Patreon Backer Sneak Peek: the Magus

Actually, I decided to keep Mystic Meditation at 6th level. Between your cantrips damage getting boosted and getting access to 2nd level spells at 5th level, I figure that's not a "dead" level even if you don't get a feature.

Benjamin Huffman

Hey guys, I am compiling the final list of edits to get to barkalot now. I am holding off on doing any big text revisions because 1.) I don't have the time, 2.) I want to get this up tomorrow (hopefully), and 3.) I plan to add additional Eldritch Archetypes in the future and some of the grammar changes can come then. Quite a few things are changing levels, mostly what I talked about already. I am also bumping Mystic Mark up to 2nd level cause I think it's possibly too abusable as a multiclass dip as is. I am working hard to find a ribbon feature at level 1 that I'm happy with and a 6th level feature to not have a "dead" level. In the event I don't find something I'm satisfied with by tomorrow I will still go forward with putting the class up and will simply continue to consider it and include it in a future revision to the class based on the additional feedback I get from DM's Guild folks. Thanks for all your support and feedback!

Benjamin Huffman

I could always leave Aegis on myself all the time like Enspell but that really defeats the purpose in terms of what the class brings to the party imo.

Michael Doyle

I've been testing the class on and off in an Out of the Abyss campaign and I've run into this problem a couple of times where I have placed Aegis on another PC only to have them not get attacked in the encounter or the attacker that was on them changing targets the round after I place it. Effectively wasting a charge of my Mark and putting me in a position where I have to use another charge to move it. It's kind of irksome to have my class resource penalized because I couldn't predict how the dice were going to fall or what the DM was up too.

Michael Doyle

I'm not sure it'd be that confusing. Warlock's and Rangers already operate in this fashion with Hex and Hunter's Mark. Besides, you already *can* move the Aegis so you're not adding anything new. You'd just be removing the penalty associated with moving it ( depleting your class resource ). This makes it somewhat inflexible as it seems clearly designed as a party support tool. I don't think it should be a double drain on your class resource to set up your key feature ( Reaction triggers ) over the course of an encounter. Monsters are rarely considerate enough to predictably attack the same party member all the time over the course of a fight. This leaves the Magus unable to adapt to an encounter without wasting a class resource and/or reliant on having a dedicated tank to predictably draw attacks. Either way it makes Aegis feel static instead of dynamic.

Michael Doyle

Hey everybody! Thanks for all the comments. I'm glad you guys are generally liking what you're seeing and especially glad to see Mystic Meditation get a warm reception. **Matt.** Thanks for the feedback about the grammar. I will review the document again with an eye towards your comments and see if I can make an improvement. Your 3rd point is totally valid too, not sure how that didn't make it in. **Ross.** The Primordial Seal indeed do not get access to a spellcasting focus so they are stuck using either their weapons or spell components. **Michael.** I hadn't considered the ability to move Aegis but I think its such a good feature as is I'm hesitant to boost its power. I am also kind of hesitant just because the class juggles a lot already and making it different than enspell could potentially be confusing. I like your ideas about the ability to detect spellcasting and innate spellcasting. **Everybody.** I will be continuing to consider the levels of the features and appreciate all your input. I'm very interested in continuing to hear more suggestions about those placements as well as ribbon feature ideas.

Benjamin Huffman

You would probably have to downgrade it to a general "danger sense" like Primeval Awareness instead of being able to pinpoint exactly where creatures are like Divine Sense. With the exception of each Society's specific creature type. You know a magical threat is nearby but you can't just walk over, point to it and yell "Ah ha!" like a Paladin. >.>

Michael Doyle

On the topic of ribbons; Going with the theme here. Perhaps a modified version of Divine Senses/Primeval Awareness. But with the ability to detect creatures that possess the Spellcasting or Innate Spellcasting features instead of evil/favoured enemies. Tighten up the range to around 60f like Divine Senses and require an Action or 1m of focusing your senses. Then each society could have a fluff upgrade to it. Arcane could add the ability to detect and identify Aberrations. Primordial could add the ability to also detect and identify Elementals. Sylvan could do the same but detect and identify Fey. That way you are not stepping on the Paladin's toes ( who detects Fiends, Celestial and Undead ) but still portraying Magus as well as each Society as an "expert" on such matters.

Michael Doyle

On a side note; Have you considered making Aegis like Hex in that once applied it can be moved to a new target with a Bonus Action? Instead of spending a charge of it if you need to move it to a different ally. That would make it more flexible and open up more opportunities to use the Reaction triggers during an encounter. Instead of consuming uses of it just to get it onto the right person to set up the trigger during a dynamic encounter or keeping it on yourself all the time. If its like that already ignore me, but I don't see language to that effect anywhere.

Michael Doyle

I like Mystic Meditation a lot, though I agree that moving it to 5th level and moving War Magic to 6th or 7th makes sense due to the natural scaling of cantrips at 5th. Also due to the natural scaling of cantrips again at 11th, Improved War Magic might be better in the 15th-level slot, with Spell Ward being moved up to 11th. Just a small note about the Primordial Seal: it appears to be the only Eldritch Society that cannot use a Spellcasting Focus. Is this intentional? For the ribbon, I really like Matt Eger's idea of sizing up an opponent's spell-based traits, like the Int, Wis, and Cha ability scores, proficiency bonus (or maybe spell save DC?), etc. Other than those notes and a few small grammatical errors, the class is looking awesome! I can't wait to play the full version.

Hrm, you're right, it works from the feed but not from this specific post's page. Odd indeed.

Michael Doyle

Huh. Never mind. If I try to view the link from the specific post, it doesn't work, but if I click on the link from the feed of every post you've made, it works. Odd.

I am also having the same issue, and have been with everything that's been posted this way in the past few weeks, including the Scholar post you put up recently.

Huh, it's working for me. Let me try to put the link here and see if that works.

Benjamin Huffman

Hmm, it only loads the header image for me again. Not the PDF.

Michael Doyle

1) Under Sorcerous Sentinel, should be "is attacked", not "is attack". 2) In general, needs some commas after the starting clauses to match the PHB style. Especially for blocks starting with "While" or "When" clauses. Should look like "While X is occuring, you ...". Noticed it in the Eldritch Armament section especially, but it's scattered around in other sections. 3) Ideally, there would be a small section at the start of the spell list denoting what each of the superscripts (SCAG, EE, SV) mean. The fact that SV means "this document" isn't clear. 4) Mystic Meditation is solid. I could see swapping Mystic Meditation to 5th and War Magic to 6th. Cantrips already scale up at 5th, so the boost from one attack to two attacks + bonus cantrip damage might be too extreme. As much as I love War Magic, maybe Mystic Meditation at 5th, Eldritch Soc feature + Mark upgrade at 6th, War Magic at 7th? Downside there is granting a 4th level spell (polymorph) at 6th level. Granting spells at levels before full casters get them is generally a no-no for 5th edition, although that has been broken in a few places. (I'm thinking of the Svifneblin Magic feat from EEPC specifically.) Really not sure. I think War Magic at 6th is the best place, but your call, of course. 5) Ribbon abilities...detect magic makes sense, although it is a little Paladin like, true. Maybe something like the battlemaster ability to size up an opponent, but it can tell spellcasting ability instead?

Matthew Gesus