I'm looking at building a Magus for Pathfinder Society, using a Wayang race boon. My plan is to use the Kensai archetype, with Dervish Dance, to focus on weapon damage, rather than metamagic'd Shocking Grasp. Here's my plan so far:
STR 10
DEX 18
CON 14
INT 17 (+1 at 4th)
WIS 10
CHA 7
Feats:
1: Weapon Finesse
Bonus: Weapon Focus (Scimitar)
3: Dervish Dance
3: Arcane Accuracy
5: Piranha Strike
Bonus: Arcane Strike
6: Spell Shield
7: Weapon Spec. (Scimitar)
I plan on using him as my dumping ground for GM credit, so I don't plan on playing him until at least level 5. By then, he should be attacking at +10 for 1d4+10. At level 7, I'd be up to +11 for 1d4+14, and should have my scimitar Keen'd. That's before buffing with Cat's Grace, Reduce Person, etc. Any thoughts? I'm still kind of iffy on the choice of Magus Arcana.
remember that until u get dervish dance u cant use dex to hit.. weapon finesse isnt usable with a scimitar, so until u get dervish dance ull be kinda boned in the "to hit" depratment..
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
remember that until u get dervish dance u cant use dex to hit.. weapon finesse isnt usable with a scimitar, so until u get dervish dance ull be kinda boned in the "to hit" depratment..
He did mention not playing the PC until around level 5.
@bbt - He's my brother, I'm allowed to be a hater. ;)
|
What's wrong with Dervish Dance?
Don't be a hater.
Keep in mind, this is from Jiggy. He told me that my STR-heavy, three-natural-attack Half-Orc sorcerer was "[very] cookie-cutter". Clearly his creativity bar is pretty high.
As far as the build, I think it looks good. I would personally try to favor Arcana that have long-term effects (instead of just 1 round), since there's not many pool points and so much to do with them.
I'd also suggest you consider the Hexcrafter archetype. With your diminished spellcasting, hexes could go a long way. You could also take those instead of Magus Arcana. At very least, you could be flying at 60ft per round to overcome your otherwise limited movement.
You can do better than Yet Another Dervish Magus. Be creative!
Also, change your avatar back. Blech.
Well I thought about using an Elven Curved Blade, but I wouldn't be able to use Spell Combat. And since Wayangs have that racial bonus to DEX, trying to break out of the Dervish Dance paradigm would be inefficient. At least I got away from the Magical Lineage/Empowered Shocking Grasp cliche. I'm focusing on wrecking people with weapon damage, which will be especially fun when I'm tiny-sized.
Bee tee dubs, also remember that a small creature's carrying capacity is less per point of STR than that of a medium creature. Watch your encumbrance, if you're going to have such low STR.
Considering the Kensai doesn't wear armor, I think I'll be fine.
Piranha Strike does not work with a scimitar. It only works with light weapons which a scimitar is not. You will need power attack for the scimitar which means a 13 STR minimum.
5: Piranha StrikeYou cannot use Piranha Strike with a scimitar. It is not a light weapon.
Dang. I suppose I could shave some points off of CON and/or WIS to bring my STR to 13, and use Power Attack instead:
STR 13
DEX 18
CON 12
INT 17 (+1 at 4th)
WIS 10
CHA 7
Feats:
1: Weapon Finesse
Bonus: Weapon Focus (Scimitar)
3: Dervish Dance
3: Arcane Accuracy
5: Power Attack
Bonus: Arcane Strike
6: Spell Shield
7: Weapon Spec. (Scimitar)
|
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
You said you originally considered the Elven Curve Blade? Take 14 STR and use Power Attack with the ECB. You get the -1/+3 ratio with PA, even though you're Finessing it.
I'd then try a full-BAB class, like maybe Urban Barbarian so you can DEX-rage. ;)
My main PFS character is already a martial (Dwarf Monk). In fact, out of 4 active characters, only 1 is a caster (my level 4 cleric). So I'd like to stick with some casting on this one.
|
|
It's not over powered but it could be fun. You have exact precision with your attacks choosing your damage.
