Articulating my issues with the Magus


Pathfinder Second Edition General Discussion

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Riddlyn, Teridax, you are poluting the thread at this point. Please move on.

Now to reply to Blue_Frog:

Having some compensation on a miss would be nice but that's very powerful.
In the playtest this was a level 18 feat. Though baseline if you missed the strike you had up to the next turn to successfully hit.

It'd be nice to have, maybe with the condition of it being with a spell slot only. But I'm afraid this would be a pretty massive power boost.
Magus is inherently a high risk/reward class by design in 2e. You can absolutely eviscerate solo bosses on a single good roll (more likely with party setup) and one spell. (even ignoring focus spells)

The level 19 capstone kind of does what you suggest, after a spellstrike with a spellslot you can use the same spell again for it within a minute and not spend any ressource. Which is super nice, though extremely high level.

That why I'm leaning toward adjusting the power on other part of the class, so when Spellstriking with your ressources isn't an option you still have useful things to do. Or just helping with setup with action compression with skills etc.


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As someone who hasn't been playing this game that long, but is a part of three ongoing weekly campaigns that all have a melee Magus player (including one that I GM for), the common issues with the class that I have heard from those players are paraphrased below in order of how commonly I hear them:

1. "I hate how often I get knocked unconscious if the enemies focus on me, I wish I'd picked Starlit Span"

2. "Psychic dedication doesn't fit my character concept but I feel like I should have taken it anyway"

3. "Magus class feats and focus spells are usually really bad"

4. "I feel like if I miss my spellstrikes then I'm useless"

5. "Debuffs affect Magus worse than they affect everyone else"

6. "Enemies with Reactive Strike are really not fun for me to fight"

I feel like if Magus is ever remastered, addressing these issues would probably be quite easy with a few changes.

Primarily I would make going into Arcane Cascade recharge Spellstrike, also give a status bonus to either AC or a save while it is active depending on the hybrid study, and give the Magus the choice of ending Cascade on a missed Spellstrike to avoid losing the charge.

Additionally, it would be nice if they got some class feats that added some action compression which would allow them to take actions such as Stride, Raise a Shield, Parry, Demoralise, Recall Knowledge, etc. more easily while they use their key actions of spellstriking, casting spells and going into Arcane Cascade.

In exchange for all of these buffs, disallowing them from spellstriking with focus spells seems like it would be a fair compromise, and it would encourage more diverse builds when using Free Archetype.

Just my two cents, apologies if the perspective of a relatively new player and GM who hasn't read this entire thread isn't helpful to the discussion.


Ending cascade on a failed strike to get to redo the spellstrike next turn is a pretty cool idea !

Glad to see someone else thinking about action compression with skills lol


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Blue_frog wrote:

Focusing back on the magus issues, it's true that the designers seemed to build it with cantrips in mind, and actual spell slots as nova. Like someone (sorry, forgot who) said, 4 slots a day means you can use one slot per fight during 4 encounters for that big KABOOM, and use cantrips the rest of the time.

That's the theory anyway. But the problem is, the theory is NO FUN.

I disagree, TBH...

One problem with slot spells is how you need higher ranks to heighten them, compared to cantrips, which heighten on their own.

That's why I kept on pointing out that most offensive cantrips should be usable on a regular spellstrike, because you have a LOT more of those AND you don't suffer a big loss on a miss.

Here's something worth asking: for Expanded Spellstrike, the spell still goes off on a miss (not on a critical miss). Is it the same on a regular Spellstrike?

On a sidenote, while Focus Spells from other classes can be useful on Spellstrike, those are pretty limited in terms of access. Dude, getting cantrips from other spell lists like Haunting Hymm and Divine Lance isn't easy either.


Cantrips do work with spellstrike though ?

And getting a nova focus spell can take as little as one feat (psychic dedication, grab amped ignition, you're done).


Yeah, there's nothing in the Spellstrike entry that says you cannot use a cantrip. Just says you Cast a Spell, which can allude to any spell. cantrip, focus, innate, or slotted spell.


