Please explain how magus spell combat attack penalty supposed to work

[Slavik]

Could someone please explain how spell combat attack penalty is supposed to work for the character level 4 eldritch archer (2) / druid (2) build.

I was under impression that if i turn on spell combat and spell strike abilities and select acid splash can trip on auto cast, my archery druid should be getting extra attack that is delivering acid splash but also -2 penalty for all attack rolls that round.

Testing in game this archer character is getting extra attack with acid splash but there is no -2 penalty to attack rolls applied on any attacks. So I am confused as to what is going on.

Below is a link of attack bonuses form combat log. https://i.postimg.cc/8C0FscFB/20210324015528-1.jpg

[Slavik]

Spend some time testing this. It appears that currently magus spell strike and spell combat are both bugged (neither applies -2 penalty to attack rolls to either stand alone touch attack or any of the weapon attacks that round. In case it makes any difference my tests were done in endless dungeon mode

If anyone can duplicate this bug to confirm it's not just happening on my PC it would be appreciated.

[lemurs2]

Are you actually using spell combat? It sounds like you are only using spell strike for acid splash and that has no penalty to hit.

If you also cast, say, molten orb using spell combat then both it and your bow attack would receive a -2 to attack.

Spell combat/spell strike have driven wise men mad so do not be dismayed.

[Slavik]

Thank you for response Lemurs2.

I tried to do both combinations testing.

Only spell combat toggled resulted in character casting acid splash as ranged touch attack and than doing one normal attack with cross bow. Neither acid splash ranged touch nor cross bow attack had -2 penalty.

Both spell combat and spell strike toggled resulted in character firing two crossbow attacks per round (first one delivering acid arrow). Neither of these attacks had -2 penalty.

I was under impression that in both cases -2 penalty would have to apply. But in testing in neither case -2 penalty is applied.

But maybe as you said these spell combat/spell strike rules are a bit madness inducing :)

[lemurs2]

But you did not choose a spell to use spell combat with; acid splash is used under spell strike.
It does not matter that you have spell combat toggled, you did not choose a spell to use for it to run.

[Slavik]

So just to be absolutely sure that there is no confusing between spell combat and spell strike. I made LVL 1 Eldritch Archer Character for testing purposes. Being only level 1 this character only has spell combat (spell strike is unlocked at level 2).

I made sure that acid splash is toggled to auto cast and that spell combat is toggled on before and remained on during the entire fight as shown in this screenshot:

https://i.postimg.cc/NMbt4Q9C/20210324173745-1.jpg

Every Round the test character would cast one acid splash and do one separate long bow attack.

There was no -2 penalty to acid splash ranged touch attack as shown in this screenshot :

https://i.postimg.cc/J4ffjsY4/20210324173803-1.jpg

There was also no -2 penalty to separate long bow attack either as shown in below screenshot:

https://i.postimg.cc/1tXCkS7j/20210324173812-1.jpg

[lemurs2]

Okay, that is a bug.
Another way to test is to cast a non-touch attack because that will auto be cast using spell combat.

[Slavik]

Thank you for confirmation lemurs2. Glad to know I am not loosing my mind on this one. I reported it in bug reports forum hopefully it will get fixed eventually.

Also unfortunately my kickstarter level does not allow access to Wrath of the Righteous beta so I can not verify if the same bug exists in that game version :(. If someone has access to Wrath and has time to double check it would be great service to community to either give us peace of mind that this bug is fixed there or do a bug report to provide visibility to devs.

[lemurs2]

I am on the beta, and Magus is bugged all over the place, but they know and are fixing it.

[Slavik]

Glad they are fixing it. That's good news :)