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Magus isn't going to be in Player Core 2, so as far as I understand, we won't be getting anything more than standard errata passes for the time being. Certainly not a full-on revision like many of the core classes are getting.
That may change if/when they decide to do a big "arcane magic" sourcebook again - we know they have to revisit the Runelord class archetype, for one, so I expect it'll happen eventually - but there's nothing announced to that effect as of yet.
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The only real change iirc is that with schools gone arcane cascade defaults to force and if your spell had a damage type, it is that instead. Frankly I still wish you could enter arcane cascade whenever and the damage type would just match your latest damage spell, otherwise defaulting to force
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Errata for the Magus has already happened.
The only real change iirc is that with schools gone arcane cascade defaults to force and if your spell had a damage type, it is that instead.
The other major change was also to Arcane Cascade. It no longer has RAW that causes the Stance to end as soon as you use the action to start it.
Frankly I still wish you could enter arcane cascade whenever and the damage type would just match your latest damage spell, otherwise defaulting to force
That is how it works.
Arcane Cascade
[one-action]
Concentrate Magus Stance
Source Secrets of Magic pg. 38 1.1
Requirements You used your most recent action this turn to Cast a Spell or make a Spellstrike.You need to meet this requirement only to enter the stance, not to remain in it.You divert a portion of the spell's magical power and keep it cycling through your body and weapon using specialized forms, breathing, or footwork. While you're in the stance, your melee Strikes deal 1 extra force damage. This damage increases to 2 if you have weapon specialization and 3 if you have greater weapon specialization. Any Strike that benefits from this damage gains the arcane trait, making it magical.
If your most recent spell before entering the stance was one that can deal damage, the damage from the stance is instead the same type that spell could deal (or one type of your choice if the spell could deal multiple types of damage).
That's from Archive of Nethys, but I'm pretty sure that matches the new errata.
Frankly I still wish you could enter arcane cascade whenever and the damage type would just match your latest damage spell, otherwise defaulting to forceThat is how it works.
Arcane Cascade
[one-action]
Concentrate Magus Stance
Source Secrets of Magic pg. 38 1.1
Requirements You used your most recent action this turn to Cast a Spell or make a Spellstrike.You need to meet this requirement only to enter the stance, not to remain in it.You divert a portion of the spell's magical power and keep it cycling through your body and weapon using specialized forms, breathing, or footwork. While you're in the stance, your melee Strikes deal 1 extra force damage. This damage increases to 2 if you have weapon specialization and 3 if you have greater weapon specialization. Any Strike that benefits from this damage gains the arcane trait, making it magical.If your most recent spell before entering the stance was one that can deal damage, the damage from the stance is instead the same type that spell could deal (or one type of your choice if the spell could deal multiple types of damage).
That's from Archive of Nethys, but I'm pretty sure that matches the new errata.
I'll clarify. I wish there was no cast-a-spell first requirement. You entered the stance and it is force damage, anytime you cast a damage spell it changes to that type dynamically. The biggest issue with arcane cascade is requiring a spell or spellstrike. Making it one of the clunkiest class skills in the game. Requiring, quite often, that you use three actions to simply turn on your subclass abilities. It feels horrible in play
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I'll clarify. I wish there was no cast-a-spell first requirement. You entered the stance and it is force damage, anytime you cast a damage spell it changes to that type dynamically. The biggest issue with arcane cascade is requiring a spell or spellstrike. Making it one of the clunkiest class skills in the game. Requiring, quite often, that you use three actions to simply turn on your subclass abilities. It feels horrible in play
To be clear - what you are proposing is that Magus doesn't cast any spells or make a spellstrike at all for an entire round. And that is going to feel less horrible in play.
Have you considered qualifying for Arcane Cascade using a 1-action spell such as Shield, Guidance, or Force Fang?
Requiring, quite often, that you use three actions to simply turn on your subclass abilities. It feels horrible in play
I played a high level magus last week, the only experience with the magus I had prior was in the very early levels, and I totally agree with this.
The playable loop of the magus often revolves around spellstrike → recharge spellstrike → spellstrike, though since you commonly have to move to be within the range of your target and need Arcade Cascade to have most of your features on, it means that in practice you usually can't benefit from most of your features until the 2nd or 3rd round of combat. This is just bad, because by the 3rd round the combat is pretty much over at that point. I honestly would want to test if changing Arcane Cascade to a reaction or free action would be that overpowered to be honest. The magus is far from being a weak class, though it is certainly clunky.
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The playable loop of the magus often revolves around spellstrike → recharge spellstrike → spellstrike,
The one and only playable loop.
I'm smelling hyperbole here. That is probably the highest damage dealing option that Magus has available. But it is hardly the only possible round's worth of actions that is playable.
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I play a Sparkling Targe in PFS. I'll usually cast a Cantrip and go into Cascade on Round 1. Occasionally, if I need to move, I'll "Cheat" and cast Shield to go into Cascade.
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I feel most people who are not happy with the state of the Magus haven't really played one for any decent period of time. They function very well as is.
I'm a bit more generous. I think the attitude can also be caused by being a PF1 veteran where damage dealt per round is the only meaningful metric to measure a character with.
To address OP question, I personally hope they add a little more flavor for feats aside from Spellstrike augmentation.
I'm expecting such things to be added in further expansion books rather than as errata/reprint of Secrets of Magic itself.
So, I am guessing that the magus will be coming in Player Core 3?
That's not how the Remaster works. From the very first announcement post it has been made clear that the Remaster doesn't invalidate any Pathfinder2e content other than the four books named that are being rebuild - the Core Rulebook, Gamemastery Guide, Advanced Player's Guide, and Bestiary 1.
Secrets of Magic isn't on that list. Creating a Player Core 3 with a new Magus class in it would be a contradiction in the content.
Just discovered this, so thank you for inspiring me to look, but Spellcasting classes don't get a lvl 1 class feat.
Summoner (the other hybrid martial/spellcaster) does get one, but it is limited to only the Eidolon Evolution feats.
I'll clarify. I wish there was no cast-a-spell first requirement. You entered the stance and it is force damage, anytime you cast a damage spell it changes to that type dynamically. The biggest issue with arcane cascade is requiring a spell or spellstrike. Making it one of the clunkiest class skills in the game. Requiring, quite often, that you use three actions to simply turn on your subclass abilities. It feels horrible in playFrankly I still wish you could enter arcane cascade whenever and the damage type would just match your latest damage spell, otherwise defaulting to forceThat is how it works.
Arcane Cascade
[one-action]
Concentrate Magus Stance
Source Secrets of Magic pg. 38 1.1
Requirements You used your most recent action this turn to Cast a Spell or make a Spellstrike.You need to meet this requirement only to enter the stance, not to remain in it.You divert a portion of the spell's magical power and keep it cycling through your body and weapon using specialized forms, breathing, or footwork. While you're in the stance, your melee Strikes deal 1 extra force damage. This damage increases to 2 if you have weapon specialization and 3 if you have greater weapon specialization. Any Strike that benefits from this damage gains the arcane trait, making it magical.If your most recent spell before entering the stance was one that can deal damage, the damage from the stance is instead the same type that spell could deal (or one type of your choice if the spell could deal multiple types of damage).
That's from Archive of Nethys, but I'm pretty sure that matches the new errata.
This feels like a really weird take because it implies casting a spell or spell strike are wasted actions, and not something you'd want to do anyway. Or, in the case of spell strike, the main reason you're playing the class.Meanwhile, arcane cascade is pretty minor and I'd say your real subclass draw is the conflux spell.
I know the magus has a lot of different actions to choose between, and trying to spell strike every round is hard, but using spells/spellstrike shouldn't be that objectionable.
I've played a Starlit Span and Inexorable Iron Magus and seen a couple of Laughing Shadow Magus played.
Starlit Span is the easiest magus because you barely move and you don't need Arcane Cascade Stance as well as not being in melee range to set off AoOs when Spellstriking.
The Inexorable Iron magus isn't bad. The AoOs when spellstriking can be real brutal. I generally cast a range spell and then enter arcane stance in round 1. Then move in to spellstrike in round 2. I do take conflux spells like force fang and use the base hybrid study spell to efficiently recharge spellstrike while doing damage. I prefer force fang or runic impression over other conflux spells because it doesn't increase MAP. Increasing MAP using a conflux spell to set up spellstrike is very inefficient and suboptimal making those spells a bad use of resources unless you don't plan to spellstrike that turn.
Spellstrike is one of the hardest hitting abilities in the game. It can exploit weaknesses. And the Magus feats allow for a very well built and efficient magus that does a lot of damage.
About the only concerns is getting disrupted by AoOs which can really throw the magus off track. Other than the AoO issue, the magus is a brutal class that does a lot of damage. The action sequence is boring as stated above. A lot of recharge actions or conflux spells mixed with a little casting. If you don't enjoy the playstyle, you won't enjoy the class. If you do, it hits real hard and can do the most insane single target damage in the game.
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The action sequence is boring as stated above. A lot of recharge actions or conflux spells mixed with a little casting. If you don't enjoy the playstyle, you won't enjoy the class. If you do, it hits real hard and can do the most insane single target damage in the game.
There's absolutely an optimal action sequence which is boring and repetitive as you mention here, but I think advising people who don't want to participate in that to avoid the class is missing that there are plenty of effective ways to play the Magus that don't reach that level of optimization. I've seen Magi that take the time to cast a spell in the normal way, who throw in an 'off turn' where they're recharging with a focus spell and not spell striking, etc, and they're all still perfectly functional. It's not the damage of an always spell-striking Magus, but given that as you mention, that's a standard for the most single-target damage you can do in the game, I think it's an unfair standard to hold them to.
If you don't enjoy the playstyle you're describing but do enjoy the idea of a warrior who is capable of using magic in concert with their strikes to great effect, it's still entirely possible to play a Magus and be a useful member of the team - at least compared to the expected contributions of a party member in PF2, not compared to the highest single-target damage you can do in the game.
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The ideal play pattern is spellstriking every other round, my issue is that you are very immobile in a game that incentivizes mobility. The issue with the three actions being used up is not that you do nothing, it's that it makes you a sitting duck, and you have to force awkward play patterns to turn on your subclass, meanwhile starlit span is just better than every other archer in the game. I see no reason you can't have one action enter stance at the start of combat, and then be able to use two actions to move, trip/shove with your weapon, whatever. I don't want to enter arcane cascade on the turn I spellstrike, pretty much ever, and if you want to cast, say, magic weapon, then you cast the buff and enter stance, turn over. A profoundly boring turn. The shield spell is fine, but there are few 1-action activities that allow you to do arcane cascade. Worse yet is not getting the opportunity in round one casting a spell at the end of turn so next turn you can enter the stance but then having to do a reaction and not meeting the prerequisite anymore or giving up the ability to react to meet the prerequisite. I don't think any other class feels so tied up for actions in this game
Lastly I would like the damage to change to the last spell and not the last spell before entering the stance. This way you can shift the damage type to one that suits the weakness of the enemy that you learned over the course of the fight. This is minor, but it would be nice
I don't think either of these would make the class less balanced in anyway. Magus already is below a fair number of martials in damage, and also HP. Spells are an advantage but you are often wasting slots by casting anything with your poor DC and to hit
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Revised Magus ... Any big changes that we expect?
No, beyond the simple errata already mentioned Magus works fine and needs no fixes.
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I think it's noteworthy that the way they rewrote Channel Smite for the remaster involves removing the manipulate trait from the Heal/Harm so it doesn't provoke. The feat didn't provoke in the original wording, but it didn't used to involve actually casting the spell and now it does.
