Analysing the New Spells From The Magus Class for D&D 2024 (5.5e)

Lots of interesting spells add more tools for the magus and other spellcasters.

About the spells

The Magus pack has 31 brand new spells. These tend to lean towards lower levels with cantrips and level 1 spells representing the majority of options. We also don’t get spells higher than level 6 as this is the highest level available to the Magus.

As these are 3rd party spells, make sure you check with your DM before you use them for your character.

Cantrips

• Baffle (5/5) – Like mind sliver with a little less damage, but a usually more profound debuff (especially if you’re not targeting minions and more so as you progress in levels). It affects any d20 tests too, not just saving throws.
• Bitter wind (4/5) – Could be a handy way to tackle creatures with awkward resistances. The damage from the cantrip is average, but the potential regained damage by bypassing that resistance could be significant. You probably want this as a backup cantrip rather than your main choice.
• Caustic claw (2/5) – I don’t normally pay attention to monster hit dice so had to flick through the Monster Manual to see how this impacts creatures. The obvious answer is that this varies by creature, but you’re typically looking at an extra d6 – d12 damage here (though like PCs, d12 is rarer). From levels 1-4, that’s pretty great for cantrip damage. Even a d6 hit die will average 6 damage (poison spray will average 6.5 damage with a worse damage type). A d8 increases this to 7 and a d10 to 8 damage. The damage here is quite good for a cantrip and many magi probably won’t mind making a melee spell attack either. The problem here is with damage scaling. As you progress in levels, only the initial damage scales with some slight scaling by fighting enemies with bigger hit dice. At level 5, you’ll average 8.5 damage against d6 hit dice, 9.5 damage for d8 and 10.5 against d10. Poison spray will manage an average of 13 against all creatures so this quickly diminishes in power. Decent at low levels, but poor after that.
• Demiplanar pitch (3/5) – This is awesome flavour and the fun here could be in describing what the heck you pull out of that random bag of holding. The d8 is OK but the idea is bypassing resistances with some different damage types which is sometimes helpful, but often won’t change much at the expense of a little damage.
• Give life (4/5) – Druids and Heaven’s Guard magi (the only classes/subclasses with this spell) both have d8 hit dice so you’re healing at magnitudes of d8s. You do expend hit dice for the privilege. It’s definitely better using those hit dice in combat when you need these more rather than during a short rest. This is better for groups with shorter adventuring days where preserving hit dice for short rests isn’t as important. It’s also better at later levels when you have more hit dice to spare. Technically, if you multiclass into something like a fighter with higher hit dice, you can expend those for more healing too. Pretty good for healing without spell slots but unlike most cantrips, you do expend a resource.
• Hateful haunting (2/5) – This is very poor if the target doesn’t take a d20 test before the end of their next turn and only OK if they do. Most creatures will make a d20 test during this time if only to make an attack, but some will just provoke a saving throw. I don’t think this ends up comparing favourably against other cantrips.
• Misfortune missile (5/5) – This is a lot like mind sliver with some important distinctions. This is less likely to succeed and this requires a reaction to impose the debuff. That may not always be an issue though depending on what spells you’re packing. Force damage is slightly better than psychic damage and this applies to all d20 tests, not just saving throws. You can also choose which d20 test to apply it to so could choose to trigger it on tests that barely succeed, this potentially makes it a bit more flexible than mind sliver.
• Obscuring prick (4/5) – Single target blinded is interesting. It could disrupt an aggressor which isn’t bad for classes that generally want to be left alone. The damage is pretty pathetic, but you could use this to get away/disrupt an enemy targeting you.
• Overexposure (3/5) – Temporarily increase the odds of landing a critical hit from 5% to 10% while causing a bit of damage. I think it’s fun, but I don’t feel like the odds sway enough in your favour, but maybe a large party and some focus fire could make this worthwhile enough.
• Phantasmal feint (3/5) – The range for this is really short and advantage is decent, but easily gained in many other ways. It’s fine for spellcasters that like to get close to the action, but that’s not usual for most cantrip casting spellcasters.
• Righteous incitement (5/5) – If you can coax that extra d6 of damage, then this becomes a high damage cantrip. That can be unreliable though. Ideally, you’ll need to be able to be evasive, using ranged attacks and perhaps moving out of sight if possible. This has potential to be really good, just bring another cantrip for when this will only deal the base damage.
• Thornhold (2/5) – This equates to 2d4 HP/damage which is alright, but you rely on being attacked to trigger the 2nd d4 and lose the temporary hit points after a round. At higher levels, this maybe feels more substantial, but there may also be limits to how hard you’re hit for the follow up damage. You may also have issues with other sources of temporary hit points. It’s maybe OK on a melee build, but I don’t feel like the numbers quite stack up here.

