You can take your hand of the weapon as a free action anytime you need to cast. The only thing you will be losing as a Magus is use of Spell combat but otherwise you'll e fine, Two handed Scythe to the face for maximum damage.
so is that...i'll loose spell combat is that?
but using the free action (are you sure is a free action passing through holding with 2 hands to do so with one only?) still being effective, is that?
okk thanks for advice.. about passing from 2hands to one i'm pretty sure i couldn't do that free .. so maybe better asking an advice for a warrior build or something like that :( (Sad)
There are actually Two ways around it. 3 levels of Polearm Fighter OR two levels of Titan Mauler. as the Weapon would then count as a One handed weapon. You get some minuses but its possible.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
ShroudedInLight wrote:
Still Spell and Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp)?
Actually that still wouldn't work. I wish Spell Combat was worded better, that should totally be a thing. I'd GM that in.
There is no defect, nor accident, in the way Spell Combat was worded. It was INTENDED that two handed fighting and Spell Combat to be mutually exclusive.
I've made a scythe magus before. An aasimar with a level in diabolist for an imp companion (a celestial imp companion, no less). Sort of going for a whole "Angel of Death" feel.
That companion attacks with kukris to get criticals, then passes them to the magus with Butterfly's Sting. The magus then spellstrikes with the scythe and shocking grasp to get huge amounts of damage (even though the shocking grasp damage is only doubled). No spell combat necessary (although heavy pick would also work, for increased versatility).
Sample Scythe Magus Build:
LN Aasimar (Emberkin) Magus (Kensai) 13, Sorcerer (Crossblooded) 1, Diabolist 1
Base Ability Scores: (ideally, this character gets a permanent enlarge person and the imp companion gets a permanent reduce person)
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 16+2=18, Wis 9, Cha 7+2=9
Traits: Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp), Wayang Spellhunter (Shocking Grasp)
You can remove a hand as a free action, cast a spell, put the hand back on the weapon as another free action. That's textbook legal and if need be I can source it.
However, you will be losing Spell Combat. And without Spell Combat... it's kind of hard to justify being a Magus.
You're really better off just using the sickle and flavoring it as a scythe.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
kestral287 wrote:
You can remove a hand as a free action, cast a spell, put the hand back on the weapon as another free action. That's textbook legal and if need be I can source it.
However, you will be losing Spell Combat. And without Spell Combat... it's kind of hard to justify being a Magus.
You're really better off just using the sickle and flavoring it as a scythe.
You can't "flavor" a sickle as a scythe, that's as much sense as "flavoring" a rapier as a great-sword.
Actually that still wouldn't work. I wish Spell Combat was worded better, that should totally be a thing. I'd GM that in.
There is no defect, nor accident, in the way Spell Combat was worded. It was INTENDED that two handed fighting and Spell Combat to be mutually exclusive.
As a GM, I'd allow Spellcombat with Still Spell even with a two handed weapon, since you do not need you Hands to make the motions.
You can remove a hand as a free action, cast a spell, put the hand back on the weapon as another free action. That's textbook legal and if need be I can source it.
However, you will be losing Spell Combat. And without Spell Combat... it's kind of hard to justify being a Magus.
You're really better off just using the sickle and flavoring it as a scythe.
You can't "flavor" a sickle as a scythe, that's as much sense as "flavoring" a rapier as a great-sword.
... Are you really telling someone that they can't call a rabbit a smeerp because it's badwrongfun?
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
kestral287 wrote:
LazarX wrote:
kestral287 wrote:
You can remove a hand as a free action, cast a spell, put the hand back on the weapon as another free action. That's textbook legal and if need be I can source it.
However, you will be losing Spell Combat. And without Spell Combat... it's kind of hard to justify being a Magus.
You're really better off just using the sickle and flavoring it as a scythe.
You can't "flavor" a sickle as a scythe, that's as much sense as "flavoring" a rapier as a great-sword.
... Are you really telling someone that they can't call a rabbit a smeerp because it's badwrongfun?
Since we're discussing RULES as it's a RULES question, my criticism is that it's not consistent with the game mechanics to do so.
A great sword is a big honking piece of metal that requires two strong hands to use, it's not the delicate butterknife known as the rapier.
Why not go with touch spells that are multiple touch spells (Chill Touch and Frostbite spring to mind). Then you can spend 1 turn casting the spell, then 2-3 turns swinging with the scythe and dealing out the spells.
Also, since a 2h magus build is more about the combat and less about the spells, you could go with Kensai, losing some spells per day but gaining some fun things like being able to spend AP on making the crit x5 (ok, its overkill, but fun overkill).
Since we're discussing RULES as it's a RULES question, my criticism is that it's not consistent with the game mechanics to do so.
A great sword is a big honking piece of metal that requires two strong hands to use, it's not the delicate butterknife known as the rapier.
Flavor and game mechanics are entirely unrelated entities. Unless there's a rules reason why one can't flavor something as they like (there isn't), we can choose to call all the rabbits smeerps.
The multi-touch route is the best option if we are really dedicated to the scythe here. If there's absolutely no way around using it, do that. If there's any way at all to run your concept with a one-handed weapon, you'll be far better off for it.
Concept reminds me of Valewalker from Dark Age of Camelot MMORPG. As a technical rule, you can't use a two-handed weapon with most of the Magus features.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
kestral287 wrote:
LazarX wrote:
Since we're discussing RULES as it's a RULES question, my criticism is that it's not consistent with the game mechanics to do so.
A great sword is a big honking piece of metal that requires two strong hands to use, it's not the delicate butterknife known as the rapier.
