I'm pondering at this idea for a while. And I want your opinion on how to optimize this concept. We are starting a Planescape campaign and the GM proposed us 240,000 gps wealth level no crafting feats.
So:
1) What race combos better with this? (Samsaran comes to mind for MAD)
2) Strength or Dervish dance? Second one is feat intensive
3) Any new magic items I'm missing? And which ones should I get first?
4) Archetipes for either magus and cleric?
5) Arcana suggestions?
6) And what combos and gameplay do you guys suggest for this particular combo?
Thanks!
Magus/Cleric/Mystic theurge? we just started this idea in another thread, funny.
I wouldn't go archetype with the magus as it will block access to arcana and you will want broad study and at least one more.
Cleric wise worshipper of sarenrae and scimitar with dervish dance could be fun, but keep it simple could be more rewarding rather than falling in a feat trap.
Look at going Magus/Oracle there are some certain combos where a hex crafter magus.oracle could be lots of fun (sure you miss out on the arcana but pick up a hex.)
Battle oracle and oracle of flames are both good blends with magus..
With a combat healer in mind magus oracle of life combo.
You will never advance far enough to get the heavy armor casting in magus, so if you WERE to archetype then Skirnir (shield magus) could give you opportunity for extra AC.
I'd look into magus/inquisitor as well since your chosen combo will never get high level spells anyway. but you can have cool powers.
if anything I would stay away from the feat trap of dervish dance.
Strength and falcata is a good choice.
I'm not sure I'd call Dervish Dance a "feat trap". If you want your DEX higher than STR you're going to take Weapon Finesse anyway, that means it's 1 feat to add DEX to damage. What it really boils down to is: What's more important to you Money or Feats? If you don't think your GM will give you a lot of money or won't let you have the enhancements you need when you can afford them (i.e. Agile), then Dervish Dance is worth it. If you think your GM will allow you get Agile, then a Kukri is almost as good. Downside being that your friends will have a +2 weapon and you'll have a +1 Agile.
Dervish Dance is anything but a feat trap, especially for the Magus.
I have no idea why you would say so.
because it makes you chose the same thing over and over again and you can only chose to do it that way.
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In fact, as you will be a bit MAD already, the Dervish Dance route will help bypass this a bit.
Another option is getting a weapon with the Guided enchantment.
By the way, Cyth-V'sug(CE), Jezelda(CE), and Libicocco(LE) all have the Scimitar as their favored weapon.
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because it makes you chose the same thing over and over again and you can only chose to do it that way.Dervish Dance is anything but a feat trap, especially for the Magus.
I have no idea why you would say so.
I am not sure what you mean.
Do you mean attack with a high crit weapon, add dex to damage, and do so while using spell combat?If I choose Weapon Focus, the I am going to use that weapon all the time.
If by "trap" you mean focus on something, and be really good at it, then that's silly, because people do that all the time and that is what makes strong build.
Maybe you just don't like the feat, which is fine, but it does not make the feat a trap.
That's just, like, your opinion, man.
because it makes you chose the same thing over and over again and you can only chose to do it that way.Dervish Dance is anything but a feat trap, especially for the Magus.
I have no idea why you would say so.
I am not sure what you mean.
Do you mean attack with a high crit weapon, add dex to damage, and do so while using spell combat?If I choose Weapon Focus, the I am going to use that weapon all the time.
If by "trap" you mean focus on something, and be really good at it, then that's silly, because people do that all the time and that is what makes strong build.
Maybe you just don't like the feat, which is fine, but it does not make the feat a trap.
That's just, like, your opinion, man.
when the Magus beat was out 95% of magus builds were dervish dancers. because it was the "best" and the only way to go. HAD to have a high dex magus, magus HAd to built this way or it wasnt a viable class, blah blah blah. then all the dex builds were crying because they couldnt do much damage.
It's too attractive of a combo and traps people into building a magus that way.
Just build a magus without dervish dance or scimitar there are a million options but no the focus is ont he mechanics, which makes it a trap because you "have" to chose it.
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Actually, a Forgemaster Cleric/BladeBound Magus sounds cool, and it allows you to dump charisma.
The added spells will sync well with the build.
You can go strength based, and be well protected.
This is even more true if pick the Skirnir Magus archetype, but the Bladebound with a Dwarven Waraxe is a more thematic approach.
Ah, so you view it as a "trap" because it is a very good choice for the Magus, many people take it.
Still goes with the "I don't like it, so it's bad" thing.
There are other options out there though, especially with the Agile enchantment.
see the agile idea makes it "sub optimal" as it's not AS good...trapping you into HAVING ( in a fan boy way) to use a scimitar. So you get all these vanilla builds.
I like the earlier suggestion of a forgemaster cleric, so that your intelligence is useful to your cleric levels and you don't have to worry about charisma. It also gives you even more versatility with your weapon added on to the normal arcane pool abilities of the magus. Hexcrafter is a fun and flavorful choice, as previously stated. What domain will you be taking? I imagine something like rune, magic, or knowledge?
ok ok,,,over used due to it being too good. the trap i feel is that too many fan boys ONLY make a magus this way and poo poo to the ends of the earth anything else that doesnt use it. So call it funnel rather than a trap.
If it was me I would focus stat focus as follows:
Int > Con > Wis = Str(or dex depending on your choices) > dex(strength) > Cha
Clerics get a lot of good buffs that can make up for the strength issues and arcane accuracy can help with hitting when needed too. I would keep wisdom at just what is needed to cast the spells of the highest level you can cast and go with Magus 7/Cleric 3/ Mystic Thuerge X... but that's up to you.
