Sure, with quickdraw you can draw your katana as a free action, then attack with it as a standard action, and finally sheath it again as a move action. Repeat every round to look as badass as desired.
Can I full attack while sheathing/unsheathing if I don't take a 5 foot step?
Thanks for the replies. Another question; since its complete darkness, would they be flat footed and get a -2 to ac? Also, would I get my sneak attack damage when attacking them as well?
Hello all. Just wondering what would happen when all three of the above were combined.
I built a character for a campaign where I previously died. The new character is a level 7 Drow Noble Slayer and has Tremor Boots and a +1 Heartseeker Greatsword. Along with the ability to cast Deeper Darkness at will.
If I were so inclined, could I cast deeper darkness and with the tremor boots be able to pinpoint everything within 20' thats touching the ground then, due to the heartseeker quality on my sword, basically "see" normally while everyone else is fumbling around in the dark?
Hello all. Just wondering what would happen when all three of the above were combined.
I built a character for a campaign where I previously died. The new character is a level 7 Drow Noble Slayer and has Tremor Boots and a +1 Heartseeker Greatsword. Along with the ability to cast Deeper Darkness at will.
If I were so inclined, could I cast deeper darkness and with the tremor boots be able to pinpoint everything within 20' thats touching the ground then, due to the heartseeker quality on my sword, basically "see" normally while everyone else is fumbling around in the dark?
Just hit level 6 on my magus in a game my buddy is running and picked up the Wave of Mutilation arcana.
Wave of Mutilation:
The magus can spend 1 point from her arcane pool as a swift action transforming a single cut of her weapon into a scything wave of energy that tears through her enemies’ ranks. She unleashes magical force in a single sweep of her weapon in a 30-foot cone. Roll damage for her attack as normal except the damage type is changed to force and apply it to all targets in the cone’s area. Her opponents can make Reflex saves (DC 10 + half her magus class level + her Intelligence modifier) for half damage.
Anywho, used it in the first encounter of the night and it was pretty great. So we get to the next encounter and I use it and the enemies are immune... Is there any spell in the game that, at our current level, can give immunity to force damage?
Great list. However, Kensai can't wear armor, so get 4 Pearls of Power I instead. Other that that, grab a Wand of Mage Armor, a Wand of CLW (or Infernal Healing), and you're set.
Actually, Kensei can wear a mithril chain shirt with no penalties. Unless armor rules are different in pathfinder.
So this came up tonight. We were in a small town that had a casino. Dice games, card games, etc.
I play a magus and after losing about 10k I come up with an idea: Use my unseen servant to manipulate dice rolls.
I head off to a rest room in the casino, make sure no one is within earshot or sight and cast the servant. I then give it the instruction to do the following; Anytime I roll dice, two of the rolled dice to a 5 and a 6." Thats it. No other instructions.
Is this a simple task in your eyes? Or one too complex for the servant? My DM allowed it, and still beat me a few times in one of the games. I basically used it to win the money back that me and some of the other party members lost.
Anyway, I just wanted to get some opinions from you guys.
Thanks for the tips guys. We just hit level 5 and am trying to decide on two feats.
I was strongly considering extra traits picking up magical lineage and wayang spell hunter.
Furious focus doesn't seem too bad. I'm wondering if Extra arcane pool is worth a slot, since I can spend arcane points to maximize damage or bump up crit multipliers.
Armor of the Pit was something I was heavily considering when building the character, at this point I'm thinking I probably didn't need to pick up power attack.
So this is where I'm stuck. I get 2 feats at level 5, one being a magus bonus feat that can be an item creation, combat or metamagic feat. I've ruled out item creation since we are all new to the game and have no idea how to use it correctly.
My playstyle focuses on buffing up and heading into melee. I've realized I don't need combat casting and intensify spell is going to be put off until level 7.
I was thinking about extra arcane pool perhaps, or blind fight to go for moonlight stalker later. I just don't know and would like to here some opinions or suggestions. I'm still pretty new to the game and I'm sure theres some great feats out there that I've overlooked.
Wondering if this would be balanced or over the top. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Acrobatics replaces UMD as a class skill.
Gains flurry of blows as a monk of the same level, Magus level as BaB when flurrying. The flurry can only be used with the kensei's chosen weapon. Can use spellstrike/spell combat with flurry. Still only at a total of -2 to hit.
Gains 2 Arcane Points per level starting at level 2. (In addition to the arcane pool being equal to 1/2 magus level, or 1/3 if bladebound)
Gains the Magus Arcana Pool Strike at level 1 as a bonus feat.
At 7th level the kensei has trained his mastery of arcanas to surpass his peers. He now counts his Magus level +3 for purposes of qualifying for arcanas. (I.E. at level 6 he can choose an arcana that is required magus level 9 and so on.) This replaces fighter training.
Loses all spellcasting.
This is an archetype that forgoes all spellcasting to focus on his inborn arcane abilities and focuses more on perfecting melee combat while using arcane points to enhance his abilities.
