Magus: "Staying the Course"

[pawsplay]

A multiclass fighter/wizard is a horrible combination. I'd rather play a commoner. Actually an adept is almost as good as a fighter/wizard with a better spell list. If your using a multiclass fighter/wizard as a benchmark, the magus will look like godmode.

I think I'm really going to have to disagree with that. First of all, a commoner is like a wizard who has no spells or class features, so you are clearly exaggering the weaknesses. Second, in 3.0, I played a fighter/wizard. I enjoyed it. Third, I beat Neverwinter Nights as a fighter/wizard. Some opponents were tough, but others were insanely easy. Fourth, as written, I'm not sure the playtest magus is any stronger than fighter/wizard, and might be weaker. Fighter 8/wiz 12 gets 6th level spells and has BAB +14; Magus 20 gets 6th level spells and has BAB +15. Does what a Magus get make up for five fighter bonus feats, two wizard bonus feats, plus wizard class abilities?

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Yeah, my commoner comment was hyperbole, but I stand by the adept.

 

[Jason Bulmahn]

As has been mentioned here and elsewhere, we are going to be doing a fare amount of work on the Magus before it gets to its final form. There is some design room we built into the class that was not fully utilized and that is something I am going to be looking to exploit very soon.

There is a point I want to make here. Our "mystical" formula is a little more grounded than some arbitrary decision. By sticking with it, we have a good gauge of how much power we can add to other facets of the class. For example, by sticking with 3/4 BAB for the Magus and 6 level casting, we get the room needed to add fun and interesting features to every level of the class. If we go full BAB or full caster, we have to scale significantly back on those areas. Now you might argue, and rightly so, that we did not full utilize this power "space" and that is something we are going to address in upcoming revisions.

This is why we playtest. No need to get upset about it.. and drag it to another board just because we are uninterested in seeing the same argument play out over a multi page thread. Remember, we are trying to get to a place where most folks are satisfied with the class (we'll never get everyone), and that is a lot easier to do if everyone works with civility and respect. The closed threads were quickly driving into bad territory...

Hope that helps clear things up

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

 

[ruemere]

(just hoping Jason read the suggestions from all nice folks here)

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I'm not upset and I didn't "drag" anything to another board. This is one of several boards I frequent, along with the Paizo forums. This is a discussion on how to improve the magus. I merely stated my opinion. I thought that was the purpose of a message board?

 

[pawsplay]

I'm not upset and I didn't "drag" anything to another board. This is one of several boards I frequent, along with the Paizo forums. This is a discussion on how to improve the magus. I merely stated my opinion. I thought that was the purpose of a message board?

There is a good chance he was referring primarily to me.

I totally respect their right to keep their boards neat and tidy, but of course I greatly value message boards that aren't beholden to publishers. We are outside the city limits, so to speak.

 

[Jason Bulmahn]

Its no big deal really. I was more responding to the opening bit that seemed a bit snarky about us closing a few threads. If that was not the germination behind this thread, no worries.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing