Hey all my friends and i are just starting a new custom campaign. I decided to try out the Magus as it seemed interesting and was hoping you all could give me some advice on how to build him. i can still go into any archtype that i want to right now, and was thinking blackblade.
His stats are as follows with a 25 point buy and the tielfing racial stats but human everything else:
Level 1
STR 14
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 18
WIS 12
CHA 7
Using a scimitar
Feats are combat casting and spell focus Evo (though i might change that one)
My stats are pretty spread out as my party consist of a Caster Druid, a Caster oracle, a Wizard and myself. so i have to be the front liner/melee/tank, though the oracle helps some.
Getting spells is no problem really as the wizard and i share our spells in our spell books.
Lastly, we do not have deep sea guide or whatever it is, so no i can't take dervish dance.
The rest can be changed though, stats, feats, anything
on a 25 pt build i'd go with
str 17 (13)
des 10 (0)
cos 14 (5)
int 14 (5)
wis 10 (0)
cha 12 (2)
befor racial. switch wis and char for more power (i don't like playing sub-10 cha pg). Des 12 is more than enough, you are going to have a full plate sooner or later. Increased str each time you can.
I'd drop your INT - you don't need more than 16 - and increase your STR score. Especially if you can't get Dervish Dance, STR is your main stat for the lower levels, and you need it as high as possible.
Yes. Especially since your party already consists of casters, one a wizard, you'll shine better as a more melee focused character. What you lose in Arcane Pool you make up for in not having to use the Accuracy arcana.
I'd drop Combat Casting, too. I know, this makes it really hard to concentrate, but you can cast, and then step to attack, at least part of the time. If you really need to get a spell off, you can always take the penalty during spell combat.
My magus recently took Spell Specialization (+2 caster levels for a particular spell in a school I have spell focus for). Her only regret is that she didn't do it sooner -- a human magus could have that in Shocking Grasp at first level, for 3d6+1d6+str attack.
I would go for:
Str: 16 (10)
Dex: 14+2 (5)
Con: 14 (5)
Int: 14+2 (5)
Wis: 12 (2)
Cha: 8-2 (-2)
I would use Lucerne Hammer also (starting with that in hand) at the lower levels when you don't have a lot of spells & pick up Combat Reflexes. Those AoOs will probably protect the rest of the folk better than anything from melee enemies at the start.
Shield & Enlarge Person as spells at least.
Enlarged Lucerne Hammer in this case 3d6+6 damage being much more economical than using Shocking Grasp to every hit.