How does this fit in with the rest of the Magus chassis as it stands (4-slot casting, limited focus spells, syntheses)? How does this compare with a Fighter/Wizard and a martial class that requires an action to "turn on" (Barbarian, Ranger, Investigator, arguably Rogue)?
Spellstrike [A][A]
[Fortune][Flourish][Metamagic]
Cast a Spell that takes one or two actions to cast and targets you or one creature. If the spell targets you, resolve the effects of the spell. If the spell targets another creature, instead of casting it as normal, you place the spell's magic into one melee weapon you're wielding or into your body to use with an unarmed attack. Make a melee Strike. This attack counts as two attacks when calculating your multiple attack penalty.
If you hit with a melee Strike using the receptacle for the spell, the spell is discharged, affecting only the target you hit if the spell is a spell attack. The spell attack is a success even if your discharging Strike was a critical success. If the spell requires a saving throw, the creature hit with the melee Strike rolls its saving throw as normal.
If you don't expend the stored spell with a Strike before the end of your next turn, it is lost and dissipates harmlessly. The same thing happens if you use the Spellstrike action again, or if the weapon is used for a non-melee Strike (such as a thrown weapon Strike). A spell stored with Spellstrike cannot be discharged by anyone but the caster.
I like it, but this would mean Slide needs a pretty substantial nerf.
The more I play with current spell strike the more I do appreciate being able to use any strike with spell strike. Opens up interesting dedication options.
By Wich I'm talking about the actual strike portion.
If it changes that's fine. Just letting it be known I appreciate that aspect.
I like it, but this would mean Slide needs a pretty substantial nerf.
Definitely. I'd just replace it with a different synthesis ability. I would be interested in seeing a bladed rush-type feat, either as a Battle Spell to cast with Spellstrike or as a rider to Spellstrike, though.
The more I play with current spell strike the more I do appreciate being able to use any strike with spell strike. Opens up interesting dedication options.
By Wich I'm talking about the actual strike portion.
If it changes that's fine. Just letting it be known I appreciate that aspect.
Would those multiclass options be as attractive if the Magus had Battle Spells that could simulate some of those effects, or some form of fighting style feats? That is, a way to invest in some fighting styles within the class, either by using some resources or opportunity costs to balance them and "magic them up"?
What types of strikes have you been fiddling with?
I like it, but this would mean Slide needs a pretty substantial nerf.Definitely. I'd just replace it with a different synthesis ability. I would be interested in seeing a bladed rush-type feat, either as a Battle Spell to cast with Spellstrike or as a rider to Spellstrike, though.
The more I play with current spell strike the more I do appreciate being able to use any strike with spell strike. Opens up interesting dedication options.
By Wich I'm talking about the actual strike portion.
If it changes that's fine. Just letting it be known I appreciate that aspect.
Would those multiclass options be as attractive if the Magus had Battle Spells that could simulate some of those effects, or some form of fighting style feats? That is, a way to invest in some fighting styles within the class, either by using some resources or opportunity costs to balance them and "magic them up"?
What types of strikes have you been fiddling with?
I've played with dragging strike and lunge together with portal slide. Easily achieving flat footed condition, Portal sliding 10ft away and hitting with lunge and using dragging strike to reposition as well.
I've played with power attack to get even more damage in a single hit.
I've played with known weaknesses from investigator.
I think a way to keep both the flexibility of the strike and the action economy of the 2 action spellstrike would be to have Spell Combat (infusing the spell "in yourself" and being able to, if you so choose, release a compatible one on a successful strike) along with the simpler "Cast your attack spell, replace the roll by a weapon strike".
So if you want to use a special strike with it, you have to set it up by "absorbing"/"infusing" the spell first. Simple SpellStrike is so "natural" to the Magus that it can just do it with a simple strike when casting the spell.
Edit:
I've played with dragging strike and lunge together with portal slide. Easily achieving flat footed condition, Portal sliding 10ft away and hitting with lunge and using dragging strike to reposition as well.I've played with power attack to get even more damage in a single hit.
I've played with known weaknesses from investigator.
Sounds like a pretty fun martial oriented Magus, I like that.
The more I play with current spell strike the more I do appreciate being able to use any strike with spell strike. Opens up interesting dedication options.
By Wich I'm talking about the actual strike portion.
If it changes that's fine. Just letting it be known I appreciate that aspect.
Would those multiclass options be as attractive if the Magus had Battle Spells that could simulate some of those effects, or some form of fighting style feats? That is, a way to invest in some fighting styles within the class, either by using some resources or opportunity costs to balance them and "magic them up"?
What types of strikes have you been fiddling with?
I've played with dragging strike and lunge together with portal slide. Easily achieving flat footed condition, Portal sliding 10ft away and hitting with lunge and using dragging strike to reposition as well.
I've played with power attack to get even more damage in a single hit.
I've played with known weaknesses from investigator.
Those are fun choices. Have they been effective?
I'm wondering if it wouldn't be a big adjustment to have a number of Battle Spells that do interesting things like those feats. The lack of Battle Spells right now makes it tough to gauge, but I'd enjoy seeing some cool effects.
I see that not being able to use Spellstrike with another attack feat might be limiting, though I also suspect a lot of people aren't going to delve too deeply into MCD combat feats. I don't think it would be difficult to add in a line to the effect of:
"You may replace the melee Strike with any 1-action ability that allows you to make a melee Strike as part of resolving the ability."
I think it's a good way to do it, about what we expected too. Might want to make saves one degree worse on a critical strike otherwise we're still in the area of "why have a chance to miss with a save spell?" but for attack roll spells it looks good.
I debated whether to include save spells at all, because they seem to be another tricky area. On the one hand, it's nice to have most offensive spells available to combine with a Strike and basically using your melee hit chance. On the other hand, save spells are pretty potent compared to spell attacks.
One degree of success worse, considering that Magi will probably have a lower Int than Dex or Str, might turn what would usually be Successes into Failures. In a way it creates a separate type of "crit fishing," but one that's more palatable to me.
I do also like that it expands what the Magus might include in their list, rather than just blasting spells.