Magus - A reflection on its state and where to go from here

[Kalaam]

This reflection comes from all the discussion in another thread Articulating my issue with the magus

So to start with a little preface:

All numbers given here are wet-finger estimates and placeholder.
Additionally, not all of those ideas HAVE to be considered together, maybe some would work well by themselves but together would be overkill.

My suggestions and analysis rely on a common sentiment I saw and share to an extent that Magus is lacking in some aspect, that some of its design is inconsistent within the class features and the "optimal" options are found outside of the class and its intended design.
I will try to address those as they come in more detail, from my understanding of them.
I do not think nor argue that the class is broken or underpowered, what I address are changes on the level of changing how a cleric's font spells slots are counted between legacy and remaster. Tweaks for a better flow of the class.

Please note I am in no way pretending to be an authority on ttrpg class designs, to be the magus messiah or that I'm in any way smarter than anyone else.

Now, let's us begin.

Base Class Chassis and the value of Spell Slots:

The strategic value of the Magus wave caster slots have been discussed at length.
My takeaway is that, while a very flexible tool due to the Arcane List, the limit on spell numbers and them being only your top levels spells does make a LOT of choices compete for those. Including utility or buffs, some of which wouldn't heighten smoothly but retain value nonetheless.
This issue is likely why the class receives additional lower rank slots in the form of Studious Spells. Slots reserved for a selection of utility and Flavor spells.
The encouragement to use the top slots for offensive spells is further reinforced by several class features and feats that explicitely do work solely when triggered by the use of a spell slot.
Other feats allow more versatility to them, namely Expansive Spellstrike that allows the use of the action compression/delaying of Spellstrike with AoE spells, and Standby Spell that let's you use some/all of your slots for situational/utility spells while still retaining the ability to use those slots for one offensive spell of your choice.

In a vaccuum, this works fine enough and Standby Spell is even a very valuable feat to get more flexibility in your spell preparation (some might argue it would be best as a class feature).
However when taking archetypes into account we turn to an issue: offensive focus spells sidestep this matter entirely.
Focus spells like Imaginary Weapon, Winter Bolt, Fire Ray, Stone Lance, Sun Blade and so on are all on par if not better than some ranked spells for the purpose of spellstrike, and are a renewable ressource.
Their one downside is that you cannot recharge spellstrike from using them.

I have been leaning more and more into removing focus spell compatibility with Spellstrike and will go in detail about it later.
But assuming this issue is gone, or just that we deal with a pure magus with no archetype: is there things to change.
Maybe, here are some options:

• Standby Spell is a level 7 class feature
• This frees up the selection but honestly seems a bit simplistic to me. It'd have to be replaced as a feat, though level 8 is already pretty frontloaded with 5 others feat that are pretty good.
  
• Striking Spell Slots
• Similarly to a Wizard's school slots or a cleric's font spell slots, the class could have an opposite to the studious spells in the form of 2 spellslots locked to spells elibible to spellstrike. Either 1 of each of the two top ranks, or 2 of the highest. This gives the liberty to grab powerful and useful buffs that won't be listed in Studious Spells as they become available and compensate the loss of power from potentially removing focus spell synergy. This also garantee that the captstone class feature will be useful no matter what.
• No Change
• Leaving things as they are, this does make Stanby Spell extremely desirable however but maybe it isn't an issue.

Core Class Mechanic: Spellstrike and its missing half:

Spellstrike, as others have said, is more of an action deferment than compression. Unless the encounter ends before you recharge it, it'll cost you 3 actions in full.
However, this flexibility in WHEN to pay that 3rd action is one of its big strengths, especially when you can sneak it in with another one or two actions into a single one with conflux spells.

It does lead to a form of clunky routine though, since it's a 2 action activity that counts double for MAP, and it is potentially so strong when using more than a cantrip with it, everything leads to you trying to spam it, or use it as much as possible.
Which in itself isn't that much of an issue.
Its power is normally kept in check by your limited spell slots, and doubles at very high level when you get the option to recast the same spell in your next spellstrike. Making a single slot being used twice in a fight potentially.

