PFS Magus

[Chelios]

Is this a good PFs Pc, or can i change something?

Human (Taldan) Magus (Hexcrafter, Staff Magus) 1
CG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +0
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Defense
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AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex)
hp 11 (1d8+3)
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +2
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee quarterstaff -2 (1d6+2/1d6+1)
Ranged light crossbow +1 (1d8/19-20)
Magus (Hexcrafter, Staff Magus) Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +5):
1st—magic missile, shocking grasp
0 (at will)— arcane mark, prestidigitation (DC 14), read magic
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Statistics
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Str 15, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 7
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 13
Feats Combat Casting, Quarterstaff Master, Toppling Spell
Traits magical lineage, reactionary
Skills Climb +6, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (planes) +8, Linguistics +5, Spellcraft +8, Swim +6,
Use Magic Device +2
Languages Common, Elven, Goblin, Tengu, Undercommon
SQ arcane pool, hex arcana, spell combat
Other Gear lamellar (leather) armor, crossbow bolts (10), light crossbow, quarterstaff, 54 gp
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Pool (+1) (5/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or
selected item powers.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Hex Arcana You can substitute Hexes for Magus Arcana.
Magical Lineage (Magic Missile) A chosen spell counts as 1 level lower when metamagic feats are
applied to it.
Quarterstaff Master Use a quarterstaff one-handed
Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other.
Toppling Spell Spell with the force descriptor knocks targets prone.

[Matt2VK]

I'm assuming you know what you're doing with the Staff Magus because I've heard they only come into their own after level 10 and PFS retires characters at 12.

Feats: Combat Casting - Not really needed for a Magus. At low levels you can take a 5' step and cast. Around level 6, you can cast defensively without it and only fail on a very low number (2-4 maybe, don't have math broken down here). Plus, the Magus gets lots of ways to help the casting in melee as they level up.

Magic Missile Spell, its Feats, and traits - While it would work for the Magus, it's a ranged attack. The big thing about Magus is it's melee attacks and using the Crit range on the Magus weapon for crit fishing for spells, while in melee.
Just not sure how it would work out for you. With the magic missile stuff, it just looks like playing a wizard would be better for you.

There's a pretty good guide for Hex/Magus here on the advice forums.

[Sneaky Snake]

Your AC should be 15 with leather lamellar, and as a hexcrafter you get some curse spells added to your spell list, this includes the brand cantrip, perhaps a more appealing alternative to arcane mark.

[Under A Bleeding Sun]

Anything is good as long as you are not a dex build scimitar wielding magus! I know its a good build, but out of the 20 or so magus's I've seen roughly 5 aren't those clones! Thank you for being original and not making me vomit in my mouth! And Thanks Paizo, for making the only legitimate weapon for a dex build to use is Scimitar's...because thats not boring at all!

[master_marshmallow]

Combat Casting is an excellent choice, essential at low levels, and worthless at higher ones. You aren't going to kill everything in one hit and if you are ever in something's face, you cant step away, cast, then step back and attack, and anyone who claims that you can probably doesn't have a whole lot of experience with the class. Mathwise, you need a 17 to cast defensively and at 1st level you will have +5 to your check. That means to make a concentration check you need to roll a 12 or better without it, and that's not a very optimal situation. Combat casting lowers that number to 8, which means you have better than a 50% chance to make the roll which puts you in a better situation. I would even recommend for a society game taking the trait that improves both concentration checks and initiative by +1 and taking Wayang Spell Hunter over Magical Lineage just because of how important you will find combat casting to be for those first few levels. Once your CL and INT become high enough to where you don't care about the concentration check, you can retrain the feat, but you really need it at first level.

For your first level you have to realize that you do not have the spellstrike ability yet, and that preparing shocking grasp really is not going to help you as much as say, Magic Weapon. Casting Magic Weapon during Spell Combat, then after the spell is resolved activating your Arcane Pool will give you a +2 weapon that lasts for 10 rounds, which is a lot more than a situational 1d4 that you get do do once or a 1d6 attack that you can't even do with your weapon yet. Increasing both your to hit and damage is the best possible action you can make at earlier levels, and it actually keeps your DPR up with a full BAB class like the paladin or barbarian for the first couple levels.