Yeah, the only remaster problem for the magus is the reduction in attack spells. But that's kind of a self-inflicted issues since all pre-remaster spells that weren't renamed are still valid, compatible options. But it would be nice if more attacks spells were added anyway, if only to put the panicked at ease.
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Just discovered this, so thank you for inspiring me to look, but Spellcasting classes don't get a lvl 1 class feat.Summoner (the other hybrid martial/spellcaster) does get one, but it is limited to only the Eidolon Evolution feats.
Many spellcastera get one from other features, they just don't get their first free choice until 2nd level.
The ideal play pattern is spellstriking every other round, my issue is that you are very immobile in a game that incentivizes mobility. The issue with the three actions being used up is not that you do nothing, it's that it makes you a sitting duck...Hmmm. Sounds like a job for...the Commander!
Back on topic, while I don't expect Paizo to put out a remastered Magus class, I do hope PC2 has some fun and interesting spells that use spell attack rolls.
Big hype for the commander here
I do hope we get an arcane focused book and it has the page count to maybe give some stuff the magus that would be QoL improvements, maybe better schools for wizard too (not that I think this is a priority tbh). We've got rage of elements for primal, war of immortals for divine, dark archive for occult, "battle cry" for martials, it's only a matter of time before we get something arcane focused
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I played a starlit magus in a campaign where the rest of the party were a fighter, witch, sorcerer and a swashbuckler who made it to sessions irregularly.
Although the forums talk a lot about how good the action economy of turret like Starlit is, I actually found it much more effective to join the melee front row after 1-2 rounds to put pressure on enemies and give some breathing room to our own back line. Overall that made our party stronger even though my individual damage might have lagged.
(It didn't hurt that I multiclassed Monk for flurry as well as taking AoO.)
Overall I find the various sidebars in the magus class hinting a lot that the design intent wasn't that you'd be spellstriking every round. But that the magus class was very much aimed at people who enjoy puzzling out what to do with a tricky action economy, as each particular combat develops.
Ok, I have to ask how long have you played a magus in this edition? Because I have almost none of the problems you seem to. For one they're pretty much in the middle HP wise. There are 23 classes right now and about a 7 of them have a d10 or higher. They get the same exact attack progression as every other martial but fighter and gunslinger. There DC moves slightly worse than a regular caster, but if you are building for it your DC is for the most part is only 1-2 behind a regular caster until they hit legendary. They are one of the best single target damage dealers in the game. There action economy could use a little help but it isn't that hard to work. The magus isn't a class for someone who wants something more straightforward.
Bold is the only thing I complained about. I mentioned the fact they are not within the top tier of damage dealing martials as a fact not a complaint. I mentioned they are squishier while less mobile (do to action economy). The complaint is about the action economy and not the 8 hp. My only issue is that getting into arcane cascade having casting a spell as a prerequisite is not necessary and removing it would do a lot to clean up the action economy of the class. That's all. I played the class for three or so months, round about. I like the class, but it feels clunky
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I think the designers intended for the magus to have a complicated action economy. The target audience for the class is people who think "walk up to enemy, hit with hammer" is not complicated enough.
Combining your Abilities
As a magus, you have multiple special actions and abilities that can be used in combination with your spells. You can enter your Arcane Cascade stance with either Spellstrike or a normally cast spell, so it could be in your best interest to cast a spell to buff yourself at the beginning of a fight and enter Arcane Cascade, rather than going for an early Spellstrike. You can usually stay in Arcane Cascade for a long time, though if you find out an enemy has a weakness to a certain damage type, such as fire, you might want to refresh your stance with a fire spell to take advantage of the bonus damage. It's often worth it to cast your conflux spells and make a Strike either on a turn where you can't make a Spellstrike, or as the last action on your turn after a Spellstrike. Sometimes, it might be worth it to cast a conflux spell even if you think you'll miss, because it can still recharge your Spellstrike for your next turn. Since a lot can ride on your Spellstrike, which uses your multiple attack penalty, it's much better if used as the first attack of the turn!