The class features and numerous feats (16 out of 45 feats) rely on either being upgrades to Spellstrike, or triggering from its use.
Several of them requiring the use of a spellslot to trigger.
But not all of them.
Some work with cantrips, innate spells, focus spells, scrolls, staves, and slots.
Some with anything that isn't a cantrip.
Some with only slots.
It is inconsistent but still clear that by design the slots are what's meant to be used for the big strikes.

Expansive Spellstrike allows more variety in the spell choice, but those only benefit from the action deference and to an extent a range or angle manipulation.
As I said before, Expansive Spellstrike feels more like Spell Combat than spellstrike: Striking with one hand and flicking the spell from the other.

And so this is exactly what i'd like to propose, to reintroduce Spell Combat as revamped Expansive Spellstrike AND a slight rewrite to Spellstrike.

Spellstrike
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, has a harmful effect and targets at least one creature other than self. The effects of the spell don't occur immediately but are imbued into your attack instead. Make a melee Strike with a weapon or unarmed attack. Your spell is coupled with your attack, using your attack roll result to determine the effects of both the Strike and the spell's attack if it had one. One a successful hit, the targets suffers a -2 status penalty to their saving throw against the spell, -3 on a critical hit. 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.

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 that takes at least 1 action to cast; casting a focus spell of another type doesn't recharge your Spellstrike.

By allowing spells targetting a creature rather than solely attack rolls this expands the spell selection without having to wait for more spells with the attack trait to be added. Allowing things like Electric Arc, Frostbite, Thunderstrike etc. The penalty on a hit helps the Magus' catch up somewhat to full casters when using their core feature and mixing their martial and magical skills to be as good as a pure caster, when dealing with a single target.
This also allows to select Spell Swipe with more than 2 spells eligibles for it.
This also allows the use of control spells like Slow etc right away, which was an advantage of Expansive Spellstrike, but this'll be addressed next.

Note that in this version the spell is still lost on a missed strike !

Spell Combat (former Expansive Spellstrike)
You have adapted the core functionning of Spellstrike to weave the magic before making contact to quickly fling spells in between your attacks.
When using Spellstrike, you can use any spell that takes 1 or 2 actions to cast and Cast it at any valid target. If you choose to do so, choose wether the Spell or Strike happens first. If the Spell goes first, or targets a different creature than your Strike, the target will not suffer penalties to their save from Spellstrike.
If you decide to Strike first and the Spell has an area of effect, the target must be included in it. A burst is centered on a corner of the target's square, or the square corner closest to the center of the target, if the target is Large or larger; you choose the corner if more than one is eligible. A cone or line emits from you and must include the target; if you're not adjacent to the target (using a reach weapon or starlit span, for example), choose any square adjacent to the target as the source. The spell affects all creatures in the area as normal, but the Strike still targets only one creature.

If your critically miss your Strike before Casting such spells, the spell is lost.

The wording would need some work, but essentially: this allows to use those utility spells in combat in a way unique to a Magus.
You could cast Mirror Image and Strike after Striding to the target, and recharge on the next turn for example.
If you somehow have other spells, you could Cast Soothe on an ally as you're striking an adjacent ennemy and raising your shield.

Some potential issues: some spells like Warding Aggression require a weapon attack roll as part of their casting, I am unsure how to resolve this. Would making two strikes at the same MAP be too good, or would MAP apply normaly to them ? I am leaning to the latter option.

It could be possible to limit Magus Archetype to spellstriking with attack spells only.

