Hi.
I am refining a sample build for my Hexcrafter handbook and I wanna make sure my reasoning is sweet or flawed
[spoiler=Feats/Special:]
Trait: Magical Lineage (Frostbite), Wayang Spell hunter (shocking grasp)
1- [b]Arcane pool, cantrips, spell combat, Rime Spell
2- Spellstrike
3- Arcana: Familiar (either raven or pterosaur), Power Attack or Blindfight
4- Hex Magus: Slumber
5- Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise, Extra Arcana- Arcane Accuracy
6- Hex Arcana: Misfortune,
7-Knowledge Pool, Medium Armor, Intensify Spell
8-Improved Spell Combat
9-Hex Arcana-Evil Eye, Improved Familiar (Imp)
10-Fighter Training
11-Power Attack or Blindfight, Spell Recall,, Moonlight stalker
This is for an elf Magus. (Racial favored option for bonus arcana)
Now
His 3 main tricks are
Full attack with Rime Frostbite for Entangled/Fatigued+CL bonus non lethal damage.
Or
Two Handed Power Attack Intensified Shocking Grasp.
Or
Self buff with Displacement or Gtr Invisible. Activates Moonlight Stalker for +2 to hit and damage.
Now I have been using arcane accuracy to get rid of the power attack penalty on full attacks. So hitting is not an issue.
Just wondering if something else would be better than power attack?
Maybe spell specialization or something else?
If I wanna empower a rod is better but not sure if an arcana or another feat is blatantly better
Looks like you've done your homework my only question is why the Imp as the improved familiar and not the Faerie Dragon which is pretty much superior in every way?
By taking the Imp at level 9 it gets 100ft telepathy.
Has at will invisibility
Can use wands and wear leather armor
Why do you feel the dragon better?
-The dragon has a 10' faster fly speed and has a swim speed
-The dragon already has 100' telepathy
-The dragon can also use wands and since it counts as a 3rd level sorcerer it can use any wand off the sorcerer list without having to make a UMD check
-Its ability scores are superior
-Having the imp is going to force the PC to be Lawful evil because your familiar has to be of the same alignment except in the case of the faerie dragon where you can be within 1 step of chaotic good so it gives you more alignment options
-Since the Imp is an outsider not only does it like any other familiar run the risk of getting blown to bits pretty easily but it can be dismissed
-Oh and the dragons breath weapon although useless offensively can be used in a defensive manner because it makes you immune to fear, which can be nice when facing a real dragon.
-The Imp also doesn't even have stealth as a skill, which seems pretty essential for a familiar if you ask me.
You have convinced me on the dragon.
What about power attack. I LOVE the feat. Iknow it works. Just wondering if I am missing an obvious better option from the arcana's or feats.
Don't think there's a better option than Power Attack. Spell Specialization and such feats are rarely worth it in my opinion, except for full casters that already have the metamagics they want, if they want any.
I'm actually not very hip to any specific builds on this particular magus archtype. Upon recently stumbling across that archtype I was intrigued so your post caught my attention. However with the hexcrafter it would be wise to take advantage of their ability to get witch's curse spells, those can be some powerful debuffs. So is this a str based magus you have here? I see for a normal magus going with the dancing dervish feat to use dex and scimitar and then going with a crit build and attempting to crit your spells for a super powerful glass cannon character. But the first thought that popped into my head for the hexcrafter was using a whip and standing behind the frontliner debuffing the opponents with curses and hex's while the heavy hitter did the real damage. So I really don't have a good answer for you on power attack but if your going for a str build magus it seems like a no brainer to take the feat and probably much sooner than 11th level
It's a str magus.
I mulled over arcane strike for a long time.
But honestly the payoff with power attack seemed greater.
If both you and the fighter have +2 weapons, your swift action arcane pool enchant erases the difference in base attack bonus (it adds to weapon damage as well. Especially if you add +1 keen).
This works up until very high levels when you both have +5 weapons (then the bane arcana takes over)
With a good Int and Headbands of Intellect adding between +4 to +10 to your hit. The penalty for power attacking seemes negligible for the bigger damage payoff than arcane strike.
Hexcrafters in particular want to buff Int anyway since it sets the save DC for Hexes. (And spell DC, bonus spells, arcana points)
The traits for intensified sg or rime frosbites are great but beyound those damage spells, Hexcrafters excel at debuffing. Evil Eye (-4 saves) then spellstrike+blindness is awesome. Particularly for this build (uses moonlight stalker) it's a great way to get permanent concealment vs your blind foe.
Go to town with +2 to hit and damage while he counters with 50% miss chance.
Hi.
I am refining a sample build for my Hexcrafter handbook and I wanna make sure my reasoning is sweet or flawed
[spoiler=Feats/Special:]
Trait: Magical Lineage (Frostbite), Wayang Spell hunter (shocking grasp)
1- [b]Arcane pool, cantrips, spell combat, Rime Spell
2- Spellstrike
3- Arcana: Familiar (either raven or pterosaur),Blindfight
4- Hex Magus: Slumber
5- Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise, Extra Arcana- Flight
6- Hex Arcana: Misfortune,
7-Knowledge Pool, Medium Armor, Moonlight Stalker
8-Improved Spell Combat
9-Hex Arcana-Evil Eye, Improved Familiar (Fairie Dragon)
10-Fighter Training
11-Power Attack, Spell Recall,, Intensify Spell
Good point on getting Moonlight earlier. At 7 it adds +2 to hit and damage vs PA needing -2/+4 for one hand or +6 two hand.
