DougErvin's page

Vic Wertz wrote:

Rite Publishing wrote:

Well looks like we sold out of Paizo's initial order.

It's worse than that. Or, better than that, depending on your point of view: We bought every copy our distributor had left, and we still need more!

I'm glad I pre-ordered a long time ago. ;)

Totally agreed, I preordered in November and I am so glad I did.

In the Kingdom of Kalamar campaign setting hobgoblins rule a couple of kingdoms. There are no orc nations in KoK. One of few settings where hobgoblin lawful side is exploited.

Would it be possible to apply the promotional code, holiday12, to this preorder?
Thanks,
Doug

That is a bummer but I know you will not send out a bad product. One of the reasons I preordered the book. Rite Publishing is 1 of only 3 companies I will preorder from. Most of the time I wait for Dark Mistress and End. to review it.

Question regarding the guide.

I noticed while reading the Dervish Dance build that you suggest Weapon Finesse for use with Dervish Dance and the Scimitar, but from everything I have read the Scimitar is not affected by Weapon Finesse, am I correct in this?

The feat, Dervish Dance, makes the scimitar finessable and acts as a piercing weapon for PRC requirements and also substitutes your dex. bonus for your str. bonus for weapon damage. This is what makes the dex. build Magus so effective and allows a person to ignore strenght for the build. There is an argument, which I think is valid, the build should have a str of 13 to qualify for power attack.

Doug

Any status updates.

Nym Vallidorn wrote:

This magus (the alias) doesn't use a scimitar...

You're using a rapier. Which is a scimitar that does piercing damage.

Next is going to be a kensai using a katana.

However, neither a rapier nor a katana work with dervish dance so a pure dex build is not going to be effective. The mathematics of the critical are just going to favor high critical range weapons for the magus. Personally I prefer the rapier over the scmitar just for theme reasons. In the hands of a non-magus the falchata is the best one handed weapon, unfortunately the *3 critical multiplier does not affect spells.

Is it here yet?

Taleek wrote:

Also, does anyone think taking an additional -1 penalty on a Spellstrike to be able to use it with two-handed weapons is not viable? Unbalanced? Do we know whether or not there are any possible two-handed weapon archetypes for the Magus in the works?

Check out Super Genius's New Magus Arcana for what seems like a balanced approach to spell combat with two-handed weapons, in the form of a magus arcana. I don't know how much it was playtested, but Super Genius puts out quality stuff, so I'd allow it.

+1 I was going to recommend the same book.

Just preordered 1001 Spells Hardcover, which has spell lists for the magus. As soon as I recieve it I will post if there are any most have spell on the line of shocking grasp or frostbite.

Circumstantial evidences says yes.

You are going to have to explain your logic on that. The goblins do not strike me as the type to pool all of their resources and then distribute them due to need of the individual. My impression of goblins, excluding hoggoblins, is they are too anarchistic to favor such a communtarian society.

Payday, so preordered.

When do you think it will be available for purchase, I already have it in my cart?

This guide is exceedingly helpful, is there a possibility that it will be revised with the latest additions from Ultimate Combat and other sources?

Up thread I did an analysis of the Kensai archetype and there has been an analysis of the arcana in UC. Walter has been quiet for a while so I figure life got in the way.

James,
Up thread you mentioned you had a hand in both Dervish Dance and the Agile weapon quality. Personally I like the concept of being able to build a character using something other than strength to boast damage. Do you think you can get the developers to add more? Say something called Cayden's Gambit for rapiers and functioning exactly like Dervish Dance and Cat's Paws for a two weapon style using matched short swords.

James,

Do Holy Avengers in Golarian come in any form other than a long sword? A scimitar would be more appropriate for a paladin of Sarenrae. Once we get into the Asian like portions we are going to have paladins of Amatersu running around with katanas.

Doug

The standard Holy Avenger in the PFCRB is a cold iron sword. I am curious if there is a campaign setting version for Sarenrae. A scimitar based Holy Avenger would be more fitting.

Doug

Holt wrote:

Dang, would have been fun to check out the differences. Oh well, finished version is good enough.

I still miss Beta domains. :(

And I miss the wizard powers, at will energy ray versus 3+int bonus force missiles per day.

Brow Gasher in UC looks like a possible green or blue spell. It causes bleed damage of 1/2 the magus level and the victime is increasingly visually impaired up to blindness at the 5th round. Nasty spell against non fast healers.

I think I will have to spend some time going through the spells and rating them.

JJ said in his Ask Jacob James thread basically the bane quality is so cheap because it is fixed. Sorry, can't give a citation due to size of the thread. One thing to consider, since the blackblade is sentient, it could choose which enemy the bane was for even if it was not in campaign. If I were GMing I would roll in the intelligent item section of the PFCRB to determine what the sword's purpose and if appropriate its sworn enemy.

2) Can a Bladebound choose to apply a weapon special property instead of normal weapon enhancement? Let's say for example by level 5: the chart says that the Blackblade has a +2 bonus, can it be a +1 spellstoring blackblade? Also, can a Black Blade be further enchanted over the +5 with normal magical weapon crafting rules?