Or take EWP bastard sword
Feat balanced scale of abadar (average damage on attacks)
Agile enchant on your bastard sword
And use this Kensai ability starting at lvl 4
Perfect Strike (Ex)
At 4th level, when a kensai hits with his chosen weapon, he can spend 1 point from his arcane pool in order to maximize his weapon damage. Don’t roll for damage—the weapon deals maximum damage. This affects only the weapon’s base damage dice, not additional damage from sneak attack, magical weapon properties, spellstrike, or critical hits. If the kensai confirms a critical hit, he can instead spend 2 points from his arcane pool to increase his weapon’s critical multiplier by 1.
Bastard Sword can't be used with Finesse, so it can't have the Agile enhancement. Plus, since I'm working with small-sized weapons, anything working with the actual damage die of my weapons isn't going to be worth much. So the first Perfet Strike ability is kind of a waste of arcane pool points.
Whoops.
Well, until 3rd level, he can use a tiny scimitar.
Isn't that called a kukri? :-)
Or use the ubiquitous rapier until 3rd level.
There's still the "I want to play a caster instead of a martial, so I'll focus everything on weapon damage" issue. Doesn't give us advice-givers much to go on.
And seriously, your old avatar was better. You just look weird now.
Well I didn't say I wanted to go full caster. That's what my cleric is for. But I also don't want to go full martial.
But I suppose if I dropped the Kensai archetype, I could get my full spellcasting and spell recall back, at the cost of Arcane Strike (which was clogging up my Swift Action economy anyway) and a couple of points of AC. Hmm...
And I like my new avatar. It has character.
|
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
And I like my new avatar. It has character.I agree.
/facepalm
But seriously, please don't make just another dervish magus. They're everywhere.
If you're really wanting a weapon-focused caster, how about an inquisitor? Pick a deity with a Finessable favored weapon, get it agile'd, and wreck face. Your racial INT bonus will let you rock the knowledge skills, which you can get class bonuses to as well.
The inquisitor will beat the magus on weapon damage if you're already not doing the usual shocking grasp schtick anyway. You'll also have good skills, the same BAB, and an extra feat if you go for agile instead of DDance.
EDIT: Or instead of melee, you could make an archer inquisitor. I hear they're pretty good at wrecking face. Doing the same thing with a cleric could be good too.
But Wayangs have a racial penalty to WIS. And none of the races on my race book (Nagaji, Wayang, Kitsune) have a WIS bonus.
|
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
Okay, the WIS penalty hurts, but you don't need a racial WIS bonus unless you're granting saves.
So the Wayang is +2 DEX/INT, -2 WIS? This could be your inquisitor build:
STR 12
DEX 18
CON 13 (bump at 4th)
INT 12
WIS 12
CHA 10
If you're cool with CHA-dumping, the WIS can go higher. Either way, you can easily have a WIS headband before you're casting 3rd-level spells, so no worries as long as you stay away from saving throws. And since you're not DDancing, you can use a buckler and keep your AC up to moderate tank levels.
I've been wanting to make an archer alchemist (and I've been putting GM credit on a human one, which I'll probably rebuild to include this race boon), but without the human bonus feat, I don't know...
You can do better than Yet Another Dervish Magus. Be creative!
Also, change your avatar back. Blech.
Well I thought about using an Elven Curved Blade, but I wouldn't be able to use Spell Combat. And since Wayangs have that racial bonus to DEX, trying to break out of the Dervish Dance paradigm would be inefficient. At least I got away from the Magical Lineage/Empowered Shocking Grasp cliche. I'm focusing on wrecking people with weapon damage, which will be especially fun when I'm tiny-sized.
Bee tee dubs, also remember that a small creature's carrying capacity is less per point of STR than that of a medium creature. Watch your encumbrance, if you're going to have such low STR.Considering the Kensai doesn't wear armor, I think I'll be fine.
MULTI CLASS BARBARIAN LVL 2, "TITAN MAULER"
Jotungrip (Ex)
At 2nd level, a titan mauler may choose to wield a two-handed melee weapon in one hand with a –2 penalty on attack rolls while doing so. The weapon must be appropriately sized for her, and it is treated as one-handed when determining the effect of Power Attack, Strength bonus to damage, and the like.
This ability replaces uncanny dodge.
This gives you option to use a bigger weapon, take a hit to your bab but eventually can get caught up nice thing is free weapon focus from kensei takes the edge of this early, not to mention barbarian had bab bonus.
I was thinking about trying this myself, but we had a player actually build a barbarian titan mauler, so it took away the uniqueness.
I am currently in final stages of building kensei tiefling using a wakazashi