+5 Weapon at 3rd level too much?

[insaneogeddon]

Fiddling with magus builds.

Half-Elves, Suli-Jann, Humans, Tielflings all gain +1/4 arcane pool.
Tieflings seem the best for this purpose. Sulis get extra +1/4 through elemental knight but its a sub-pararchetype and sulis -2 int and the lack of need for much arcane pool make it less effective at low levels.

Dwarves get +1/6 uses from arcana (good for empower/quicken blast builds).

Assumed (14 base +2 race int): Arcane pool = 1/2 lev + 3 int + 1/4 lev + 1 Tiefling Fiend Flayer (Internal Mortification)

5 at 3rd, 8 at 4th.

SpelBlade Archetype lets you create an Athame with a bonus = to spell lev, max +5, with the 3rd arcana 'pool sorced athame' you can replace spell level with arcane pool = +5 weapon available early.

At 4th you can create a Athame and then further boost it with arcane pool for +6 at 4th, +7 at 5th.

Along with the fiendblade power it basically means you can have one, or two very magical weapons available at will without the limits and dramas of the soul knife class or the physical presence and limits of the Blade Bound magus archetype.

[Sniggevert]

That +5 athame costs you either a high level spell, which takes a long while to get a 5th level spell slot. Or, you can spend your entire arcane pool at 3rd level to get a +5 weapon for 1 minute once per day. Sure, you've got a nice weapon for 10 rounds that day...outside of that, you've got no pool left to boost anything else till tomorrow.

The magus is built for burst damage/effects...this is just one of them IMO.

YMMV.

[insaneogeddon]

Its an example obviously at 3rd one would rarely need a weapon over +3 to damage things. +4 for cutting through things. It stillallows a situational boon that when it counts is the difference between a hard combat and an easy one.

Kensai SpellBlade Fiend Flayer allows for much. I have yet to see it mentioned in any guide or build this potential to ignore all DR through the lower levels.

[thenovalord]

as an aside, actually even having the party finding a +5 weapon would be a nice campaign plot.....i realise it wouldnt help if they tried to sell it!!

[Sniggevert]

insaneogeddon wrote:

Its an example obviously at 3rd one would rarely need a weapon over +3 to damage things. +4 for cutting through things. It stillallows a situational boon that when it counts is the difference between a hard combat and an easy one.

Kensai SpellBlade Fiend Flayer allows for much. I have yet to see it mentioned in any guide or build this potential to ignore all DR through the lower levels.

Meh. It's 10 rounds in a day, and it has to be taken consecutively. The paladin can smite evil and cut through any DR once a day too (on an evil creature) and it lasts until the creature is defeated. In the right circumstances it can be sweet, for a short period of the day, but overall I don't think it's game breaking. Again, this is just my opinion, and YMMV.

[Sub-Creator]

Sniggevert wrote:

It's 10 rounds in a day, and it has to be taken consecutively. The paladin can smite evil and cut through any DR once a day too (on an evil creature) and it lasts until the creature is defeated. In the right circumstances it can be sweet, for a short period of the day, but overall I don't think it's game breaking. Again, this is just my opinion, and YMMV.

Agreed. And, unlike the Paladin, you're sacrificing anything else you can do with your pool for the entirety of that day just to do it. Thus, this particular perk comes at a price.

I see nothing wrong or over-powered about this.

[ryric]

insaneogeddon wrote:

+4 for cutting through things.

Just want to point out, in case you have a misconception, that a +4 weapon, while it ignores /adamantine DR, does not ignore hardness like an actual adamantine weapon does.

[Pax Veritas]

Yes, if talking about actual +5 weapons. Way too much.