Level 1 spells

• Ensorcelled strike (5/5) – Not only is this a bonus action attack, but it also makes the target vulnerable to spells for a round. Use this on tough creatures then focus fire some spells. If you cast this first on your turn, then use your action for an attack and a cantrip (as you’re a Magus) you can get some same turn benefits. You then can use a more potent spell on your next turn with your action.
• Forced hesitation (4/5) – An early initial reaction to deal some damage and make a creature slower is pretty decent. The highest of the 3 d4s means you should manage 3s or 4s most of the time.
• Grave bolt (1/5) – This automatically hits but is worse damage than magic missile (average 4.5 Vs 10.5). It has the option of healing, but having undead to heal isn’t that common and healing word should work just fine and be better. The only reason for this is to try and catch an almost dead enemy and turn them into a zombie. That’s cool, but in this case, not very pragmatic.
• Grave grasp (2/5) – I’d just take Tasha’s hideous laughter. It incapacitates more and has more chance of remaining for more than a round. This requires an action to automatically escape whereas hideous laughter requires a passed saving throw at the end of your turn.
• Provoke (4/5) – Like a better compelled duel as there are less end conditions and you get some easy reaction attacks against the target. The only issue here is that magi aren’t always the characters you want to force to be targeted whereas paladins are (who typically use compelled duel).
• Spell aegis (2/5) – Some decent defensiveness, but the range of support isn’t large and you’ll need a spare bonus action to move it to places closer to the action. A little too demanding on your action economy in my opinion. I think it might have been better with a 30ft range.
• Tower fall tactic (3/5) – An OK boost after taking damage and debuffs for the attacker. That prone will make your attacker vulnerable to melee attacks for a round.
• Weapon aegis (2/5) – Pretty much the same situation as spell aegis, but with some different damage types. I’d suggest these damage types might be slightly more likely, but moving the aegis to the right places is a burden on your bonus action for maybe not enough protection.

Level 2 spells

• Animate shield (4/5) – A bit like shield of faith, but with some important distinctions. You’ll need to not be wielding a shield to benefit, it doesn’t require concentration and it can buff multiple allies. The challenge is proximity, if creatures move, you’ll need to use your bonus action to move the shield into range to help. The other challenge is it can be destroyed. A well placed fireball is gameover for your animated shield. Is that worth an extra spell level over shield of faith? It certainly can be and it can be good, if a bit fiddly.
• Animate weapon (5/5) – Like spiritual weapon but without the need for concentration or to keep using your bonus action. This is just considerably better and it can even be a ranged weapon. I’d favour a ranged weapon so you don’t have to keep moving it with your bonus action. You can even pick a weapon with more damage than spiritual weapon (I’d favour a musket).
• Arcane invigoration (4/5) – Basically arcane vigor but for temporary hit points. Everything else works exactly the same. This is distinct from arcane vigor in one way though. It can be cast ahead of combat as it doesn’t rely on taking damage first. This is particularly helpful for magi with quite a busy bonus action already. It is worth noting that cure wounds will heal the same number of hit points as a level 1 spell without expending hit dice, but it does require an entire action. I think this justifies the higher spell level.
• Carrionette (4/5) – This one is super interesting. We can see its potential by looking at some CR6 creatures and in many cases, they have an action with 3 uses of multiattack. One of the more standard versions of this is a medusa with 3 ranged poison ray attacks dealing 2d8+2 damage each. We can compare that to scorching ray at level 2 which is 2d6 damage per ray (there are 3 rays). The average damage of all 3 attacks is 13 less on scorching ray. Medusas aren’t even one of the more damaging CR6 monsters either. A drider’s 3 attacks will average 39 damage while a chimera has a real mix of knocking prone, dealing high damage and even a breath weapon it might be able to use. This is all quite powerful for a level 2 spell. But there are a few caveats. The first is it’s dependant on meeting the right kind of creature. One with great actions that aren’t spells and that’s of the right CR. With upcasting available too, this shouldn’t be too hard, but they also have to drop to 0HP for you to use this. The other issue is CR6 monsters are rolling to hit at about +5-7. This is likely worse than your spellcasting ability, especially as you increase in levels. Upcasting can resolve this to a degree, but while this is likely higher damage than your other spells, it’s also likely to be a little less accurate. This is still really fun and potentially, quite powerful, but also quite situational.