Maybe JiCi meant using spellstrike and not having to recharge it if you use a cantrip instead of a slot, focus spells etc.


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I find it crazy that some people domn't understand so called meme of Imaginary Weapon Magus. I have only ever seen it once at my table but the community here speaks about it so often that if you don' know it then you haven't been around the forums long enough. Magus will never change unless they remaster it and change it's core design.

Magus is perhaps the only other class I have ever heard which wants to pick up a Multiclass Archetype up there with Wizards. It's just intriguing.


ElementalofCuteness wrote:

I find it crazy that some people domn't understand so called meme of Imaginary Weapon Magus. I have only ever seen it once at my table but the community here speaks about it so often that if you don' know it then you haven't been around the forums long enough. Magus will never change unless they remaster it and change it's core design.

Magus is perhaps the only other class I have ever heard which wants to pick up a Multiclass Archetype up there with Wizards. It's just intriguing.

Same thing here. I've only seen it once and I was the one who did it. For me it was for RP reasons. And getting cantrips from other traditions actually isn't that hard. The witch MCD gives you a familiar, your choice of tradition and is INT based. So you can not only pick up those cantrips that familiar will make it easier to prepare them.


Individual experience with vary. Maybe less people in practice pick it. One reason could be "i don't wanna be meta" or "I don't wanna be accused of powergaming my character", or it just doesn't fit.

Nevertheless, it comes back over and over again whenever you ask for advice building a magus "take a dip into psychic and you'll be good to go to do whatever after that"


Kalaam wrote:

Cantrips do work with spellstrike though ?

And getting a nova focus spell can take as little as one feat (psychic dedication, grab amped ignition, you're done).

Prior to the errata, only spells with the Attack trait were usable with regular Spellstrike.

I forgot to mention that... whoops :p


Yeah like...every spell. I still don't really know what you're getting it, am I missing something ?


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1) Slot spells in P2E do not scale like cantrips, or like they used to in P1E. You need to prepare them at a higher rank to deal more damage with those. You're gonna manage both heigthened spells and other spells.

2) You can spellstrike with cantrips, you always could.
*cue "always was" astronaut meme*

However, pre-errata, only Attack spells were eligible for regular spellstrike, with Expansive Spellstrike being required for other spells. Post-errata, Attack spells AND spells with saves can work with regular spellstrike, making Expansive Spellstrike a little less necessary.

3) My question is that with Expansive Spellstrike, on a miss, the spell goes off, does it do the same with a regular spellstrike? If I use Frostbite with a regular spellstrike and miss my Strike, does the spell goes off or not?

4) Focus Spells can be useful with Spellstrike, but they can be a chore to access.


1: Yeah but that's why magus' slot scale up, just not up to 10th level 'cause it's a class feature on full casters.

2: Expansive can be used to apply AoE instead of condensing to a single target, still useful just less so.

3: Yes it goes off except on a crit fail.

4: Depends on which you want. It takes 1 to 2 feats to get a strong psychic focus spell (1 to get a d12 ignition amp at level 2, 2 to get imaginary weapon at level 6. And you can get the other one at level 12 if you really want to)
And no matter which one you get, even if you go for IW, the first one still give a second focus point.

You could very easily get Psychic at 2, a magus feat at 4 (several good ones there) and imaginary weapon at 6. Then you're set, can grab force fang whenever etc. If you want amped ignition, you get it at level 2, then force fang at 4 or 6.
It's really easy.
Now is everyone doing it... no way to know, this isn't an mmo with build data available on the servers. but it's constantly recommended in the community.

Paizo Employee Community & Social Media Specialist

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Back from holiday and issuing a warning! Please stop tossing insults or I'll have to close the thread, which would be a shame since there's a lot of very valid discussion going on around the fighting that doesn't deserve to be silenced.


Welcome back from holidays, hope you have a nice time.
And thanks for thinking our discussions are interresting !

Paizo Employee Community & Social Media Specialist

Kalaam wrote:

Welcome back from holidays, hope you have a nice time.

And thanks for thinking our discussions are interresting !

