One of my players is thinking about a rogue/magus build, I have searched for the answer but still not sure whether the sneak attack and spellstrike abilities stack? Any advice appreciated!
One of my players is thinking about a rogue/magus build, I have searched for the answer but still not sure whether the sneak attack and spellstrike abilities stack? Any advice appreciated!
Yes they stack. The only that is needed for something to work is to meet the prereqs. Unless otherwise stated meeting the prereqs means the abilities work.
Thanks for the quick replies! Now any archetypes that would work well with this build?
it would depend on what you are trying to accomplish in the game. Honestly I would not even use this combination since both classes are medium BAB, and by taking rogue levels you are losing magus levels.
The player in question is not looking from an optimisation perspective, purely creating an interesting character. I have looked and I think the scout makes sense as we are playing Kingmaker. He wants to fill the role of the trapfinding skill monkey, but still being able to stand toe to toe for an encounter or two. Just lost a ninja/monk at level 2 so is making a replacement.
Also he has fallen in love with the magus flavour.
I think the trapfinding and skills from the rogue and the magic spell sword style flavour from the magus. I did suggest the inquisitor!
The player in question is not looking from an optimisation perspective, purely creating an interesting character. I have looked and I think the scout makes sense as we are playing Kingmaker. He wants to fill the role of the trapfinding skill monkey, but still being able to stand toe to toe for an encounter or two. Just lost a ninja/monk at level 2 so is making a replacement.
Also he has fallen in love with the magus flavour.
If he just wants trapfinding then he can go with the ranger(trapper). IIRC it gets trapfinding at level 1. He can also take the guide archetype on top of it if he does not want a favored enemy.
Adding that ranger to an inquisitor is also nice. I know you said he does not care about optimizing, but since the ranger can do it just as well or better then I would take the ranger.
Got a ranger in the party already....
He's already an experienced gamer so I will leave it to him.
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An Inquisitor with the Jungle Domain gets trap sense. He can cast in any armor. The Bane ability is the ultimate "magic sword". The Heretic can get twice his wisdom to stealth, and never needs to set up a complicated situation to deal his full damage.
Sandman Bard does all he wants too.
Just saying, multiclassing is rough.
Having the same class as another player should not be an issue unless the other player starts trying to perform the same roles.
As an example if two people build archery focused characters, but one uses class A, but another uses class B toes might get stepped on.
If two people are fighters, but one goes with archery, but the other goes with a 2-hander then they are not stepping on each other's toes.
Trap Sense is not the same thing as trapfinding though. I really do wish the inquisitor had trapfinding at least on an archetype.
Sandman has trapfinding.
The archaeologist bard has it also, and it can put out decent damage. It might be a better fit for the player if he does not want to multiclass. I remember the sandman a little, but I don't know how it does with respect to damage.
I know, but if the spell fails you have lost a spell slot, and antimagic field means I using a high level spell on a trap. Trapfinding means I do it for free, and disable device is not going to do much for magic traps on its own.
As an aside some traps are not worth their CR. Some traps like the ones in Carrion Crown are worth their CR, and in those cases you want to try to make sure that trap is not set off.
Trouble is, you have no idea if you succeeded or not.
Throwing out a low level summon out is much quicker.
You know if you succeed, and setting off a trap may affect the entire room so setting it off from a distance is not always a great idea.
I would rather avoid spending resources for if I can do something for free. I guess it is really just a difference in philosophy though.
Archaeologist is a nice idea, I will suggest it. Multiclassing a spellcaster is always a bad idea.
Trouble with the archaeologist, where is the front line damage? It's an awesome utility class but a rogue does sneak attack, a magus does spellstrike, an inquisitor has it's bane but the archaeologist doesn't seem to have any oomph to it.
Am I missing something?
Or are there any decent damage dealing bard spells?
He's got his luck bonus and then he can buff himself as well -- there are a couple of damage spells but unless you really aim for it he's not a primary damage guy.
However with two levels in ninja you get a ki pool that can be spent for an extra attack, a bit of sneak attack and you can then get pressure points to start laying down some strength or dexterity damage.
That would be a great idea if the character he's replacing wasn't a ninja/martial artist... What about a rogue? If you actually have sneak attack then those rogue talents may be of some use?
Trouble with the archaeologist, where is the front line damage? It's an awesome utility class but a rogue does sneak attack, a magus does spellstrike, an inquisitor has it's bane but the archaeologist doesn't seem to have any oomph to it.
Am I missing something?
What do you mean by frontline damage? They won't do damage like a fighter, barbarian or ranger can when the barbarian or ranger's special abilities are activated, but when the bard is using Archaeologist's Luck they should be pretty close, and if they have haste they should be able to do as much as the other classes without haste. Even inquisitors take a while to build damage up.
On one round an inquisitor will activate bane or use a judgement. On the next round they will use other. If they have time they might drop a buffing spell.
Yeah the inquisitor can out damage a bard, but they still don't do frontline(fighter level +) damage right out the gate.
If you want high damage and trap finding then optimizing comes into play which the player was said to not care about.
In that case I suggest the Inquisitor+ranger combo I proposed upthread.
Ok cheers, I hadn't thought about the full effect of archaeologists luck.
It seems my last post was eaten, but 60 DPR can be done by level 10 IIRC by the bard.
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Arcane Strike pumps the bard.
Note, the frontline fighter Magus/Rogue will be even weaker than anything suggested.
He may not be an optimization focused player, but being terrible at what you actually want to do can't be all that fun.
Flavorful should not always mean weak, or useless.
The fact that these two are one and the same in many people's mind, on both ends of the spectrum, irks me greatly.