Need help choosing spell for mage with a gun build


Advice


I have chosen to build a Spellslinger (1) / Eldritch Archer 19

and I a trying to figure out what are the best spells to use with Arcane gun and or Range Spell Strike.

I want good damaging spells and some utility spells i can fire from my pistol

I will start at level 9 and i'd like help choosing spells


You want to be careful about firing area spells thru an arcane gun. A natural 20 on any save vs. the spell breaks the gun. That said it's sometimes going to be worth zapping your enemies with a high-DC color spray to stun them then shooting them via spell combat.

Ranged touch spells you can usefully attach to bullets include scorching ray and snowball. If you can sneak a goblin-only spell past your GM add mudball to that list.

For 3rd level spells you're going to want buffs and utility more than attack. Fly, storm step, either haste or channel vigor. Lower level spells can't really duplicate these. Earth tremor and ray of exhaustion exist if you really want a 3rd level attack spell.

Reloading hands, vanish and silent image are a few other non-attack spells you may like to note.


If he's using the Eldritch Archer Ranged Spellstrike ability as opposed to the Spellslinger Arcane Gun ability to do it, there's no risk of an overload. The Spellslinger dip in this combo is more to contribute firearm proficiency feats and the useful Mage Bullets class feature.

avr has covered a lot of good spells, but I'd also mention the Jury Rig spell for handling misfires. It's a standard action that suppresses the broken condition, meaning that if the firearm misfires again the broken condition is still suppressed and nothing bad happens (other than missing, but if you roll a natural 1 that's gunna happen anyways).


It may turn out that casting buffs is more effective than blasting. Assuming you start off with a +3 firearm you'll have

Ranged: +7/+2(damage for gun +3 for enchant), add dex mod to hit. I'd suggest taking one of the advanced multibarrel guns like Riffle, Pepperbox (1d10, 4 shots). Going for the biggest enchantment bonus to hit and damage will also give you the biggest modifier for DC you can get.

If you spend 1 arcane point as a 8th level Magus you can add +2 enchantment bonus for 1 min. I'd suggest adding damage to your gun, something like shock and flaming so you get to add 2d6 energy per shot.

Then using Magic Bullet you can sacrifice a spell slot to add more enchants. The available enchants for Spellslinger is a larger list. Pay careful attention to Ghost Touch, and Seeking. When you spend a spell slot you get that level in enchantment bonus and a duration of spell level in minutes. I'd hold off on doing the double enhancement except when you are in a big fight.

For buffs Haste is the obvious one. Reloading Hands is also really good, though if you use Quick Reload feat and Alchemical Cartridges or Metalic Cartridges you shouldn't need Reloading Hands except as a way to save gold.

For a first level spell, Snowball is really good. It will do 5d6 damage as a touch spell. But, you would be better off using that 1st level slot to add and extra d6 of elemental damage to the normal bullets. If you hit 5 times in 10 rounds, it equals out to snowball. If you cast Haste, you'll get 20 attacks at your best to hit, and another 10 attacks at -5. Instead you probably want to cast something like Icy Ray or Acid Splash cantrips since they don't cost you anything...or you might consider not casting a spell this round so you don't take the -2 to hit penalty for a round.

Scarab Sages

I posted in a different thread, but I'm considering specializing in Ray of Enfeeblement for a 1st level spell. Boosting its DC will Spellslinger is different and seems like a good debuff, since it still does half damage if they save. Otherwise Snowball seems the standard level 1 spell. It would have been great if the stagger effect didn't get taken away. If your GM allows that, then it's the obvious choice.


I'll emphasize again it might be better to just use the spells to buff the gun. Lets say you enter a minor encounter. You don't want to commit any of your big spells...but lets use 1 first level spell and 1 arcane point.

It takes 2 swift actions to fully buff the gun, but lets do full round attacks to get the most out of it.

1st round: spend 1 arcane pool point to buff the gun with frost and flame enchants. Assuming you're using a Rifle and you got the reload down to a free action:

Ranged +9/+4(1d10+3+1d6(fire)+1d6(cold)) duration 10 rounds.

2nd round: spend 1 first level spell to buff the gun with Shock and do another full round of firing:

Ranged +9/+4(1d10+3+1d6(fire)+1d6(cold)+1d6(electricity)). duration 9 arounds and 10 rounds respectively.

If you are within the first range increment (80) that is all touch attacks. Over 5 rounds that is generally going to be and extra 15d6 of damage from those 2 buffs (assuming you miss with half your shots). This also assumes you have no dex mod! At this level you should be able to get at least a 14 dex and another +4 to dex from spell or item, so add 4 to hit. If you add in Rapid Fire that is (+4 dex -2 Rapid fire) another attack at highest and +2 over the calculations above. That should easily boost the expected damage to 2d10+6+6d6 per round without casting a spell. That is on an average round you'll be doing slightly more than the average of a 9d6 attack for the cost of 1 first level spell, 1 pool point which you get level + cha mod of per day. That is very, very efficient! Rogues, Alchemists, and other Wizards should give you dirty looks.

And if you feel like it, you can take -2 to hit on all attacks to throw one of your sub-par spells. Seriously, you're 9th level. Full casters are throwing out 5th level spells and have lots of 3rd and 4th level slots to go around. You've got 2 3rd level slots, +1 for stat if your mod is good. You should think of how to get the most out of your character over the day, not how to waste your resources faster. Well, unless you are facing the big bad boss. Then waste away.

Scarab Sages

You can do both of the things you listed and still Spell Combat/Spellstrike with a Magus spell. I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Yes, using the Spellslinger spell slots for Mage Bullets is better than casting a spell from the Spellslinger spell slot. But you can't use the Magus spells for Mage Bullets, so why not cast them?

Ranged: +7/+7/+2 (1d10+3+1d6(fire)+1d6(cold)+1d6(electricity)+9d6 cold on the first hit from an intensified snowball. You're hitting touch AC, so by the time you add in DEX bonus and other buffs, you're probably going to hit with the first two attacks at least. Pearls of Power are cheap. Unless the campaign routinely has long adventuring days, you can be pretty free with using first level spells.

There's no need to take Rapid Shot on this character, unless they're casting something like frostbite or chill touch. Just Spell Combat an Acid Splash on the rounds you don't want to use a higher level spell.

Are you confusing Eldritch Archer and Eldritch Scion? Eldritch Archer is INT-based for spells and Arcane Pool. I'm not sure why an Eldritch Archer wouldn't use their main class abilities (ranged spell combat/ranged spellstrike) every round they can. If hitting is the issue, just bump the enhancement bonus instead of putting the elemental damage enhancements on the gun.

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