Flavor and game mechanics are entirely unrelated entities. Unless there's a rules reason why one can't flavor something as they like (there isn't), we can choose to call all the rabbits smeerps.
If you divorce flavor entirely from game mechanics, then your game world, even your game system has no roots, no structure to it. And when you're looking at the Pathfinder/D20 mechanics you see tons of places where flavor is tightly wound with mechanics in areas such as character class design. Not all areas are equally tightly bound, but you'll find it hard to find game mechanics with no flavor derivation tied into it. Sometimes the flavor is mostly humor, such as the material components for fireball and lightning bolt.
Actually that still wouldn't work. I wish Spell Combat was worded better, that should totally be a thing. I'd GM that in.
There is no defect, nor accident, in the way Spell Combat was worded. It was INTENDED that two handed fighting and Spell Combat to be mutually exclusive.
As a GM, I'd allow Spellcombat with Still Spell even with a two handed weapon, since you do not need you Hands to make the motions.
While you can do anything you want in your own games, I will point out that Spell Combat specifically rules out an "I don't need a free hand to cast" exception to the requirement that one hand be kept free.
Ultimate Magic wrote:
At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand.
sadly my GM will never allow me to "customize" like that a weapon... and i'm also wondering on how many of multi-touch spells i possess...
Frostbite tends to be the go-to. You get one touch per caster level, each doing 1D6 damage +1 per caster level. It's nonlethal, but comes with a chance to fatigue, is Cold typed to work with the excellent Rime Spell (Magical Lineage helps there), and is low-level enough and scales well enough to be spammable. Builds have been created to further this strategy: add a Merciful weapon (can deal nonlethal without penalty), the Enforcer feat (free Intimidate check when you deal nonlethal with a weapon) and the Cruel weapon enhancement (apply Sickened to enemies who are Shaken... like from Intimidate) and you can make a decent debuffing build that still delivers good damage. Just hope you don't run into much immune to non-lethal damage.
LazarX wrote:
If you divorce flavor entirely from game mechanics, then your game world, even your game system has no roots, no structure to it. And when you're looking at the Pathfinder/D20 mechanics you see tons of places where flavor is tightly wound with mechanics in areas such as character class design. Not all areas are equally tightly bound, but you'll find it hard to find game mechanics with no flavor derivation tied into it. Sometimes the flavor is mostly humor, such as the material components for fireball and lightning bolt.
You and I are going to have to agree to disagree on that, as well as the principle that "you use bat guano to cast Fireball" is in any way at all related to "pretend your sickle is a bit more scythe-shaped".
Ehhhh. Bloodrager covers the "spell casting martial" niche while being built around two handers. Arcane bloodline Bloodrager could call himself a Magi and that might be more palatable than a magus with a tiny, novelty scythe as a weapon.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
kestral287 wrote:
You and I are going to have to agree to disagree on that, as well as the principle that "you use bat guano to cast Fireball" is in any way at all related to "pretend your sickle is a bit more scythe-shaped".
looks great, but like the Blaster i couldn't focus on cold because it will not work in my GM campaign T_T!!!
Ah.
Well...
Yeah in that case you're kind of screwed. The next-best multi-touch spell is Chill Touch, which is kind of terrible. Bloodrager might be your best option, unless you're married to something from the Magus specifically.
i don't want to go off topic (oracle and cleric) so i'll open a dedicated thread for scythe, just resigning myself that a Scythe Magus is not a choice :(
I posted an odd build for a Scythe-Wielding Barbarian/ Sorcerer/ Dragon Disciple/ Eldritch Knight a while ago that might be relevant for you: Fey Blooded Warrior
Basically raging Scythe Combat with plenty of support magic and a little bit of offense through enchantment and evoking. There's no spell-combat or spellstrike going on, but the overall theme is a combination of a whole lot of assorted, magic-themed strength and buffing for some pretty nasty scythe mauling.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Arachnofiend wrote:
I think the real question here is why there isn't a Magus archetype that trades out Spell Combat for something that works with 2-handers.
Possibly because Spell Combat is the defining aspect of the Magus? It would be like asking for a Wizard archetype that deletes prepared spell-casting altogether.
interesting build... but Bloodrager isn't allowed to me... and EK from which book is?
I'm actually gave away the idea of magus... but still looking for using a Scythe, no matter which classes are involved (respecting CORE,APG,UM,UC,UE limits)...i still prefer to have some magic with me, but i'm open to every suggestions, i want my PC to work well...not being nerfed.
interesting build... but Bloodrager isn't allowed to me... and EK from which book is?
Eldritch Knight is Core Rulebook, and really Barbarian works just fine in that build.
If you want a simpler magic-themed scythe warrior, there's always a Nature/Lunar/Lore Oracle with high Strength and Charisma. If you use a Half-Elf you can take the Elven Lorekeeper archetype for some bonus arcane spells, and you can use Ancestral Arms to pick up Scythe.
Well, there's a kensai build you could do using the incredibly munchkin powered tactic discussed Here.
Using the "evil aasimar with consecrated spell" exploit, combined with the metamagic reducing feats, you can basically guarantee yourself a crit with the scythe.
What you do is spell combat with unarmed strike, while holding the scythe in one hand (but not attacking with it) setting up a situation where you can AoO (how you achieve this is pending; trip seems most likely, but a familiar could also help out somehow). Then you two hand the scythe and use it to deliver the AoO with a 20. Add Kensai to upgrade your crit multiplier to 5.
Combine this with a wyroot handle to recover some pool points you spend to set this up.
Concept reminds me of Valewalker from Dark Age of Camelot MMORPG. As a technical rule, you can't use a two-handed weapon with most of the Magus features.