Of course! I genuinely do! Hoping you've had a good week so far as well! I'll let you all carry on ~


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A bit slow and boring but getting cake does even things out.
Should I say "see you" ? I feel like if we see you here again it's a bad sign but...


Kalaam wrote:

1: Yeah but that's why magus' slot scale up, just not up to 10th level 'cause it's a class feature on full casters.

2: Expansive can be used to apply AoE instead of condensing to a single target, still useful just less so.

3: Yes it goes off except on a crit fail.

4: Depends on which you want. It takes 1 to 2 feats to get a strong psychic focus spell (1 to get a d12 ignition amp at level 2, 2 to get imaginary weapon at level 6. And you can get the other one at level 12 if you really want to)
And no matter which one you get, even if you go for IW, the first one still give a second focus point.

You could very easily get Psychic at 2, a magus feat at 4 (several good ones there) and imaginary weapon at 6. Then you're set, can grab force fang whenever etc. If you want amped ignition, you get it at level 2, then force fang at 4 or 6.
It's really easy.
Now is everyone doing it... no way to know, this isn't an mmo with build data available on the servers. but it's constantly recommended in the community.

1) It,s still something worth noting, because there CAN be a second thought between preparing a heightened Fireball and Ignition. People just need to remain mindful of it.

2) It's useful, but now it's not as mandatory as it was before.

3) Oh... wow... I didn't know that, because it's not written in the regular Spellstrike's description; simply that a crit success on Strike also gives a crit success on the spell.

4) You also have some ancestries that grant non-arcane cantrips from feats. Cleric domain spells are also powerful, but require commitment. Once again, it's good to remind them.


benwilsher18 wrote:

As someone who hasn't been playing this game that long, but is a part of three ongoing weekly campaigns that all have a melee Magus player (including one that I GM for), the common issues with the class that I have heard from those players are paraphrased below in order of how commonly I hear them:

1. "I hate how often I get knocked unconscious if the enemies focus on me, I wish I'd picked Starlit Span"

2. "Psychic dedication doesn't fit my character concept but I feel like I should have taken it anyway"

3. "Magus class feats and focus spells are usually really bad"

4. "I feel like if I miss my spellstrikes then I'm useless"

5. "Debuffs affect Magus worse than they affect everyone else"

6. "Enemies with Reactive Strike are really not fun for me to fight"

I feel like if Magus is ever remastered, addressing these issues would probably be quite easy with a few changes.

Primarily I would make going into Arcane Cascade recharge Spellstrike, also give a status bonus to either AC or a save while it is active depending on the hybrid study, and give the Magus the choice of ending Cascade on a missed Spellstrike to avoid losing the charge.

Additionally, it would be nice if they got some class feats that added some action compression which would allow them to take actions such as Stride, Raise a Shield, Parry, Demoralise, Recall Knowledge, etc. more easily while they use their key actions of spellstriking, casting spells and going into Arcane Cascade.

In exchange for all of these buffs, disallowing them from spellstriking with focus spells seems like it would be a fair compromise, and it would encourage more diverse builds when using Free Archetype.

Just my two cents, apologies if the perspective of a relatively new player and GM who hasn't read this entire thread isn't helpful to the discussion.

Sorry about that Maya, personally I decided to quit engaging with that person.

1. You shouldn't feel too bad about it's pretty much the same for any d8 class.

2. This more depends on what angle you're coming from. Some see it as a must if you are trying to optimize.

3. Unfortunately a few classes have this problem where for some people the native class feats aren't very fun for them.

4. This isn't much different than a fighter missing a power attack before level 6 when they can reduce the MAP. It never feels good to miss but your miss chance shouldn't be much high than any other non fighter/ gunslinger martial.

5. They aren't more effected by debuffs than other classes but they are effected by more debuffs if you build to use saves.

6. This isn't fun for any Magus. Luckily there are 1 and 2 handed reach weapons to help mitigate some of that. Though I will admit I've played Magi almost exclusively since they were released and I've only eaten 1 reactive strike. Reactive strike isn't all that common on many enemies. Now campaigns vary so your mileage may vary on all of these.


