Pathfinder 2E RE: Magus and Summoner Playtest, how much do you use your lower level spells?

[TiwazTyrsfist]

I'm trying to figure out exactly how much of a limitation the spell slots for Magus and Summoner are in the PF2 playtest.

When you play a caster in PF2, what percentage of your lower level spells go unused, particularly at higher level, say 15+?
Basically anything below your top two spell levels (since that's what Magus and Summoner are limited to).
On average, Long rest to Long rest.

 

[jmartkdr2]

At least with prepared casters, I find it's really hard to predict well enough to use every spell without intentionally burning them.

I did play a magus at first level and I'll note that I ended up using the one spell per day because I knew it was the end of the dungeon, not because it was actually a good time to use it. Cantrips were plenty for the whole adventure.

 

[Ancalagon]

I'm not going to give you a very helpful answer, but I hope that the will be a smidgen of utility in them for you.

I have a Magus PC, level 9, in a pathfinder first edition game. (this is why it may not be very useful to you). My level 1 and 2 slots see a lot more action and heavy use than my 3rd level ones. So much so that I have 2 pearls of power level 1, and 1 pearl of power level 2.... My arcane pool is mostly used to empower my sword and expand the spell list.

 

[ccs]

Well, if a PF2 Summoner is anything like the PF1 version, then whatever the lv I'd expect that I'd use every slot I had & want some more. And I'm one of those players who makes alot of use out of their low lv spells whatever my characters lv.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Update: I've now played a few sessions with magi at different levels and with different builds.

I usually used most of the spell slots, but I don't think I ever quite used all of them (except when burning slots for the sake of doing so). It takes a round at least to set up a situation where using Striking Spell with a spell slot is useful, and you can get a lot of mileage out of AoE as AoE or utility spells - I'd even say defensive and mobility spells are better for a magus than they are for a wizard. But with so few slots and a solid cantrip-based attack option, you're incentivized to hold the slots for just the right moment. It doesn't seem odd that only three such moments happen during a session, since you won't always get a good opportunity in every encounter.

In the right circumstance spell striking with a lightning bolt is fun, although not a heck of a lot better than a crit from a barbarian, which is arguably an issue for the class overall. But the only reason the barbarian outshone the magus is that his dice were on fire that day and he crit with slightly more than half his attacks, which is at least twice as often as an 'average' session would have.