...I really do, but it just seems haphazard.
Why is this a prepared caster? Is it because its INT-based? It feels like it should be an INT-based spontaneous caster with a spells known mechanic.
For Spellstrike (since it may be relevant), does the spell happen before or after the weapon damage? For instance, if I go Cleric/Magus, and channel a Harm spell, does that basically spell death, or does it make my weapon damage irrelevant? Does it include ranged touch spells, or just melee touch spells? Why does it take two standards to use (one to cast the spell, one to attack with it)? Why not just have a standard action, cast a melee-touch-range spell and make an attack with a melee weapon you wield; if you hit, the spell also affects the target; if you miss the spell is wasted. Much simpler, more in line with what the magus appears to be supposed to do.
Spell Combat is an awkward mechanic. Automatically dodging an attack of opportunity is a powerful ability for as early as second level, and the concentration DC to not lose the spell is laughably low. It states "like two-weapon fighting": if that is the case, does the two-weapon fighting feat do anything?
Some magus arcana have a level requirement: this is unclear whether or not it is "magus level" or "character level".
Broad Study is immensely powerful. Wizard 7/Magus 3/Eldritch Knight 10: I have 8th level wizard spells, the ability to deliver touch attack spells with weapons, and all the EK abilities to top it off. Cleric 3/Magus 3/Cleric +14: I get domains, channeling, and can spellstrike Harm, Temporal Stasis, and other goodies.
Concentrate is kind of lame at 1/day. I'd much rather see it INT mod/day.
It is unclear if Critical Strike stacks with Spellstrike.
Dispelling Strike is too limited for a 9th+ ability.
Can Spell Shield be used reflexively after the attack roll has been made, or does it have to be made prior? This should be made clear.
Why does the Magus never acquire the ability to ignore spell failure from shields, or cast with a shield? For that matter, why can I not play a magus that fights with two weapons?
I feel that Fighter Training plus the bonus feats every six levels is encroaching too far into the fighter's territory: if the magus gets Fighter Training, it shouldn't be able to take combat feats as bonus feats, or vice versa.
Weapon Bond comes too late to be relevant. It should probably be made into a magus arcana, subtracting the Greater Teleport ability.
The spell list is equally haphazard. Many of these spells are neither buff spells or touch spells. The spells that the magus gets should interact with its class features rather than sit alongside them. I would prefer to see the spell list as such:
Acid Splash, Arcane Mark, Light, Dancing Lights, Daze, Detect Magic, Flare, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Open/Close, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Read Magic, Spark
1st-Level Magus Spells (available 1st level)
Burning Hands, Chill Touch, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Flare Burst, Heat Metal, Hydraulic Push, Jump, Magic Missile, Magic Weapon, Mount, Shield, Shocking Grasp, Stone Fist, Touch of Fatigue, Touch of Idiocy, True Strike, Unseen Servant
2nd-Level Magus Spells (available 4th level)
Bear’s Endurance, Blur, Bull’s Strength, Burning Gaze, Cat’s Grace, Darkness, Elemental Touch, Fire Breath, Ghoul Touch, Levitate, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Spider Climb, Stone Call, Web
3rd-Level Magus Spells (available 7th level)
Aqueous Orb, Arcane Sight, Beast Shape I, Bestow Curse, Cloak of Winds, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Displacement, Elemental Aura, Flame Arrow, Fly, Hydraulic Torrent, Invisibility, Keen Edge, Greater Magic Weapon, Phantom Steed, Poison, Stinking Cloud, Vampiric Touch, Versatile Weapon, Water Breathing
4th-Level Magus Spells (available 10th level)
Ball Lightning, Beast Shape II, Contagion, Detonate, Dimension Door, Dragon’s Breath, Elemental Body I, Firefall, Fire Shield, Haste, Ice Storm, Phantasmal Killer, River of Wind, Shout, Sleet Storm, Slow
5th-Level Magus Spells (available 13th level)
Baleful Polymorph, Black Tentacles, Beast Shape III, Cone of Cold, Elemental Body II, Greater Invisibility, Interposing Hand, Stoneskin, Telekinesis
6th-Level Magus Spells (available 16th level)
Acid Fog, Beast Shape IV, Chain Lightning, Contagious Flame, Disintegrate, Elemental Body III, Flesh to Stone, Forceful Hand, Form of the Dragon I, Freezing Sphere, Greater Dispel Magic, Mislead, Overland Flight, Sirocco, Stone to Flesh, Temporal Stasis, Teleport, True Seeing
This includes some additions that are touch-attack centric, such as Ghoul Touch (2nd), Chill Touch (1st), Heat Metal (1st), Bestow Curse (3rd), Poison (3rd), Contagion (4th), Vampiric Touch (3rd), Touch of Idiocy (1st), Touch of Fatigue (1st), and Temporal Stasis (6th).