Now the other aspect of Spellstrike that might need tweaks:

Recharging Spellstrike
As of now there is 3 ways to recharge Spellstrike:
-Spend an action.
-Use a Conflux Spell (their utility varies from study to study and depending on feats but there is always at least 1 good option to choose from)
-Successfully recall knowledge on a foe with the feat Magus Analysis (works once per target, as the target is then immune for a day)

I think the last option is under explored: Skill Actions recharging Spellstrike.
Similarly to Gunslinger having their own special recharge action per subclass, or Swashbuckler having the bravado trait on certain actions depending on their style, each Hybrid Study could have one or two skill actions that could recharge spellstrike on a success, once per target.
For example:
Inexorable Iron: Shove and Trip
Laughing Shadow: Feint and Tumble Throught
Sparkling Targe: Shove and Reposition
Twisting Tree: Trip and Disarm
Could be more than just those actions, maybe with some feats allowing things like medicine or something else. All with that "target is then immune for X hours or minutes" afterward.

There is another option I'll explore in the next part:

Arcane Cascade: the abandonned child:

A tad dramatic, I know.

Arcane Cascade is the mechanic of Magus that is the most under utilized.
Its benefit per subclass have varying utility and it's not always easy to enter it because of the action cost (that also require casting a spell in the same round so really it can sometime feel like it costs 2 actions just to enter it with Shield)

I believe this stance would stand to gain some value, mainly in two ways:
The first, relating to the previous chapter is this action:

Cascade Recycling
Condition: you are in the Arcane Cascade stance
As a free action, you cycle the cascading magic of your previous spells to realign your magic and recharge your ability to Spellstrike.
You end your Arcane Cascade and Recharge your Spellstrike.

This is another side to the Action Deferring of Spellstrike.
Rather than pay the 3rd action on a later round, you can treat Arcane Cascade as paying it in advance.
Of course this means losing all the benefits from the stance: no more bonus damage or hybrid study benefits (temp HP from Inexorable Iron, free grip swap or deadly trait for twisting tree etc) and also unability to use actions requiring to be in the cascade until you enter it again.
This makes this option an "emergency" recharge for spellstrike when you need it but don't have the other ressources for it.
Maybe limit it to once per minute if it would prove too good.

For it to be an actual opportunity cost however, there need to be uses for Arcane Cascade. This is were more actions are needed, mainly in feat selections.
First of, it could be made that the skill actions that recharge Spellstrike only do so while in Arcane Cascade.

Second, during "off turns" those new attacks and abilities can give something to do to the class that either emulate or put its own spin on pure martials' abilities (again mixing martial and magic to do something specialists can or even cannot)
Some ideas:

Cascading Splash: 1 action flourish
Make a Strike, on any result other than a critical failure this strike deals splash damage equal to your arcane cascade bonus plus your number of weapon damage dice. You are unnaffected by this splash damage.

Riving Strike: 2 actions
Make a Strike, on a success you create a crack for magic to pierce through. On a success the target suffers a -1 status penalty to saves against spells until the end of your next turn. -2 on a critical hit.

Arcane Slamdown: 2 actions
Make a Strike and attempt a Trip action (if you are wielding a 2 handed weapon you can ignore needing a free hand to trip), both count to your MAP but it doesn't increase until after both actions are complete.
If the target is successfully rendered prone, it suffers additional damage equal to your Arcane Cascade damage, on a critical success the damage from the fall can be of the same type of your Arcane Cascade

Rend Defenses: 2 actions
Make a strike, on a success you cut down the energies protecting the target. The target reduces its resistances to energies by half of your level, or your level on a critical hit. (Maybe it can be full level regardless, or only be the energy of your arcane cascade)

This gives you some idea.

Focus Spells and Archetyping:

Finally, the issue of focus spells aka "Why do Magi often devellop psychic powers".

Cleric, Oracle, Champion and any class offering Attack Focus Spells is very appealing to Magus because those are compatible with Spellstrike and are a renewable ressource.
Psychic even more than those since it shares its Spellcasting attribute with Magus, making it less MAD and still giving the option to use save spells with its Magus slots.

