It's not really limited at all. With the revision, Spell Combat is only a small part of the Magus' repertoire. Arcane pool, Spell Strike, and Pool Spell all still function normally when THF or TWF.
Really, what spell combat does is add a forth fighting style that's is unavailable to any other class: Weapon and Spell. So a Maugs has more fighting styles available to him than anyone else. The most versatile of classes.
Disagree.
Most of the times I've seen 'Gish' like characters they tend toward single weapon use. However I will point out that nothing aside from spell combat stops the Magus from using other combat styles. For example it is fully possible to make a Bow fighting Magus. Arcane Pool works on any weapon he is currently holding, so as an Archer he can get some serious boosts early. In addition with various wall and fog spells such a ranged Magus can hange back and pepper people.
If you don't focus on Spell Combat as your only combat strategy you can find other things for the Magus to do.
At the classes heart it is not a single weapon warrior, it is a two weapon warrior, just a spell in the off-hand instead if another sword.
I agree with Dorje, though the seemingly strict regulations on the magus erked me at first, I'm growing to like them more and more as I discuss the playtest with others.
The restrictions really do keep the magus from stepping on the toes of the fighter and others.
Probably the only thing I don't like still is that you have to have one hand free EVEN WHEN NOT USING A SPELL WITH SOMATIC COMPONENTS.
I see the magus switching a one handed weapon to two hands when he is not casting then taking one hand off to cast a spell at the same time. I played through master of the fallen fortress with one of the characters being a magus and most of the time he attacked with a flail two handed. when he wanted to cast shocking grasp on the troglodyte BBEG he took one hand off and used spell combat.
Very true IkeDoe, you rarely see a class that actually benefits from using a single one-handed. It makes the default Magus almost unique in the current state of the game.
Just to pile on here:
The only time a magus needs to have a hand free is while using spell combat -- the rest of the time he makes an excellent two handed fighter, and if you want to be a two weapon fighter then the cestus makes a wonderful set of weapons for the magus -- especially a Dex heavy magus using piranha strike. Since the Cestus leaves your hands free you can use spell combat with either hand you want to and attack with the other. Also the Cestus has a nice critical range making it useful beyond the fact your hands are empty.
Unless I'm wrong, they're still better off with Weapon and Shield and the Quickdraw feat (if the feat's worth it to ya.) Donning and putting away a Quickdraw Shield (APG) is a free action if you have Quickdraw as a feat, so...unless I'm missing something you can free action remove, full-round atk+Spell combat, free action don, done.
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Unless I'm wrong, they're still better off with Weapon and Shield and the Quickdraw feat (if the feat's worth it to ya.) Donning and putting away a Quickdraw Shield (APG) is a free action if you have Quickdraw as a feat, so...unless I'm missing something you can free action remove, full-round atk+Spell combat, free action don, done.
If you really want to be a two weapon fighter take the Spell Blade Archetype and get an off hand force dagger:)
Sadly you give up spellstrike to do so:(
Unless I'm wrong, they're still better off with Weapon and Shield and the Quickdraw feat (if the feat's worth it to ya.) Donning and putting away a Quickdraw Shield (APG) is a free action if you have Quickdraw as a feat, so...unless I'm missing something you can free action remove, full-round atk+Spell combat, free action don, done.If you really want to be a two weapon fighter take the Spell Blade Archetype and get an off hand force dagger:)
Sadly you give up spellstrike to do so:(
Not that I've seen it yet but it seems like that should be a more than even trade.
Sounds cool. Not only have I not seen the released UM, I've yet to even see the devs' blog post regarding the finalized Magus (I've heard bits and pieces, and looked for it, though)
Also, based on Spalding's comment regarding the Two-hander Magus, and going one handed for spell combat, this sounds like the first viable 2H Bastard Sword use I've ever heard of. Not counting 3.X Samurai, I guess. I never liked the Samurai/Master Samurai. Fighters, but with crappy, preselected class features and Lawful Alignment restriction? No thank you.
Why burn the feat on the Exotic Weapon proficiency, unless your taking that Family Heirloom trait to get it. The damage bump from 1d8 to 1d10 averages to 1 and is only 2 points higher on the front end. I don't have a copy yet either, but assuming there isn't any conflict with Arcane Strike anymore this is much better as it can run most of the time and gets you a better return when it does.
The main damage from two-hand fighting (if you can't get a bigger stick) is the bonus increase on strength and power attack. A Magus with a long sword does this just fine as an option.
This may seem odd but as I said months ago, the Magus is basically the only class were a vanilla long sword is the cool thing to use. Where everyone else tries to scrabble away from it as fast as possible. Although high crit finesse dex magi seem to also be the rage.
A quickdraw magus is fun for effect. You go from 0 to PWNAGE in 6 seconds or less. Dude spits on your boot and he's on the ground sliced in two and smoking as you do the Obi-Wan thing and calmly survey the rest of the bar to see if anyone else wants a go.
Well yeah, but my thinking was, you could alternate b/w 2H and 1H b. sword. With Longsword, unless I missed something, you can't get the 1.5STR dmg by wielding it 2-handed. And depending on strength score, buffs, etc, that may round out to better than Arcane strike. Not to mention that when I use B. Sword, I'm aware that it's not typically optimal. I know the rules and math, and have enough experience to munchkin, but instead of making the "best" numbers-wise character, I prefer to take a weird/bad but fun concept and optimize as much as I can to make it on-par for the people I'm playing with. Example: Duelist whose main weapon speccing is for morningstar (which is a 1-handed piercing wpn, thus qualifies for duelist features, while also being wayyy different than the average/optimal rapier wielding duelist)
That's what's so nice about the Longsword and other One-handed weapons, you can use the two-handed when needed. :D
One-Handed: A one-handed weapon can be used in either the primary hand or the off hand. Add the wielder's Strength bonus to damage rolls for melee attacks with a one-handed weapon if it's used in the primary hand, or 1/2 his Strength bonus if it's used in the off hand. If a one-handed weapon is wielded with two hands during melee combat, add 1-1/2 times the character's Strength bonus to damage rolls.
That's why the magus is so fun. Very versatile secondary combatant or if hard pressed, primary.
Speaking of sub-optimal, I have considered using the scorpion whip with the magus. Building off some of the bonuses it gets to Combat Maneuver checks, especially when you consider self boosting magic like Enlarge Person. A mounted Magus with a lance would also be an interesting angle, although overly feat intensive to be any good. Hand-crossbow magus or light crossbow fried one handed would be interesting to work on.
Unless there is a big change in the weapon abilities a magus can assign making a 2-handed weapon Dancing is also another option.
*Thumbs through rulebooks* Ah. So the inability to use some one handed weapons for the str bonus is the exception, not the rule. Go figure.
Yeah, I kinda want to be one in this one campaign. DM's allowing a respec to the whole party, due to the most powerful character (due to rule-breaking, but still) being booted from the group (also due to rule-breaking). Of course, I've never played an arcane caster before (Though, since it's a martial/arcane hybrid, and eventually stops having armor spell failure, it seems like a good place to start)
But I won't be, because I have to be the group's main frontliner (even moreso after the guy got kicked out) and as a primary melee combatant they seem preetty freakin' MAD (though self-buffs obviously help with that). Looking forward to making a Gunslinger though.