I'm leaning heavily with dual talented and EWP Bastard Sword. My GM says he'll give me one if I take that feat while the druid offers to turn it into a masterwork weapon.
You can't get EWP at level 1 unless you're a full BAB class or have a racial workaround (like Half-Elven Ancestral Arms). Requires +1 BAB.
Unless you're GM okay'd it and I missed that, it seems your decision has been made for you (though not sure why they would okay EWP and not PA, but *shrug*).
Dual Talented will always be a good choice, and is a great option when you're having difficulty picking a level 1 feat you can qualify for (as you are).
I’m surprised at all of the suggestions here. I wasn’t expecting to get this many responses! My GM approved almost everything in this thread. FrinkiacVII is more than likely right in that eventually I want to get many of these -- the question is which to get now. I’ll go through the suggestions here, striking out some of them to narrow my choices.
** spoiler omitted **...
Im the same way. Bastard sword is worth the feat because 1) it's visually cool, 2) katanas ARE everywhere 3)Its just the sword that Elric would have used 4)i hate the feeling of saying I 2 hand my one handed weapon.... it just bugs me.
If it were me, a +2/+2 human (which i always call half aslant) and 1st level feat in bastard sword = FUN.
but think of this, IF you want a trip build, why not go whip?
a +2/+2 human with whip as his 1st level feat. 3rd level is whip focus, 5th go into your whip tree of being whipy awesomeness.
you think it sounds like it sucks, but nothing keeps you from using a longsword until whip catches up with feats to be better.
at first level, just be a magus, spell combat and longsword.
at 2nd you can spell strike with the whip at a range of 15', not needing to worry about casting in melee, or concentration checks. when you run out of spells you can still fight with the longsword, or a bow
at third you are still doing 2nd level stuff. except you get an arcana (along with your whip focus) If that arcana is close range, you can use a zero level spell like ray of frost all day.
This means you might want to switch to longsword again, when the shocking grasps run out, and you can spell strike/spell combat all day long as long as you arent fighting cold creatures.
By 5th level you get TWO feats. One of them can be Whip Mastery and the other can be improved trip.
At 5th level it all comes together, you have a character that can use a lethal damage whip, can can spell strike/spell combat unlimited at a range of 15 feet, is str based so is decent with tripping and has improved trip.
At 6th level you arcanna should be manuver master: trip. and you have full BAB. high strength, whip focus and improved trip to do it with.
By 7th you pick up whip mastery and you are threatening with the whip. and you get to do all this in medium armor.
your journey is complete young skywalker... Oh and you can still use a longsword!
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a whip magus is defenetly fine certainly if you want to maxemize casting puting alot of money in pearl's of power and extra arcana to cast shoking grasp and intensefied shoking grasp lvl 7 and up
that stuff isnt required to have fun with the character, it's thought of as necessary to maximize it. Depends on the campaign you're in and if access to pearls of power (especially multiples) are even feasible.
but how is this tactic or acquiring goodies different from a whip magus to a sword magus?
not allowing arcane mark is the same as not alowing the monk not to flurry of blows.
if paizo did not want the magus to use arcane mark to spell combat with they would not have added it into the specialized magus spell list.
that stuff isnt required to have fun with the character, it's thought of as necessary to maximize it. Depends on the campaign you're in and if access to pearls of power (especially multiples) are even feasible.
but how is this tactic or acquiring goodies different from a whip magus to a sword magus?
as you hardly dont have anny weapon damage its either tripping or spelldamage you do. with a sword magus you have a a keen scimitar at lvl 5 meaning you get 25% critical treath and 2 atacks with 1d6 damage and each a chance to get an extra D6 the whip dont realy do anny damage so its not realy a good option for dammage. where a +1 keen scimitar with maybe powerattack and a good STR bonus you can just use arcane mark to make 2 attacks and do some decent dammage.
its just my opinion.im using a bladebound magus so its a +3 keen scimitar with 1 arcane point at lvl 5 i got 20STR(weapon focus scimitar) so thats +10/+10 1d6+10/1d6+10 I chose not to take powerattack yet but if I would have it would even be 4 more on each strike.
I'll consider a whip magus someday. I liked Kapenia Dancer because of the cool magus arcana and the free proficiency and weapon focus without losing Spell Recall (unlike Kensai). Plus, Kapenia Dancer is a bit exotic.
I'm leaning heavily with dual talented and EWP Bastard Sword. My GM says he'll give me one if I take that feat while the druid offers to turn it into a masterwork weapon.You can't get EWP at level 1 unless you're a full BAB class or have a racial workaround (like Half-Elven Ancestral Arms). Requires +1 BAB.
Unless you're GM okay'd it and I missed that, it seems your decision has been made for you (though not sure why they would okay EWP and not PA, but *shrug*).
