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Huh. Those two FAQs seem to be in direct opposition. I was initially referring to the newer one, which was specifically created to address the "multiple touches per round" that people were combining with Natural Attacks, Monstrous Physique and spells like Frostbite. Spellstrike, which just converts that touch attack to a weapon attack, would similarly be affected. But I suppose if you go with [Specific > General] then the two FAQs can work side-by-side. Thanks for pointing that out.
The new FAQ gimps Magi quite a bit, since it used to be common practice to cast a multi-touch spell such as Frostbite or Calcific Touch on one round and deliver it multiple times during full attacks on subsequent rounds. Now you can only deliver it once a round, as a Standard Action, beyond the initial free touch.
I read that differently. "Any weapon", singular, and "a melee attack", singular. If you were wearing a Boulder Helmet, Blade Boot and Spiked Gauntlet, you could Spellstrike with ANY one of them. I read the FAQ as confirming that as well.
Spellstrike doesn't affect your whole body. You select one weapon. If you're a Monk/Magus, this would work, but as you're doing it now you'd get Rapier/Gauntlet/Rapier/Gauntlet, and only either the Rapier OR the Gauntlet would get to administer the remaining charges of Frostbite. Plus, you're a 3/4 BAB class. Your to-hit is likely going to be terrible, since you're not targeting Touch AC.
Improved Familiars can be useful even when they aren't engaged in melee. Give them a wand of Glitterdust, Haste or Enervation. I gave my Magus a Quasit. Invisibility + Tiny-sized = Useful Scout. In combat he'd zap me with buff wands while I focused on offense. Extra action economy is incredibly valuable.
There aren't any specifically. You just have to go by the general rules for Object Hardness and Hit Points in the Core Rulebook. A lot of it will be up to GM, as there's simply too much variation for a more detailed chart to ever be created.
You cannot use this feat if you are carrying a weapon or shield in your off-hand. And some VOs will rule one way, while others rule the opposite. I GM almost exclusively for PFS. Given my reasons above, and the restriction of Spell Combat ("the off-hand weapon is a spell"), I cannot in good conscience continue to allow such builds. I would of course tell such a player before the game begins, when asking about or auditing their characters.
Because, as the PDT have said, FAQ are only relevant for the specific question at hand. This is not true, and cannot be, given the variety of FAQ responses we have. Example of such a conflict: There's an FAQ for Magical Lineage, but not Wayang Spellhunter (which functions nearly identical). Most people accept that the FAQ applies to both, making it a general FAQ.
On the other hand, there's an FAQ for the Summoner's SLA, which states that Augment Summoning works with it. Some people claim this is a specific FAQ, and that other feats (such as Superior Summoning) don't work with the Summoner's SLA. Hopefully the dichotomy here is apparent.
I admit I have seen it used for years. I wasn't as outspoken about it back then, because there was a higher level of ambiguity than we have today. People focused on the word "carrying", and indeed, you're not literally "carrying" anything while performing Spell Combat. And it will likely never receive a specific ruling itself (because it's from a Player's Companion). But now that we have an FAQ that describes why Slashing Grace doesn't work with Spell Combat, I can't see it working any differently for Dervish Dance. Slashing Grace:
Dervish Dance:
Neither of those statements specifically address Spell Combat, and yet one of them is specifically restricted. I don't see any reason to think differently for the other, which just tips the scales of those former debates more in the opposite direction.
It's virtually the same restriction as Slashing Grace ("your hand cannot otherwise be occupied"). Dervish Dance is more liberal, since it only restricts you from using a weapon or shield in your off-hand. But that's exactly what Spell Combat is doing: your off-hand weapon is a spell. So no Dex-to-damage during Spell Combat. Spellstrike would be fine, just as with Slashing Grace.
Try checking out Grick's Guide to Touch Spells, Spellstrike, and Spell Combat. Super useful for understanding the Magus. TL;DR: A 2nd level Magus, using Spell Combat and Spellstrike, and a touch attack spell, works exactly as your friend describes.
Spell Combat is essentially Two-weapon Fighting with a Weapon in one hand, and a Spell in the other. Spellstrike replaces the free action Touch with a free action Weapon attack. If everything hits, the Magus will deal damage:
All legit.
sorry I was thinking of dervish dance. you must use a scimitar but its what u want anyways. You can't use Dervish Dance with Spell Combat, either, since you can't be "carrying a weapon or shield in your off hand".
Are you using Spell Combat? Or Spellstrike? If it's the former, then no, you can't combine Slashing Grace and Spell Combat. If it's the latter, then you're good.
Bonus question: I'm an 8th level Kitsune Sorcerer with the Psychic Bloodline. I can cast my spells in Fox Form, since they only require emotion components. Can I become a tiny-sized fox-shaped shadow?
Stupid, STUPID shadow projection on a fox form kitsune... Eh... I'm on the fence about the size bonus being retained...
My Magus (now retired) was a Sunder Specialist. Using an Adamantine Weapon with Power Attack, Spellstrike and Haste he was able to chop his way through anything. His CMB was much higher than his regular to-hit. I remember one fight in particular where getting rid of the BBEG's armor allowed the rest of the party to cut him down. When I built him I was all too familiar with how Magi could solo encounters in one round. To avoid stealing the limelight from my party members I focused on Sundering as a method of debuffing. It was a lot of fun ^_^
And I still see nothing that states I need an attack roll against my willing ally.At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack.He can deliver it as part of a melee attack. He can not simply deliver it through his weapon with a touch, he must attack. On that, we don't disagree. Requiring a roll to-hit is where we differ. As per the description of spellstrike, which I recommend you read. This sort of condescension is really uncalled for. Having played a Magus to 13th level in PFS, I've read the ability quite often. Playing that character helped me understand (and eventually teach) how the Magus mechanics work. Just because someone disagrees with your interpretation of the rules doesn't mean they're ignorant.
