The Magus - old-schooler's nightmare fuel

Anyone of the OSR who read the previous post by Obiri on his Magus (Bladebound-Kensai) build has probably had all their suspicions about the complexity of D&D 3.x/Pathfinder chargen confirmed. I confess, it made me blink a few times since I rarely utilize a lot of the supplemental material that went into that build. Having said that, there's nothing forcing players to use all that stuff or DMs to allow it. However, as I read up on the Magus base class, I came to the conclusion that Pathfinder may be in danger of "jumping the shark". Now, don't get me wrong, the Magus is cool. Indeed, I intend to play one next time. In fact, my next few characters may be Magi as there are several options I'd like to try. However, one of the first impressions I got of the Magus class is how many things you have to keep track of, even at low levels. A third-level fighter, for example, will typically have two options, attack with melee weapon or attack with ranged weapon. Maybe he'll have to decide whether or not to use Power Attack, but that's it. A third-level wizard will have a handful of spells to choose from, usually magic missile or sleep, or maybe a bull's strength to buff the fighter. In any case, the choices are limited and typically easy to make. Then I read the Magus. The first class feature of the class is this:

Spell Combat (Ex): At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks.


Ok, that's freakin' cool! I can whack a bad guy with my sword and then peg him with a magic missile in the same round!...at first level!! Then I read the next class feature on the list:

Spellstrike (Su): At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks. This attack uses the weapon's critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.


I had to read that one a few times. My first thought is "Why would anyone want to tie a touch attack in to a normal melee attack when the previous class feature permits you to do both a spell attack and a melee attack in the same round anyway?" Then I figured it was all about using the weapon's critical range. Ok, I guess. It makes the scimitar the go-to weapon for the Magus class, but is, otherwise, pretty marginal as far as class features go.

By third level, things really start to get complicated. First off is the class feature, Magus Arcana. There are several different types of Magus Arcana to choose from, much like Rogue Talents in that regard. A likely first choice, however, is Arcane Accuracy. It allows you as a swift action, to use a point from your Arcane Pool (a pool of points that fuel various Magus abilities) and add your Int modifier to your attack rolls for one round. However, I haven't even talked about feats yet. In the first build I made of a base Magus, I chose a human with Combat Casting and Weapon Focus (scimitar) as first level feats and Arcane Strike as my third level feat. So now I have to choose whether to use Arcane Accuracy or Arcane Strike since both require a swift action and, of course, I only get one.

So, I'm a lowly third-level Magus and I already have to decide on whether to attack, cast a spell or both, which spell to cast, whether to use Spellstrike or not and whether to use Arcane Accuracy or Arcane Strike. To paraphrase the old US Army recruiting slogan, "The Magus, we do more in the first round than an AD&D Wizard does all day".

-Rognar-

Gish

The topic of Gish came up in the comments section of Rognar's Sorcerer post about a week back. One of the central themes of Fantasy literature has been the arcane warrior who fights with a blend of sword and sorcery. The problem is in a game like D&D (or Pathfinder) Gish have to balanced with the Fighters and Wizards. After all, if you can fight as well as the Fighter and cast as well as the sorcerer no one would ever play those classes.

In 1st edition you got the multiclass elves that took both classes at the same time. They were balanced by their horribly slow rate of advancement. I seem to recall second edition being similar (which is why few people I played with ever chose elves).

3rd edition tried to standardize the classes in some ways and balance them as well. As anyone who played 3rd edition knows, for the first few levels the melee (non magic) classes do well but after about level 10 they are second class party members to the druid, cleric and wizard. By level 20, they are not much more than cheerleaders. In 3rd edition the wizard had no incentive to be a Gish. He could summon creatures that could out fight the fighter and still have 30+ spells a day to do other reality warping things.

Pathfinder has leveled the playing field somewhat. The Fighters can actually fight better then other classes now. Sure clerics can still buff themselves to a level equal to a fighter but it takes several rounds of buffing, in which time the fighter has probably killed most of the bad guys. The wizard is still bending reality, but he no longer can do it all as easily as before. Having a fighter friend around to deal the the segregated, slowed, and singed enemies keeps the wizard from having to exhaust all of his resources in a single battle. Druids can no longer be a wise but skinny weakling in human form and then turn into world wrecking animal. They are now strong in combat or master spell casters, not both.

