My view on magus.

[Fewtas]

Alright so I wanted to give my own take on what I've seen with the magus playtest so far. I do think the math is okay-ish (definitely some problems regarding attack spells on spell strike), the problems actually stem from two other things; flexibility and variance.

To break it down, the issue stems from the fact that pretty much all that's available is spell strike or a small amount of spells and cantrips. Yes I know there are the other abilities and feats that are granted, but nothing that actually allows a wide breadth of actions. With other classes whether they archetype or not, the fact remains that most likely they will have a lot of different possibilities during their turn. With magus though, you will almost always just end up using spellstrike, and then ending your turn. Yes, you could say that fighter might do the same thing if they have power attack, but the problem is that magus doesn't get to choose as much. For them it seems so far like using spellstrike will just be play, whether or not its 100% optimal.

Now I didn't break it down this far without any ideas on what to change. I have a few, and because I want to promote a decent discussion, I'm gonna put the controversial one first.

1. Remove spellstrike as the main class feature and make it a synthesis. I know, it sounds crazy but hear me out. It's a fun ability, but the fact that it's there puts so much of the power budget into the class there that you almost have to take slide casting to make it work and feel fluid. Doing this opens up a lot of extra design space for the class. At this point, magus has a lot of their power baked into the soul fact that they can spellstrike and do a massive amount of damage with certain spells. Doing this and designing something else as a main class feature that doesn't absorb all of the actions would create a massive amount power allocation in the budget. Plus it would allow for a tree of feats that provide more potential buffs to using the striking spell [potential feats: energy overload (hitting with a striking spell does additional damage, failed save cause flat-footed level 8, can't be a cantrip)] because if a string of feats was designed like that with the current version, it would be an instant buy almost every time.

2. Striking spell quicken spells the used spell. Due to the fact that they dont get nearly as many spell slots to burn, causing all striking spells to be quickened allows for magus to have a bit more fluid movement around the battlefield and it doesn't hamper it and lock it down nearly as much.

3. Add more spellslots and additional magus focus spells. Probably the easiest wording wise, but simply adding more spellslots gives the magus more options for different actions throughout a turn. Maybe not as much as a full caster but enough.

Ok and that's all from me right now. Went off on a bit of a tangent with that first point as I let my own full design start to creep out. Anyways, that my current thoughts, after another session later today I'll be able to provide more feedback.

[Kalaam]

About fact 2, rather than quickening the spells, I think it'd be simpler to make it a "replace the somatic component of an attack spell by a Strike, said strike counts double toward MAP"

[Fewtas]

That would also work well, I do think though that if that was to be the change, there still definitely needs to be more feats that grant other types of actions.

[Kalaam]

Yeah. I think stuff like "Riving Strike: 2 actions, make a strike to inflict a -2 penalty to saving throws until the end of your next turn" or "Rend defenses: 3 actions. Make a strike and reduces the target's resistances by half your level or by your level on a crit"

Stuff like that, maybe some things inspired by martials etc

[Zero the Nothing]

Kalaam wrote:

Yeah. I think stuff like "Riving Strike: 2 actions, make a strike to inflict a -2 penalty to saving throws until the end of your next turn" or "Rend defenses: 3 actions. Make a strike and reduces the target's resistances by half your level or by your level on a crit"

Stuff like that, maybe some things inspired by martials etc

I like that a lot. It gives the Magus some magic things to do that aren't spells, just magic powered martial skill.

[Kalaam]

That's the idea, also helps you do teamwork with other members rather than being the only one getting buffs.

One I really, really wanna see would be "Deflecting Spellstrike"
Reaction, trigger: a foe attempts a melee strike on you but hasn't rolled yet AND you have a Striking Spell charged.
You attempt a Strike, if the result is great than that of the opponent, their Strike fail and they become flat footed until the beginning of their next turn, the spell you had dissipates. If you exceed their roll by 10 or more (or rolled a 20) the spell discharges on the attacker, attempt a spell attack roll/make them roll a save.

It's silly, dangerous, but I love that kind of stuff.