I want to pitch this idea to my DM, however I want to make sure, if he allows it, that I don't shortchange myself or go over the top. I'm not really sure what a balanced number of arcane points would be so that I can't just spam abilities, but I also don't want to be starved of points every time.
I feel like losing spellcasting is HUGE, hence all the additions with only the loss of spellcasting and fighter training.
Anyway, any criticisms/suggestions are appreciated!
I'm currently playing a level 4 Bladebound Fiendflayer Tiefling Magus. My stats after racials and level 4 bump are as follows
18 str
17 dex
13 con
18 int
12 wis
8 cha
Feats are Improved Initiative and Power attack for my level 1 and 3.
Bonus feats from Kensei are exotic weapon: Katana and weapon focus Katana.
I'm extremely happy with my current build and usually lay waste to most encounters. With just potions of mage armor and the shield spell, its pretty difficult to hit me. I think my AC unbuffed is 17, 21 with mage armor or shield and 25 with both.
This is my first PF character and I was also torn between being a str build or dex build. I opted to make my character in the image of a strong pseudo samurai. I like to think of my spells more like mystical powers that fuel my swordsmanship.
Talk to your DM and see if he'll allow you to use feats from 3.5's Tome of Battle, or even those classes. There's a feat called Shadowblade that adds your dex to damage in addition to your strength while in a Shadow Hand stance.
Probably the wrong place for this, but my current character is a 1 rogue/1 swordsage/3 swashbuckler and gets str, dex and int to damage. It's pretty fun. We play a 3.5/pathfinder mash up I guess. The DM lets us use whatever from either game so long as he ok's it.
Hey all. I'm trying to figure out what happens when my Kensai Magus transforms into a Kalikang and I have 6 Katanas on my person. How many attacks do I actually get and at what penalty? Are there feats to negate some of the penalties? Does TWF and Imp TWF give me more attacks per hand?
Basically, I'm still fairly new and so is my playgroup. I'm trying to get the logistics correct for this, if someone would be so kind to explain how it actually works or point me to a thread that will explain it, I'd be much obliged.
When using a move action to get up from prone, do you suffer the -4 ac when you provoke the attack of opportunity? Heated debate going on right now, need help! lol!
Ok, what I'm wanting to know is, if there are only 3 squares in existence, and I'm in one, the monk is in the one next to me and the enemy is in front of me. Can the monk "move" into my square and back into the one he started in?
Yes, limited spells of course. I would guess it would be like bard where I know X spells per level. I wouldn't expect to be able to learn new spells outside of leveling up.
Do you guys think allowing the Kensai archetype to use spontaneous casting would be too strong?
I'm picturing my character as a supernatural samurai and wanted to run this by my GM. We're all new so not sure how big of an impact this would have on the class.
So I've posted a few times about my build and critiques, hopefully I don't annoy anyone with my questions!
My build is a kensai magus and my ability scores are as follows
Str 17
Dex 15
Con 13
Int 16
Wis 12
Chr 10
This is all before racial bumps, I'm a tiefling btw. My question is, about my stat allocations. I was initially going to just go full on str with all the level bumps, however, I was wondering if it might be worthwhile to focus more on INT, in order to increase my effectiveness late game landing spells like Flesh to Stone and Disintegrate? Does anyone have any experience with this at end game?
I've read that fort saving throws are some of the worst to bypass, is this true? If I were to go the int route I'd swap my current str and int and put all points into int to have a 24 int unmodded at endgame.
Is this wise? Should I continue on my str path? Do +2 to the difficulty of my saves outweight the bonus to hit and damage? I want to be capable melee, but I'd like to have those killer spells for the "oh shit" moments.
With my current level 1 Bladebound Kensai Magus...
A little backstory. We are a new group and have had two play sessions so far and this game is freakin awesome! I'm a little upset that I haven't been playing this since forever ago. However, during both sessions I'm starting to wish I had perception and acrobatics as class skills, stealth too, but not as much as the other 2.
Anywho, what do you guys think? Does it hurt my already lowered spellcasting too much? Or are those skills valuable enough to take 1 level of another class for?
The warlord abilities at level 1 seem really cool too, and kinda fit the theme of the character.
Or should I just rank up the aforementioned skills at the cost of 2 points per rank?
Bane Blade instead actually add up directly on the weapon itself, maning you don't have to chose it and it doesnt eat up plusses from your total (remember that you still can't surpass the +10 total cap on the weapon).
This is were I'm getting confused. If I spend points to give my +5 Blackblade the Vorpal quality (effectively giving it its full +10) and I then spend a point for the bane quality, do I get a +5 Vorpal Blackblade of Bane?
Again, thank you for the responses and sorry that I'm still a bit confused -_-. My group, including me, are all first timers, I just want to make sure we do things correctly.
