Today, after much work, sweat and delay, is the first draft of the magus. The magus is based on the 3.5 duskblade, the 4e sword mage, and the pathfinder magus. The main idea here was to have a character skilled both in combat and magic. Let me know what you guys think! This probably was the most extensive first draft I've done. The others will be released over time like with duelist.
As a forewarning, the formatting may have been a little strange and will be improved as I update it.
Happy Warmaging, Arcanists!
This is by far my favorite rendition of the Magus in 5e. Most of my concerns are clarifications, rather than balance concerns.
ReplyDeleteArmor : I find it strange that you five leather for light armor, but hide for medium and ring mail for heavy. Any other class with all armor proficiencies gets scale/chain and there isn't any reason to deny them to the magus.
Bonded Weapon: concerning those who would want to wield two weapons, why is the bond limited to one weapon? I can't foresee any concerns as far as balance is concerned, and if it is a problem splitting the number of imbuements between them should fix any issues.
Arcane Imbuements: it says you start with two imbuements, but the chart only says you know one. Do you get one for free at 1st level, or is the table incorrect?
Aegis of the Guardian: Does this attack function as an opportunity attack to allow synergy between it and Reflexive casting?
Aura: Deathly Shadow: Is the darkness created magical? If so is the wielder granted the ability to see through it? Or are they fighting blind?
Energy Weapon: There's nothing stating otherwise, but I assume this imbuement works with an aura imbuement, even if they are of clashing elements?
Sigil of Flame: incorrectly references cold spells.
Sigil of Frost: incorrectly references thunder spells.
Overall I really like the class, and I'm eager to see the other archetypes you have in the works.
Thanks very much. Addressing them one by one.
ReplyDeleteOffered armor has been fixed.
The reason why you can't bond to two is because the imbuements are applied to the bonded weapon. Splitting them, or even doubling them would be very powerful. The idea is, you can have an effectively magic weapon at level 1, but your offhand weapon will be a normal weapon, and still allows you to find a cool magic weapon later. (Lookin' at you, Drizzt Do'Urden!)
You start with two imbuements, the table has been adjusted.
Aegis of the Guardian and many official abilities like it never count as opportunity attacks. For instance the attack offered by Sentinel's third part is not an opportunity attack.
The overly complex darkness part of Deathly Aura has been removed, sorry. :/
Energy weapon now emits only force energy, however, now has a clause that when you activate an aura, you can change the force energy to the same time. Technically in the mechanics, the idea of a "clashing" energy type system doesn't exist, but for solidarity has been changed to make it more straightforward.
The two sigils got messed up as I alphabetized them.
There will be more archetypes coming out next week. GM Tip article tonight with the last two archetypes for duelist, and a small update to slayer.
I'll look forward to them!
DeleteYeah, most of the concerns were more geared towards the feel of the class since, as I've said before, you have a fantastic grasp on the numbers of the game.
While you were fixing the other issues, you may have accidentally messed up the arcane imbuements paragraph, as it now cuts to the Sigil of frost mid sentence.
On closer inspection, my view doesn't have any issues at sigil of frost
DeleteIts in the beginning, where you initially describe arcane imbuements.
Delete...I have no idea how that happened. Thank you Darion.
DeleteHmm, strange, I had some formatting issues. Hopefully it will be resolved totally by tomorrow. But thank you very much for the confidence.
ReplyDeleteThe mechanic of benefiting spell level access is really intriguing. I think I like it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad, I'm not sure why, but it stood out to me as the "5e thing"achievement"to do. A lot of what the classes do is modify design space and themes, and the idea that the idea of conserving power hadn't been used much.
ReplyDeleteMagus-Lock?
ReplyDeleteHow well would it work? How does bonded weapon interact with pact weapon?
Delete