3)

Paizo wrote:

Spellstrike [two-actions]

Magus
Frequency until recharged (see below)
You channel a spell into a punch or sword thrust to deliver a combined attack. You cast a spell that takes 1 or 2 actions to cast and requires either a spell attack roll or a saving throw. You imbue its effects into an attack instead of executing the spell normally. Make a melee Strike with a weapon or unarmed attack. This counts as two attacks for your multiple attack penalty, but you don’t apply the penalty until after you’ve completed the Spellstrike. The infusion of spell energy grants your Strike the arcane trait, making it magical. If the spell required a spell attack roll, use your Strike’s results to determine the effects of both the Strike and the spell. If it required a save, the target of the Strike rolls its saving throw normally, though if your Strike was a critical failure, the target is unaffected.

After you use Spellstrike, you can’t do so again until you recharge your Spellstrike as a single action, which has the concentrate trait. You also recharge your Spellstrike when you cast a conflux spell (page 40) that takes at least 1 action to cast; casting a focus spell of another type doesn’t recharge your Spellstrike.

It does say it now, though it's even "better" because on a crit fail the spell still goes off, but the target is unaffected. So one that has lasting effects or just something triggering of a spell being cast would still proc.

4) Cleric is very good but yes requires a bit more, one extra feat to grab domain stuff at level 4.


Yup I'm blind...

Paizo Employee Community & Social Media Specialist

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Kalaam wrote:

A bit slow and boring but getting cake does even things out.

Should I say "see you" ? I feel like if we see you here again it's a bad sign but...

I enjoy and engage in good things too!!


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Last I knew, a Remaster of Secrets of Magic wasn't happening anytime soon, unfortunately, since there was a lot of OGL content in that book; it could still happen, only at a more distant date. I would love to know if anyone's heard differently.


Haven't heard anything but hey, we got an errata that did a relatively substantial mechanical change !
Given the OGL stuff to change there would be a lot of open space in the book though...wouldn't it ?


The Magus wasn't the only class introduced in Secrets of Magic. The Summoner was as well. Getting that class up to the speed is another story...

If anything, all the Magus would need is, aside from what we talked about... more spells.

Give it 5 new cantrips and 20 new spells for Spellstrike and it would be a good start.


Yes spell selection is important but its not the only thing the class needs.
Summoner also needs its own touch ups i'm sure, but I am not familiar with it and it isn't the topic here.

Ideally a reprint would get enough page leeway to touch up both classes and add a bunch of spells and even some new lore.
I don't think a magus remaster pass would take more than 1 or 2 extra page at worst, at least with the ideas I have. (and that include some additional feats and probably some art around on the pages)

Actually I'd be curious to use something like scribe.pf2E.tools to remake the magus pages as is and see if I can implement my changes without taking too much space.
But I have no idea how to do that lol


benwilsher18 wrote:
Just my two cents, apologies if the perspective of a relatively new player and GM who hasn't read this entire thread isn't helpful to the discussion.

I don't think you ought to apologize at all; not only are different perspectives valuable to this thread, I think your post neatly encapsulates a lot of issues other players have had with the Magus in their own experience. Point #5 I think is particularly interesting, as it hasn't been discussed all that much but is very much worth bringing to attention: not only is the Magus in the unique position where they're highly susceptible to pretty much every debuff in the game (stupefied can hamper their spellcasting, whereas enfeebled will negatively affect their melee attacks), being slowed or stunned can mess up their turn far worse than on any other class, in my opinion, precisely because they're so action-intensive: a melee Magus can't easily move and Spellstrike on the same turn, for example, which makes failing a save against a slow spell especially painful in a fight. This doesn't necessarily mean the Magus needs better action economy, in my opinion, but in my opinion it does justify wanting a little more flexibility and adaptability in the face of the unexpected.