I'm inclined to say no, because then you could switch the special property to "Bane: that thing i'm fighting" and get a +2 and +2d6 damage in EVERY fight.

Bane Blade (Su): Whenever the magus enhances his

There is a new arcana in UC covering that exact quality.

1. No, due to the effect of ego as Name Violation stated. Even the simple increasing + enhacement is great, the weapon grows in power as you do.
2. No, using PFS as the standard I expect them to rule on the conservative side and only allow a straight increase in the + enhancement and no trades for special abilities. With a conservative ruling a GM can look at the level of the magus and note the enhancement bonus and know it is legal. The other way would be more complicated and require some kind of special cert.
3. No, I would expect to flame on instantly.

Edited to remove advise information once I saw it was in the rules section.

Doug

I generated a 1st level half-elf archer arcane duelist as an exercise. Used the race trait Ancestral Weapon to get long bow. Feats were arcane strike and point blank shot. This looks like a very viable character.

To the person suggesting it, thanks for a great idea.

Is the Kensai compatible with the Bladebound archetype? Again, don't have UC.

Yes, the Kensai and Bladebound archetypes are compatible. Over the weekend I plan on evaluating the UC arcana.

Absolutely shameless bump to get this out of the archives. We still need to talk about the new arcana in UC.

Okay, I blew off home work tonight to give my accessment of the kensai archetype. WalterCM feel free to incorporate any or all of this in you guide. As usual this is just my opinion and I don't claim to be a optimizing guru.

Kensai Archetype – red/blue

Where a magus and even the bladebound magus represent a middle point between a fighter and a wizard, the kensai magus is a step towards the fighter and in my estimation ¾ fighter and ¼ wizard. A player gives up a lot for increased fighting ability and for me it is too much but for others it may be perfect. I expect to see a number of katana wielding kensai magi running around the PFS tables.

Changes from a standard magus:

The kensai is proficient with simple weapons and one martial or exotic weapon and not proficient with armor or shields. For most of us, a single weapon will not be a drawback since the optimal weapon is the scimitar. The katana will be a favorite of the strength build crowd. Green

Diminished spell casting is the deal breaker for me but others may feel one fewer spell of each level is acceptable. Red

The kensai gains canny defense from the duelist prestige class with their chosen weapon. Blue

Weapon focus with their chosen weapon – free bonus feat, which is always good. Blue

Gives up spell recall for perfect strike, 1 arcana point for maximized weapon base damage or 2 arcana points to increase the critical multiplier by one. Gee, for 1 arcana point I can go from an average of 3.5 to 6 points of damage. Not worth there are so many better things I can do with arcana points. Yellow

Gives up knowledge pool for fighter training, starting at 7th level the magus functions as a fighter = magus level -3 to a maximum of 17th level fighter at 20th level. This is a great upgrade except in certain situations; if you are playing the World’s Largest Dungeon then you really want knowledge pool. Blue

Lose medium armor in exchange for iaijutsu at 7th level, add your int bonus as well as your dex bonus to initiative rolls. This is a good one. Blue

Lose your 9th level arcana for critical perfection, adds your Int bonus to critical hit confirmation rolls and uses magus level for qualifying for critical focus or the critical feats. Why bother playing a straight fighter. If combined with bladebound the character is down two arcana. Blue

Replaces improved spell recall with superior reflexes, you get your Int bonus in AOOs per round and it stacks with combat reflexes. Assuming an Int of 16 and a Dex of 16 that makes 7 AOOs per round, over kill. Green

Loses heavy armor, big deal at this point, for iaijutsu focus. Allows you actions in the surprise round if surprised and a damage bonus (Int bonus to damage) if the surpriser. Given how high your initiative bonus could be I expect a lot of bonus damage. Green

Loses greater spell access, boo, for iaijutsu master, so at 20th level you can’t be surprised and your initiative roll is always a natural 20. I have visions of trying to fight Quicksilver of the Avengers. Since I feel greater spell access is terrible to lose I can only give it a Green.

Trades true magus for weapon mastery, as I said earlier why play straight fighters when this is an option. Blue

After it is all said and done, this is a very good archetype. The key attributes are strength, dexterity and intelligence. An elf katana wielding kensai bladebound magus would be an interesting character but I would have to name him, Bill. I have not run the math but I believe a Dex build using a scimitar would be the optimal build. I’ll leave that up to those of you who understand the math behind DPR.

Doug

One of the books I mentioned (I forget which) actually has a section on the implications of charisma as a dump-stat and how it effects your magus in rp.

That would be Might of the Magus by Sigried Trent, which is my favorite of the the three books. I fell in love with the magus during the play test, it felt like an old friend coming home. Too many years playing elven and half elven fighter-magic users in pre-3e. What has been pointed out in the reviews of these PDFs is they synergize very well and work very well together. Alas we only get 6 arcana and no where enough feats.

