Talk:Magus Portalus (3.5e Prestige Class)

Ratings

	Leziad is neutral on this article and rated it 2 of 4.
	I like the abilities, but I am not sure it quite worth losing two caster levels. Also by the time you have it 12/day it could be at-will, I mean you'd have way better transportation spell by then.

Is it really worth it?

You gain 2 BAB over most other wizard PrCs and lose 2 caster levels. The abilities are on par with other wizard PrCs, so they aren't really relevant. I'd take down the BAB and add back in the caster levels. --Aarnott 05:17, 15 July 2009 (MDT)

The BAB isn't really a biggie; the PrC would be mainly the same if it had poor BAB or medium. Rather, I'm trying to bring some of my design philosophy into this PrC--that getting the Really Cool Stuff from a PrC should come at a cost. Getting the smaller things from the PrC requires a small cost, that of the prereqs. The further you get into the PrC, the cooler Stuff that you get, but just the first part doesn't cover it completely. You need to give up a little more to continue getting Cool Stuff. Thus, if you want to give up very little, you dip into the PrC and get minor things. But to get the heart and soul of the PrC, you need to give up a bit more. (It's one of the reasons I really like that aspect of psionic PrCs, where you have to sacrifice ML to get the cool stuff. All except the one PrC in the travesty that is Complete Psionic >_>) --Ghostwheel 00:59, 16 July 2009 (MDT)

But are the abilities really worth two caster levels? I understand that you embrace the "prestige class" as sacrifice concept, but this may suffer from the same design paradox as the Master of the Unseen Hand - a prestige class focused on an ability, the potency of which is hamstrung by sacrificing the caster level that makes it possible. (Though not nearly as wall-banging stupid as the MotUH, which is based around telekinesis... but because of its lack of caster levels, the "master" can only deploy his unseen hand once a day.) The pay off for those later abilities has to match to the price you pay. Is a player going to look at this class, see a bunch of flavorful and intriguing abilities that unfortunately come with strictly limited uses and limited efficacy and see that as worth two caster levels, or is he going to ignore the PrC in favor of just being able to cast more spells with a higher effect caster level? Or to put it more briefly, is being an 18th level caster at 20th level really going to be a viable price for being a 12 shot portal gun? Atypicaloracle 10:18, May 21, 2010 (UTC)

Depends on whether the PC is simply interested in "MOAR POWA'" as far as spells go, or versatility as far more abilities are concerned that open up a number of options that don't necessarily waste spells. Take a look at most rogue-level wizard PrCs, and you'll notice they follow a similar pattern. --Ghostwheel 18:48, May 21, 2010 (UTC)

Well, on the one hand, we can say that all classes must be inherently balanced against each other, but the truth about D&D is that combat takes precedence over all other design factors in a PrC. Those more interested in roleplay don't like this fact - I'm one of them - but it's a sad truth of tabletop game design: combat happens, and if a class doesn't deliver the goods in such an exchange, players are going to walk away from it. The BAB on this class is an interesting choice; an improved attack bonus makes sense on a PrC focusing on rays or touch attacks, but the Magus Portalus isn't that kind of caster. Really, what does the portal effect do that dimension door or passwall doesn't? (I suppose in the case of passwall, the portal can go through a solid iron wall.) Yes, ten levels into the PrC they have this portal effect at their disposal twelve times a day, which is rather a lot more often than most characters can (or are willing to) cough up similar effects, but the other abilities have extremely limited uses per day. The equation seems lopsided to me, but the PrC would definitely make for a very interesting NPC. 67.149.192.84 07:24, May 22, 2010 (UTC)

Of course not all D&D classes are balanced compared to each other. Far from it--that's what our balance rating system says. And sure, the world isn't perfect--but that doesn't mean we can't work to make it so (as I'm attempting to do for my vision of what's "perfect" with my system revision), and you'll notice that most of my work follows my vision of classes being more balanced towards a certain point (that of the rogue range of balance). And sure, there are better PrCs--but what if we balanced those towards the rogue level too? If the Shadowcraft Mage lost 3 levels of spellcasting, or if the Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil lost four levels of spellcasting, would people spring for them as quickly? Then, classes like the Alienist, this one, or the Acolyte of the Skin might look much more appealing to players who wanted to disversify their options. What if the only way to have a CL of 20 at level 20 were to go Wizard 20 (barring a few PrCs that give options that aren't mechanically powerful, but purely flavorful)? Then you might not see casters jumping to a PrC at the first opportunity, and would level the playing field a bit comparing straight casters (few options outside of spells) and PrCed casters (fewer spells, but more options from PrCs). And what if, on top of that, we added a restriction onto casters? Would they be quite so overwhelming and overpowering at that point? I don't think so, and that's what I strive for in the material I create. Others have a different view of how the game should work and be balanced, but my homebrew is mine, and for the most part will be balanced to my vision of what's balanced in the game. --Ghostwheel 10:09, May 22, 2010 (UTC)

Old Formatting

...is old. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 01:53, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

Feel free to update it :-P --Ghostwheel (talk) 04:42, 27 September 2012 (UTC)