[Magus Archetype] Abjurant Champion

[Sacrieur]

Abjurant Champion
docx (http://1drv.ms/1ln2Q0W) | pdf (http://1drv.ms/1ln2SpH) | mediafire (http://www.mediafire.com/view/2puptoe9361hjch/Abjurant_Champion.pdf)

http://i.imgur.com/4S5SwSz.jpg (http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=53388681)



Enveloped in the ward of abjuration spells, the abjurant champion stands confident in her protection against sword and sorcery. Magic is the only armor she needs, freeing her from the constriction of leather and steel.


Weapon and Armor Proficiency

An abjurant champion loses proficiency with light armor. While wearing light armor, she incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance when casting magus spells.


Arcane School

At 1st level, an abjurant champion gains abjuration as her arcane school. This functions identically to the wizard ability, using her magus level for the relevant wizard level.


Arcane Armor (Sp)

An abjurant champion may cast mage armor as a spell-like ability on herself (and only herself) a number of times per day equal to her Intelligence modifier. At 7th level, the armor bonus from this ability is +6, and at 13th level, it is +8.

This ability replaces medium armor and heavy armor.


Armor Enhancement (Su)

An abjurant champion may use her arcane pool to improve her arcane armor. At first level, she can expend 1 point from her arcane pool to increase the armor bonus provided by her arcane armor by 1 for 1 minute. For every four levels beyond 4th, she gains another +1 bonus, to a maximum of +5 at 17th level. Multiple uses of this ability do not stack with themselves.

At 5th level, this bonus can be used to add special property to her arcane armor from the following: fortification, spell resistance, expeditious, invulnerability, energy resistance, and determination.

Adding a property consumes an amount of bonus equal to the property’s base price modifier. These bonuses and properties are decided when the arcane pool point is spent and cannot be changed until the next time the abjurant champion uses this ability.

An abjurant champion can only enhance her armor in this way at one time. If she uses this ability again, the first use immediately ends. If her arcane armor ends, then so do any enhancements.


Expanded Abjuration (Su)

Beginning at 1st level and every odd level thereafter, an abjurant champion may learn and place one abjuration spell from the wizard’s spell list into her spellbook as a magus spell of its wizard level.

She must still meet the prerequisites for the spell and it must be of a level she can cast.

This ability replaces greater spell access.

[Sacrieur]

v1.1b
11/15/2015

Arcane School: Now requires two opposition schools.
Expanded Abjuration added.


I created this to port my vision of the abjuration champion from 3.5 over to PF. Building off of the magus was ultimately the best option, since it already did what a true gish should. The design challenge was creating a balanced alternative to armor while not stripping the magus of essential offensive options. Similarly, I couldn't strip a magus of its little casting versatility, but had to balance it in there somehow. An arcane school was the perfect way to do that.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, since it's easy to use from the existing architecture it relies on.

Questions, comments, and fish are all welcome!

[Ethereal Gears]

Have a halibut! :) #fish

Anyway!

I think this looks really cool. I've been hankering for a mage armor-themed magus archetype for quite some time, so I'm glad someone decided to make this.

I like the simplicity of this and I think it looks balanced overall. I do have a few things I'm wondering about, though:

1) Since you're giving these guys an arcane school for free without requiring them to give up any other class features, wouldn't it only be fair to make them choose two opposition schools just like wizards do? The opposition school reduction strikes me as an unnecessary boon, but maybe I'm missing some balance consideration.

2) Since the armor enhancement ability is granted without trading anything away, I feel like granting mage armor as a free SLA via the arcane armor ability feels a bit "too good" again. It's not a massive balance issue, more a question of taste perhaps. If you instead let them add mage armor for free to their spell book (and to the magus spell list, obviously) and then at a later level let them gain the effects of Extend Spell for it for free, how would that work out? If you did this, you would still grant them the improved armor bonus when casting it, of course. Just a random thought; it may not be that important an issue.

Lastly, it would be cool to create some arcanas to let these guys get better when using the shield spell. Not exactly sure how, but I just feel like it's the other iconic defensive spell aside from mage armor.

