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It sort of begs the question (raises the question?), why a neutral person is working for an evil organization. The "it's a job" argument tends to fall flat in a reality with physical tangible evil. Law, structure, discipline - these are paramount. Nothing else matters. Only Asmodeus, the Lord of Law, can being order to the world.
To the Original Poster: Here are two examples of what a magus might do in a round of combat. I am assuming here that the magus is high enough level to have the Spellstrike ability. 1. I am not adjacent to my enemy and I need to move to attack him. Swift Action: Spend an arcane pool point to enchant my weapon
2. I am already in melee with my opponent
Oh, dear.
When I was in high school, I was taught that irregardless and alright were incorrect. I went to a strict high school, a long time ago. Language changes; I know that. I don't like it, but I know it. My coworkers love to say, "irregardless" when I am nearby. As one said, "It's like saying Voldemort." When I call myself pedantic, I do not mean it as a compliment. Speaking of rock lyrics, would anyone want to hear Bo Diddly sing, "Whom Do You Love?"
It took me quite a while to understand this.
If your weapon is not magic, then 1 point of enhancement has to make it +1 (at least) before you can add any other enchantments. The highest bonus the weapon can ever get is +5. Suppose you have a nonmagical weapon.
Suppose you have a +1 weapon.
Let's assume for the moment that you have a +1 weapon.
What you cannot do is add an enhancement equivalent to +3 or more. The Vorpal property is equivalent to +5 enhancement, so you cannot add it until level 17.
For example, the Flaming enchantment is the equivalent of a +1 enhancement, so the magus can make his +2 weapon a +4 weapon, or a +3 Flaming weapon, or a +2 Icy Burst weapon, for example. If the weapon were not magical, the magus would need to use one point of enhancement to make it magical before adding other enchantments, but his Black Blade is already magical, so he does not have that restriction.
My favorite trick, if I have to move to get at an enemy, is:
The Spell Blending magus arcana lets a magus learn sorcerer/wizard spells. No multi-classing or special race required.But he has to wait until 6th level to do so, I believe. The Kensai magus has canny defense, so he has one pt of armor class back already and gets one more per kensai level up to his intelligence bonus. The arcana has no prerequisite. Spell Blending (Ex): When a magus selects this arcana, he must select one spell from the wizard spell list that is of a magus spell level he can cast. He adds this spell to his spellbook and list of magus spells known as a magus spell of its wizard spell level. He can instead select two spells to add in this way, but both must be at least one level lower than the highest-level magus spell he can cast. A magus can select this magus arcana more than once. The down side, of course, is that you add only one spell to your book instead of two. Mage Arnor and See Invisibility are two good applications for this arcana, although a combination of Arcane Sight and Glitterdust can work.
I am playing "that" (Elf, DEX-based, Dervish Dance, bladebound, scimitar-wielding) magus, and have had a blast. One of my favorite tricks is:
On a successful critical hit (I threaten on 15-20), I get as many as 72 temporary hit points. One reason the scimitar is such a popular weapon (aside from Dervish Dance) is its critical hit threat range. A critical ht from the weapon on a Spellstrikke means the spell gets double damage. I have also found that Spell Recall (especially Improved Spell Recall) is a wonderful thing. It almost makes me a spontaneous caster.
You know, I used to consider myself a reasonably intelligent individual. I begin to wonder... So, if I finally got this through my reinforced concrete skull, I can make my +3 black blade a +5 Keen weapon by spending 1 arcane pool point. Or I could make it a +4 Flaming Burst weapon. Or I could make it a +4 Keen Flaming weapon, or a +3 Speed weapon. But I cannot access Dancing or Vorpal enhancements because the former is +4 and the latter is +5 Thank you for the explanation.
@Gisher:
(emphasis mine)
@TGMinMaxer, you're right again! I'll need to sit down with my GM.
GMW is the exception, and is called out as an exception because if it were a "true" enhancement bonus (and mind you, I hate that we have "enhancement bonuses that count" and "enhancement bonuses that don't count"), it would be cheaper to just cast GMW on your weapon every day and not invest mucho gp in your weapon to actually give it that enhancement bonus. I didn't need to buy that adamantine scimitar!