Some of these i can answer:
...I really do, but it just seems haphazard.
Why is this a prepared caster? Is it because its INT-based? It feels like it should be an INT-based spontaneous caster with a spells known mechanic.
For Spellstrike (since it may be relevant), does the spell happen before or after the weapon damage? For instance, if I go Cleric/Magus, and channel a Harm spell, does that basically spell death, or does it make my weapon damage irrelevant? Does it include ranged touch spells, or just melee touch spells?
Since the weapon triggers the spell, the spell would go off second.
Some magus arcana have a level requirement: this is unclear whether or not it is "magus level" or "character level".
I'm pretty sure Magus level is implied, it works that way for other class with chosen abilities, like the witch or alchemist.
Broad Study is immensely powerful. Wizard 7/Magus 3/Eldritch Knight 10: I have 8th level wizard spells, the ability to deliver touch attack spells with weapons, and all the EK abilities to top it off. Cleric 3/Magus 3/Cleric +14: I get domains, channeling, and can spellstrike Harm, Temporal Stasis, and other goodies.
Hence the level 6 requirement to reduce the shenanigans.
Concentrate is kind of lame at 1/day. I'd much rather see it INT mod/day.
this one i agree with, it would bring it more in line with other classes.
It is unclear if Critical Strike stacks with Spellstrike.
Looks like it does to me, that is the point of it, a free spell on a crit on top of your normal one.
Why does the Magus never acquire the ability to ignore spell failure from shields, or cast with a shield? For that matter, why can I not play a magus that fights with two weapons?
It specificly states you need a hand free for casting. That would preclude a shield or a second weapon.
Clarity stuff
Yeah, I get that, and I'm smart enough to know what it means. But there are people who aren't, and the gaming community is one that is known for its arguments about what words can or cannot mean. I merely seek to reduce the arguing to as minimal a level as possible.
It specificly states you need a hand free for casting. That would preclude a shield or a second weapon.
Okay, so because the designer didn't envision a double-dagger stabby-magus or a sword and shield defender-magus, I can't play one, no, never, not even then? That is sort of lame. I would really really like to see a magus arcana that allows the use of a shield or two-weapon fighting. At least then there's a broader opportunity for it.
I'd also like to see one that allows you to mix Arcane Archer and Magus. The two seem to be made for each other.
Clarity stuffYeah, I get that, and I'm smart enough to know what it means. But there are people who aren't, and the gaming community is one that is known for its arguments about what words can or cannot mean. I merely seek to reduce the arguing to as minimal a level as possible.
It specificly states you need a hand free for casting. That would preclude a shield or a second weapon.Okay, so because the designer didn't envision a double-dagger stabby-magus or a sword and shield defender-magus, I can't play one, no, never, not even then? That is sort of lame. I would really really like to see a magus arcana that allows the use of a shield or two-weapon fighting. At least then there's a broader opportunity for it.
I'd also like to see one that allows you to mix Arcane Archer and Magus. The two seem to be made for each other.
I'm pretty sure it's an intentional design, and I think it's for power purposes rather than Jason having any kind of myopic vision of the Magus.
The idea is to make sure that Spell Combat isn't too over the top--and a full attack with Rapid Shot and Multishot with a bow plus a free spell (and no need to move around because you're an archer) could very well be over the top. If you want those other styles, I think you can still use everything about the Magus except Spell Combat.