I personally am not a fan of the Staff Magus, especially not with this build. He gives up medium and heavy armor, and you don't have a lot of DEX. He can't make up for that AC loss with stats because you need STR for damage, but you also need DEX for defenses... and that creates a problem with the fundamentals of the build. If you plan on going the Magical Lineage route (not a bad route by any means) you will most likely want to capitalize on being able to land a critical hit

I also am not a fan of the 18 INT, while nice to have, it doesn't benefit you to have a really high INT unless you get it to 20 for the second bonus 1st level spell. A 16 would suffice, and a 15 is good enough until level 7 as it functions pretty much the same way. My personal favorite array on a 20 point buy is:
16 14 14 15 10 8
dumping CHA to 7 lets you have a second 15, most likely in DEX. But investing in DEX at all beyond a 14 makes me inclined to say you should start with
15 16 14 15 10 7
As DEX is a very important defensive stat that you will not regret having at earlier levels. At level 4 you can bump either STR or INT based on your needs (I would recommend INT to gain access to your bonus 3rd level spell as soon as you get them at 7th level, but an equal argument could be made for STR).

Toppling Spell is not a very strong choice for a magus, it looks like you are trying to mix in too much wizarding and really not taking advantage of the magus's ability to mix spellcasting and combat. I would recommend something else that compliments your combat ability and focus less on trying to cast so much as you will run out of spells fast.

[Matt2VK]

I'll disagree with M-M here but that's more due to play style for Combat Casting being needed at low levels.

At low levels, you just do not have that many spells. Most of your damage is going to be coming from your melee damage. Of which, combat casting isn't needed.
typical round, starting in melee range -
*Declare Combat casting
*take melee attacks
*take 5' step back
*cast spell
If spell is a utility or a ranged attack, the spell goes off now.
If the spell is a touch spell, you hold the charge till next round to attack with.

most spells at low levels are going to be either utility, 0 level (in which case, you don't worry about missing the spell casting check), or range. By the time you can really start slinging spells in melee range, you wont need combat casting.

[master_marshmallow]

master_marshmallow wrote:

compliments

complements*

I don't know why I can never get this right the first time.

[Jrcmarine]

It looks to me like you are going for a tripping build. If that is the case toppling spell should be taken later when you can cast more first level spells. Your feats are better spent at low levels on combat expertise so you can get improved trip. Playing a human allows you to get improved trip at first level which is what I would do.

The 18 Int is a waste of points. A Magus never gets higher than 6th level spells so a 16 is the highest you want for a Magus' Int score and you really don't need the higher Int score until later levels. All of the physical stats are more important than the mental stats at lower levels. With a trip build I recommend Str as the most important with Dex and Con equally important. As a hexcrafting staff magus focused on tripping/inhibiting your opponents, i view the character almost like a buff/debuff character. You are not the main tank of the group but your involvement in melee is key to the group because it allows the party to consistently hit the opponent. You are also responsible for keeping the enemy off balanced with hexes/spells.

My stats would look like this-
STR 17
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 15
WIS 10
CHA 7

This sets both STR & INT for your bump ups at appropriate levels.
Feats would be Combat Expertise, Improved Trip and Q-Staff Master.
Traits I would not go the standard magical lineage, shocking grasp. The point of this character doesnt seem to be as DPS related as the dervish build. So i would actually pick the chill touch to give the debuff or maybe some other debuff spell if you choose to go the magical lineage route. I am a fan of any trait that improves your initiative for this character, so reactionary is good. Battlecaster is also ok if you are worried about concentration checks, though I prefer Reactionary. If not going magical lineage, then I would consider traits that help with UMD (your score will stink because of CHA) or a trait that assists with combat maneuvers or a trait that will assist with your buff/debuff spells.

[Rerednaw]

I guess my advice has to be tempered with a question.
What role do you have in mind for your magus?

Staff master appears to be a flavor choice. While you do give up a great deal, it's not crippling.

Did you plan on Hexcrafter for debuffing, buffing, or more utility? If you want to debuff (Slumber/Misfortune/Evil Eye) you'll want to have a fairly high int. There are very few if any options on increasing the DCs of hexes in Society Play (Ability Focus is not legal for players.)

If you do not want to go the Shocking Grasp route, Chill Touch or Frostbite are good alternates to trait up with Wayang Spellhunter or Magical Lineage (or both traits if you really want to maximize your spell slots).

Otherwise the default traits are still good: Reactionary for +2 Init and Indomitable Faith for +1 Will Saves.

Good luck!