Stacking touch attacks with magus

[Ravingdork]

Just wanted to check and make sure this was legal:

Now, everyone knows that a magus can use spellstrike to channel a touch attack spell through his weapon, and everyone knows that on a miss, the charge is maintained.

However, if you cast a spell, any spell, you lose that charge. So for magi who like efficient spells with multiple charges (like chill touch or frostbite) using such spells means they lose out on some of their cool class abilities (since they rely on spells, and casting spells means they would lose the leftover charges).

Maybe that's what makes pool strike so cool? It's not a spell at all, but a supernatural ability. Therefore, I could cast frostbite in round one, attacking with spellstrike and/or spell combat. Then, in round two, I add pool strike ON TOP OF my remaining frostbite charges and pound my foe with a really nasty spellstrike.

Since it's a class ability, and not a spell, it doesn't interfere with my touch charge...

...Right?

EXAMPLES:

My 7th-level magus uses a short sword and has +15 to hit with arcane pool and arcane accuracy up. In round 1, she casts frostbite and uses spellstrike to stab a guy in the face with her frosty blade for 1d6 base + 3 enhancement + 2 strength + 1d6+7 nonlethal frost damage (or 2d6+12).

In the next round, she uses spellstrike again, but instead of casting a spell and losing her remaining 6 charges of frostbite, she uses her pool strike class ability (a supernatural ability) and strikes again, this time at +15 to hit and 5d6+12 damage.

Alternatively, my 10th-level magus is readying an ambush, so he casts intensified shocking grasp (10d6) and uses spellstrike to put the charge into his weapon. He then activates pool strike and likewise holds the charge for that (+4d6). When combat finally starts, he unleashes holy hell upon his first victim with his normal damage +14d6.

[Remco Sommeling]

Pool Strike (Su): The magus can expend 1 point from his
arcane pool as a standard action to charge his free hand
with energy. He can make a melee touch attack with that
hand as a free action as part of activating this ability. If
the touch attack hits, it releases the charge and deals 2d6
points of energy damage (acid, cold, electricity, or fire,
chosen when he spends the arcane pool point to activate
this ability). He can use this ability with the spellstrike
class feature. If he misses with this attack, he can hold the
charge for up to 1 minute before it dissipates. At 6th level,
and every three levels thereafter, the amount of damage
dealt by this attack increases by 1d6.

It seems legit, though it will take you a standard action to activate it only offering you a single 'free' attack and a move action that round otherwise.

Dread necromancer used a similar mechanic in 3.5 with it's charnel touch ability which was nice to stack with chill touch or a vampiric touch.

[Dekalinder]

You can use pool strike with Spellstrike, not with spell combat, so you would sacrifice both your spell and your full attack on the second round to make a single attack.

[Archaeik]

Dekalinder wrote:

You can use pool strike with Spellstrike, not with spell combat, so you would sacrifice both your spell and your full attack on the second round to make a single attack.

He's not trying to use it with spell combat.

He wants to use Spellstrike to deliver 2 separate effects concurrently:
-A touch held from a previous casting of a multiple charge spell
-The touch from Pool Strike

Spellstrike wrote:

At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks. This attack uses the weapon’s critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.

It looks like strictly RAW, you're out of luck. Sepllstrike functions the round it's cast, replacing the free touch attack.

I'd hand wave at home though.

[Banatine]

while it is true that spellstrike only refers to the free touch attack you gain while casting the spell, i think it is written that way because all touch spells give you that free touch.

It is unfortunate that they neglected to mention anything about multiple-touch spells, but i think the most sensible interpritation is that as long are you are carrying spell charges that require touch attacks, you can use Spellstrike to deliver them. after all, Spellstrike isn't something you need to 'activate', it's just always avaliable.

I also can't see anything wrong with combining it with poolstrike. As you say, it isn't another spell, so shouldn't interfere. But then again, this multi-touch argument has been going on for some time with no resolution, so...