This is a very powerful synergy.
It completely circumvent the need to save your spell slots to do burst damage and opens them up for buffs and utility.
It eliminates the need to conserve your power spikes because those are a renewable ressource.
It is easy enough to use one, then a conflux spell to recharge more easily and then still have a focus point to spare for another one (especially with psychic which maxes out your focus pool by level 6)
It also addresses the lack of spell choices for spellstrike.

Which is why some Hybrid Studies feats, as recently as Tian Xia character guide and the new post-remaster Aloof Firmament subclass explicitaly calls off cantrips AND FOCUS SPELLS from its level 10 feat "Unsheathe the Swordlight".

It would be better if this was uniform accross the board.
Either all or none of the feature should be compatible with X types of spells.
I think that for balance it might be better to remove the compatibility of Focus Spell from Spellstrike, especially with the QoL changes I suggested that make it easier tor recharge, potentially offer more slots and a wider compatibility of spells.

However: more attack spells are badly needed, a lot of those focus spells would be incredible as ranked spells. Even if just a new coat of paint:
Winter Bolt -> Obsidian Spear: damage changed to piercing and slashing on the burst (maybe with some persistant bleed)
Stone Lance -> Conjure Javelin (metal trait instead of Earth, maybe higher ranks make it be of special metals like cold iron or silver)
Fire Ray -> Acid Hose : Change damage to acid, leave an acid puddle on the ground instead of fire

You get the idea.

Now, i've been typing this for over 2 hours and I'm starting to lose track, I dunno if I covered everything I wanted but I'll leave it here for now.
Edit: 3 and half hours actually, damn.

Again: all numbers are estimate/placeholders, not all of those ideas have to be implemented together etc etc.

Stay civil, this is a place to discuss and elevate ideas.

If you have the time and opportunity, I invite you to playtest some/all of those changes and give feedback !
Thanks !

[Finoan]

This will probably get flamed and attacked less if it was in the Homebrew section.

[Teridax]

Finoan wrote:

This will probably get flamed and attacked less if it was in the Homebrew section.

Good thing we're all people who are perfectly capable of not using a misplaced thread as an excuse to flame and attack others, then.

[Finoan]

I'm not making any judgements on the recommendations themselves. I figure I should play the Magus as written first before weighing in on homebrew about it.

I'm basing my comment entirely on my understanding of human nature and internet culture. I seriously doubt that everyone on here is capable of not flaming and attacking others.

[Kalaam]

It could be in homebrew, that's true. But I intend it more as a point of discussion and feedback about the current state of the class in the remaster and some ideas of possible changes.
I know it's very unlikely any of those every appear in official books (even though I give Paizo my full consent to reuse all of this as verbatim, all I ask is a free copy of the Secrets of Magic remaster reprint :p) but I just wanted to put my two cents out there.

Too bad you can't crosspost on two subforums

[Teridax]

After giving the OP a proper read, here are my thoughts, so that there's hopefully at least one on-topic reply on this thread:

Preliminary:

For starters: yes, this thread includes a lot of homebrew, and could find itself at home in the homebrew section. However, it also analyzes the Magus's design independently of the suggestions made, and that analysis is at home in general discussion in my opinion. People can perhaps criticize the presence of homebrew, but if they refuse to engage with the actual substance of the thread, then that criticism is merely an excuse.

A criticism of form before talking about the contents: I think the post could have been split into a few more sections, each dealing with a more specific aspect of the Magus. The class's action rotation, for instance, could've done with its own section in my opinion.

Analysis:

I agree with pretty much all of the analysis and criticism made here: the Magus is a fun and powerful class, but that doesn't stop it from having a few issues, and the above makes it quite clear that the class is heavily pushed to commit their build, including their limited resources, towards Spellstriking. Whether or not committing those resources towards Spellstriking is an optimal choice is a separate matter from the fact that the Magus is incentivized to do so, which ends up narrowing the class's focus and hampering its ability to smooth its own edges.