Hey guys thanks for the replyes,
Due to MAD I think I need to roll my stats to consider the best path to follow either str or dex.
As magi shine when using a wide crit scimitar is always agood choice.
As mentioned before I dont mind losing spell recall as mystic theurges rarely are without spellcasting options.
Right now I'm looking for strategies to raise my to hit and my AC.
I think the cleric spells help and also adding Greater Heroism from the witch Via Samsaran Mystic Past Life is a win/win (I'm adding Ill Omen, Enervation and Greater Heroism, dunno anything else that stands out that is arcane witch not present in the cleric spell list)
Dotting for when I have had time to look into this.
I'm pondering at this idea for a while.
Why?
In order for us to give you the best advise we need to know what your goals are. What are you hoping to get out of this combination. Restrictions and whatnot from your GM.
1) What race combos better with this? (Samsaran comes to mind for MAD)
Samsaran are both thematic and good for your build. The Alternate racial trait will give you plenty of spells of both divine and arcane. Other options exist, of course. Remember you only NEED an INT and WIS of 16 to get all your spells, and your DC's don't matter too much since you're going to be using touch attacks mostly. Tengu is also an excellent option because..well..they're just great overall. If you choose Tengu get a Katana. Dwarves are also great if you can't be a Forgemaster otherwise.
2) Strength or Dervish dance? Second one is feat intensive
I personally don't like Dervish Dance, but you're only going to get up to medium armor as both a cleric and Magus, so a Dervish build is just fine. Your optimal armor is going to be either a Mithril Breastplate or Darkweave Studded Leather, depending on how high your dex gets.
3) Any new magic items I'm missing? And which ones should I get first?
Pearls of Power would help you greatly, especially if you choose Crusader Archetype.
4) Archetipes for either magus and cleric?
I would suggest Forgemaster/Crusader for Cleric to both lessen MAD and because the bonus feats help with Dervish Dance. For Magus I suggest Black Blade and Hexcrafter if you can fit your Arcana in nicely. Otherwise just leave it or go only Hexcrafter. Hexes to pick up are Prehensile Hair, Evil Eye, and Flight. Other Hexes either won't scale, get gimped by full round actions, or are covered by your divine levels.
5) Arcana suggestions?
Familiar if you don't go Eldritch Heritage, Arcane Accuracy is and Familiar Arcana are great. Grab Improved Familiar and get something great. Spell Blending is required for this build.
6) And what combos and gameplay do you guys suggest for this particular combo?
I would go Scimitar even if you aren't Dervish, but if you are not Dervish and can get proficiency with it without a feat(Tengu, domain), the Katana is excellent. You want to pick a Domain that grants a level 2 power that doesn't need to scale and is pretty good. If you go forgemaster your domain is artifice domain, which is okay.
If you followed my advice and became Crusader and Dervish Dancer your stat priorities should be like this: Dex>INT/WIS>Con>Strength>Cha
If you can get strength up to 13 for Power Attack.
1) I will say + 1 on the level 7 magus and level 3 cleric then level 5 MT to star in MED armor with no spell failiure is cool.
2) Pearls of power must have to keep all you your spell going and it work for both classes.
3) Look for way to cut you MAD cause Right now you Need INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA
4) Look at combat casting casue Casting Def suck as split caster.
5) Extra Trait you need 4 total Birth Mark, Focused Mind, Heirloom* Weapon (role play as a Samsaran), Blade of Mercy. (This with Enforcer Feat)* There is spell out there that make is materwork the you can upgrade it to magic. Look at Blade bond Arch type for magus
6) I like Gloy and Healing Sub domain(Restoration)
7) As far as spell to add to your ckeric list
Lead Blades, Bless Weapon, holy Sword, Enlarge Person, Wrath, rally point, Versatile Weapon, Flame blade to (Attack Touch AC) aspet of the Stag
8) I would not take Crusader you will lose a spell at every level to get weapon Focus NOT WORTH IT in this build.
9) blade bond Archetyppe for Magus the INT blade keep coming back to find you life after life. That just cool role play.
10) It will take you 3 feat to get Impove Famliar you do not have them to spare in my point of view.
11) ring of shield of force keep hand free to spell cast and still has +2 shield. spell Storing on you weapon and Keen (you do not have the Feat you inproved Crittal)
Celestial Plate Armor
Source Pathfinder #11: Skeletons of Scarwell pg. 29
Aura faint transmutation (good) CL 8th
Slot armor; Price 28,650 gp; Weight 25 lbs.
Description
Celestial plate armor is a sturdier version of the standard celestial armor. This bright silver suit of +3 full plate is remarkably light, and is treated as medium armor. It has a maximum Dexterity bonus of +6, an armor check penalty of –3, and an arcane spell failure chance of 20%. It allows the wearer to use fly on command (as the spell) once per day. This Thing it Role play
Wanting the divine 9th level for Raise Dead could be important.
However, Breath of Life exists for a reason, and consider Oracle(Winds,Dual-Curse)-4, along with the dervish dancing. Your crits will stagger, making crit-fishing good even without spell striking.Use your spell combat to cast buffs instead of spell striking until you're awesome enough to deliver?
Consider Tiefling, BoF has Dex/Cha variant as well as the standard Dex/Int, and the ARG prehensile tail option could hold metamagic rods for you without having to do the hexcrafter prehensile hair thing.
There's plenty of no-save magus spells, like the awesome Frigid Touch, so no need to crank Int too high unless you want to Kensai. Being a stagger-meister with good AC is especially cool if you can spare the feats for the Crane.