That's true. When cut off from being able to spellstrike the class kind of suffers a lot since it really only has normal strikes. Sure you do have your focus spells potentially, but if you don't need the recharge its bit frustrating to use them on a turn where you have to charged but can't spellstrike 'cause of a debuff like slow. You'll mostly strike or do a skill action to wait out the debuff essentially. (and if you failed the save and it's for a full minute you better hope someone in the team has something to counter it fast or else ennemies will just kite you for ever and it'll be normal strikes until the end of the fight)

Though when under slow, a runesmith with that teleporting rune would be a magus' best friend. Just teleport the ennemy into the magus' range and they spellstrike every turn without moving lol. Reverse Starlit Span.


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Ugh, I hate to be the one to "throw ice water" onto the conversation, but there needs to be a bit of a reality check if yall want to be productive with your brainstorming.

Magus with 0 feats is a better attack spell specialist in a way no 6hp "pure-caster" can ever achieve via investment. Even when Paizo is working on a specialist caster with only 2 slots p rank, they are NOT making Necro superior in any form of +x for some type of save spells, etc.

Magus having the only real martial / caster hybrid chassis in the system, while also being outright numerically better than pure casters in a niche is a design "oops" that the class revolves around.

.

It's not normal, and it's the foundational balance issue that yall are not taking seriously.

If you were to take the worst case +X that spell strike offers Magi, and turn that into feat for pure casters, it would be one of the best feats in the system. A 1A meta magic "Empower" action to add +x to their next spell's DC would be incredible for them.

All the brainstorming around ways to give the Magus even more of a +x on hit or via Arc Casc is frankly, completely out of touch with how much privilege Magus already has.

Caster feat examples for comparison. Witch needs a 2 feat chain, which gives them the ability to make a special strike that offers the foe a -1 to saves vs Hexes. Again, 2 feats, requires a hit with the Armaments w/ a caster's attack, to impose a -1 save penalty to only the class Hexes.

Wizard's shiny new save changer:
A Lvl 8 feat so that on a critical RK, Wiz imposes a -1 to next spell or attack, and the foe gets a -1 to their attack. You can even open up the -1 to all allies to use for 0A. (I'm 80% sure this effect only works for one roll then is removed)

.

That is the kind of feat power the system uses for spell save -+1s. They are heavily contextual, have a possibility of failure, absolutely max in potency at -2 on a crit or something, and are actions unrelated to one's core routine.

Again: if you took the worst case of Spellstrike's 1A recharge cost, and put that into a spell-booster for 6hp casters, they would all prefer that feat over what they have now. Even Knowledge is Power is more of something you take if you already want to RK a lot.

Again, it's not impossible to make a "real" suggestion around a possible Magus' save penalty, but yall have got to be realistic here. Any and all suggestions around a passive free boost is just insane.

It would need to be a contextual, fail-able, non-core routine action.

Oh wait, Magus already has one, but it seems Magi are so picky, it's not even worth mention that Paizo gave Knowledge is Power to the Magus. And because KiP also combos with Magus' Analysis, they get to once again break the notion of the spell boost not being a part of one's core actions.

Magus is such a favorite, they get to make better use of KiP than the Wizard, rofl.

Holy s#&% guys.

Magus is better than ever, and yall will still never stop asking for buffs. Buffs for outright vertical power when Magus is already defined by being "oopsed" into more vertical power in a system that treats those +-1 spell saves *that* seriously.


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Trip, we already know you don't want anything to change.
You made your point already a bunch and outside of saying stuff like "magus is the best in a white room damage spike scenario" (which it is, we all know that) and "it's the devs favorite" (which...isn't an argument and can't be proven either way) there isn't much.

Magus Analysis and Knowledge is Power are nice but both are single use per ennemy and require a success, or a CRITICAL success on KiP. They are fine but finnicky to use (remembering that KiP is also a wizard feat) because if you share the info (which you likely will) you need to track who used the bonus yet, who hasn't got the defensive bonus applied yet etc.
Not a huge deal but somehow a lot of people don't wanna bother with that.

