too broken for pfs?

[TheSideKick]

im playing a second level magus right now. he is NOT the dervish dance type of magus, he uses cestus and all electric based attacks, until he gets elemental spell, and can hit for quite a bit.

his normal attack + arcane pool gives him a +5 attack hitting for id4 +5 19-20, when using spell combat he has 2x +3 attacks at 1d4 + 5, and when he casts shocking grasp (against something with metal on it) a +8 attack (6 with spell combat) at 1d4+4d6+5. i achieved this by using spell specialization shocking grasp.

at this level im one hitting things, which makes me not want to play aggressively, and im concerned that i will single-handedly end combats with a good shocking grasp punch.

until 8th level im going to have scaling damage, and as the levels accrue im going to be able to be more liberal with my shocking punches, will i still have this issue of having to use restraint until closer to the end game or will the npc's be able to mitigate more of the damage sooner?

[Artanthos]

No, it is not OP.

You're doing quite a bit less than a fully optimized barbarian would at 2nd level.

As for mitigation: there will be opponents that are immune to electric. Others, you will continue to one-shot. The one-shot kill will get less frequent as encounter hit points increase to the point where you need a critical and a good roll to kill.

[Robert A Matthews]

There's also the matter of your shocking grasp caps out at 5d6, unless you take the intensify spell feat to increase the maximum damage by +5d6. This uses up a spell slot one level higher though.

[Artanthos]

Unless you have magical lineage or wayang spell hunter.

Or both.

[Fromper]

Yup, you'll utterly destroy things. How many times per day can you cast that? Magus is powerful, and you found a way to optimize it well, but it's not quite broken. Just be sure to remember that it's a team game, and let other players shine, too.

[Imbicatus]

It's not like you are using a Falchion on a hexcrafter and using Brand to give yourself unlimited Magus-Flurry.

[TheSideKick]

yeah im not going to play a dervish or a hexcrafter in a pfs game, that would make the game to easy and waste every ones time.

i even sat out a few rounds of combat to give the fighter and barbarian a chance to kill the BBEG. then i walked up and hit it for 27 damage, and killed it.

[Bigdaddyjug]

A lot fewer enemies will be wearing something metal as you level up as well. Natural armor and no armor (pure caster enemies) become a lot more common once you get into the 5+ range.

[TheSideKick]

Bigdaddyjug wrote:

A lot fewer enemies will be wearing something metal as you level up as well. Natural armor and no armor (pure caster enemies) become a lot more common once you get into the 5+ range.

shocking grasp effects people wearing metal weapons also. swords, maces, daggers all give you the +3

[Jiggy]

Yes, and there will later be enemies who have no metal on them whatsoever. Otyughs, for example. Or casters.

[Bigdaddyjug]

Ok, what does wayang spellhunter do and where does it come from, because I can't find it on either d20, Archives of Nethys, or the Pathfinder PRD.

[TheSideKick]

its called metamagic training i think, same thing as magical lineage. one is magic trait the other is a regional trait.

here it is

[Scrogz]

it is tied to a specll. How many times a day can you do that? You damage is not going to pace with, and it actually a bit lower than, a 2 hand barb/fighter.

In a burst it looks great and is strong, but it's only a burst. I would not worry about it as a GM at all. As a player, you are fine.

[Artanthos]

Bigdaddyjug wrote:

Ok, what does wayang spellhunter do and where does it come from, because I can't find it on either d20, Archives of Nethys, or the Pathfinder PRD.

Dragon Empires Primer: pg. 14

Link

[Bigdaddyjug]

Oh ok, so it's the same thing as magical lineage, except you could theoretically choose a 4th or higher level spell for magical lineage.

[Charender]

2nd level barbarian with masterwork falchion
24 strength(18 initial + 2 racial +4 rage)
Hit: +10 (+2 BAB +1 MW +7 str)
Damage: 2d4 + 10 18-20/2x damage

So basically, you pretty much only miss on a bad roll, you do an average of 15 damage on a normal hit, and 15% of the time you will hit for about 30 damage.

[Ender730]

Charender wrote:

2nd level barbarian with masterwork falchion

24 strength(18 initial + 2 racial +4 rage)
Hit: +10 (+2 BAB +1 MW +7 str)
Damage: 2d4 + 10 18-20/2x damage

So basically, you pretty much only miss on a bad roll, you do an average of 15 damage on a normal hit, and 15% of the time you will hit for about 30 damage.

I like the magus and all, but yeah, you're not gonna be too OP when compared to an optimized barbarian. The fighter and barbarian in the guy's party might've just not been optimized, or having a bad night.

Magus is a more fun class though imo :)