Anyway, good job. I really like this archetype! :)

Cheers,
- Gears

[Sacrieur]

1) Since you're giving these guys an arcane school for free without requiring them to give up any other class features, wouldn't it only be fair to make them choose two opposition schools just like wizards do? The opposition school reduction strikes me as an unnecessary boon, but maybe I'm missing some balance consideration.

Good question! One of my players asked the same thing.

The answer is in the inherent balance of the game already. Consider two points:

1) Abjuration is not a very expansive school to begin with, and while it has essential spells, still numbers as one of the schools with the fewest spells.
2) The Magus spell list is already very limited, so the number of abjuration spells actually available are very small.

For these reasons, modification was necessary or else it would have been too crippling to the magus's versatility.



2) Since the armor enhancement ability is granted without trading anything away, I feel like granting mage armor as a free SLA via the arcane armor ability feels a bit "too good" again. It's not a massive balance issue, more a question of taste perhaps. If you instead let them add mage armor for free to their spell book (and to the magus spell list, obviously) and then at a later level let them gain the effects of Extend Spell for it for free, how would that work out? If you did this, you would still grant them the improved armor bonus when casting it, of course. Just a random thought; it may not be that important an issue.

I experimented with it a bit, and because mage armor is a conjuration spell, nothing was working out like I wanted to. My first draft had a class feature which reduced the level adjustment of metamagic applied to abjuration spells. It doesn't mean I couldn't have taken that route though, I could have very easily designed a new abjuration armor spell to make up the deficit. I settled on a SLA because people would be familiar with mage armor and how it works. It just made more sense to use what I already had then make something up.

Another reason was so they can dump an arcane pool on it.



Lastly, it would be cool to create some arcanas to let these guys get better when using the shield spell. Not exactly sure how, but I just feel like it's the other iconic defensive spell aside from mage armor.

Now there's an idea. I'll do some studying to see if there are any gaps in the arcanas that need to be filled.

---

Thanks for the insights!

[Ethereal Gears]

Just a question. Am I right in supposing that these guys gain school powers and everything from their abjuration school? Because if not, I think that needs to be clarified.

[Sacrieur]

Just a question. Am I right in supposing that these guys gain school powers and everything from their abjuration school? Because if not, I think that needs to be clarified.

Yes, it functions exactly like the wizard ability.

[Ethereal Gears]

Aha. Then I had supposed rightly. In that case I would like to ask: the merits and drawbacks of the abjuration spell list aside, did you not consider the school powers at least worth trading out something for? I mean, you get three pretty nifty and versatile defensive abilities, completely for free. That seems to me like it would at the very least be worth an arcana, no? I know trading away the first arcana is a pretty big blow to a magus, since that means they can't take Extra Arcana until 7th level, but I think simply adding a stipulation that they still qualify for that feat would be an easy way of solving that. This would be my suggestion anyway. If this does not seem palatable, I would say forcing two opposition schools on these guys would at least go a bit towards paying for the school powers.

Cheers,
- Gears

[Sacrieur]

Aha. Then I had supposed rightly. In that case I would like to ask: the merits and drawbacks of the abjuration spell list aside, did you not consider the school powers at least worth trading out something for? I mean, you get three pretty nifty and versatile defensive abilities, completely for free. That seems to me like it would at the very least be worth an arcana, no? I know trading away the first arcana is a pretty big blow to a magus, since that means they can't take Extra Arcana until 7th level, but I think simply adding a stipulation that they still qualify for that feat would be an easy way of solving that. This would be my suggestion anyway. If this does not seem palatable, I would say forcing two opposition schools on these guys would at least go a bit towards paying for the school powers.

Here's the thing about arcane armor, it's weaker in many ways than actual armor. Sure it doesn't have a max Dex bonus, arcane spell failure, or ACP, but that's not worth it's weight and gold, and by focusing entirely on a spell which you can spend points to modify in a number of very limited ways can be extremely limiting on the abjurant champion.

I don't know if you knew this, but it's possible to stack multiple effects onto a single piece of magical armor. You could have a +1 Improved Energy Resistant Spell Resistant Spell Storing Adamantine Full Plate that a magus can wear at level 13 while only really worrying about ACP/speed penalty. And the spell effortless armor can easily fix any problems with that. Now those arcane school abilities may not be looking all that impressive. Especially when you start getting into not just the stuff you can craft personally, but specific armors (which you can then enchant further).