That sidebar to me says a lot about what they were trying to achieve:
- You'd be using arcane cascade a lot, but not always entering it the same way- You'd be thinking a lot about when to use conflux spells, and not always doing it at the same time
- You'd be renewing arcane cascade to switch damage types sometimes
- You might consider hanging back at the start of combat, using a buff spell to go into cascade, and only wade into melee in the second round or so
I don't think they succeeded 100%. Spellstrike is still the eye-catching feature of the class. Cascade on the other hand seems so small fries that you don't always bother spending an action to activate it.
I'm hoping when it eventually gets a remaster (probably as side effect of a book that remasters rune magic) they iron out a few of the kinks of the action economy. Some things could do with some smoothing out, for example the Magus' Analysis feat - you're probably more interested in recharging spellstrike than in recalling knowledge, you're not even in the top 5 of classes that are good at recall knowledge. Since the creature becomes immune anyway, maybe it should just always recharge spellstrike?
I'd also like it if they got a some more 1-action things to do on turns when you're not spellstriking. Give some more things that feel good if you can't spellstrike every turn.
Overall I'm expecting the class to always stay a bit fiddly with action economy because that's how it's supposed to be. But I want it to be fiddly and not clunky. A fine line but an important one.
I think there's better ways to balance the magus than "let's force them to use a spell and then use an action to have access to most of their features". If people praise Starlit Span is because it "fixes" or rather avoids these problems because they since they have to move way less and don't really need Arcane Cascade for anything make them the easiest one to play.
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Ok, I have to ask how long have you played a magus in this edition? Because I have almost none of the problems you seem to. For one they're pretty much in the middle HP wise. There are 23 classes right now and about a 7 of them have a d10 or higher. They get the same exact attack progression as every other martial but fighter and gunslinger. There DC moves slightly worse than a regular caster, but if you are building for it your DC is for the most part is only 1-2 behind a regular caster until they hit legendary. They are one of the best single target damage dealers in the game. There action economy could use a little help but it isn't that hard to work. The magus isn't a class for someone who wants something more straightforward.Bold is the only thing I complained about. I mentioned the fact they are not within the top tier of damage dealing martials as a fact not a complaint. I mentioned they are squishier while less mobile (do to action economy). The complaint is about the action economy and not the 8 hp. My only issue is that getting into arcane cascade having casting a spell as a prerequisite is not necessary and removing it would do a lot to clean up the action economy of the class. That's all. I played the class for three or so months, round about. I like the class, but it feels clunky
Magus are one of the top tier martial damage dealers in the game. I'm not sure how you're playing, but the magus is built to do high damage. And they do.
Every single magus I've seen played in my campaigns is a top tier damage dealer against every single class in the game including top martial damage dealers.
I've seen magus absolutely blow up encounters over and over and over again. The magus is an incredibly brutal damage dealer.
I'm not sure how you built your magus to come to the conclusion they are outdamaged by other martials because the way I built mine I was beating the rogue and fighter and barbarian in the group quite often. I haven't seen any class end encounters as often as the magus other than maybe a high level caster.
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I think there's better ways to balance the magus than "let's force them to use a spell and then use an action to have access to most of their features". If people praise Starlit Span is because it "fixes" or rather avoids these problems because they since they have to move way less and don't really need Arcane Cascade for anything make them the easiest one to play.
I don't think it's just about balancing.
I think they simply didn't want you to spellstrike like clockwork every round, because they don't want people to do the same "rotation" every round. So they put in obstacles: you have rounds where you need to move to get to enemies that aren't in melee, or where you want to change your arcane cascade to hit a weakness.
I'd say the Starlit is actually "broken", rather than "fixed", because it doesn't participate in enough of the "other things to do than spellstrike" parts of the class.
However, I think the other things to do than spellstrike could have been feel-better than they are.
