Matt Haddix wrote:
It seems like you're missing out on most of the decent features of playing a magus by going this route. You'd probably be better off by playing, say, a bard. Or an archer cleric. Or an inquisitor.
"All" you miss out on is spell strike and spell combat.... and in the long run you get an equal number of attacks (rapid shot+many shot vs. touch spell and bonus delivery attack), and don't have to burn touch spells to do it. Agreed that its painful to have dead class features, but I'm looking at what the character can do at the table compared to other archers, not compared to other magi, and am pretty happy.
On a pure taste basis, I view divine casters as different enough from arcane casters that the inquisitor and cleric are not equivalent (the cleric archer is, of course, probably more powerful). Bards .... an arcane duelist is pretty competitive with this guy, but bladethirst takes a standard action to turn on and doesn't let you stack more than d6 elemental damage. Plus you're a bard....
Where I think this guy shines is as a pathfinder society replacement for a ranged eldritch knight or arcane archer build. Wizard 5/Fighter1/Eldritch Knight 6 is great at level 12-- but for level 1-5, you're a wizard with strange feat choices. Fighter 5/Wizard 2/Arcane Archer, you're a suboptimal fighter for 5 levels. Even without spell strike/spell combat, the archer magus probably has more special abilities than either of those characters, even at level 12.
And this guy is a very solid damage dealer compared to pure martial builds:
By level 12, you reliably have 6d6+ bonus damage from spells, bonus feats, and class features (4d6 elemental from flame arrows and arcane pool; +2 from weapon spec as a bonus feat; +d4 from gravity bow via an arcana; +4 from arcane strike via a bonus feat). That's MORE bonus damage than a rogue, uncapped by range or the need for flat-footed targets. The rogue has piles of skill points and rogue powers, but you have piles of spells for utility and defense , including reliable buffs like greater magic weapon (for you AND the rogue!). Near as I can tell you exceed or match the damage of a single-classed fighter archer at comparable accuracy and have way more to do outside of combat or if you encounter the dreaded windwall.
Of course, you can always hedge your bets, drop one feat into weapon finesse, and take the black blade ACF for a free magic sword as a backup....