How badly does this magus build suck?

[Mahavira]

I'm making a magus for Jade Regent - the party is 3 people, my magus, a summoner (broodmaster) and an inquisitor - nobody has full bab, and nobody's AC is going to be that great. As such, I'd like to make my magus suck a little less than he otherwise is likely to (relatively new to pathfinder and some probably non optimum choices for flavor). As such, please C&C this build:

Half elf magus (uses ancestral arms alt class feature from advanced player's guide)

Feats
L1 (half elf) EWP katana L1 combat casting
L3 improved unarmed strike
L5 deflect arrows L5 bonus quickdraw
L7 power attack
L9 bloody assault
L11 weapon focus (katana) L11 bonus weapon spec (katana)
L13 extra arcana (spell blending, learn enervate and protection from energy)
L15 death from above
L17 L17 no clue, may not be necessary

Arcana
3 arcane accuracy
6 close range
9 ghost blade
12 maximized magic
15 accurate strike

unarmed strike, quickdraw, and deflect arrows are pure flavor, and I'm more or less okay with dropping them. Close range is primarily so in the far future I can slash someone with a maximized disintigrate, generating a kill that looks like something from Blade of the Immortal - realistically there are so few rays it could probably go for something more practical (wand wielder perhaps? with wand mastery added by another extra aracna feat?).

[8 Red Wizards]

I don't know anything about a magus, but I'd just make a mage and at level 3 tank like a champ. Tell the party to stand behind.

[Talandor]

Well - I d say it sucks pretty badly.

* combat casting - decent
* umarmed strike - what for?
* deflect arrows - very circumstancial
* quickdraw - very circumstancial, very minor effect
* power attack - ok
* bloody assault - you arent full BAB and -5 hit does not fit; the bleed dmg seems minor to me

You might want to check walters guide to the magus:
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz40tc&page=1?UM-Walters-Guide-to-the-Magus

[Jodokai]

My GM allows me to use Quick draw with wands. There is some debate on whether it is RAW or not, so check with your GM. If so it makes Quick draw very attractive for a Magus.

[Mahavira]

Talandor wrote:

Well - I d say it sucks pretty badly.

* combat casting - decent
* umarmed strike - what for?
* deflect arrows - very circumstancial
* quickdraw - very circumstancial, very minor effect
* power attack - ok
* bloody assault - you arent full BAB and -5 hit does not fit; the bleed dmg seems minor to me

You might want to check walters guide to the magus:
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz40tc&page=1?UM-Walters-Guide-to-the-Magus

Thanks for the link. Unarmed strike is a prereq for deflect arrows and otherwise of no interest - I lose one, I lose both (probably not a huge loss, mind). Deflect arrows, I thought was useful because of spending a long time with weak ac, but you're probably right in that it's only good for monks (aka when it's free). I confess I had assumed that quickdraw worked with wands and that I would periodically be wanting to switch between having a free hand and having a wand in hand.

[Ravingdork]

Improved Unarmed Strike opens you up for Crane Style and Crane Wing, which may prove to be invaluable to keeping your magus alive.

[Thomas Long 175]

there's very little of big worth in there I think.

You've got

• Nothing to strengthen the effects of your spells
  
• Power attack on a slightly MAD character with no feats until level 11 to give you bonuses to hit
  
• 2 feats dedicated to deflecting one hit per turn that is negated by your enemy not using a ranged weapon
  
• A feat that gives you a further -5 to hit on a medium BAB character for an extra 1d4 damage
  
• A feat that gives you an extra +5 to hit when charging from higher ground or flying. Why are you charging from above? It seems mostly like a waste of time. You're going to either need fly constantly or have high ground constantly to get this bonus at all.
  

Mostly I'd say until you get the touch attacks you're going to have a hard time hitting.

Even then, at that point your damage is going to be frankly lackluster since you have no metamagics to really boost. You'll get one big boost from that maximize then not much really.

[leo1925]

Talandor wrote:

You might want to check walters guide to the magus:
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz40tc&page=1?UM-Walters-Guide-to-the-Magus

Linkified