Nobody asked for a built in "better accuracy on strike" either, I indeed suggested some form of benefit on strike with save spells during spellstrike, but that's it.
I also acknowledge that yes, on a intelligence focused magus it may be too good and make them better at single target save cast than a wizard (at the cost of melee, 4 spell slots, etc etc). But not all Magi keep intelligence maxed out, the intent is to make save spells more useful for all magi. I also proposed other options for it, like depending on the attack result and all.
But you're too busy cherry picking and calling all ideas bad (without suggesting anything on your own) to engage in good faith.

Now, I know that's just the way you write, but could you please tone down the grand dramatic angry talk ? This isn't a clickbaity youtube drama video. You don't have to act so antagonistic, this honestly makes it hard to engage with you.

Do pure casters need somethings ? Maybe, I'm not an expert on them and I'm not against it. Nobody is fighting for magus to be better than other classes or would be opposed to a change in magus to also mean a change in favor of other classes, I think most people here would even welcome it.
This isn't a PvP balance patch discussion where classes are competing against each other.


Kalaam wrote:
Yes spell selection is important but its not the only thing the class needs.

Well, pretty much everything we're asking can be added with feats.

- Save spells being harder to resist on Spellstrike, with a penalty? That can be a feat, showing how specialized a Magus can be. Someone who uses more Attack spells than save spells... will not likely pick it up.

- Recharging Spellstrike as a Reaction or combined with another action? That's another feat, because beginner Magi wouldn't be able to combine or rapidly do that, compared to an seasoned one.

- Starlit Span getting something from Arcane Cascade? Another feat right there...

As for spell selection, that's mostly to make Expansive Spellstrike less mandatory. Sure, people could still pick it up and use those spells for Spellstrike, but by giving more single-target spells, be Attack or Save, you offer more options for the Magus, and everyone else.


Well yeah it can be feats, but it needs to be there.
But some being class features can also help balance cases of magus dedication (say a save penalty on crits on a fighter might be a bit too good etc )

Also important to avoid feeds feeling mandatory to be functional.


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Kalaam wrote:
Do pure casters need somethings ? Maybe, I'm not an expert on them and I'm not against it. Nobody is fighting for magus to be better than other classes or would be opposed to a change in magus to also mean a change in favor of other classes, I think most people here would even welcome it.

I would perhaps not upvote my own posts, as that's generally considered a bit gauche, but I otherwise do agree that the main thrust of the Magus's critics right now hasn't necessarily been about buffing the class (though that has certainly happened), so much as just wanting the class to feel better, often in ways that don't just translate to more power. In fact, several players, myself included, have specifically expressed a readiness to reduce the Magus's power in certain ways in order to allow improvements in other ways. Given how the Magus just received direct buffs in the latest round of errata despite having all of the features listed in Trip's post, I do think that suggests that being amazing at one thing still leaves room for being good at other things, especially when those things are very similar to the class's specialty.


The *one* thing I'm saying not to waste time on is trying to get +x to saves, and yet it keeps coming up.

Things like

Quote:
Save spells being harder to resist on Spellstrike,

is exactly what I'm winging about. And it's perhaps the most repeated "fix" for a class that is nearly goated in this system.

("doing damage" is not a "niche" in a game where combat is resolved via doing damage. Being a bigger cannon than many martials, while having top R slots equal to casters is such a design "oh s*+#" that it may be why we've never gotten another hybrid since then.)

.

While I would very much like for a boring numerical and comparative post to have discussion impact, our brains don't work like that. If I don't put some amount of emotion / showmanship into the delivery of the information, the post will skimmed and forgotten.

.

Once again, I ask only that yall look around the system and see what's "doable" within it.

Witches can't get a feat that after every Hex or Command, they get a +1 for their next spell, etc. I'm begging yall to stop asking for more vertical power (or superior action compression), that's it.

There's literally infinite possibilities when it comes to brainstorming new ideas, and coming back to this thread 170+ posts later to see not a single sketched out example feat, hybrid study, or even a conflux spell is indicative of this thread "going nowhere fast".