This actually is very interesting because it's what Vow of Poverty from 3.5 got wrong. It undervalued exactly what you can do with equipment and how big of a role it can play. Because I removed armor from the class; it left a very big void to fill. Because I chose the school outright, I can balance it based on that. You're forced to play an abjurant specialist. Not a conjuration specialist who gets a bunch of super cool things from their school. Further, the benefit of an extra spell slot applies to a lower selection of spells than a wizard.

If you were to pick two opposition schools you would be cutting out 33% of magus spells as being too costly. I just didn't see that as a fair trade off when your spell list is so small.

[Ethereal Gears]

Those are definitely all things that are good about being able to wear manufactured armor. On the flipside, the abjurant champion can gain energy resistance on the fly via their arcane pool, never have to worry about their armor being sundered or taken away from them, and also don't have to spend gold on their armor, allowing them to instead use it gain better amulets of natural armor faster, or simply spend their WBL on pearls of power or other fun stuff. Mind you, I'm not saying it's a clear-cut case of either being better or worse, and you're obviously quite determined about the abjuration school class feature staying the way it is. Since I don't find it a game-breaking imbalance by any stretch, I'm sure it's not worth quibbling over.

Aside from the idea to incorporate shield into the archetype somehow via arcanas, I also definitely think arcanas expanding the options for enhancements you can grant to your mage armor via the arcane pool would be nifty. So you could upgrade your fortification enhancement, for example, and possibly even gain a bit of DR in exchange for enhancement bonuses at later levels. I think that could be pretty nifty, anyway. :)

Cheers,
- Gears

[legomaster00156]

Just a minor nit-pick: You don't have a caster level set for the Arcane Armor. I assume it is meant to be a CL equal to Magus class level?

[Sacrieur]

Those are definitely all things that are good about being able to wear manufactured armor. On the flipside, the abjurant champion can gain energy resistance on the fly via their arcane pool, never have to worry about their armor being sundered or taken away from them, and also don't have to spend gold on their armor, allowing them to instead use it gain better amulets of natural armor faster, or simply spend their WBL on pearls of power or other fun stuff. Mind you, I'm not saying it's a clear-cut case of either being better or worse, and you're obviously quite determined about the abjuration school class feature staying the way it is. Since I don't find it a game-breaking imbalance by any stretch, I'm sure it's not worth quibbling over.

It's a good discussion, though.



Aside from the idea to incorporate shield into the archetype somehow via arcanas, I also definitely think arcanas expanding the options for enhancements you can grant to your mage armor via the arcane pool would be nifty. So you could upgrade your fortification enhancement, for example, and possibly even gain a bit of DR in exchange for enhancement bonuses at later levels. I think that could be pretty nifty, anyway. :)

I've been looking at them, I could have a few ideas if I stare at it long enough. I definitely feel I have some direction.

As for upgrading fortification; it doesn't say that but you can already covered under the existing rules. Fortification and Spell Resistance are actually a single kind of enhancement that scales the more of an enhancement bonus you throw at it; that's why the archetype doesn't specify which kind of fortification or spell resistance you can use. You can also get damage reduction by using the invulnerability enhancement.



Just a minor nit-pick: You don't have a caster level set for the Arcane Armor. I assume it is meant to be a CL equal to Magus class level?

A spell-like ability functions just like the spell it's based on would, with some minor adjustments to the components and casting time (if necessary). So the CL of the spell would be the exact same as if you cast mage armor as a magus.

[Ethereal Gears]

Oh. I had actually missed that about fortification and energy resistance, and I wasn't even aware of what invulnerability did, so I should probably have checked that first. That's nifty! I think it could still be neat to add in a few more options available via arcanas, since there are some rather fun armor enhancements out there, but with these clarifications in mind the armor enhancement ability is even more powerful than I thought. Probably makes me feel a bit more strongly about there needing to be some kind of cost for the abjuration school.

Cheers,
- Gears

[legomaster00156]

A spell-like ability functions just like the spell it's based on would, with some minor adjustments to the components and casting time (if necessary). So the CL of the spell would be the exact same as if you cast mage armor as a magus.
Yes. Still needs a notice to the caster level for the ability. Just add this: "Her caster level for this ability is equal to her Magus class level."

