I just purchased UM; I haven't been through all of it yet, but I was looking at the Staff Magus Archetype and had a couple of questions I hope posters can help with.
1) Am I missing something? The Staff Magus seems strictly weaker than a regular Magus, but I may be missing something. Can someone fill in the details, or is a sub-optimal choice.
2) Since the Magus capstone seems sort of Meh... I was thinking that a Weapon Adept Monk 2/Staff Magus 18 would be a solid build. It would be rather MAD, Str, Int, Wis and some Dex would all be needed. Does Spell Combat interact with FoB? If so, how?
3) To my reading, it seems that while a regular Magus can eventually cast in medium and heavy armor, it lacks proficiencies in medium and heavy armor, and therefore would need to burn feats. Again, am I missing something?
Thanks.
to at least #3, the Magus gains proficiency at those levels.
To #1, what makes you think it's weaker than a regular Magus? Like, specifics.
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I just purchased UM; I haven't been through all of it yet, but I was looking at the Staff Magus Archetype and had a couple of questions I hope posters can help with.
1) Am I missing something? The Staff Magus seems strictly weaker than a regular Magus, but I may be missing something. Can someone fill in the details, or is a sub-optimal choice.
2) Since the Magus capstone seems sort of Meh... I was thinking that a Weapon Adept Monk 2/Staff Magus 18 would be a solid build. It would be rather MAD, Str, Int, Wis and some Dex would all be needed. Does Spell Combat interact with FoB? If so, how?
3) To my reading, it seems that while a regular Magus can eventually cast in medium and heavy armor, it lacks proficiencies in medium and heavy armor, and therefore would need to burn feats. Again, am I missing something?
Thanks.
To my knowledge, Spell Combat interacts with FoB. Staff Magus/Monk multiclass is potentially quite good if you don't mind trudging through levels 2 through 4 to put your build together. I personally recommend Sacred Mountain + Four Winds Monk 3/Staff Magus 17. Sacred Mountain gets you free Toughness and a +1 Natural Armor bonus, and I personally just prefer Elemental Fist over Perfect Strike for flavor and versatility. I recommend 3 levels of Monk for Maneuver Mastery, as then you can take the Magus Arcana which has the same effect for your Magus levels and pursue the rest of the Quarterstaff Mastery chain to become a tripping machine.
Again, you'll be trudging a bit from levels 2 through 4, but once you hit 5 things will be looking up and by 7 your character should catch up to many other builds in effectiveness. The build really sings between levels 10 and 13, which is one of my personal favorite level ranges to play in.
Granted, about 90% of what I'm saying is basically Armchair Theorycrafting, but this build is going to be the very next character I play and I have a good feeling about it.
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I just purchased UM; I haven't been through all of it yet, but I was looking at the Staff Magus Archetype and had a couple of questions I hope posters can help with.
1) Am I missing something? The Staff Magus seems strictly weaker than a regular Magus, but I may be missing something. Can someone fill in the details, or is a sub-optimal choice.
2) Since the Magus capstone seems sort of Meh... I was thinking that a Weapon Adept Monk 2/Staff Magus 18 would be a solid build. It would be rather MAD, Str, Int, Wis and some Dex would all be needed. Does Spell Combat interact with FoB? If so, how?
3) To my reading, it seems that while a regular Magus can eventually cast in medium and heavy armor, it lacks proficiencies in medium and heavy armor, and therefore would need to burn feats. Again, am I missing something?
Thanks.
1) I am not sure how to answer this since you do not specify any type of examples. I feel the staff magus is roughly equivalent to any one hand wielding magus except he should generally have lower crit range, but be able to 2h his staff occasionally to give a damage boost to a single attack and not take the negative from spell combat.
2) Spell Combat should work with FoB and is actually a cool idea imo.
3) The staff magus gains his staffs enhancement bonus to AC at 7th and an additional flat +3 at 10th. This should put him at the same level as a similar magus and potentially higher at the 15+ range where the staff might have up to a +5. This is somewhat countered by the fact a quarterstaff requires double to gold investment to enhance, but at higher levels your magus will be wanting to wield staves and not a quarterstaff.