Not a direct response to any particular point in the OP, but I personally believe the problem with the amped imaginary weapon Spellstrike comes from the Psychic archetype and not the Magus. The Psychic archetype shouldn't give away the class's most defining and powerful feature, i.e. amps, and doing so means that anyone can poach the best bits of the Psychic while having the full benefits of another class (which, for a caster, usually means lots more spell slots). The fix therefore ought to come from changing the Psychic multiclass archetype, in my opinion, and although that would still leave the door open for other focus spells, I think the others are generally much more reasonable.

Spellstrike Suggestions:

I quite like the idea of baking Expansive Spellstrike into the base Spellstrike action, but also think it risks running into the issue of the Magus's inherent MADness: unless your hybrid study is Starlit Span, you're going to want to build Strength (for melee damage, if not attack rolls), Dexterity (for Ref saves and at least some portion of AC), Constitution, and Wisdom. Having to continually boost Int on top of this for a decent spellcasting DC I think is quite a big ask.

I think Spellstrike-exclusive spell slots are a good idea, provided the Magus can't just commit their normal slots to Spellstriking as well. I find it strange that the above set of suggestions would proscribe focus spells, but not slot spells from what I can see, as I think the risk there is that many players would just prepare all of their slots towards Spellstriking and finding themselves with an even narrower build than now.

Very big fan of the idea of recharging Spellstrike with skill actions. I'd say there's room for plenty of Magus feats that do this, and put a magic spin on skill actions.

Other Suggestions:

I thought I'd get annoyed with Spell Combat and its callback to 1e, but looking at the proposed implementation, I actually quite like it. Applying Spellstrike's action deferment, removing the spell accuracy boost, and instead giving more freedom of target selection when Striking and casting I think is a genuinely great idea that I'd be keen to try out. It certainly plays with 2e's three-action economy in a new way, and grants a degree of action compression we don't see elsewhere, which would fit the Magus very well IMO.

While I like the option of being able to end Arcane Cascade to immediately recharge Spellstrike, and believe that would make for a good feat, I don't think that answers the issue with Arcane Cascade, which is that in practice the entire process of activating the stance often ends up being a three-action activity (i.e. Spellstrike or Cast a Spell, most of which are two-action, then Arcane Cascade). If you're a melee Magus, this is very difficult to achieve unless you have a spare action (one of several reasons why the class is so dependent on haste), and if you're a Starlit Span who can spend all of those actions in one turn, there's no point in doing so because the stance's damage bonus only works on melee Strikes. I think that in order for the stance to become less of a pain, it needs to action-tax the Magus less, or at least not require the Magus to commit their whole turn to it.

Also a big fan of the idea of giving the Magus more focus spells. The class could do with many more ways of playing with both magic and weapons.

So overall, while I don't agree with everything said in the OP, I do agree with a lot of it, and find it comes from a place of research and genuine love for the class, which is quite important. There are several suggestions I'd be quite keen to playtest, especially the proposed Spell Combat, and as someone thinking of homebrewing around the Magus as well, this gives plenty of food for thought and a different perspective. Homebrew aside, I also think the analysis is solid and points to easily identifiable facts. I'm not sure that will necessarily be enough to prevent certain people from crapping all over this thread with shrill and ignorant comments, but at least the OP provides concrete points that can be discussed in a hopefully civil manner. Well done on this write-up!

[Amaya/Polaris]

There was a lot of cool ideas there, it made for an interesting read. Kudos :>

I haven't gotten to play a Magus in a long while, but from what I recall, I found managing their various actions to be a fun little puzzle (if one that rammed into my indecisiveness on occasion), and I love the aesthetic and places where it really makes good on its gish fantasy.