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Okay, so because the designer didn't envision a double-dagger stabby-magus or a sword and shield defender-magus, I can't play one, no, never, not even then? That is sort of lame.
Not with that attitude Mr/Mrs!! On a serious note, note with this class, no. It was an intentional design choice, so unfortunately gonna have to live with it? Seems like 2 handers will have to stick with EK.
I disagree about your assessment of Spell Combat, as I feel the cast and swing portion of it is the power part, not the omitted AoO, and I feel that the ability is well balanced as it is currently written (with the improvements made to it over the course of play as well. Feels well written).
The "I need to cast defensively but don't provoke an AoO" thing seems sort of backwards though.
As to shields/two weapon/two hander fighting: It makes sense that you'd need a hand free to make the somatic gestures needed to cast a spell and swing. On this rationale alone, I understand why they opted to write the ability this way, and I wouldn't change it at all.
Even for a spell that doesn't carry a somatic component?
Also it seems very odd to me that it gets a class feature that calls out touch-attack spells (Spellstrike), and it only gets four (yes, four) touch-range spells. :\
The "I need to cast defensively but don't provoke an AoO" thing seems sort of backwards though.
Why is that backwards? It's exactly the same as when you choose to cast defensively, the choice is just being forced on you.
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Also it seems very odd to me that it gets a class feature that calls out touch-attack spells (Spellstrike), and it only gets four (yes, four) touch-range spells. :\
Jason mentioned in another thread that there are numerous touch spell in the UM, but that those spells weren't ready to go public today and won't appear until the magic system/spells portion of the playtest. However, they know this are have plans to beef the spell list. What's there is just what's available right now. more to come later. :)
-Skeld
The "I need to cast defensively but don't provoke an AoO" thing seems sort of backwards though.Why is that backwards? It's exactly the same as when you choose to cast defensively, the choice is just being forced on you.
Because you cast defensively to avoid provoking an AoO, and if you fail, you provoke one and might lose the spell if the other guy hits you. In this one, you don't provoke an AoO, and if you fail, you lose the spell.
Jason mentioned in another thread that there are numerous touch spell in the UM, but that those spells weren't ready to go public today and won't appear until the magic system/spells portion of the playtest. However, they know this are have plans to beef the spell list. What's there is just what's available right now. more to come later. :)
That's heartening, at least.
The "I need to cast defensively but don't provoke an AoO" thing seems sort of backwards though.Why is that backwards? It's exactly the same as when you choose to cast defensively, the choice is just being forced on you.Because you cast defensively to avoid provoking an AoO, and if you fail, you provoke one and might lose the spell if the other guy hits you. In this one, you don't provoke an AoO, and if you fail, you lose the spell.
Jason mentioned in another thread that there are numerous touch spell in the UM, but that those spells weren't ready to go public today and won't appear until the magic system/spells portion of the playtest. However, they know this are have plans to beef the spell list. What's there is just what's available right now. more to come later. :)That's heartening, at least.
I went to check the pfsrd to make sure this wasn't a stealth change in PF that I somehow missed up to this point (though it would have made the Spellbreaker feat pretty weird if so), but it looks like casting defensively is the same in PF as it has been in 3.5 and 3.0 before--
Casting Defensively
If you want to cast a spell without provoking any attacks of opportunity, you must make a concentration check (DC 15 + double the level of the spell you're casting) to succeed. You lose the spell if you fail.
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Also it seems very odd to me that it gets a class feature that calls out touch-attack spells (Spellstrike), and it only gets four (yes, four) touch-range spells. :\
As Jason has mentioned in other thread(s?) the magus will get quite a few other touch spells, but they're still being developed and not near to being playtestable yet.
The "I need to cast defensively but don't provoke an AoO" thing seems sort of backwards though.Why is that backwards? It's exactly the same as when you choose to cast defensively, the choice is just being forced on you.Because you cast defensively to avoid provoking an AoO, and if you fail, you provoke one and might lose the spell if the other guy hits you. In this one, you don't provoke an AoO, and if you fail, you lose the spell.
