I'll probably be running a one shot relatively soon, and since it will probably be my only chance to see them in play, I wanna get the most I can out of it. What are some good scenarios to test the classes? The party will be on a passenger ship they were hired to defend, and the ship gets attacked by monsters, and the party will be either level 5 or 3.
In terms of combat, I was thinking one moderate encounter with lower level enemies, one moderate encounter with APL+0 enemies, and one severe encounter with either a single APL+3 enemy or an APL+2 with mooks.
I also want to include some noncombat challenges, one of which should involve rescuing passengers and getting them to life boats, using whatever skills, abilities, or spells they have.
Anything else that might be good to include?
As well as a mix of enemy strengths (which is very important; Magi are awful against bosses), a selection of enemy types in those fights.
Some bruisers, a caster or two, ranged enemies, maybe something with a fly speed if they're at 5th?
lvl 5 or 3 is imo not useful, since the magus would be a normal combatant with a semi normal progression with spells.
I suggest you to consider lvl 10+ in order to test the class.
Testing at all levels is important. If surveys show that a class is enjoyable at 5 but not 10, that's important data. But there's a couple other reasons I'm starting at a lower level.
1. My players have varying levels of system mastery, asking some of them to jump into a 10th level class they've never played before is just asking for trouble.
2. I think starting at a level campaigns frequently start at is a good way to gauge how intuitive the mechanics are for players just starting out with them.