Dual Talented will always be a good choice, and is a great option when you're having difficulty picking a level 1 feat you can qualify for (as you are).
Oh bugger, you're right. So much for that...you're quite right. I guess Dual Talented is the way to go.
Cyrad,
you are right about Extra Arcana had not remembered the pre-req.
I actually meant Arcane Mark the only 0 level Magus touch spell, so providing free spell combat. But if you DM does not allow it you are talking about 3rd level for Close Range Arcana.
I would never do this on the grounds that I would never allow this in my own campaign. While Spellstrike does say the magus can use it this way, the spell itself is poorly written and needs an errata. The listing doesn't have a "Target" label. It doesn't say using it on a creature requires a melee touch attack.
I'll consider a whip magus someday. I liked Kapenia Dancer because of the cool magus arcana and the free proficiency and weapon focus without losing Spell Recall (unlike Kensai). Plus, Kapenia Dancer is a bit exotic.
I'm leaning heavily with dual talented and EWP Bastard Sword. My GM says he'll give me one if I take that feat while the druid offers to turn it into a masterwork weapon.You can't get EWP at level 1 unless you're a full BAB class or have a racial workaround (like Half-Elven Ancestral Arms). Requires +1 BAB.
Unless you're GM okay'd it and I missed that, it seems your decision has been made for you (though not sure why they would okay EWP and not PA, but *shrug*).
Dual Talented will always be a good choice, and is a great option when you're having difficulty picking a level 1 feat you can qualify for (as you are).
Oh bugger, you're right. So much for that...you're quite right. I guess Dual Talented is the way to go.
I would never do this on the grounds that I would never allow this in my own campaign. While Spellstrike does say the magus can use it this way, the spell itself is poorly written and needs an errata. The listing doesn't have a "Target" label. It doesn't say using it on a creature requires a melee touch attack.Cyrad,
you are right about Extra Arcana had not remembered the pre-req.
I actually meant Arcane Mark the only 0 level Magus touch spell, so providing free spell combat. But if you DM does not allow it you are talking about 3rd level for Close Range Arcana.
so if you rock dual talent, what is your normal 1st level feat?
Magi are amazing ... stay with a magus up to atleast level 6... just my recommendation cuz im a level 56 magus
Just remenber that you can't put both of the +2s in the same Stat.
Extra Arcane Pool for my normal feat, so I can have plenty of points when I get Spell Recall and Magus Arcana. I put my +2 in Int, which gave me another point as well. I couldn't figure out how to do my stats to replicate Darkflame's build. There's no way to get those ability scores with a 20 point buy.
Thanks a lot everyone for your suggestions!
Dont forget my belt of giant str and the 1 point from lvl 4 i started out with 17 str and 18 int
Ah...eh, oh well. When I eventually get heavier armor, Dex won't benefit me that much anyway.
Though now I really wish I could have gotten EWP. My GM asked me what my weapon of choice was and looks as though I just got a free +1 weapon of it. I had to say cutlass because I can't wield Bastard Swords...
Skill Focus: Appraise
my vote is still weapon focus, and pick a weapon to stick with so you can get specialization on it later
cnt take weapon focus at level 1, it requires BAB of +1
holy crap
is intensify spell legal at lvl 1? it might not be useful yet, but i would hate to advocate a filler feat if you can just take something before its optimally early and have a free feat later
something about being economical with resources... idk
he could mostly benefit with toughness at lvl 1 as it is 3HP wich is ALOT at lvl 1
intensefied spell is indeed somthing you need to get at 5 or 7 but befor that its just a waste.
at lvl 3 weapon focus is the most interesting.
since its legal and not useless, combat casting all of a sudden becomes a lot more attractive
EWP isn't great for a Magus in general. Falcata isn't good for Magus because spells only do x2 damage regardless of the weapon's crit multiplier, bastard sword has been covered, and the other 18-20 crit weapons have a slightly larger damage di than the scimitar but not enough to waste a feat on.
there is another way which is one way i justify it. go half elf take ancestral arms katana getting rid of skill focus, and then going to town. and as far as I'm aware you just need your had open for the casting and then for that attack you can still two hand your katana cause its a free action to change grips.
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Here is something that no one said. How about the Additional Traits feat. There are a few traits that can realy help a Magues like Anatomist, Reactionary, Focused Mind, and Magical Lineage w/Shocking Grip. Mind you you still can only have one from each catigory but these 1/2 feats are sometimes realy worth it to take.
The four traits my magus has -
Tomb Raider (campaign)(faction trait from PFS) +1 Perception and it's a class skill, +1 knowledge dungeoneering.
Defensive Strategist (religion) - not flat-footed before acting at start of combat--my flat-footed AC is 11, my actual AC is 20--so that's a huge difference.
