Need Help Finishing A Dragon Disciple Build

[Will Black]

So, a player at my table is looking to play a Dragon Disciple in an upcoming game, and I've okayed the Cabalist Magus Archetype for him to do so. In case you're unfamiliar with the archetype, Here is a link. His plan is to get to 7th level and choose Crossblooded Dragonic/Elemental Bloodline, then go immediately into Dragon Disciple at 8. The campaign is set to go from 1st to 17th level, and will use standard Wealth by Level. So, he's got an idea of where to go, but needs help filling in the last few feats, Magus Arcana and such.

Feat/Arcana Choices:

1, feat) Combat Casting
1, human bonus) Iron Will
3, feat) Power Attack
3, arcana) Arcane Accuracy
5, feat) ??
5, magus bonus) Arcane Strike
6, arcana) ??
7, feat) Intensify Spell
9, feat) ??
11, feat) Extra Arcana (Spell Blending)
13, feat) Critical Focus
15, feat) yet to be determined critical feat
17) Extra Arcana (Spell Blending)

Now, a couple of things to keep in mind here:
A) He wants to go Strength-based and use medium armor to better synergize with the Dragon Disciple bonuses to Strength and Natural Armor. So no advice recommending Dervish Dance, please.
B) The group only consists of 3 players, so he is trying to fill the role of both a martial character and arcane caster, hence the Spell Blendings at higher level. If you have ideas for good Wizard Spells to take at these levels, by all means suggest them.
C) His weapon will be a scimitar, but the party's rogue is dual-wielding kukris (martial weapon proficiency gained from the Swashbuckler Archetype) and she has the Butterfly Sting feat specifically to help him with crit-fishing. Both of them are open to the idea of Teamwork Feats.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[Breiti]

i would take Outflank (teamwork feat) at level 7th and delay Intensify Spell at 5th level. This way he will not get much out of his 5th level feat for some time, but a flanking team with both Outflank and both with high crit weapons will realy do some nasty damage when flanking ...

[Morten Olsen]

If I were the GM in this game there would be one major of thing that would consern me about this build.

The crossblooded sorcerer is an archtype for sorcerers not a bloodline!

If you want the most effective DD melee and magic wise, I suggest that you go with crossblooded sorcerer with the draconic/orc bloodline and then go for DD at level 6 (maybee with a dip into fighter, paladin or barbarian - depending on alignment).

The orc bloodline will eventually give him +6 strength in addition to the +4 from DD. And his dammaging spells will all do +2 damage per dice.

I strongly suggest the trait Magic Knack or Magic Lineage (fireball).

I think that wanting to use medium armor can be a trap - either you end up in magus class or you use a lot of feats.

If you want more advises on how to build a melee DD I suggest looking at Oterisk's guide to dragon desciples.

[Humphry B ManWitch]

Weapon focus.
spell focus evocation
spell specialisation

orc bloodline and the "tattoo'ed sorcerer" archetype are things to investigate

[Will Black]

Thanks for the help, I'll mention outflank. But I'm not going to be be to convince him to go Sorcerer instead of Magus. Though it may be more powerful down the line, the group is starting at 1st level, and does not have a martial-type character. I just think that a sorcerer, rogue and bard will struggle very heavily at the early levels, while a magus, rogue and bard is much more well-rounded.

We've both read through Osterik's guide, but since he's using a Magus Archtype that isn't core, the information doesn't really help this build, specifically.

[Oterisk]

Indeed it doesn't. I stayed away from 3rd party stuff explicitly, because so many people don't allow it. It looks like a really cool Archetype though, so let me give my two cents. All in the hope that someday, somewhere, someone will spell my name correctly. ;P

I know it isn't elegant, but you should really consider a couple of different weapons than the scimitar. Sure it has a really good crit range and critting creatures is great for the magus. But if you have a dedicated crit fiend with Butterfly Sting, the best bet is to go with a x4 crit weapon. I'm a big fan of the Heavy Pick for this reason. A small Naginata is an interesting choice as well, because you get reach with it. Once you get to the butterfly sting levels, the other guy gets you the crit, you do x4 weapon damage and x2 spell crit as well, for some massive damage.

Make sure you look up the rule for holding the charge.

If you are worried about damage at early levels, have his first level feats be Spell Focus and Spell Specialization. Being able to do 3d6 for your shocking grasp at first level should end most combats a little earlier, thus keeping your squishies alive a little longer. A tattooed sorcerer can get this up to 4d6+4, but that's kinda overkill. Gold bloodline is the best, because fire has the best damaging spells and doesn't give him a vulnerability to cold if he ever uses his dragon form. If he isn't planning to use that, I would only recommend 8 levels of DD before going back to magus. With magical knack, he won't lose any spell levels, which is key.

The Orc Bloodline is better for cross blooded, because of the damage bonuses. Also, Inherent bonuses are hard to get, and also a robe of Arcane heritage can get you them pretty early. Of course, if you let him do this, it is fine, since you are the GM.

I'm not sure why your magus feels like he needs to fill the role of an arcane caster if there is a bard in the group too. Have him focus heavily on the melee aspect of things and let the bard take up the slack. You shouldn't have a problem with arcane stuff.

One thing that would help their survivability at low levels is to give them a higher point buy. Make sure you give out a couple of Chain Shirts early, and if they really have trouble, let one of them take the Leadership feat for a tank.

[Oterisk]

Also, thanks for the plug Morten.