Level 3 spells

• Strike order (2/5) – It’s fun to make enemies attack each other, but carrionette uses a full action at level 2, this grants a single attack at level 3. Yes, you can do this to a living creature, but it must fail a saving throw and make a hit for this to work. At least the creature expends a reaction. Enemies abound exists at the same level and while it requires concentration, it has a nastier saving throw ability, lasts a minute and doesn’t require subsequent bonus actions (for the upcast version). The only upside to this is it only takes a bonus action, but I feel it’s quite weak for a 3rd level spell.
• Warrior’s way (4/5) – 2 attacks instead of 1 for an encounter is a fairly sizeable buff to your damage output. The wording is important here too. You can attack twice instead of once when you take the attack action. This means it works with sword and sorcery which allows you to cast a cantrip when you take the attack action and don’t benefit from the extra attack feature.
• Waypoint (2/5) – I think this gives you a safe spot to retreat to if things get rough, maybe in a dungeon. The challenge is you can’t just use it during an encounter as it requires a 1 minute ritual. So if you’re about to have a TPK, this won’t save you, but if you can give yourself a minute to perform the ritual, it might. I think the use cases are a tad situational to expend a level 3 spell slot on, but I guess it can be useful.

Level 4 spells

• Assess enemy (3/5) – Some useful information and effects. It’s only good for really tough creatures that might have a lot of resistances, for example, or that you might want to focus fire against or expend a reaction to impose disadvantage. It’s a bonus action and doesn’t require concentration, so could be worth the spell slot for this.
• Cascade of hours (1/5) – The uses cases for this are far too situational. It’s rare that time is of the essence for such mundane things, even if the real life effects are quite potent.

Level 5 spells

• Reflect magic (5/5) – This is ridiculously better than counterspell! It will nullify any spell as a minimum (including a level 9 spell) and if the creature fails an intelligence saving throw, will allow you to reflect the spell to a target or a space of your choice so you can potentially get the benefits of a level 9 spell. This is insanely powerful and I think requires toning down (maybe limit the level of spell you can reflect to 5 or something like that).

Level 6 spells

• First speech (3/5) – The bigger thing than communication with all creatures is the vastly improved face skills you’ll now have. A bard or even sorcerer with this could become imperious when it comes to social encounters. A 1hr duration means you can cast ahead of important social situations. I do question whether it’s worth a level 6 spell slot. I do worry too that it can kind of just bypass social problems too easily. It’s somehow both too powerful for social gameplay, but not powerful enough for a level 6 spell slot. I’d maybe bring it down to level 4 and just grant advantage on charisma checks or something similar.

Are the spells any good?

I think there’s a lot of creativity in these spells and I really like the many new options granted for cantrips. Some are great fun from a roleplay perspective, like demiplanar pitch and carrionette. Others resolve issues with official spells making an alternative that’s worth taking (like animate weapon for spiritual weapon).

Largely these balance out alright, but I did feel that reflect magic was far too overpowered and first speech has the awkward ability to trivialise challenging social encounters. Otherwise, I think this is a mostly strong set of spells. I also like that it rounds out the magus’ cantrip capabilities to make them a bit of a master of damage dealing cantrips with loads of options for these available.

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