Jason mentioned in another thread that there are numerous touch spell in the UM, but that those spells weren't ready to go public today and won't appear until the magic system/spells portion of the playtest. However, they know this are have plans to beef the spell list. What's there is just what's available right now. more to come later. :)That's heartening, at least.
From the PRD: Casting on the Defensive:
pwning Fax on defensive casting
...wow, I have no idea where I got that notion. o_O
I dunno, Spell Combat's text just feels clunky.
Lemme try something:
Spell Combat (Ex): At 2nd level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons effectively at the same time. This functions similarly to 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 while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make attacks with his melee weapon as if he were using the full-attack action. These attacks are made at a –4 penalty.
He also casts a spell with a casting time of 1 standard action or less from the magus spell list. He must cast this spell defensively, and he takes a –2 penalty on the concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted.
A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks if he has more than one attack. Casting a spell in this manner does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The magus must have one hand free to use this ability, even if the spell being cast does not contain somatic components.
I think that's a little better. I think the way it's formatted in the PDF doesn't help much, since it squishes all the text down into a little area and fragments the sentence.
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I know it might be a little powerful, but what if they did Fighter level -3 for determining feats? That would be inline with a rangers animal companion to druid levels, and a paladin's AND ranger's caster levels. And would it really be that broken?
Weapon specialization at 7th, spell breaker at 9th, etc.
I also feel that the concentration ability should be beefed to 3 + Int mod/day to be more inline with other classes abilities.
Spell Combat I think is fine as is, but...
...Spellstrike confuses the heck out of me. This needs some serious work as it serves no real purpose other than charging a spell on to your sword instead of your fist. Its okay, but needs some clarification and maybe an arcana that improves it.
Other than that, I think the class is on the right path.
I know it might be a little powerful, but what if they did Fighter level -3 for determining feats? That would be inline with a rangers animal companion to druid levels, and a paladin's AND ranger's caster levels. And would it really be that broken?
Weapon specialization at 7th, spell breaker at 9th, etc.
That may be feasible. And yeah, looking back at it, three feats isn't going to break anything.
...Spellstrike confuses the heck out of me. This needs some serious work as it serves no real purpose other than charging a spell on to your sword instead of your fist. Its okay, but needs some clarification and maybe an arcana that improves it.
Why not something like this?
Spellstrike (Su): A magus may attempt to deliver a spell with a melee attack. The spell must have a range of touch, must come from the magus spell list, and must have a casting time of one standard action or less.
As a standard action, the magus makes a single attack at his full base attack bonus. If he strikes his opponent, the delivered spell automatically affects the foe as well. If the spell carries a saving throw, his opponent may make one to reduce or negate the spell's effect; regardless, the weapon attack is unaffected by the saving throw. Using this ability does not provoke an attack of opportunity.
Take Quick draw. Put away your shield as a free action at the start of the round. Use Spell Combat. Draw your shield as a free action at the end of the round.
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As to spellstrike I think the entire idea is to hold a charge of shocking grasp or something similar and then hit a guy with his sword to have it go off.
Normally this would take two standard actions (and thus two rounds) to pull off but remember you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely so at the start of the day or dungeon you can cast shocking grasp and have it go off when you hit the guy then cast with spell combat shield to help protect you.... effectively 2 spells going off in the same round... or just cast the touch spell before going through your full attack.
My main issue with spellstrike is it doesn't clarify what happens if you critically hit or roll a natural twenty... a normal touch attack spell would double damage and a normal attack would deal weapon multiplier damage... but how does spellstrike work?
...you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...
You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.
Take Quick draw. Put away your shield as a free action at the start of the round. Use Spell Combat. Draw your shield as a free action at the end of the round.
This gave me an idea. I believe that with the Quickdraw feat you could actually play a Magus using a two-handed weapon and Spell Combat. The ability does say a light or one handed weapon, but with quickdraw you would be able to free a hand up.
...you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.
And it discharges if you touch anything. :\
As for crits, I honestly think it wouldn't multiply the spell. You're critting with the physical attack and adding the spell's effect.
...you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.
Incorrect. You can hold a touch spell until you touch something or cast another spell.
