PFS Magus Advice

[Enkindu594]

So this past Tuesday I finally had an opportunity to play my first session of PFS. While I am an experienced pathfinder player, I was not really sure how PFS would work and so showed up without a character. I was quickly told that I should play a pregen, but I could apply that chronicle to any character that I created afterwards. I knew that I wanted to expand upon a character that I had created for a council of thieves game, and here is where I come to the boards for advice.

I am wanting to play a Magus character, and because of the requiremnt of showing up with book in hand for anything that you are using I do not want to use the typical dervish build. So I will be going for more of a strength magus. The books I have access to are Core, APG, UM, and UC. As of right now I am working with

Half Elf Magus 1
Str: 18 (+2 racial)
Dex: 12
Con: 15
Int: 14
Wis: 10
Cha: 7

Traits: Anatomist, Magical Lineage: Shocking Grasp
Feat: Arcane Strike

I traded the half elf adaptability trait for "Ancestral Arms" and chose the Falcatta.

My intention is to become an absolute monster of a front line fighter/damage dealer, in addition to doing some self buffs, and minor battle field control.

So my main concern is the way that magic item purchasing work, am I gimping myself by taking the Falcatta? Will I be limiting myself to forever having a +1 weapon (aside from my arcane pool) for the entirety of my career? Furthermore, is there anything that I am overlooking with my basic setup? Can anyone recommend an expanded feat selection?

Finally, does anyone have some low level Magus tactics suggestions that can help me take advantage of spellstrike and my 0 level spells. Right now I feel like I should focus on "daze" so that I can "stun lock" opponents before I really have access to a multiple castings of shocking grasp to become a damage monster.

Anyways, I am excited to hear what you guys have to offer, thank you very much.

[kaisc006]

I would say lower your Con to 14 and increase Wis to 12. Your going to be pouring your ability points into Strength to churn up the DPR. Also in later PFS scenarios Will saves will become important. Otherwise you have a great stat selection.

Falcatta is great but so is an 18-20/x2 crit weapon. Personally I favor critting often rather than one giant crit. so I would suggest an 18-20/x2. Either falchion, katana,nodachi, elven curved blade, ect. Also critting more often means your spells crit too. You may want the bladebound archetype to focus even more on your favored weapon and make it indestructable. Additionally, it's enhancement bonus scales for free and will be much faster than spending money. By level 5 it will be a keen weapon where as other characters will have to wait till levels 7-8 to even afford one. I wouldn't advise stacking kensai as well because your AC will be extremely low.

As far as being hurt because you're focusing on a single weapon, no you won't. In PFS you can either purchase items encountered in the scenario or wait until you have enough Fame so your spending cap increases. It is very rare to buy an item from the actual Scenario and most people wait till their spending cap increases. If you don't go bladebound, then you can pay the difference in cost to increase your weapon's enhancement. So taking a +1 falcatta to a +1 keen falcatta costs 6,000gp. You don't have to sell and but a new weapon