Cler Wordplay (Use Magic Device) (social) - UMD is based off of Int (+5) instead of Cha (-3).
...! Apparently I never picked a second trait via Extra Traits.. I need to do something about that..
I specifically don't need Magical Lineage because as a tiefling I've got a grasping tail that can hold stuff.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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I actually meant Arcane Mark the only 0 level Magus touch spell, so providing free spell combat. But if you DM does not allow it you are talking about 3rd level for Close Range Arcana.
Funny thing, I keep hearing people say that "there might be GMs who ban this" but I've never met an actual GM that bans spellstriking with arcane mark.
That said, there are several other options to get a cantrip that counts as a touch attack, including the Hexcrafter archetype and the Two-World Magic trait. The Close Range arcana is not spectacular otherwise. See this Magus Guide for more info.
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I second two-world magic, if you're not going the Magical Lineage route. I used it to pick up Touch of Fatigue for my trip build to add a little more debuffing ability. Brand is also a good option, if you just want increased damage.
EDIT: Mine is a Kapenia Dancer trip build, so my feat choice isn't really relevant unless you change your mind about that route. I went with Weapon Finesse and Dirty Fighting (from the Dirty Tactics Toolbox, takes the place of Combat Expertise). 3rd level was Improved Trip. 5th level was Extra Arcana: Elasticity, 5th level bonus feat was Combat Reflexes. My 3rd level Arcana was Wand Wielder, so I can use a Wand of Blade Lash or True Strike with Spell Combat. Works well on anything that isn't immune to trips or flying.
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there is another way which is one way i justify it. go half elf take ancestral arms katana getting rid of skill focus, and then going to town. and as far as I'm aware you just need your had open for the casting and then for that attack you can still two hand your katana cause its a free action to change grips.EWP isn't great for a Magus in general. Falcata isn't good for Magus because spells only do x2 damage regardless of the weapon's crit multiplier, bastard sword has been covered, and the other 18-20 crit weapons have a slightly larger damage di than the scimitar but not enough to waste a feat on.
A 3 year Necromancy....your Trolling is strong sir...very strong Indeed.
there is another way which is one way i justify it. go half elf take ancestral arms katana getting rid of skill focus, and then going to town. and as far as I'm aware you just need your had open for the casting and then for that attack you can still two hand your katana cause its a free action to change grips.
You can't use spell combat and two-hand your weapon.
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there is another way which is one way i justify it. go half elf take ancestral arms katana getting rid of skill focus, and then going to town. and as far as I'm aware you just need your had open for the casting and then for that attack you can still two hand your katana cause its a free action to change grips.You can't use spell combat and two-hand your weapon.
I couldn't tell what he was suggesting so I didn't say anything, but since you brought it up. You're right that it can't be used with spell combat, but it can be used with spellstrike.
A 3 year Necromancy....your Trolling is strong sir...very strong Indeed.there is another way which is one way i justify it. go half elf take ancestral arms katana getting rid of skill focus, and then going to town. and as far as I'm aware you just need your had open for the casting and then for that attack you can still two hand your katana cause its a free action to change grips.EWP isn't great for a Magus in general. Falcata isn't good for Magus because spells only do x2 damage regardless of the weapon's crit multiplier, bastard sword has been covered, and the other 18-20 crit weapons have a slightly larger damage di than the scimitar but not enough to waste a feat on.
i wasnt trying to troll i just didnt get around to it in time i read old post as i get to them
The only time I got to play a magus, I took a level of barbarian at 1st level. Initially it was just for the speed boost (I was playing a dwarf, and had just played a gnome and was sick of having a speed of 20 ft.). But starting with a BAB of +1 meant I could take Power Attack at 1st level. I also got a racial proficiency in Dwarven Waraxe, which meant I could wield it one-handed it when using Spell Combat or Spell Strike, or wield it two-handed when raging and using Power Attack. It also gave me some extra skill points and a lot of great class skills, like Acrobatics, Perception, and Survival.
If you plan on using enlarge person ever, Combat Reflexes might be worth looking into if you have a Dex of 14+ (12+ when enlarged).
The bloodrager didn't exist when I made my guy. It looks like a fun class, though. It might work better with an Eldritch Scion archetyped magus (both use Charisma for casting, right?).
For the original poster, Imp Init might be good, especially if you want to go in a particular order during initiative. Roll high and delay until you want to go.
The bloodrager didn't exist when I made my guy. It looks like a fun class, though. It might work better with an Eldritch Scion archetyped magus (both use Charisma for casting, right?).
For the original poster, Imp Init might be good, especially if you want to go in a particular order during initiative. Roll high and delay until you want to go.
I'm pretty sure the original poster made his selection about 3 years ago.