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This gave me an idea. I believe that with the Quickdraw feat you could actually play a Magus using a two-handed weapon and Spell Combat. The ability does say a light or one handed weapon, but with quickdraw you would be able to free a hand up.Take Quick draw. Put away your shield as a free action at the start of the round. Use Spell Combat. Draw your shield as a free action at the end of the round.
No you can't. Two handed weapons are neither light or one handed...I would think this is rather obvious....
Incorrect. You can hold a touch spell until you touch something or cast another spell.
That isn't the case with all touch attack spells. Some, like the inflict spells, are one shot spells that are used and done the first time you touch something. Others, like produce flame, can be used multiple times. (I play mostly divine casters, so don't know off the top of my head arcane examples).
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That isn't the case with all touch attack spells. Some, like the inflict spells, are one shot spells that are used and done the first time you touch something. Others, like produce flame, can be used multiple times. (I play mostly divine casters, so don't know off the top of my head arcane examples).
Incorrect. You can hold a touch spell until you touch something or cast another spell.
No, inflict is a touch spell. Produce flame is a self buff that lets you make touch attacks with fire.
That isn't the case with all touch attack spells. Some, like the inflict spells, are one shot spells that are used and done the first time you touch something. Others, like produce flame, can be used multiple times. (I play mostly divine casters, so don't know off the top of my head arcane examples).
Incorrect. You can hold a touch spell until you touch something or cast another spell.
Which doesn't change the fact that a touch spell can be held indefinitely. Produce flame (and chill touch) aren't normal touch spells granted, but for a normal touch spell you can hold it indefinitely.
I'll wait while you actually go and read the magic section.
If spells like chill touch and produce flame don't work, then they better have a lot of touch spells that work like shocking grasp in Ultimate Magic, otherwise that ability is going to be severely limited.
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At 10th level a Magus gains Fighter Training which allows him to use 1/2 his level as a fighter level to qualify for feats.
So far I find these feats are the only ones (from the core rules, too tired to look up APG feats) that might be affected by the ability.
Critical Mastery- impossible for Magus to qualify for until level 28
Disruptive
Spellbreaker
Greater Shield Focus
Greater Weapon Focus
Greater Penetrating Strike- impossible for Magus to qualify for until level 32
Weapon Specialization
Greater Weapon Specialization- impossible for Magus to qualify for until level 24
This ability essentially grants access to a whole whopping 5 feats. Seems a real disappointment for 10th level. That is when I usually start anticipating a power boost to the COOL stuff.
As far as Spellstrike goes, it seems to scream for a Metamagic Feat similar to Reach (from APG) to reduce the range of spells so it can have an even broader range of spells to work with. I know there are more touch spells coming, but feat to reduce the spell range opens up even more options.
Which doesn't change the fact that a touch spell can be held indefinitely. Produce flame (and chill touch) aren't normal touch spells granted, but for a normal touch spell you can hold it indefinitely.
I'll wait while you actually go and read the magic section.
Touch Spells and Holding the Charge: In most cases, if you don't discharge a touch spell on the round you cast it, you can hold the charge (postpone the discharge of the spell) indefinitely. You can make touch attacks round after round until the spell is discharged. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates.
Some touch spells allow you to touch multiple targets as part of the spell. You can't hold the charge of such a spell; you must touch all targets of the spell in the same round that you finish casting the spell.
So yeah. Basically, if it has a multiple-targets clause, it lasts the round; if it says 'instantaneous' or whatever, it's until you discharge it. Still, walking around with a pre-cast shocking grasp is going to be a hassle if you have to, say, shake hands with someone or catch your ally before he falls into a bottomless pit.
Which doesn't change the fact that a touch spell can be held indefinitely. Produce flame (and chill touch) aren't normal touch spells granted, but for a normal touch spell you can hold it indefinitely.
I'll wait while you actually go and read the magic section.