I am a Bladebound Magus; my weapon is currently +3. I can use 1 point from my arcane pool to add +3 to whatever weapon I happen to be wielding, so I can make my adamatine scimitar +3, but I can only change my black blade from +3 to +5. I could then spend 5 more points to make my black blade vorpal, for a total enhancement of +10.
On a side note, using arcane points to make the weapon +3 or better does not allow the weapon to bypass DR (except DR/magic). It works like the spell Enchant Weapon. @TGMinMaxer, the +5 applies only to to hit/damage. Otherwse, the magus would never be able to use vorpal. EDIT: It would take me 3 rounds to get a +5 Keen Shocking Burst black blade. Spending an arcane pool point s a swift action.
Magus.
One of my favorite tricks is to cast a spell (I love Vampiric Touch) as a standard action, move next to my next victim, then use Spellstrike to get a free weapon attack.
Hmmmm...
@mplindustries:
@Dafydd:
I am playing a magus, and just reached 5th level. I am trying to decide what to take for my bonus feat.
The bonus feat must be either combat or metamagic. I was thinking about either Weapon Focus (Scimitar) or Blind-Fight. A constant +1 to hit is always good; changing miss chance against an invisible enemy from 50% to 25% also seems pretty good, albeit situation-dependent.
If my blade spends a point from the its arcane pool to change the damage type from weapon damage to electrical, and I spend a point from my arcane pool to add the Shock property to the weapon, do those effects stack? (Of course, this assumes that the blade is willing to spend a point from its arcane pool.)
1. At 9th level, he can summon his blade, if it is within one mile of the magus. If the blade is outside that radius, you may be looking at a side quest to find it. The rules are silent on the matter.
2. As I see it, it is still a black blade, so it cannot be further enchanted. EDIT: Grrr... Why can I not see typos before I submit the post?
BWAHAHAHA! I WANNA DO THIS!
I have had great fun with this magus, although I haven't had a chance to play since I found my black blade. This character is the usual Dervish Dance build, with the Bladebound archetype. Arcane Pool can also make the magus an effective ranged character; I can enchant a bow just as easily as a melee weapon. Which spells I prepare depends on what other arcane caster is in the group. No other arcane cater, or a blaster? I'll use control spells like Grease. Otherwise I'll focus on melee oriented spells like Shocking Grasp and Shield.
Is that what yeh tell yerself, so yeh can sleep at night?Uh, let's put our evil devil worshippers in charge of our evil artifacts? What could POSSIBLY go wrong with that cunning plan? No - it's what I tell other people so they can sleep at night.
There is a magus arcana that allows a magus to use a ranged spell with spellstrike. If the magus does not have that arcana, then no. 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. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks. (emphasis mine) I would have to say that the magus cannot use a thrown weapon.
When the magus uses Spell Combat, he must cast a magus spell prepared in a magus spell slot. If he has levels in another casting class, those spell slots are separate and distinct from his magus spell slots, even if a spell appears on both lists.
Crafting feats are not allowed in PFS.
Honestly, I'd allow that. RAW it seems that the bonus is lost when the weapon left your hand, but I would make an exception for thrown weapons, and let count the bonus for to hit and damage, after wich the weapon lose the added enanchement. It should not unbalance. However I don't see why someone want that: it's really expensive in terms of arcane pool points: at least 1 for each weapon you throw... really bad. I probably won't do it often. My black blade may be jealous if I enchant other weapons.
If a magus uses his arcane pool to enchant a weapon, is the weapon still enchanted if he throws it? That is, if I spend an arcane pool to make a javelin +1, is it still +1 after I throw it? The wording specifies that no one else may take advantage of the enchantment, but does not say that the enchantment ends when the weapon leaves the magus's hand.
I don't think so. Fractions are usually rounded down unless the rules say otherwise. The description of Improved Spell Recall stipulates only that a minimum of 1 arcane pool point must be spent to use the feature.I always just use the rule of thumb that rounding unless stated otherwise[through GM or rules] should be the least beneficial to the person who is rounding. Rounding: Occasionally the rules ask you to round a result or value. Unless otherwise stated, always round down. For example, if you are asked to take half of 7, the result would be 3. Once in a while, it works to the player's advantage. Not often, mind you...
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