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After 8 pages of posts, I think it's pretty clear why a lot of people don't like Paladins: people can't decide on what's evil and what's lawful. Considering how much this class is inextricably linked to being both good and lawful, I don't see this changing very much.


Yeah, I agree. As you said, using a feat for a minuscule bump in damage from a d8 to a d10 weapon isn't a good idea. Even with using a trait for heirloom weapon, I don't see it being worth it. I really can't see much of a mechanical reason for anyone playing a Magus to use an exotic weapon. Giving up a feat or even a trait doesn't seem worth it.


One question comes to mind when I read this thread.

Do the prisoners deserve to live?

This is generally easy to evaluate. If they don't deserve to live (i.e. remorseless serial killers), then you execute them. If the moral ambiguity isn't there for the party, then they should just decapitate the prisoners. I don't see a problem with good characters eradicating evil in this way. If the legitimate governing power is just letting evil people go, then you should just kill them discreetly. I agree with Selgard, if the system doesn't work, it's time to be heroic and work out of the system. Let those chaotic good players be chaotic. They're still good. They should be trying to stop evil (mostly). Who cares if it's against the law?

As an aside, I imagine my current CG Magus character singing a rather controversial NWA song about law enforcement.


As some of you probably already know, it really seems that whether or not you are a DEX-based Magus or a STR-based one, the scimitar is the best option all around. Dropping the d8 from a longsword to a d6 of the scimitar seems worth it considering the increased crit range. Getting critical hits more often increases the chance to do double damage with a channeled spell also.


LazarX wrote:
McBAMF wrote:
LazarX, what do you mean by "more arcana"? Metamagic feats? From what I've seen, there's no way to get more or really improve much the Magus Arcana abilities.
What I meant was for feat investment, i.e. Extra Arcana.

Oh yeah, I got that. Thank you. Hopefully, there will be a Extra Arcana feat published in Ultimate Magic.


Whips? Really? I'm sure it's fun playing with one if you're shooting for a character concept but it looks far from optimal. Also, using trip with a whip seems sub-optimal considering that a Magus should have spells that would be better and more consistent. However, you could attempt a trip all day instead 0f using valuable spells per day. Regardless, the damage potential one would give up to use such a weapon seems like more of a detriment than a benefit. No power attack, no dervish dance (with a scimitar), no damage against creatures with natural armor (+3 or better) and an armor bonus of +1 or higher, no decent weapon crit range for doubling spell damage, and it provokes an AoO. I'm aware that most builds utilizing a whip would not be relying on weapon damage but would be expecting the whip to give the character a 15ft delivery for touch spells. Sure, the range would be situationally nice but it my opinion it doesn't appear to be worth it. I'm sorry if this is coming off too critically. I'm just trying to "think out loud" why I don't think using a whip would be such a fantastic idea. Thank you everyone for your posts.


Thank you for all the suggestions everyone. I was a pretty big dnd 3.5 player so I originally thought that taking exotic weapon prof. for this type of character was a mistake. Using a club with Shillelagh seems sub-optimal considering that it would have to be mundane to use the spell on it and I'd have to get a wand of it to cast. It doesn't appear to be a very good long term strategy. I figured the scimitar would pull ahead once keen was applied. Thanks for the rough numbers, Quantum Steve. LazarX, what do you mean by "more arcana"? Metamagic feats? From what I've seen, there's no way to get more or really improve much the Magus Arcana abilities.


Hey, I have a level 2 human Magus that is about to hit level three. He has an 18 strength. Assuming that a "touch" spell with Spellstrike threatens with the same range as the weapon used (i.e. with a longsword 19-20x2, a shocking grasp would use that same range to crit), what would be the best weapon to take advantage of this? I have been using a longsword but I feel that using a weapon like a scimitar or a falcata would be better. Thoughts? Is taking a feat for an exotic weapon really worth it? Thank you in advance for your comments.