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Hello, fellow role-players! Long time ago I had the idea of a Magus archetype that fought with just his fists and his magic.
However, it ended up being too SAD and with higher than normal AC up to 7th level.
This is a revised version. Hopefully, it's better balanced than the old version, but just as much flavorful.
Arcane Fist
Armor Proficiency: Unlike other Magi, an Arcane Fist Magus is s not proficient with any armor at 1st level.
Class Skills: The Arcane Fist adds Acrobatics and Escape Artist to her list of class skills.
Unarmed Strike: The Arcane Fist magus gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat at 1st level and she becomes proficient with 2 monk weapons of her choice.
Starting at 4th level, the damage from an Arcane Fist Magus' unarmed strikes increases to that of a Monk with half her levels.
This ability replaces the Magus proficiency with martial weapons.
Mystic Tatoo (Su): At 1st level, Arcane Fist Magi craft mystical tattoos on their bodies. This tattoo is usually a symbol that represents the magus personality, allegiance or beliefs, and is usually located on the magus' fist, chest or shoulder. This tattoo can be enchanted as an weapon, allowing the magus to add enhancement bonuses to her unarmed attacks.
This ability replaces the Magus' Medium Armor class feature.
Way of the Arcane Fist (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, when not wearing any armor, an Arcane Fist Magus adds 1 point of Intelligence bonus (if any) per Magus class level to her Dexterity bonus to modify Armor Class. If a magus is caught flat-footed or otherwise denied her Dexterity bonus, she also loses this bonus.
At 5th level, an Arcane Fist Magus applies her Intelligence modifier as well as her Dexterity modifier on initiative rolls (minimum 0).
At 7th level, the Arcane Fist Magus benefits from Way of The Arcane Fist even when wearing light armor.
This ability replaces the Magus' Heavy Armor class Feature.
Light Armor Proficiency: An Arcane Fist Magus only becomes proficient with light armor when she reaches 7th level. She can cast magus spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance.
Like any other arcane spellcaster, a magus wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass magus still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
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From my HeroLab builds, it seems this guy will have lower DPR and AC than a normal Magus, but has the advantages of using unarmed strike (can't be disarmed/sundered/stolen/etc and is always armed) without having to pay the exorbitant cost of an AoMF (which is considerably cheaper after Paizo's monk patch, but still too costly for a medium BAB character without TWF/Flurry of Blows).
I'm still a bit worried about its difficulty at enchancing his tattoos. unlike other martials, this guy can't simply loot better weapons. He must either craft them himself or find someone capable and willing to do it for him.
So, what do you guys think?
I'm creating a character for an upcoming campaign, so this is me bumping this thread in hopes that someone will share their opinion on this homebrew archetype.
You necro'd a 2 year old thread, dude.
No problem, the designer is still her to answer whatever questions arise! XD
Doesn't the character still get effective twf and better from spell combat?
I expect this magus to actually have higher ac, especially 7th level up.
Otherwise as you say, not really op.
It doesn't really work as TWF, since you only be making 1 attack and only to deliver a spell being cast. With actual TWF you get up to 3 off-hand attacks.
The AC might get a bit higher... But it didn't in any of the prototypes builds I made. Besides, even if it does get a little higher AC, that might compensate the character not being able to wield a scimitar or some such.