Arcane cascade isn't really a very big bonus. The things that you need to be in cascade for tend to be things you want to do early in combat (like move fast, for laughing shadow), so you'd have to go into cascade before your first spellstrike. It sort of works with buff spells, and Jump (1 action to enable cascade and move) but your spells per day are limited. It'd work better if there was a good start of combat cantrip. Also, buff spells don't really tend to give you a wonderful damage flavor on cascade to trigger weakness with. I got more value out of it with my magus that used Flurry of Blows a lot though, since more attacks per round means the bonus is leveraged more.
The focus spells you get out of the box have MAP, which fits the goal of encouraging you to use them on rounds you're not spellstriking. But the conditions when you can use them to good effect are a bit limited. I tended to mostly use Force Fang as free damage in between spellstrikes.
Magus' Analysis feels bad as a feat. The #1 thing I want to do is recharge spellstrike, getting Recall Knowledge is #2. But getting #1 depends on succeeding at #2 which you're not automatically great at, since Intelligence isn't even your key stat and a lot of monsters are actually based on Nature/Religion->Wisdom.
Basically, the improvements I want are to make you feel better about what you're doing when you're not spellstriking. I support the goal that you shouldn't be doing the same thing every round. But the "off" rounds need to be cooler.
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Magus are one of the top tier martial damage dealers in the game. I'm not sure how you're playing, but the magus is built to do high damage. And they do.
Everywhere that has run the numbers has concluded this is not the case. Their big burst doesn't actually close the gap between them and fighters or barbarians for instance, which are at the top of martial damage. They're not one of the best, they're maybe in the second tier of damage dealing
Magus are one of the top tier martial damage dealers in the game. I'm not sure how you're playing, but the magus is built to do high damage. And they do.Everywhere that has run the numbers has concluded this is not the case. Their big burst doesn't actually close the gap between them and fighters or barbarians for instance, which are at the top of martial damage. They're not one of the best, they're maybe in the second tier of damage dealing
I'm going to test this because I'm not buying it. I think magus, especially higher level magus, handily hammer as hard or harder than most other martials.
Early on I can see martials outdamaging the magus, but as your build power ups I can't see it. Once your spell damage for spells like gouging claw or imaginary weapon starts rising in, you have 3 focus points, and you use force fang for recharge as well as runic impression to always have a good rune ready to go, you start to boost damage. Also using Striker's Scroll to do AOE damage with blasting spells when it sets up well.
So I'd like to see numbers across the levels, not just low level. A magus isn't just a spell striker, the ability to use spells to enhance damage is a huge part of the magus. If your basing numbers around what? A low level spellstrike before you cantrip damage gets high enough to challenge second hits from barbs and fighters? Or recharging with conflux spells? Or blowing off a blast spell or using the right weakness with runic impression?
Let's just say I'm dubious of their numbers. I haven't tracked the magus as closely as I have other classes in the past, but the effect on the game from a mugus has never made them feel like a 2nd tier damage dealer behind barbs or fighters. A well built and played magus feels like one of the premiere damage dealers in the game in play.
Magus starts off a bit like a caster. Slower at low level, the gets stronger and stronger at higher level as your options improve and high quality feats kick in.
So is the magus the top damage dealer across all levels? I would say no. Low level they are probably middle tier. Do they reach the apex of damage dealing at higher level? I believe they do. They are definitely a slow build class that requires thought into how their mechanics work to play well.
Magus has great feats and great builds that put them at the upper tier of damage dealing. No one I've ever seen play one past the low levels in anyway feels inferior to barbs and fighters at high level. Barbs and fighters are doing the same old thing at level 15 as they did at level 5. Whereas a magus's options open up quite a bit and they are blowing up encounters at those higher levels.
So not sure who ran what numbers, but I'm doubtful they ran numbers on all options available to a magus across the majority of levels. I have DMed multiple magus and played them, they never feel on the low end of damage.
The magus is the only martial class you have to be concerned heavily with as a DM blowing up your encounters way too fast. Because magus crits are brutal and along with their average damage output from conflux spells, their spell slots, and the liberal use of scrolls means they can smack a lot of different ways.