The staff magus is really what I have been wanting to play for a while and seems reasonably balanced except for the item creation rules making double weapons cost more than they are worth for the staff magus(who will odds-on never use the weapon as a double weapon). The light armor only magic user wielding his staff and magic against his foes feels more like the caster/melee hybrid I always envisioned. To each their own, but I love the archetype.
1. The staff magus saves money. You buy a magic staff, recharge it once with a spell and once with arcane points when you can. You don't need a magic weapon since the staff functions as such, and you gain a shield bonus that is going to be rather high for no cost. So if I have a staff with a caster level of 12, it counts as a +3 weapon for me, and gives me a +6 shield bonus to AC. I still have a hand free and can use spell combat still too. In return I'm restricted to light armor, but that simply means I can afford a higher dexterity (which doesn't hurt me at all). I would recommend celestial armor for such a character.
You save the money of an actual magical weapon, you save the money (or magic) of gaining a shield bonus to AC, and you get both on one hand (thanks to quarterstaff mastery) leaving your other hand free to cast with or hold a second weapon/wand/whatever. You actually qualify for weapon specialization earlier too due to the wording of the quarterstaff mastery feat (you can get it at level 3).
The quarterstaff is also a very versatile weapon for the magus. When not using spell combat you can use it two handed for more damage from power attack, or take a feat two weapon fighting feats and use it as a double weapon. It is cheaper than normal double weapons since it automatically counts as a magical weapon with an enhancement bonus 1/4 its caster level.
The quarterstaff is also a very versatile weapon for the magus. When not using spell combat you can use it two handed for more damage from power attack, or take a feat two weapon fighting feats and use it as a double weapon. It is cheaper than normal double weapons since it automatically counts as a magical weapon with an enhancement bonus 1/4 its caster level.
I don't have my book in front of me, So I'll ask here: does TWF interact with Spell Combat? it probably doesn't, but like i said, I don't have my book in front of me.
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The quarterstaff is also a very versatile weapon for the magus. When not using spell combat you can use it two handed for more damage from power attack, or take a feat two weapon fighting feats and use it as a double weapon. It is cheaper than normal double weapons since it automatically counts as a magical weapon with an enhancement bonus 1/4 its caster level.
I don't have my book in front of me, So I'll ask here: does TWF interact with Spell Combat? it probably doesn't, but like i said, I don't have my book in front of me.
No it doesn't. Spell combat is essentially a replacement for TWF. Of course you can pick it up yourself but using spell combat is its own unique full-round action so no it doesn't help with FOB or anything like it.
Somebody didn't pay attention to his class abilities... quarterstaff magus can have weapon specialization before any other magus can.
In fact a human staff magus could have weapon specialization at level 1.
Somebody didn't pay attention to his class abilities... quarterstaff magus can have weapon specialization before any other magus can.
In fact a human staff magus could have weapon specialization at level 1.
I'm still waiting for your staff magus write up Abraham. :-)
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Somebody didn't pay attention to his class abilities... quarterstaff magus can have weapon specialization before any other magus can.
In fact a human staff magus could have weapon specialization at level 1.
no they cant. Weapon focus has a BAB requirement of 1. Focus is a pre-req for specialization.
the earliest they can get specialization is level 5
Somebody didn't pay attention to his class abilities... quarterstaff magus can have weapon specialization before any other magus can.
In fact a human staff magus could have weapon specialization at level 1.
no they cant. Weapon focus has a BAB requirement of 1. Focus is a pre-req for specialization.
the earliest they can get specialization is level 5
Not level 1 , but you can get it at level 3
I forgot the +1 BAB prerequisite was there.
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Not level 1 , but you can get it at level 3Somebody didn't pay attention to his class abilities... quarterstaff magus can have weapon specialization before any other magus can.
