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I haven't seen any official response from Paizo on this and would like this topic addressed.
I have been playing a Magus for a long game over a year and just got to level 14 (slow progression). After reading the Greater Spell Combat feat I feel it does nothing for the Magus. In fact I didn't even right it down on my character sheet and even asked the GM for a free feat in it's place.
My main issues is that I have a +24 concentration check at level 14, and +26 while using spell combat. Using concentration feats. I simply cannot fail any concentration check, and never will for even my 6th level spells once I get them. I have a 18 intelligence. Even if someone has a feat to make that concentration check harder the likely hood of my failing the spell completely is less than 1%. So taking a negative to attack for more concentration is literally useless. Even for a magus that didn't take any concentration feats by level 14 this feat is very unlikely to be used.
Also there is the wording "At 14th level, the magus gains the ability to seamlessly cast spells and make melee attacks." Yet there is no bonus to back this statement up. It's simply a false statement. There is nothing in this feat that makes the magus gain the ability to seamlessly cast spells and make melee attacks. If nothing it makes your attacks worse, and in my case I get no bonus from doing so as I can't fail a check normally. So either Paizo forgot to add the you don't take a -2 penalty to attack during spell combat, or they just didn't understand the word seamlessly.
Seamlessly: moving from one thing to another easily and without any interruptions or problems
A -2 to attack is a problem, also taking a penalty to attack so you can concentrate on a spell to cast during combat is a problem. This feat doesn't make it easy to make melee attacks and cast spells seamlessly if nothing else the feat is making matters worse. I formally request this feat be updated to it's proper usefulness, and changed to reflect the wording used in the feat.
The feat should state the following:
At 14th level, the magus gains the ability to seamlessly cast spells and make melee attacks. The magus no longer takes a penalty to attack during spell combat, and gains an additional +2 on concentration checks during spell combat.
This would allow anyone playing a Magus to not have to waste 2 feats for concentration just to be able to do what the class was designed for spell combat. It would also allow them to do what the feat says seamlessly cast spells and make melee attacks.
Thank you for your time.
Could you quote the entire feat.
well at level 14 a melee can ready an action to hit you when you cast a spell. hitting you for easly 20-40 daamge depand on the build ( im not so sure of numbers but my level 7 fighter had an avrage of 21 damage per hit so i figure double the level double the damage output ;).
that mean a concentration check(no ,casting defencivly doesnt prevent this. only making the spell not pull an AOO. if the enemy delayed and ready to attack you when you cast ,casting defencivly won't help) so 10+20-40 is concentration of 30-50 dc? . if your gm decide that mobs that fight you fight foolishly. then yes. you cna get by with mid-low concentration. but not every GM is that generous .
and i didn't go into what happen if you are taking overturn damage(acid. buring from a bomb?) or running. or horse riding etc etc. so yea. you need higher concentration even if normaly casting defencivly would auto-work for you. cuase there are planty other tmies when you would pray for more bonuses on that roll.
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well at level 14 a melee can ready an action to hit you when you cast a spell. hitting you for easly 20-40 daamge depand on the build ( im not so sure of numbers but my level 7 fighter had an avrage of 21 damage per hit so i figure double the level double the damage output ;).
that mean a concentration check(no ,casting defencivly doesnt prevent this. only making the spell not pull an AOO. if the enemy delayed and ready to attack you when you cast ,casting defencivly won't help) so 10+20-40 is concentration of 30-50 dc? . if your gm decide that mobs that fight you fight foolishly. then yes. you cna get by with mid-low concentration. but not every GM is that generous .
and i didn't go into what happen if you are taking overturn damage(acid. buring from a bomb?) or running. or horse riding etc etc. so yea. you need higher concentration even if normaly casting defencivly would auto-work for you. cuase there are planty other tmies when you would pray for more bonuses on that roll.
The concentration check for casting defensively, and the one for keeping the spell would both be low enough that having a +24 is almost an autopass when you only have to worry about 6th level spells. The DC is only 27.
Unless someone readies an action then you don't have to worry about being hit while attacked, unless you do something such as casting while riding, which is a rare case, and by level 14 you are probably flying anyway.It is not like you are fighting alone. If this is a non BBEG fight and they focus on the caster the rest of the party is freed up. In addition if the enemies are going to recognize you as a caster then eschew materials to hide that spell component pouch is not a bad spells.
I don't see this as a consistent problem.
the concentration for being hit is 10+ damage delt,no? so taking a 30~ dmage hit would meen a 40 dc copncentration .why would +24 at the skill be enough?
the concentration for being hit is 10+ damage delt,no? so taking a 30~ dmage hit would meen a 40 dc copncentration .why would +24 at the skill be enough?
I'm thinking he doesn't often have enemies ready attacks against his spellcasting, so the damage done concentration check is not encountered. If all you are using concentration for is casting defensively to avoid AoO's, then yes, Greater Spell Combat will never be used.
So you dont like. Thing the Magus get at level 14? They get plenty of other good class features.
It is not great but there are different ways for a canny opponent to raise the DC so it is only almost wasted.
I think other classes have less impressive class features then the Magus to cry about.
Aaaand i dont undestand why this is in the rules question part of the forum.
the concentration for being hit is 10+ damage delt,no? so taking a 30~ dmage hit would meen a 40 dc copncentration .why would +24 at the skill be enough?
You did not read my post did you?
So you dont like. Thing the Magus get at level 14? They get plenty of other good class features.
It is not great but there are different ways for a canny opponent to raise the DC so it is only almost wasted.
I think other classes have less impressive class features then the Magus to cry about.
Aaaand i dont undestand why this is in the rules question part of the forum.
I think he is saying that the feature is broken(as in does not work similar to prone shooter before errata), therefore it should be fixed.
Could you quote the entire feat.It's not a feat, despite what the OP called it. It's actually a class feature.
Greater Spell Combat (Ex)
At 14th level, the magus gains the ability to seamlessly cast spells and make melee attacks. Whenever he uses the spell combat ability, his concentration check bonus equals double the amount of the attack penalty taken.
Thanks Jeff. In this case there is no need to FAQ this. The OP just does not like it. That is different form it not working.
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It's pretty clear what it does;
Spell Combat (Ex): At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks.
Greater Spell Combat (Ex): At 14th level, the magus gains the ability to seamlessly cast spells and make melee attacks. Whenever he uses the spell combat ability, his concentration check bonus equals double the amount of the attack penalty taken.
Sadly, that's a bonus to the concentration check for casting defensively. I don't think it applies to any other concentration checks you might have to make for getting hit by readied attacks.
Basically, it's an additional Combat Casting sort of ability.
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I think he is saying that the feature is broken(as in does not work similar to prone shooter before errata), therefore it should be fixed.So you dont like. Thing the Magus get at level 14? They get plenty of other good class features.
It is not great but there are different ways for a canny opponent to raise the DC so it is only almost wasted.
I think other classes have less impressive class features then the Magus to cry about.
Aaaand i dont undestand why this is in the rules question part of the forum.
I think his broken meens that he dont like it.
Edit: and you seem to agree with me just below the one i responded to.
No problem. Working as intended.
Just because you don't like what it doesn't doesn't mean it needs to be fixed. Not all class features are of equal value.