First I would like to say that I'm only looking for input on the spellcasting mechanic of the Magus class. This is not a "Magus are over/under powered" thread or a "Sorcerers are weaker/stronger than Wizards" thread.
Bards, Summoners, and Magus all share the 6th level spell limit. They all have the exact same number of spells per day. Bards and Summoners are spontaneous casters with limited number of spells known, while the Magus prepares his spells ahead of time and uses a spellbook to potentially have every spell on his list. If the Magus used the same chart for spells known that the Bard and Summoner uses (and were limited in regard to Metamagic like said casters) would that raise any red flags? Are there more considerations in regard to spellcasting that would make this too good?
Casting stat would stay INT for this case study so no other aspects (Arcane Pool, etc) would change based on "main" stats for the class.
this would actually be a fairly heavy nerf, assuming the magus uses metamagic. (and most of them do), because their base class abilities assume they can spellcast and attack as a full round action, but that's only valid with a standard action spell.
Many many of the magus builds suggest things like metamagic'd shocking grasp and other things, and would no longer be valid if they had to spend a full round action to cast them
Flagged for homebrew.
In all cases that I can think of where there's a spontaneous / prepared version of the "same" class (wizard / sorc, cleric / oracle), the spontaneous caster gets more class abilities. The reason for this is that, rightly or wrongly, the developers of PF rate the versatility of spell preparation higher than the number of spells per day that the spontaneous casters have.
So, you'd need to buff them up slightly to make up for it.
Super Genius Games has an archetype for this, but I think they may have overshot it a bit.
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Sounds like a class archetype candidate, though I would think the stat would change to CHA to match all other spontaneous and the spellbook would be removed. Might be a bit much as a magus generally knows he's going to almost entirely cast from a small list of touch spells, rays, and a few others. Should definitely get a way to metamagic in a standard, maybe with arcane pool.
I would like it personally just because I prefer spont-casting. That said, I also ignore the Metamagic limitations on spont-casters as I've never seen the need for them.
In my opinion, it would either be a nerf or a buff.
At level 1, Shocking Grasp is an extremely common spell for maguses. On the other hand, so is Intensified Shocking Grasp, which would require a full round to cast. Then again, Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp) may make it otherwise.
It really depends on playstyle. I don't really change my magus's spell selection much, but as far as I know, I couldn't know those spells if I were a spontaneous caster.
In my opinion, it would either be a nerf or a buff.
At level 1, Shocking Grasp is an extremely common spell for maguses. On the other hand, so is Intensified Shocking Grasp, which would require a full round to cast. Then again, Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp) may make it otherwise.
It really depends on playstyle. I don't really change my magus's spell selection much, but as far as I know, I couldn't know those spells if I were a spontaneous caster.
Magical Lineage does not change the fact that its a metamagic'd spell, and thus takes a full round to cast for spontaneous casters.
This is the problem, as that combination is very widely spread for magi and can fairly said to be one of the 'standard' builds of the class.
It no longer works with this change.
It's one of the "standard" builds on the forums.
It's one of the "standard" builds on the forums.
Agreed. I'm usually not in favor of "one trick ponies" and the builds that utilize metamagic are normally of the "use Intensify with Shocking Grasp with that trait that lowers the requirement by one and then only ever use Shocking Grasp, etc" which is a trick my pony doesn't care for. Having to use up higher spell slots for Extended, Silent, etc. spells on a class that only has 6 levels available and gets them very slowly is not something I would think of as ideal. Especially since you have to take the Metamagic feat as well, which means you aren't taking something that you can actually use all the time.
Just my two cents though, I know some players that couldn't play spellcasters (of any variety) without Metamagic spells.
The main point was for the standard class without pidgin-holed feat/trait selections to conform to that one build that is OMG! powerful. I actually kind of like that the spontaneous possibility discourages that kind of thinking. Again, just my two cents.
I am still not sure if I should allow this option for my player. I am leaning toward it though.