[Sacrieur]

Oh. I had actually missed that about fortification and energy resistance, and I wasn't even aware of what invulnerability did, so I should probably have checked that first. That's nifty! I think it could still be neat to add in a few more options available via arcanas, since there are some rather fun armor enhancements out there, but with these clarifications in mind the armor enhancement ability is even more powerful than I thought. Probably makes me feel a bit more strongly about there needing to be some kind of cost for the abjuration school.

Since you felt so strongly about it, I performed a small analysis on the Magus spells, using the 249 on Paizo's website and sorting them into schools, counting how many of each there were. However, knowing that quality is more important than quality, I used Kurald's guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?423754-Myrrh-Frankincense-and-Steel-Kurald-Galain-s-Guide-to-the-Magus) to create a sampling of just how valuable a school was. Using the following rubric I then analyzed the school based on it's total value.

Red: 0
Yellow: 1
Green: 2
Blue: 4

http://i.imgur.com/BdWobc8.png

http://i.imgur.com/hPJ6eyN.png


The results were more surprising than I thought. The Magus could ban three schools and maintain a high level of functionality. Also the value and few number of Abjuration spells means it's not as effective as it could be in the areas it needs to be.

So then, what to do about this?

First, make the arcane school function exactly like the wizard ability, requiring two banned schools. Second, expand the Abjurant Champion's own use of Abjuration spells by replacing Greater Spell Access with an ability which slowly gives her access to more Abjuration spells each level. This will boost the relevancy of Abjuration while denying versatility.

I will be making some other tweaks too.



Yes. Still needs a notice to the caster level for the ability. Just add this: "Her caster level for this ability is equal to her Magus class level."

It is necessary if the class cannot cast spells or if you want to limit the CL to only class levels. I don't want that; there's no reason to punish multiclassing.

[Ethereal Gears]

That's definitely some interesting analysis. I do wish to clarify, though, that my only point was that gaining access to the three school powers granted by the abjuration school ought to be worth either losing an arcana or having to pick a second opposition school. The value of abjuration spells to a magus wasn't really part of what I was saying. Honestly, since the "cost" of having to choose an opposition school is a bit trickier to pin down, if I were building this archetype I would probably just have it cost the abjurant champion's 3rd-level arcana (with the caveat that you still qualify for Extra Arcana). I don't think anyone could argue that three school powers aren't roughly on par, power-wise, with a single magus arcana. As for your idea of modifying or replacing Greater Spell Access, I think that sounds like a great notion in any case!

Cheers,
- Gears

[Sayt]

One thing I'd consider is letting the Ab.Champ. Archetype expand it's spell list to include a few more abjurations.

Also, I had a bit of a kooky idea: If you have overlapping abjurations for a long period, it creates a shimmer or haze. What if you got a scaling miss chance related too the number of abjurations you had up?

[Sacrieur]

That's definitely some interesting analysis. I do wish to clarify, though, that my only point was that gaining access to the three school powers granted by the abjuration school ought to be worth either losing an arcana or having to pick a second opposition school. The value of abjuration spells to a magus wasn't really part of what I was saying.

The analysis was to determine the value of schools of magic other than abjuration to determine exactly how detrimental including more opposition schools would be.



Honestly, since the "cost" of having to choose an opposition school is a bit trickier to pin down, if I were building this archetype I would probably just have it cost the abjurant champion's 3rd-level arcana (with the caveat that you still qualify for Extra Arcana). I don't think anyone could argue that three school powers aren't roughly on par, power-wise, with a single magus arcana.

I don't really know if I want to strip out an arcana, especially if I create more. Then again if you wanted more you could always take the feat. I'll think about it some more, but I think it's in a good position right now just copying the wizard's ability out-right. It's good, it works, and it feels natural.

Of course, if you can make a convincing case otherwise I can reconsider.



One thing I'd consider is letting the Ab.Champ. Archetype expand it's spell list to include a few more abjurations.

It does already. You get an extra abjuration spell from the wizard list every odd level.



Also, I had a bit of a kooky idea: If you have overlapping abjurations for a long period, it creates a shimmer or haze. What if you got a scaling miss chance related too the number of abjurations you had up?

