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1st Magus Stretch Goal Reached! Exclusive Backer Preview of New Eldritch Society! (Patreon)

Published:
2016-12-16 05:46:52
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Hello everyone!

Linked here is the text only document outlining the next Magus class archetype, the Shadow Court. I hope you'll give it a look over and let me know your thoughts before it's included in the Magus pdf when we reach the next stretch goal!

Thanks,

Benjamin

Files

the Shadow Court Preview

The Shadow Court Magi in the Shadow Court belong to clans of conspirators who have seek to shape local and regional politics as well as wage a clandestine war amongst one another for secrets and objects of power. Although those outside the Eldritch Society know it as a singular group, the Shadow ...

Comments

Michael Doyle

Ahh, going the Monk route I see. Interesting. Though on demand auto-crit is a big red flag. Even if you get it balanced inside of the Magus class, multiclassing opens all sorts of avenues of abuse. A 3 level dip for guranteed melee crits? Throw that on a raging Barbarian, a Rogue or even a Paladin with a smite dump and see what happens.

Outlandish Adventure Productions (OAP)

There are some really cool ideas going on in here, and I like the overall theming (though I was expecting more shadow-manipulation to be involved), but there are definitely some things that I think require tweaking. I must agree with Michael. The auto-crit is always going to either be too powerful or too weak, and the three-level dip makes multiclassing far too easy an abuse. A Shadow Magus/Arcane Trickster Multiclass would be absolutely terrifying. A guaranteed Booming Blade-Sneak Attack-Spellsword crit with an extra +1 to to hit and damage? And yes, Paladin's Divine Smite also applies here, but I'm calling out Arcane Trickster in particular because its main stats (Dex and Int) perfectly align with the Shadow Court's, and it gains Booming Blade due to it being a wizard cantrip. Even at 6th level, that crit with a rapier is 2d8+4d6+2d4+DexMod+1 piercing damage plus 2d8 thunder damage on the initial attack, an average of 41 damage with a +3 DexMod.

Michael Doyle

3 level dips aren't that uncommon. Especially for a fruit as enticing as an autocrit. Magus is already capable of spiking a hit with a slot burn ala a Paladin with the right armament so you're getting two damage spike options for that 3 level dip. One of which is not limited by the Magus class as you a burn slot from any class to fuel it ala a Paladin smite. So you already have an on demand resource burn to damage boost option in the base class anyhow. Adding a second one doesn't add anything interesting imo and opens up a lot of messy abuse possibilities you have to find and math out to try and balance. Even as low as 6th level it starts to get worrisome. Being 3 levels down on a Rogue/Trickster is trading only 1-2d6 of your Sneak Attack damage for the formidable dice roll Ross pointed out. Plus you get the benefit of a Fighting Style for that 3 level dip as well as shields and better armour. Doing it with Paladin nets you two Fighting Styles that stack and a second pseudo Divine Smite option you can stack with your existing DS. Which you can then double whenever you like with the auto crit. Its just a Pandora's Box that you'll be perpetually trying to close as each new potential line of abuse pops up and you have to math it out to see if you've broken something. So yeah, honestly, I don't think its worth the hassle and I don't think just adding bigger numbers is all that interesting of a feature to begin with.

Michael Doyle

If you really want to go with the Monk theme here then have it mimic Flurry of Blows or something instead so at least its bounded strictly to unarmed strike and can't be abused cross class. Though that's still kind of janky as eldritch armament has no precise unarmed option so you're kind of working against the base class. In order to unarmed strike you have to effectively not be using your eldritch armament. Unless you're going to hold a shield in one hand and punch in the other. Which is bit silly to envision. But again, all this aside just making bigger numbers does not a compelling feature make. Especially on a shadow manipulator type class. Why doesn't it just strike the enemy blind or something similarly shadow magicish? Why can't I punch them so hard their shadow breaks off, puts them in a full nelson and everyone gets advantage against the target until the end of my next turn? I mean there's lots of stuff you can do with a shadowcaster theme.

Matthew Gesus

I can see the interplay you're going for with the "Enspell -> Drop Enspell to power the cantrips", and I approve. But I think auto-crit is simply asking for too much trouble. (Eldritch Archer and this with auto-crit splash damage would be painful). In general, put too many offensive features on a long rest schedule, even with limited uses, and you start to encourage nova builds, which are problematic for balance at multiple points. (Make initial encounters too easy, which makes later encounters too hard, which encourages 15 minute work day syndrome.) Maybe have the Enspell remove do max weapon damage, so that it's a decent bonus but doesn't stack with Eldritch Armament? Or maybe a Wisdom saving throw or be blinded for 1 turn, as the shadowy strike clouds their mind? (The other 3 Enspells all require saves against physical stats, a mental stat attack would be a nice changeup.) Then have the cantrips grant their special benefit against blinded targets.