Lets look at a few options for a sword and sorcery build. We'll compare them at level 12 which is around where most builds have matured but before the game has started to break down too much.

The first up is the Eldritch Knight. One level of fighter followed by 5 wizard levels seems to be the standard entry method to EK. At low levels if is awful and almost unplayable. The rest of your group will hate you as you are a deficient spell caster and a hopeless melee combatant. By level 12 things are not so bad. You are only 2 caster levels behind a full wizard so you can sling around a couple level 5 spells a day and you are starting to collect a few of the strong mid-game melee feats (although no "Greater" Fighter feats yet). I see the EK as a wizard that can melee a bit. Damage output in melee is quite comparable to the other builds I'm going to show but lacks their tricks for extra damage. My EK build focuses on Str and Int and probably needs some optimizing work. His saves were the worst of the bunch (12,9,12) but his hit and damage bonus respectable. +20 to hit, 1d6 +15 for damage. His AC was the worst at a self-buffed 23, but can Mirror Image .

The next build is also Str based. I am not a big fan of the unmodified Magus. While I have yet to play one, the Magus' schtick seems to be casting casting spells through his weapon greatly increasing his crit chance with them. They are very spikey damage dealers. The problem is that as a medium BAB class, the Magus has problems hitting high AC mobs. That's why I prefer some of his archetypes.

The Myrmidarch is basically a fighter with some spell casting ability. He gets armor training, weapon training (allowing the awesome gloves of Duelling), and Fighter feats. He loses most of the Magus's casting flexibility of some of his spells. I still think the trade is worth it. The Myrmidarch has a + 23 to hit, 2d4+18 for damage (+20, 2d4 +27 Power Attacking). His AC is a self buffed 27 but also can Mirror Image. His Saves are slightly better at 14, 8, 12.

The last two builds are both Dex based. First up is another Magus build. I always liked the idea of the Kensai but it took a while to find a trick to make it work. Since the Agile weapon feature is from a 3.5 Adventure Path it isn't technically Pathfinder material and so requires GM approval. The only other way to get Dex to damage to to use a scimitar and take the Dervish Dance feat. The Kensai Archetype is focused around a singular weapon and becomes very effective with it. Any time the Kensai scores a critical hit he can spend a point from his Arcane Pool to increase his critical modifier x1. It doesn't increase spell critical damage but it is still pretty sweet. The Kensai comes in at +20 to hit, 1d6 +15 to damage. Too bad there is no way to get either Power Attack or Piranha Strike with this build. AC is 26ish which is pretty good for no armor. Mirror Image is also an option here. The Kensai will end up with one of the highest ACs in the game. Saves are quite strong at 12,14,12

The last build is a much better team player than the others. This Gish is built from a Bard. The Arcane Warrior archetype makes a decent Gish at low levels but falls behind the To Hit curve by level 12 and starts having a tough time hitting things. I have recently spotted a better archetype for my purposes. The Dawnflower Dervish Archetype is also Dex based but uses Cha as a casting stat. Like most bards, this Gish has great skills selection and high skill values. He has more spells than the EK, but his spells tend to be more utility and buffs than offensive damage spells like the Magus. What makes the Dervish a good Gish is his Battle Dance class feature. Instead of Bardic performances effecting everyone, the battle dances only effect the bard but they are TWICE as effective. He can also cast Cure spells on himself 3 times a day as a move action. The Dervish's to Hit is +24, 1d6+18 damage (assuming 31 rounds of battle dancing is enough to cover ever battle). His AC is 28, he also has access to Mirror Image, and has a high UMD score to use Shield, and Barkskin wands for more AC goodness. His saves are the best of the bunch at 11,18,13.

I can post exact builds but I didn't want to fill up too much space with walls of stats. Ask if you want more details. I think all of them are quite playable and each has a very unique flavor. By the way if you guys have not read it, pick up Inner Sea Magic. I think I enjoyed it more than Ultimate Combat.