Is there a rule somewhere stating that touch attacks specifically don't require an attack roll when touching allies, whereas other attacks do? Because, for the same reasons, a touch attack has a chance of failure as well. For example, my 5th level Wizard has a total melee touch bonus of +0 (BAB +2 and Str -2). Touching the Rogue with an 18 Dex and Dodge means I'll fail 70% of the time.
Most of these questions aren't specific to the Magus. My suggestion would be to thoroughly go over the Magic Chapter in the Core Rulebook first, understand it fully, and then read how the Magus's class features modify those rules. Trying to understand the Magus first, when they use alternate rules, is working backwards. And Grick's Guide (linked above) is incredibly useful. It really helped me understand the Magus, and it covers most of these questions as well.
Maybe I'll make it to magus one day.. I played a Dwarf Magus to 13th level using a Dwarven Waraxe. I'd show up to Cons wearing a fake beard and plastic Viking Helmet. I never let on that he was a Caster. I placed his mini up front and said I'd be taking the hits. When my turn in combat came around I'd start off by Sundering. Then during 2nd round, declare Spell Combat, cast Intensified Shocking Grasp. Watch as everyone's jaw hits the floor.
The magus can deliver ray spells that feature a ranged touch attack as melee touch spells. He can use a ranged touch attack spell that targets more than one creature (such as scorching ray), but he makes only one melee touch attack to deliver one of these ranged touch effects; additional ranged touch attacks from that spell are wasted and have no effect. These spells can be used with the spellstrike class feature. These heavy leather gloves ripple and flows at the wearer’s command, reshaping to fit any hand, claw, tentacle, or alien limb. The wearer’s melee touch attacks with that hand deal 1d6 points of acid damage. If the wearer uses that hand to wield a weapon or make an attack with an unarmed strike or natural weapon, that attack gains the corrosive weapon special ability. If you convert Scorching Ray into a melee touch spell, and are wearing Deliquescent Gloves, you'd deal 4d6 fire plus 1d6 acid on a successful melee touch attack.
I wouldn't allow those traits to stack, since both bonuses are from traits and trait bonuses don't stack. Just wanted to touch on this once more. Numerical bonuses are what you're thinking of. Two different +2 Trait Bonuses to Initiative would not stack, because they are both of the same type, but neither Wayang Spellhunter nor Magical Lineage provide a bonus of any kind. Combining the two is actually a fairly common component of many Magus builds.
Sure you can. Round 1: cast Shocking Grasp, hold charge.
It's not a very viable strategy, though. You're better off just trying to touch in the round you cast the spell.
But can shock arrow and shocking grasp be used as a full attack action? Becasue on one hand, you are using a spell. But on the other hand, the spell translates into an attack and nowhere is it stated that it can't be used in a full attack action.Maybe I should have mentioned that before. So does the casting time refer to the spell itself and the firing of the arrow in one? If you're supposed to cast the spell and shoot the arrow in one round, wouldn't that make the casting time a fee action? Shocking Grasp dissipates after you successfully hit (unlike other multi-touch spells like Frostbite), so sure, you can declare a Full Attack action, but you won't get multiple Shocking Grasps. You'd have to resort to something else after your first hit.
Familiar Arcana at 3rd, Improved Familiar at 5th, and you're good to go. Alternatively, you could enjoy two levels of a different Arcana, and just retrain it when you reach 5th. EDIT: Alternatively alternatively, just grab both the Arcana and the feat at 3rd level (that's the minimum), and wait until 5th to activate them.
Gunslinger/Myrmidarch sounds cool. I wanted to make a sort of FF Gunblade a while back using the Myrmidarch. Just keep in mind that the Myrmidarch can't do Spell Combat with a one-handed ranged weapon. It sure seems like it should be able to, but until it's errata'd you're stuck using melee. Ranged Spellstrike is still nice.
It's like Two Weapon Fighting. The Magus gets two attacks. For those without experience playing a Magus, I highly recommend Grick's Guide.
I built a Magus in PFS because I wanted to learn how the class worked. Before that, I had absolutely no clue. As I played him eventually to level 13 I encountered GMs every step of the way who questioned what I was doing. It's a complicated class. Going forward I would suggest keeping your copy of Ultimate Magic with you when you sit down to play your Magus, or at least a printout of the class (which you technically need to do anyways, though it's often never enforced). That way you can show GMs exactly what the abilities are and how they work. Perhaps even highlight important phrases, like the ones Rynjin points out.
Pathfinder's knockoff of Warehouse 16 may some day give them access to a world-ending artifact. That is, almost verbatim, the reason I started in the Shadow Lodge, Lol! I find it extremely implausible that anyone who's still within a neutral bracket would embrace the World-Breaker. My character needed 3 or 4 castings of Atonement during his career. Kept losing sight of the end goal. He pledged himself to a Runelord, consumed a Soul Wafer, activated an evil Ioun Stone, acquired a Quasit Familiar, and carries around a Necromantic Artifact. When he dies, I'm totally making the check to see if the Quasit steals his soul (which I interpret to be legal protocol in PFS). He's one of my darkest characters, to be sure, with a backstory that's hard to appreciate in an organized environment, but still one of my favorites.
Mine (this profile) ended up in Dark Archive. He originated in Shadow Lodge, and enjoyed a short stint with Qadira (but only because I had to make the choice immediately) before having to switch again. With only 7 Factions I can only really see Dark Archive and Grand Lodge working easily. Maybe Exchange. The others would be a stretch, but not impossible. |