It does sort of work against itself design-wise on occasion, wanting you to have a variety of martial and magical actions and lean into the class's special hybrid mechanics, but also ending up with those structures being a bit harder or less rewarding to make use of than alternatives that maximize gambling for huge numbers. (I do find variety and general gish/hybrid stuff satisfying, but god do I love winning the lottery and exploding a boss turn 1. ^ ^) I was really happy to play Twisting Tree, both because I found it a very neat idea and execution and because its features felt cohesively smooth and balanced in their distribution; I don't think I would've enjoyed things quite as much if I either felt dependent on Cascade for the core appeal of my subclass(/playstyle), or was built for never ever wanting it at all.

And I didn't get an attacking focus spell back then, but I was really tempted to. I know Spell Swipe was likely designed with the expenditure of a spell slot in mind, but I wish it simply worked fully with any attack spell by copying the effect, because being The Blazing Bolt and Imaginary Weapon Feat just makes the latter even more attractive. They probably couldn't have known even with the long development pipelines, but it's funny how that lined up. :b

In any case, I find it really nice that being a martial with a strong focus on magic lends itself to fun flavor and the strongest possible benefit from caster-focused things that dip into attacks or martial support, like spellhearts and Bespell Strikes and a lot of Sixth Pillar feats (which kind of feel like lost Magus content, honestly). I find it lovely that there's a special Magus-focused staff you can do fun things with if your GM's into it! Sometimes it really does feel like one of the best blends of those worlds in the system, and it likely is, but I'd still be happy to see it get tweaks and core additions down the line so it can realize even more of its potential. Considering the likely difficulty of nailing down the bounded caster design, especially with a playerbase that all wanted very different things from those classes, I'd say it was a pretty good go at it which would benefit from all that's been learned since then. ✿

[Kalaam]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad my rambling still had some cohesiveness (though yes it could definitely be more organised that's for sure)

It is true that having part of Expansive baked in base Spellstrike could push the Magus to being more MAD and this could only be "fixed" but having more attack spells to choose from overall so it's not that much of a loss to focus on other stats and spellstrike with attack spells only.

For a while I considered limiting Spell Combat to Magus spell slots only but might have been too restrictive.

For the arcane cascade, yeah the added recharge option doesn't address everything for sure, still tricky to get into the stance without spending at least 2 actions (usually Shield then the stance) and it could be nice to have more feats like Capture Magic to give more ways to enter it.
The added value is also in the new attack options (Riving Strike etc) listed up, and in making the skill based recharges require to be in arcane cascade to make it more valuable.
Though maybe having a feature or feat to be able to enter it at the start of combat if your exploration activity was to sustain a spell would be nice.

I know forbidding focus spells on spellstrike could be problematic (thought focus cantrips aren't) but they could still be compatible with spell combat maybe(so utility focus spells could be very useful).
The issue is that they just warp how the whole class functions, I can't think of a really clean way to address that. Either leave it and just give more tools for the Magus who don't/can't archetype into classes giving attack focus spells, which the ones who do will still benefit from, or nix it while implementing things at the risk of upsetting a LOT of people.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
But I think the existence of Focus Spells warping the power and ressource management of Magus isn't a valid reason not to examine and update the class.

[Teridax]

Kalaam wrote:

It is true that having part of Expansive baked in base Spellstrike could push the Magus to being more MAD and this could only be "fixed" but having more attack spells to choose from overall so it's not that much of a loss to focus on other stats and spellstrike with attack spells only.

I think this is where using the same attack roll for both the Strike and the save spell's result might be a significant benefit -- though specifically for basic saves. As we both know, save spells that apply effects other than damage are a whole different can of worms, but basic save spells have the benefit of focusing exclusively on damage, much like (most) attack spells and Strikes. If you were to apply a Channel Smite model or the thing I proposed in the other thread, i.e. comparing your attack roll to the target's save DC (while doing nothing on a miss, unlike Expansive Spellstrike), but only to basic saves, then the Magus would have a much larger selection of spells to choose from without suddenly becoming a lot better at applying debuffs or crowd control.