Assuming I can get my homework done this week, I am thinking about doing a write up on the Kensei and the new arcana. No promises between work and home work I am pretty busy, but these interest me.

Any idea when the full Ultimate Magic material will be added to the installer?

Dervish Dancer and Arcane Duelist for Bard

Kensai and Bladebound for Magus
Invuln Rager/Titan Mauler - Barbarian
Sin Eater - Inquisitor

+1

I had no prioblems with the down load other than 230 MB took a while. This is a fantastic masterpiece, I can't wait for the print copy. Some of the monsters brought back fond memories, I have been playing since 1977. Some of them I had never seen and was plotting on how to introduce them into my future campaign. One of my NPCs is a fire elementalistm, he is so going to have a fire nymph as a companion with a garden of phlogiston.

Thanks for putting all of the hard work to convert all of these monsters.

Is the bard archetype arcane duelist compatible with dervish dancer?

WalterGM, are you planning on including the new magus arcana from Ultimate Combat in your guide. Just from the little I have seen, don't have the PDF yet, they are better than the ones in UM. If the one line description of "Accurate Strike: make attacks as touch attacks for 1 round" is correct it is beyond blue. Sure it can only be used a couple of times a day but it could change the balance of an encounter. Jaberwock, AC 40, Touch 14, the difference is significant. A spellstrike of Frigid Touch combined with a crit could significantly soften up the jaberwock.

Jason, for the next and final preview can you show us the dervish dancer archetype.

What are the new magus arcana? Pretty please.

I am curious how a magus-bladebound differs from a magus-kensai? Overall this looks really promising so I am glad I have already pre-ordered it.

Doug

My understanding is the wording was deliberately designed to preclude Breath of Life from the free empower. The designers believed Breath of Life was such a good spell since it allowed for a chance to bypoass the need of Raise Dead, etc. that it did not need extra enhancements.

Doug

James,

Thank you for the explanation that cleared up a lot.

Doug

First off, I think this guide is wonderful and a great compilation of advise. One thing I am struggling with is the weapon of choice for the magus being the scimitar. I have a character created for Kingmaker with the Sword Scion trait; +1 trait bonus to attack with either the Aldori dueling sword or long sword.

Using the strenght build, the Dervish Dance is not allowed, can you show me why a scimitar is the better choice over the long sword? Assume the only difference is the Sword Scion trait and long sword wielder and the scimitar wielder have the same feats and attributes.

Thanks,
Doug

ProfPotts,
Very well thought out and thank you for taking the time. While I like the flash-bang of the magus, it is good to know the arcane duelist is a good melee-caster also. I remember your discussion which basically proved a magus was a better evoker than an evoker.

Thanks, Doug

I actually think an Arcane Duelist Bard makes a better Magus than the Magus... but that's a rant for a different thread... ;)

ProfPotts, could you start a thread for Arcane Duelist makes a better Magus than the Magus. I would really like to see your logic.

Doug

My vote goes to the elemental magic series:

Fire Magic
Ice Magic
Earth Magic
Air Magic

+1 for a compilation of elemental magic.

Why would anyone ever use specific magical weapons?

Style, personally I prefer specific magical weapons and armor for that matter. Each item is more flavorful than just another +3 long sword. I would have preferred the vorpal blade to remain a special weapon instead of comming a weapon quality. My earliest successful character was an elf ftr/mu with both a flametongue and a frostbrand. I am currently playing his great grandson (bladebound magus)who is trying to acquire enough wealth to buy a set of elven chainmail. His goal is to acquire all of the items with an elven nature; boots of elven kind, oathbow, etc.

Playing a character with a certain style may not be optimized but makes the character memorable. I had a fire elementalist who wears a leather vest made from red dragon hide. Tends to make an impression when he enters a tavern.

Doug

Now that Ultimate Magic is out is there any chance of getting the Magus added to the 101 0-6th Level Spell series?

Doug

Pre-ordered.

`Dervish` still seems associated with Sarenrae and Qadira/Kelesh in Golarion, so anybody reasonably engaged in the setting would seem to continue with that association... which is a reason why a non-Qadiran Magus might not take it. Obviously, some Maguses could travel to Qadira solely to learn their fighting style, but that doesn`t equate to EVERY Magus.

Was it really stripped of any connection to Qadira/Sarenrae? 8-O I don`t think it ever had a de-jure `Pre-Req` of Qadiran background, but that was clearly the setting of Feat. I mean, otherwise why shouldn`t it be a generic `select one 1H weapon to use DEX for ATT and DMG` Feat? If so, I find it somewhat disturbing, given I bought the Qadira Companion, but it`s content is now being stealth `Errata`d` not even for mechanical purposes, but simply negating it`s fluff.

Regardless, there`s plenty of other weapons Maguses can use without being embarassingly bad at their job.

Agreed. If you are starting the Kingmaker AP your character could take the Sword Scion trait and focus on the long sword or Aldori dueling sword due to the +1 trait bonus to hit.