At level 11 you have more arcana points to spam AA.
In the handbook you have had a Bladebound version but this build calls for a familiar, I assume that's going to change in the Guide or added as the non-bladebound variant?
Already updated the guide and removed bladebound.
Powerwise it's 50/50 but I wanted to keep the guide focused on the one Archetype.
The hardest part about guides is keeping up with the new options. I havent bought a book for awhile. The best new gem I found is the BLEND spell which is basically Hide in plain sight at level 1.
10min/level is a sweet duration, so Magai make excellent scouts as well now.
Elf is pretty much THE optimal choice.
For a hexcrafter, I like a tiefling (for flavor) though optimization wise the Elf is a good choice as well. I am debating on what flavor of magus I want to play if my paladin should ever buy the farm in our RoTRL campaign.
Just a question. How are you getting a two handed Power Attack w/ Int Shocking Grasp? Don't you have to have a free hand to cast spells in the same round you attack for Spell Strike and Spell Combat?
STR Ranger
Guide is still showing references to being blade-bound at the upper levels
12- Hex Arcana- Ice Tomb, Racial: Hex Arcana- Retribution or major healing
13- Black Blade +4, Extra Arcana: Devoted Blade
14
15- Arcana- Bane Blade, Craft Rod or Cackle if you have lots of cash
16
17-Black Blade +5, Quicken Spell, Spell Perfection:Shocking Grasp
Just thought you may want to know. What was the old bladebound progression for feats? Were you still building with moonlight stalker in mind?
Just a question. How are you getting a two handed Power Attack w/ Int Shocking Grasp? Don't you have to have a free hand to cast spells in the same round you attack for Spell Strike and Spell Combat?
You don't do it with Spell combat.
Just Spellstrike.Cast a touch spell which grants a FREE touch attack.
Spellstrike lets you use a weapon instead.
So make your attack a 2 handed weapon attack.
Spell combat requires a free hand.
Spellstrike does not.
STR Ranger
Guide is still showing references to being blade-bound at the upper levels
12- Hex Arcana- Ice Tomb, Racial: Hex Arcana- Retribution or major healing
13- Black Blade +4, Extra Arcana: Devoted Blade
14
15- Arcana- Bane Blade, Craft Rod or Cackle if you have lots of cash
16
17-Black Blade +5, Quicken Spell, Spell Perfection:Shocking GraspJust thought you may want to know. What was the old bladebound progression for feats? Were you still building with moonlight stalker in mind?
Progession was similar. First arcana was at 6. It was still a moonlight stalker build.
The progession makes so much sense since the effect is better than Wpn fcs/spl/Gtr Fcs. More attack and magus have awesome miss chance spells.I'll edit the older ref.
Just a question. How are you getting a two handed Power Attack w/ Int Shocking Grasp? Don't you have to have a free hand to cast spells in the same round you attack for Spell Strike and Spell Combat?
You don't do it with Spell combat.
Just Spellstrike.
Cast a touch spell which grants a FREE touch attack.
Spellstrike lets you use a weapon instead.
So make your attack a 2 handed weapon attack.
Spell combat requires a free hand.
Spellstrike does not.
Thats not quite true Ranger, just because you can deliver the spell through a weapon doesn't mean you can cast without a free hand. However, that doesn't stop you from just holding the weapon not wielding it in 1 hand then casting then after casting re-grip the weapon with both hands to deliver the spell.
Exactly. Regripping is a free action.
Two handed Spellstrike works.
You can't spell combat 2 handed cause it's like twf. The ability specifically states you need a free hand and it's a full round action.
Just a question. How are you getting a two handed Power Attack w/ Int Shocking Grasp? Don't you have to have a free hand to cast spells in the same round you attack for Spell Strike and Spell Combat?You don't do it with Spell combat.
Just Spellstrike.
Cast a touch spell which grants a FREE touch attack.
Spellstrike lets you use a weapon instead.
So make your attack a 2 handed weapon attack.Spell combat requires a free hand.
Spellstrike does not.
OK and thanks for the feedback. So it is a single attack with spellstike... not a full attack? To get the full attack you have to use Spell Combat from the way I read the text.
OK and thanks for the feedback. So it is a single attack with spellstike... not a full attack? To get the full attack you have to use Spell Combat from the way I read the text.Just a question. How are you getting a two handed Power Attack w/ Int Shocking Grasp? Don't you have to have a free hand to cast spells in the same round you attack for Spell Strike and Spell Combat?You don't do it with Spell combat.
Just Spellstrike.
Cast a touch spell which grants a FREE touch attack.
Spellstrike lets you use a weapon instead.
So make your attack a 2 handed weapon attack.Spell combat requires a free hand.
Spellstrike does not.
Yes because with spellstrike all your doing is casting the touch attack spell and delivering it in a different way.
Thanks All! Now I can have some better options with my Magus using a Bastard Sword when I have to move. :)
Exactly. Regripping is a free action.
Two handed Spellstrike works.
It doesn't matter what the action is, as you have a move action remaining to you.
You could start with the weapon sheathed and be fine.
The question is, how does this compare to say a force hook charge or the like?
-James
What do you mean how does it compare? Were talking about oranges and apples here I think, two different things. And force hook makes you get AoO'd I don't like that at all