2 ) 4 CR 6 Ftrs + 1 CR8 Undead
With an arcane pool enhancement , the Magus
dealt respectable damage throughout the
combat. He otherwise conserved spells and
points , leaving him a fair bit behind the fighter in
damage , but he out - dps 'd the rogue . A Dazzling
Display was used VERY effectively on all but the
undead foe.
3 ) Roleplaying Encounter
The Magus succeeded on two knowledge checks ,
adding information about a relevant spell , and a
particular denizen of another plane. Salient
point : The Magus used the skill list to good
effect . The naturally high Int meant that the
player was able to accommodate more skills
than 2 + int melee types typically have .
4 ) 1 CR 9 Evil Outsider , 3 tough CR6 Evil
Outsiders .
The cleric took the cake on this one , Dismissing
my Big Bad Monster . The Magus was the star of
the subsequent cleanup with the three Evil
Outsider Mooks ( who had a significant HP each)
as he enhanced his scimitar, such that it was not
just superior to his comrades ' weapons, but also
specifically keyed to their weaknesses .
5 ) 1 CR 9 Sorcerer
A third weapon enhancement was used.
Spellstrike was used heavily with a whip in this
fight to mediocre effect , mostly due to low dice
rolls. Things picked up when the Magus used
web to limit the sorcerer 's mobility , then moved
up . He tried to cast something with spell
combat, but failed the check . He then used
burning hands with spell combat ( burning away
the web, of course) . The player - sorcerer , as an
irrelevant side note , used improved counterspell
to totally mitigate several lightning bolts , but he
ran out of appropriately leveled spells pretty
fast.
Player Comments/Concerns :
- The player is still concerned with a lack of
variety of attack touch spells for use with spell
combat, mostly due to the lack of variety rather
than any balance concern .
- He also actively voiced a degree of concern
regarding Knowledge pool and Pool Spell , saying
he felt like it was taking something from Divine
and Sorcerous casters . He agreed that Pool
Spell's cost made it appropriately expensive , but
Knowledge Pool , on the other hand , was cheap- -
he intends to now use a few points daily for
'niche ' spells he doesn' t know but might need .
He still is uncomfortable with Improved Pool
Spell's 'best- of - both - worlds ' capability, and flat
disagrees with getting access to the whole
wizard spell list (" which even a wizard doesn' t
get ") - - although that 's 19 th level , which this
campaign won 't reach . As a DM , I actually
agree - - I wouldn 't mind seeing the Knowledge
pool and Improved / greater spell pool come
back as part of an ' archmagey' base /prestige
class, but they don 't seem to fit the Gish theme
to me, and could potentially cause balance
issues ( but I haven't seen that reflected yet ,
obviously ) .
- The player feels that conserving Arcane Pool
points is a facet of playing, but doesn 't feel like
he has too few- - he 's pretty happy with the
number .
Final Impressions :
The Revised Magus's damage potential seems to
be a little lower than other DPS - focused classes
( when played in this manner , anyways ), but
utility seems to make up for that . After the
revision , spell combat and spellstrike saw good
use, and the weapon was enhanced several
times. A full adventuring day 's worth of
encounters didn 't see him run out of pool
points , but he did have to conserve; I felt like
the number of points available to him was good
( opinion alert ) . The player is pretty happy , and
other players don 't feel like he 's outstripping
them.
My concern , and that of the player himself, is
the Knowledge Pool / Improved and Greater Pool
Spell abilities ; the only playtesting input I can
provide is that my player intends to use several
of his points from now on to prepare spells he
thinks he 'll need for a day .
If the duration of the playtest is extended , I 'll
have another session 's input this weekend .
Otherwise, thanks for the playtest ! I 'm looking
forward to th
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Your repost is funky, hard to read, and cuts off at the end. But, luckily, I found your post on the WoP board and read it there. =) So...
I'm curious about the Magus build used in this playtest.
As to concerns over Knowledge Pool and Pool Spell, I'm not sure there are enough points in the Pool to do so much of this kind of interaction that it steps overmuch on spontaneous caster's feet. At level 12 right after getting Improved Pool Spell, even a Magus with 20 Int will only have 11 points. At least 4 of them are needed for weapon enhancements and probably more like 5. Otherwise, the Magus definitely falls behind other melee PCs in DPR. So you have something like 6 points to grab extra spells. But with an extremely limited number of spells per day, the Magus will likely need some of these Pool Points to cast stuff so that limits you a bit.
Maybe Greater Pool Spell is strong but it's also still only up to level 6 spells which doesn't even approach the zaniness that a level 19 Sorcerer or Wizard can do.