Digging up my on-the-spot homebrew conflux from x pages ago:

The idea w/ this one is to allow more appealing spends of focus points for things other than nuking; letting the Magus invest that FP into longer-term action smoothness & flexibility.
It even gives more incentive to seriously consider weapon traits like Disarm.
And if this conflux falls on either side of the balance line, this is definitely on the "too good" side. (While still not providing something silly/dumb like vertical power via +- to spells)

Quote:

Kinetic Siphon ______ 1 Action _____ Focus 1

Cast: 1A verbal
Target: 1 weapon or unarmed attack
Range: self
Duration: 1 minute

With a quick shout of arcane magics, you weave a reactive dynamo around your weapon. You recharge your Spellstrike.
The first time each turn you Sustain this spell, you recharge your Spellstrike. You may instead redirect these intercepted energies to enter Arcane Cascade instead of recharging Spellstrike.

The first time each turn you succeed an attack roll or skill check using the target weapon, this spell is sustained. This excludes Spellstrike.

While this spell is active, you cannot recharge Spellstrike by the normal 1 Action concentrate.

After this spell is sustained 2 times, the spell ends.

Special: If cast upon a shield or equipment associated with the Shield cantrip, the dynamo will also sustain the spell if that Shield Block reaction is used to prevent any damage.

Heightened: (+2) The spell can be sustained one additional time before expiring.

A design "trick" for dealing with OP stuff is to offer players ways to trade away the specific OP thing whenever possible. If Spellstriking with FP is a big part of the balance problem, that means that other FP demanding options can have large power budget to fill without being OP.


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Trip.H wrote:
Quote:
Save spells being harder to resist on Spellstrike,

is exactly what I'm winging about. And it's perhaps the most repeated "fix" for a class that is nearly goated in this system.

("doing damage" is not a "niche" in a game where combat is resolved via doing damage. Being a bigger cannon than many martials, while having top R slots equal to casters is such a design "oh s~&+" that it may be why we've never gotten another hybrid since then.)

Ok, please look at this:

- If I Critically Spellstrike with Ignition, that spell deals double damage, as per its rules.

- If I Critically Spellstrike with Frostbite, that spell... still allows the opponent to save and it may outright negate the damage, as per the Basic Saving Throw rules, even after an attack roll.

That's why a penalty to the save is warranted, because there's no equivalent bonus from critically spellstriking with save spells.


JiCi wrote:
Trip.H wrote:
Quote:
Save spells being harder to resist on Spellstrike,

is exactly what I'm winging about. And it's perhaps the most repeated "fix" for a class that is nearly goated in this system.

("doing damage" is not a "niche" in a game where combat is resolved via doing damage. Being a bigger cannon than many martials, while having top R slots equal to casters is such a design "oh s+%$" that it may be why we've never gotten another hybrid since then.)

Ok, please look at this:

- If I Critically Spellstrike with Ignition, that spell deals double damage, as per its rules.

- If I Critically Spellstrike with Frostbite, that spell... still allows the opponent to save and it may outright negate the damage, as per the Basic Saving Throw rules, even after an attack roll.

That's why a penalty to the save is warranted, because there's no equivalent bonus from critically spellstriking with save spells.

This is the kind of blindness that I'm talking about.

You do not understand how abnormal and "privileged" Magus is for being able to do that w/ attack spells.

The "bonus" for save spells is the action compression, the martial chassis, and top R slots all being there for 0 feats. Even the new 1 square restriction can be a bonus in many, many circumstances, as a lot of spells are designed around having ally-hazardous cones/bursts/etc. No 6hp caster like Wizard can just choose to limit their AoE to one square when they want to.

Any ability to get +x to save spells based on the Strike result risks making Magus being literally better at all spells than the real 6hp spellcasters. Again, even the proposed 2 p R slot caster Necro does *not* have options to burn a thrall to boost spell DC via imposed penalties/etc.

"Specialists" in pf2 do not get outright vertical power handed to them like that. They instead trade power in some area to be awarded with a unique "thing" they do in combat alongside their role. Witch w/ their familiar, Necro w/ their thralls, etc.

Stop asking for vertical power like that. Magus already "has to suffer" in many respects because of their accidental vertical power superiority in attack spells.

The vertical power supremacy that Magus has with attack spells is why the Magus is "stuck" as the "attack spell specialist" and why people do not perceive them as a hybrid / generalist.