Nah, that's what illusion magic is for ;)

[Ethereal Gears]

Well, as I said, I was totally fine with demanding either two opposition schools or losing an arcana; as long as the school powers have some kind of cost, I'm completely placated.

As for Sayt's idea, I would actually really like some kind of arcana like that. Since the PF magic chapter clearly spells out (no pun intended):

"If one abjuration spell is active within 10 feet of another for 24 hours or more, the magical fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations. The DC to find such spells with the Perception skill drops by 4."

I think it would be very flavorful and neat to base an arcana around it. They could possibly speed up the reaction and create these energy fluctuations instantaneously to get some cool effect. Maybe not necessarily granting a miss chance, but some kind of ability to blind foes or similar.

Cheers,
- Gears

[Kurald Galain]

Well, since you asked for feedback, I have a few questions and suggestions.

The good: Armor enhancement is a fun and versatile ability, and leaning more towards the wizard side with extra spells known and the abjuration school ability is a nice crossover.

The confusing: Several of the armor abilities listed have a fixed cost (e.g. 30,000 gp instead of "+3"); it is unclear how the ability pays for that. When you gain the arcane school, does that mean you gain extra spells per day as well? How about the APG focused school abilities?

The flipside: I'm not a big fan of abilities that say "you can't wear armor, but you get a defense bonus which is coincidentally exactly the same as you would get from wearing armor". Aside from that, Mage Armor isn't an abjuration spell anyway. Since the arcane armor ability serves the same purpose as armor enhancement (and the latter is much more interesting and already scales), I'd suggest simply having the Magus wear armor as normal and get rid of his mage armor power.

$.02

[Ethereal Gears]

I gotta say, I really hope you don't follow Kurald Galain's advice regarding removing the mage armor aspect of the archetype. On a side note, I've always thought it's perfectly silly that mage armor doesn't belong to the abjuration school, but that's another barrel of fish altogether.

I can sympathize, to an extent, with disliking abilities that remove armor and then just grant you an armor bonus instead. I understand how it might come off as mechanically redundant. However, one thing I really like about this archetype is that they get to go into battle protected only by an armor of sheer force. It makes them seem a lot more magical than your average magus in that respect. I really love that flavor. Now, possibly this could be represented mechanically by something different than just granting them a mage armor spell, but since I think it works out balance-wise I wouldn't be that bothered about changing it.

Cheers,
- Gears

[Sacrieur]

Thanks Kurald, you gave me quite a bit to think about.


I gotta say, I really hope you don't follow Kurald Galain's advice regarding removing the mage armor aspect of the archetype. On a side note, I've always thought it's perfectly silly that mage armor doesn't belong to the abjuration school, but that's another barrel of fish altogether.

I'm just as upset about it as the next guy, if not more, that it's not in abjuration. I even made a thread ranting about it.

So about arcane armor. I think Kurald has an excellent point that I missed. And I thought about this and thought about this and the more I played around with it in my head the more what he said made sense. His point is why create an ability which functions exactly like an existing ability. Sure, there's not ACP or max Dex bonus, but was that really a problem in the first place?



I can sympathize, to an extent, with disliking abilities that remove armor and then just grant you an armor bonus instead. I understand how it might come off as mechanically redundant. However, one thing I really like about this archetype is that they get to go into battle protected only by an armor of sheer force. It makes them seem a lot more magical than your average magus in that respect. I really love that flavor. Now, possibly this could be represented mechanically by something different than just granting them a mage armor spell, but since I think it works out balance-wise I wouldn't be that bothered about changing it.

Exactly, you get it.

I think there is a solution that everyone can walk out happy with. I too like the flavor of mage armor, but it's likely better kept as a spell than anything else. If I want to create the functionality you're talking about, then arcana/more spells can create it. I'm also considering buffing the number of abjuration spells from 1 to 2 every odd level. What are your thoughts on this?

[Ethereal Gears]

Oh! I had totally missed the inclusion of the Expanded Abjuration ability, somehow.

Well, I'm not sure, actually. I think one spell every odd level feels alright, but I don't think it would be an insane power boost to double the amount. In that case I'd probably make it a spell per level, though, rather than 2 every other level. That's just my personal preference, though. I tend to like smooth and even ability upgrades.

Cheers,
- Gears