Benefit: As a free action, the magus can cause his weapon to manifest new powers as she literally sculpts its magical form with her arcana. Once per round as a free action, the magus can alter the weapon’s magical properties. She can choose to spend its total enhancement bonus on weapon traits and powers, or she can devote them to an enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls (+5 maximum as normal). For example, an magus’s weapon is a +5 weapon and has been given the frost (+1), keen (+1), and speed (+3) special abilities. The eldritch blade could alter the +5 bonus spent on abilities to gain a different set of powers, such as dancing (+4) and flaming (+1). This change is permanent until the magus changes them yet again.
Can I use this arcana to swap out vorpal for Keen, Speed and Flaming, having them become permanent?
A little confused about a few things. Specifically two arcanas; Bane Blade and Ghost Blade.
Ghost blade says: Whenever the magus enchants his weapon using his arcane pool, he may spend 1 additional point from his arcane pool to add the brilliant energy and ghost touch special abilities to the list of available options.
Does that meant if I enhance my weapon with Keen, for an additional point I can add brilliant energy and ghost touch properties to the weapon as well? I.E. If my black blade is a +5 and I enhance with Keen, then spend another point to add Brilliant and Ghost touch will I have a +5 Keen Ghost Touch Katana of Brillance?
Same with the Bane enhancement, if I choose to enhance with Vorpal, do I get to spend a point to add Bane in addition to the Vorpal mod? +5 Vorpal Katana of Bane?
Am I not allowed to choose extra arcana for my level 5 feat? I thought the blackblade counted as an arcana.
I was considering picking up Black Blade Riposte; if I'm to understand it correctly, it allows me to attack everytime I provoke an attack of opportunity? That seems really good coupled with combat reflexes and Iajutsu.. I could just run around the battlefield provoking attacks.
Thanks for the format upgrade! It does make it a ton easier to read! Also thank you for the suggestions.
Totally forgot that critical perfection that replaced my 9th level arcana! Need to fix that. We're all new players, I wasn't aware that I couldn't full attack at the end of a charge.
I don't think I can get the familiar arcana due to having a blackblade, please correct me if I'm wrong.
As for a hatred of enemies... Our DM actually had us roll randomly for 3 traits when we created our characters lol. I ended up with Cold and Calculating, Demon Hunter(Ironic lol) and Scorned by Magic(also a bit Ironic.) Actually, it was pretty insane how the random rolls lined up, I felt like they matched my character to the T. Also, one of the guys in the group hit the clumsy slave trait, was pretty funny.
What do you think of picking up the additional traits feat, I thought it might be kinda cool to get perception and stealth as class skills, how useful are those skills? I do want to get things that fit the flavor of the character, however I also want them to be useful, not necessarily optimal, but of some use. If that makes any sense.
After all that, Kensai's are a great choice, if you want to focus a little more on being a fighter than a wizard. Probably my favorite thing is the flavor they bring with them :)
This is why I chose Kensai. I love the flavor they bring. This is my first pathfinder character and I chose to be a tiefling with the maw or claw racial, choosing claws.
I'm having a blast creating the character and hope he is just as fun to play. I'm struggling quite a bit on feat selection though, especially at the earlier levels.
For my level 1 feat I chose improved initiative, not sure if that's a good choice or not, however since we had our first game night, I'm locked into that one -_-.
Build:
Bladebound Kensai Tiefling
Str 17 17
Dex 15 +2 17
Con 13 11
Int 16 +2 18
Wis 10 12
Chr 12 12
1. (Improved Initiative : Normal Feat), Spell Combat, Canny Defense (+1 int to AC/magus level), Bonus Feat: Exotic weapon proficiency Katana, Bonus Feat: Weapon Focus Katana
Feats under consideration:
Additional Traits, Intesify spell, armor of the pit, fiendish sight, improved natural attack, eldritch claws, extra arcana, extra arcane pool
I was going to take the line of feats for step up and strike, but after learning you can only do it once per round, decided against it. Now I'm not sure what to fill those slots with. I was considering getting Imp Natural Attack, since one of my characters traits is to not use his katana unless he deems something worthy of unsheathing it.
Anywho, if anyone has any critiques or suggestions I would love to hear them.
Thanks Errant! Had no idea about the restrictions on picking up spells with the Mystic Past Life. That pretty much ends my dreams of teleporting around the battlefield lol.
I think I'll probably end up sticking to being a Tiefling in this case.
Going to look into the feats and arcanas you suggested. Looks like i still have a bit of research to do! Thanks for the input, really helpful!
Edit: Looking at Accurate strike and Arcane accuracy, how much worse is one than the other. I'm not familiar with how much +4 or +5 to hit is compared to making something touch AC. On the one hand the arcane accuracy only costs 1 point from your arcane pool as opposed to 2.
Do you know what the average loss of AC is on a bad guy when you get to resolve attacks as touch attacks?
Thank you for the quick response! It is a shame that it doesn't apply to both =(
Follow up question! If this character were to use spell combat, would I get my 2 claw attacks + my shocking grasp? Or just the one claw and the other hand casts shocking grasp?