In fact a human staff magus could have weapon specialization at level 1.
no they cant. Weapon focus has a BAB requirement of 1. Focus is a pre-req for specialization.
the earliest they can get specialization is level 5
level 3 they can take focus. without multiclassing the first available feat is at 5th level.
and any staff magus could do that, not just human
level 3 they can take focus. without multiclassing the first available feat is at 5th level.
and any staff magus could do that, not just human
Not true -- the normal magus doesn't count as having any fighter levels until level 10 and then they count as having 1/2 their magus level in fighter levels for feats.
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Not true -- the normal magus doesn't count as having any fighter levels until level 10 and then they count as having 1/2 their magus level in fighter levels for feats.level 3 they can take focus. without multiclassing the first available feat is at 5th level.
and any staff magus could do that, not just human
hence the "staff magus" line
any STAFF MAGUS (archetype, not regular magus with a staff) can do that.
Why such a difference in feeling? Other than weapon and armor selections, is there really that much of a difference in the spellcasting capabilities, or does it only get that feeling when the Staff Magus gets around to finding a magic staff?I do want to note that during my playtest, I found myself enjoying the staff Magus more than the Bladebound. Part of that may have to do with my preference for full casters, and the Staff Magus feels like a full caster, the Bladebound felt like a Bard.
In my experience it really comes down to how much intelligence compared to strength or dexterity.
With more intelligence you have a higher chance to get spells to stick and are therefore more willing to take the blasting and save or suck spells.
If you have a lot of melee potential though (in comparison to intelligence) then you'll find yourself steering away from such spells since you have fewer slots and want to use them in effective ways (such as spell strike or buffs).
Personally I found myself not getting full attacks as often as I might have liked with the magus. This might influence my preferences on the magus. Without all those full attacks being able to both hit well or cast well becomes more important since you are less likely to get both off at the same time.
Swift action management is also of critical importance and perhaps one of the few reasons to take power attack before arcane strike.
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Not true -- the normal magus doesn't count as having any fighter levels until level 10 and then they count as having 1/2 their magus level in fighter levels for feats.level 3 they can take focus. without multiclassing the first available feat is at 5th level.
and any staff magus could do that, not just human
hence the "staff magus" line
any STAFF MAGUS (archetype, not regular magus with a staff) can do that.
Ahem... I'm going to go off and feel silly else where for a bit... ;D
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Sorry for reviving a necro thread but it directly ties to what I have a question about.
The quarterstaff defense ability of the staff magus states it includes the bonuses from arcane pool. So if the staff ability grants magical bonuses to, wouldn't those stack if the magus is using his arcane pool to add special abilities to the staff (such as icy burst and shocking burst)?
Example, a 14th level staff magus is using a staff of fire (no other enchantments, CL 8). Staff would be considered +2 is used as a quarterstaff by quarterstaff defense. The magus uses his arcane pool (+4) to add flaming burst and shocking burst. This would effectively make the weapon a +6 weapon, "including bonuses from arcane pool". Quarterstaff defense adds +3 to this total after 13th level. So, the total shield bonus would be +9.
Am I reading this correct? If I am... WOW!
Thanks!
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Sorry for reviving a necro thread but it directly ties to what I have a question about.
The quarterstaff defense ability of the staff magus states it includes the bonuses from arcane pool. So if the staff ability grants magical bonuses to, wouldn't those stack if the magus is using his arcane pool to add special abilities to the staff (such as icy burst and shocking burst)?
Example, a 14th level staff magus is using a staff of fire (no other enchantments, CL 8). Staff would be considered +2 is used as a quarterstaff by quarterstaff defense. The magus uses his arcane pool (+4) to add flaming burst and shocking burst. This would effectively make the weapon a +6 weapon, "including bonuses from arcane pool". Quarterstaff defense adds +3 to this total after 13th level. So, the total shield bonus would be +9.
Am I reading this correct? If I am... WOW!
Thanks!
No, only the enhancement bonus counts to AC. The flaming burst and shocking burst would not count to AC.
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I think I understand now. In my example above, could I use the Arcane Pool to add +3 to the Staff of Fire (which is already +2 by the Quarterstaff Defense for a +5 Staff of Fire) in my example to give my a +8 shield bonus? Or the best would be +4 Staff of Fire because the Arcane Bonus and Quarterstaff Defense would not stack?