So yeah. Basically, if it has a multiple-targets clause, it lasts the round; if it says 'instantaneous' or whatever, it's until you discharge it. Still, walking around with a pre-cast shocking grasp is going to be a hassle if you have to, say, shake hands with someone or catch your ally before he falls into a bottomless pit.Touch Spells and Holding the Charge: In most cases, if you don't discharge a touch spell on the round you cast it, you can hold the charge (postpone the discharge of the spell) indefinitely. You can make touch attacks round after round until the spell is discharged. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates.
Some touch spells allow you to touch multiple targets as part of the spell. You can't hold the charge of such a spell; you must touch all targets of the spell in the same round that you finish casting the spell.
Not if you can cast it into your weapon and have it ready until needed. I think that's what people are excited about, but it's iffy on whether that is ok or not.
...you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.And it discharges if you touch anything. :\
As for crits, I honestly think it wouldn't multiply the spell. You're critting with the physical attack and adding the spell's effect.
I believe Jason said somewhere that crit range is that of the weapon and it is x2 crit modifier.
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I believe Jason said somewhere that crit range is that of the weapon and it is x2 crit modifier....you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.And it discharges if you touch anything. :\
As for crits, I honestly think it wouldn't multiply the spell. You're critting with the physical attack and adding the spell's effect.
So rapiers for everyone eh?
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Unless you're a drow, then you obviously wield a scimitar and keep an extra. You'd probably also grab an onyx figurine and a pair of bracers you wear on your ankles.
I also see a couple character designs that wield odd things like a kukri or a war razor. The kukri in particular is a nasty knife, I might just make it the weapon of my first magus... except that whole exotic wpn thing...
sigh... guess it's a scimitar wielding elf in black facepaint for me...
Kukri is a martial weapon, dude.
Unless you're a drow, then you obviously wield a scimitar and keep an extra. You'd probably also grab an onyx figurine and a pair of bracers you wear on your ankles.
I also see a couple character designs that wield odd things like a kukri or a war razor. The kukri in particular is a nasty knife, I might just make it the weapon of my first magus... except that whole exotic wpn thing...
sigh... guess it's a scimitar wielding elf in black facepaint for me...
I don't know... I kind of like the idea of using the Cestus with the piranha strike feat.
If you do go with the scimitar I would suggest taking the dervish dance feat from the Qadira book.
So rapiers for everyone eh?I believe Jason said somewhere that crit range is that of the weapon and it is x2 crit modifier....you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.And it discharges if you touch anything. :\
As for crits, I honestly think it wouldn't multiply the spell. You're critting with the physical attack and adding the spell's effect.
Scimitar, I'd think. Take the feat that gives dex to damage and attack to help reduce the MAD problems, and honestly seems made perfect for the Magus.
Okay, so because the designer didn't envision a double-dagger stabby-magus or a sword and shield defender-magus, I can't play one, no, never, not even then? That is sort of lame. I would really really like to see a magus arcana that allows the use of a shield or two-weapon fighting. At least then there's a broader opportunity for it.
I suggest an agressive letter writing campaign.
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Scimitar, I'd think. Take the feat that gives dex to damage and attack to help reduce the MAD problems, and honestly seems made perfect for the Magus.So rapiers for everyone eh?I believe Jason said somewhere that crit range is that of the weapon and it is x2 crit modifier....you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.And it discharges if you touch anything. :\
As for crits, I honestly think it wouldn't multiply the spell. You're critting with the physical attack and adding the spell's effect.
I think in the Mummy, the "magi" in that movie were all using scimitars.
...you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.And it discharges if you touch anything. :\
As for crits, I honestly think it wouldn't multiply the spell. You're critting with the physical attack and adding the spell's effect.
Yikes! Let's hope he doesn't have to go to the little magus' room.
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Okay, so because the designer didn't envision a double-dagger stabby-magus or a sword and shield defender-magus, I can't play one, no, never, not even then? That is sort of lame. I would really really like to see a magus arcana that allows the use of a shield or two-weapon fighting. At least then there's a broader opportunity for it.I suggest an agressive letter writing campaign.
Well it is kinda hard to cast spells if you have weapons in both hands or bashing people with the shield strapped to your caster arm (which you would kinda need to grip to keep from hurting yourself)
Aldori Dueling sword or the Red Mantis weapon are also alternatives or falcata, Temple sword, Bastard sword (more damage) etc...