Kalaam wrote:

For a while I considered limiting Spell Combat to Magus spell slots only but might have been too restrictive.

I'd say Spell Combat working with any spell slot ought to be fine, as you'd be working with lower-rank spells throughout (though playtesting might uncover some horrific interaction with a non-arcane spell, even if I doubt it). To answer the question on warding aggression: I think it's fine to compress MAP on a regular Spellstrike at the very least as normal, and it's worth testing Spell Combat with and without accuracy compression, as my suspicion is that compressing accuracy while also offering freedom of target selection might be a bit too good (though I could very well be wrong). I will say that whichever option you choose, it should also be a bundle deal with the penalty to saves: either Spell Combat both applies a save penalty and compresses MAP or it does neither, which in my opinion would make for a more consistent activity overall.

Kalaam wrote:

For the arcane cascade, yeah the added recharge option doesn't address everything for sure, still tricky to get into the stance without spending at least 2 actions (usually Shield then the stance) and it could be nice to have more feats like Capture Magic to give more ways to enter it.

To me, this suggests Arcane Cascade may benefit from just being a reaction or a free action triggered by Casting a Spell or using a Spellstrike -- at best, you're spending as many actions to enter the stance as with any other, and at worst you're spending two, perhaps even three actions. It would require additional precautions for the feat you mentioned about ending Arcane Cascade to recharge Spellstrike (at the very least, it shouldn't happen on the same turn where you entered the stance), but it would likely make that part of the Magus flow much smoother.

Kalaam wrote:

Though maybe having a feature or feat to be able to enter it at the start of combat if your exploration activity was to sustain a spell would be nice.

This is a really fun idea IMO. I'd want to test this to make sure the Magus doesn't feel forced to do the same thing every exploration, but otherwise this would be a really flavorful way of pushing the Magus to use spells out of combat (and thus have at least one utility cantrip prepared, which is normally the case but you never know).

[Kalaam]

Yes making Arcane Cascade useable as a reaction/free action would be too good if you can end it to recharge.
Maybe just the first time in combat that you enter it or something.
I also considered the potential issue of locking the class to only sustain Detect Magic or Shield. Maybe a feat that makes it so you're always sustaining a spell while exploring and doing another activity, like some of the rogue or stealth skill feats that let you always be sneaking+something else ? That'd be thematically relevant.

[Teridax]

Kalaam wrote:

Yes making Arcane Cascade useable as a reaction/free action would be too good if you can end it to recharge.

Maybe just the first time in combat that you enter it or something.

If entering Arcane Cascade was a reaction to Casting a Spell, and ending it to recharge Spellstrike was a reaction to making a Strike (or some other common action), it would be impossible to do both on the same turn, so you'd be covered!

Kalaam wrote:

I also considered the potential issue of locking the class to only sustain Detect Magic or Shield. Maybe a feat that makes it so you're always sustaining a spell while exploring and doing another activity, like some of the rogue or stealth skill feats that let you always be sneaking+something else ? That'd be thematically relevant.

There's the Repeat a Spell exploration activity and even the Detect Magic activity that does basically the same thing, so you could have your free action on initiative key off of those without needing to limit the spell you cast during exploration. You could certainly have a feat that improves upon these activities, such as by letting you move at full speed and do these while performing another activity at the same time too (if only so that the Magus could also Refocus).

[Kalaam]

Making it a reaction to a strike could work, wouldn't be the exact usecase I had in mind though.

And yes I meant Repeat a Spell, I thought it was still called Sustained for that. But yes.

[yellowpete]

Not a fan of reactions that are designed to be used on your own turn. Not for balance reasons, but rather because it's cooler when they actually react to others than when they're just a 4th action in your own routine.

[Kalaam]

I tend to aggree, outside of some specific cases. It being too regular of an occurance would feel like a crutch imo.

That's why I went with making arcane cascade more worth the hassle.