I have a different in game experience with magus. About the only thing I feel is whoever ran numbers on the magus used a white room tool with a relatively low level magus spellstriking and didn't really take much time to learn how a magus plays in the game and the magus power curve is not like a normal martial power curve due to the casting element.
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I would be interested to see new data for combats that are three rounds, six rounds and maybe ten rounds. Multiple of each to catch outliers, and then compare the data between what are considered the top tier martials. I don't think Magus quite matches classes like the fighter and barbarian in sustained fights, maybe something only three rounds long will favor the magus, but I think six and ten will corroborate the data shown by other users. If it turns out they are a top tier damage dealer, and potentially beat even a giant barbarian, well, I actually think they shouldn't. I truly believe the versatility spells should be offering should come at the cost of sustained damage
I would be interested to see new data for combats that are three rounds, six rounds and maybe ten rounds. Multiple of each to catch outliers, and then compare the data between what are considered the top tier martials. I don't think Magus quite matches classes like the fighter and barbarian in sustained fights, maybe something only three rounds long will favor the magus, but I think six and ten will corroborate the data shown by other users. If it turns out they are a top tier damage dealer, and potentially beat even a giant barbarian, well, I actually think they shouldn't. I truly believe the versatility spells should be offering should come at the cost of sustained damage
I will track inexorable iron magus versus a fighter and two-weapon ranger using falcatas. See how it goes.
I have a quality build plan and will explain it when I track the damage comparisons.
So far I'm 100 percent sure the starlit span magus is a top tier damage dealer and the best archer in the game.
I'm less sure of the comparison against a melee magus as clearly the top, though I'm fairly certain they are on par with the top. I will record the data as my current opinion is based on effect on the game.
This is playing the magus not to spellstrike every round, but to use other tactics between spellstrikes to sustain and then boost damage during spellstrike rounds. Even with Starlit Span I did not spellstrike every round as I had to move or do something else like cast a self-buff.
I will track inexorable iron magus versus a fighter and two-weapon ranger using falcatas. See how it goes.
I have a quality build plan and will explain it when I track the damage comparisons.
So far I'm 100 percent sure the starlit span magus is a top tier damage dealer and the best archer in the game.
I'm less sure of the comparison against a melee magus as clearly the top, though I'm fairly certain they are on par with the top. I will record the data as my current opinion is based on effect on the game.
This is playing the magus not to spellstrike every round, but to use other tactics between spellstrikes to sustain and then boost damage during spellstrike rounds. Even with Starlit Span I did not spellstrike every round as I had to move or do something else like cast a self-buff.
I agree with the approach, I think Starlit Span needs to be reigned in as is and shouldn't be our benchmark
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People keep complaining about reactive strike, in all honesty how many melee players have eaten a RS while spellstriking? In 3 years across 3 separate campaigns and I've only ever had it happen once.
To be honest with you, a lot of DMs I've seen forget Reactive Strike is activated by a Spellstrike.
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People keep complaining about reactive strike, in all honesty how many melee players have eaten a RS while spellstriking? In 3 years across 3 separate campaigns and I've only ever had it happen once.Considering RS is uncommon AND you need to be crit to lose the SS, I never got why it's so complained about.
The complaint isn't that the Magus loses the spell. The complaint is generally that they are taking damage as part of using their core damage boosting mechanic.
If a Fighter or Barbarian (or Ranger, Rogue, Swashbuckler, Thaumaturge, ...) walks up to an enemy with RS and hits them for big damage, the enemy doesn't have RS trigger and doesn't get to retaliate immediately. They have to wait until their own turn and spend an action in order to swing back.
If a Magus walks up to an enemy with RS and spellstrikes for big damage, the enemy does have RS trigger and gets to spend a reaction to attack immediately with another zero-MAP Strike.
It isn't a huge problem, but it does come across as unfair that Magus damage boosting mechanic triggers RS when the other class's don't.