But yeah Black Face painted Elves using scimitars will become a staple.
Scimitar, I'd think. Take the feat that gives dex to damage and attack to help reduce the MAD problems, and honestly seems made perfect for the Magus.So rapiers for everyone eh?I believe Jason said somewhere that crit range is that of the weapon and it is x2 crit modifier....you can hold a touch spells charge indefinitely...You can hold it one round per caster level, I believe.And it discharges if you touch anything. :\
As for crits, I honestly think it wouldn't multiply the spell. You're critting with the physical attack and adding the spell's effect.
Agreed--I'm pretty sure this is always the most optimised build for a Magus if you can survive the cost of the two feats at low levels (having it active at level 1 means no Combat Casting, but not having it means your damage will be very low).
Scimitar, I'd think. Take the feat that gives dex to damage and attack to help reduce the MAD problems, and honestly seems made perfect for the Magus.
Anybody know what feat that is/where it's found?
Edit: Unless it's Dervish Dance. That one I know about.
Anybody know what feat that is/where it's found?Scimitar, I'd think. Take the feat that gives dex to damage and attack to help reduce the MAD problems, and honestly seems made perfect for the Magus.
Dervish Dance, and it's in the Qadira book (or at the Archives of Nethys link there).
Thanks, DV.
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At 10th level a Magus gains Fighter Training which allows him to use 1/2 his level as a fighter level to qualify for feats.
So far I find these feats are the only ones (from the core rules, too tired to look up APG feats) that might be affected by the ability.
Critical Mastery- impossible for Magus to qualify for until level 28
Disruptive
Spellbreaker
Greater Shield Focus
Greater Weapon Focus
Greater Penetrating Strike- impossible for Magus to qualify for until level 32
Weapon Specialization
Greater Weapon Specialization- impossible for Magus to qualify for until level 24This ability essentially grants access to a whole whopping 5 feats. Seems a real disappointment for 10th level. That is when I usually start anticipating a power boost to the COOL stuff.
As far as Spellstrike goes, it seems to scream for a Metamagic Feat similar to Reach (from APG) to reduce the range of spells so it can have an even broader range of spells to work with. I know there are more touch spells coming, but feat to reduce the spell range opens up even more options.
There's just 3 from the APG that specifically require fighter class levels.
Disrupting Shot - 4th (so Magus 8)Shield Specialization - 4th (Magus 8)
Greater Shield Specialization - 12th (Magus 24)
Fighter Training really should be Magus class level -3 instead of 1/2 level.
Dervish Dance, and it's in the Qadira book (or at the Archives of Nethys link there).If the must-have feat for the final version of this class appears only in a campaign sourcebook, I just might kick a puppy.
I wouldn't call it a must have feat honestly. The Strength focused Magus I tested did very nice, as did the dwarf and sawtooth saber/cestus human magus. The biggest problem has been the spell combat ability and spellstrike. Using any one of the many fixes proposed worked fine with all three builds.
The dwarf was really nice in that once he was in heavy armor he didn't slow down, and the double weapon was always being used in some way or another.
The guy with the sawtooth and cestus would cast with the cestus hand when he wanted to do spell combat, and the "two hander with one handed weapon" still wasn't out of line -- when I didn't do spell combat I simply put both hands on the weapon (he did have a mithral buckler for when I wanted a bit more defense instead of offense).
Honestly I found the things that helped the most were:
1. One more bonus feat. Having a bonus feat (like the ones gained at 5,11,17th levels) really made everything click.
2. Spell combat fixes -- any of the three I tried worked wonderfully (my flurry like one, Mr. Fishy's rage like one, and simply reducing the melee penalty to -2 instead of -4).
3. spell strike stuff. Switching this up to the elemental damage for a spell slot was actually really nice. I tried it two ways -- in the first you gained bonus damage based on the spell level given up (1 point for 0th level spell, 1d6 per spell level beyond that), and 1d6 that lasts for a number of round equal to the spell level given up (0th level spell just lasted to the end of your current round). Both of these were swift actions to use.