If Magus did not have that system-unique niche supremacy over even the 6hp casters, then their class design would have a huge amount more "power budget" to work with.


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Trip.H wrote:
The "bonus" for save spells is the action compression, the martial chassis, and top R slots all being there for 0 feats. Even the new 1 square restriction can be a bonus in many, many circumstances, as a lot of spells are designed around having ally-hazardous cones/bursts/etc. No 6hp caster like Wizard can just choose to limit their AoE to one square when they want to.

That "bonus" also applies to attack spells and AoE spells from Expansive Spellstrike.

Right now, you're adding an Attack Roll to a spell that doesn't need one... for nothing much in return.

At least with Ignition or Live Wire, you have ONE roll for both a Strike and a Spell.

For Frostbite however, you have ONE roll and ONE save, versus Casting the spell with ONE save. Basically, adding a Strike to a save spell with Spellstrike should add something more, hence why we want a penalty to those saves.


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Trip.H wrote:

The *one* thing I'm saying not to waste time on is trying to get +x to saves, and yet it keeps coming up.

Things like

Quote:
Save spells being harder to resist on Spellstrike,

is exactly what I'm winging about. And it's perhaps the most repeated "fix" for a class that is nearly goated in this system.

("doing damage" is not a "niche" in a game where combat is resolved via doing damage. Being a bigger cannon than many martials, while having top R slots equal to casters is such a design "oh s%!*" that it may be why we've never gotten another hybrid since then.)

I think there are a few differences in perspective here that I think are worth highlighting. For starters, I don't think the Magus is "goated" or nearly so in this system; and their limitations have been laid out many times here: as The-Magic-Sword points out, the Magus is only a "bigger cannon than many martials" when going nova with Spellstrike and a spell slot, and otherwise they're somewhat under martial damage, which itself is fair for the added versatility of spellcasting.

Trip.H wrote:
While I would very much like for a boring numerical and comparative post to have discussion impact, our brains don't work like that. If I don't put some amount of emotion / showmanship into the delivery of the information, the post will skimmed and forgotten.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I get the opposite reaction: when someone posts a thorough analysis supplemented with facts and/or math, I tend to pay very close attention and am effectively guaranteed to agree with them if their justification is sound. By contrast, when someone makes a big performance of their post, I tend to be immediately suspicious, as often style is used as a substitute to substance (and this has happened many times on this thread). I do think it is unfortunately the case in your last couple of posts as well, as I find many of the assumptions you are relying on to be questionable.

Trip.H wrote:

Once again, I ask only that yall look around the system and see what's "doable" within it.

Witches can't get a feat that after every Hex or Command, they get a +1 for their next spell, etc. I'm begging yall to stop asking for more vertical power (or superior action compression), that's it.

Sympathetic Strike does exactly what you're saying the Witch can't get, and plenty of brainstorming has been had, beyond even just +1s to save DCs. I think what some of us consider doable and what you consider doable, or not, differs quite significantly, and it might be worth elaborating a bit more on why you consider those effects not so doable.

Trip.H wrote:
There's literally infinite possibilities when it comes to brainstorming new ideas, and coming back to this thread 170+ posts later to see not a single sketched out example feat, hybrid study, or even a conflux spell is indicative of this thread "going nowhere fast".

I don't think this is a particularly good take, tbh. It's not just that plenty of discussion and suggestions have been made that don't involve bumping save DCs (including suggestions to reintroduce Spell Combat, tweak Arcane Cascade, nerf Spellstrike by cutting out its interaction with focus spells, or actual feats), from my experience it's not always helpful to post homebrew or suggestions. When I did so (and I myself have written a brew for the Magus that includes a bunch of additional hybrid studies, extra feats, and conflux spells), it did not take very long for bad actors to accuse me of making this thread just to foist my ideas on everyone else, and from my experience that's a pretty typical reaction to suggestions and homebrew in any context. This discussion does not need homebrew to advance, and homebrew sadly does not advance discussion in practice as much as it should in theory, at least from what I've seen.

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