magus gestalt


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


just wondering what good archetypes and such magus go with, kensai/weapon master for example sounds good, but is it?

basically looking for a breakdown on magus gestalt builds. probably still utilizing dex dervish base with scimitar.


well since you are going dervish i would have to say wizard, don't forget the arcana that lets you use your wizard spells for spell combat. ungodly synergy.


+5 Toaster wrote:
well since you are going dervish i would have to say wizard, don't forget the arcana that lets you use your wizard spells for spell combat. ungodly synergy.

that would really be better then say, kensai/sword saint samurai?

my original intention was to give the magus more feats and better BAB/hit die. does wizard really outweigh that?


9th level spell combat, yeah pretty much a game ender


I second +5 Toaster.

Plus, it opens up the possibility of Gestalting into Eldritch Knight eventually if you don't mind the small hit to spell casting, since it would net you all the other things you wanted.


personally, I have wanted to make a magus/barbarian. would it be the bestt thing ever? Na, but you could smash hard, take a beating, and enhance with some good buffs or damage spells.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I think a Magus/Wizard Eldritch Knight could really work. Put your first 2 levels into Magus, next 5 into Wizard, and the rest into Eldritch Knight. You get Spell Combat and Spell Strike and when you get to the higher levels you get access to 7th, 8th and 9th level spells. If you look at the verbage for Spell Combat it basically says you can use Spell Combat for any spell on the Magus spell list. For a wizard it means that he could use Spell Combat for some but not all of his spells. At this point Broad Study would be a waste as it requires 6th level. One more thing, it also means if you want to use light armor while casting non Magus spells you're gonna need Arcane Armor proficiency.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Gestalt was a "proceed with care" option under 3.5. In Pathfinder, where the base classes are considerably stronger, it's a "proceed if you don't really care about class balance" option.


The gestalt rules specifically forbid eldritch knight, mystic theurge and arcane trickster.

Unless your GM is out to slaughter the party you should do what you are most comfortable with. If you want a swordmaster who can even hold his own in an antimagic field and only want to enhance it with a few flashy spells fighter is for you. If you want to go nuts on the magical side wizard or that sorcerer bloodline that lets you cast with int are best.


Navarion wrote:
The gestalt rules specifically forbid eldritch knight, mystic theurge and arcane trickster.

They don't forbid it, they just recommend they shouldn't be allowed for Gestalt classes, but otherwise it's up to dm discretion. Plus, I don't think anyone's ever complained about PrCs in Pathfinder being OP.

As long as you halted your Wizard progression for the EK, continuing Magus & EK, I don't see why it would be an issue.


+5 Toaster wrote:
9th level spell combat, yeah pretty much a game ender

why would i get spell combat at 9th level? i ask because im looking at magus, bladebound, and kensai right now, i see nothing where it changes the level i get spell combat.


I think he meant 9th level spells combined with spell combat.


Dal Selpher wrote:
I think he meant 9th level spells combined with spell combat.

ahh, ya my group needs another upfront fighter tho. and i want to make a magus. so im gonna stick with the melee aspect using spells more to aid that.


If you're wanting to steer more pure melee magus with a bit of self-buffing ability, I'd actually recommend gestalting magus with fighter.

By the time a magus can cast in heavy armor, the fighter's Armor Training allows him to move without penalty in heavy armor and also increases his max dex bonus considerably.

Mithral Full plate and a Fighter's Armor training will still allow you to get a good chunk of your Dex bonus into your AC, while also giving you a huge armor bonus to boot.

Alternatively, you could gestalt with Rogue and cackle with glee whenever you land a spell combat-shocking grasp-crit that also gets sneak attack.


You know, it may not be the best option because of action economy and all of that. But I really enjoyed the Magus/Alchemist I built.
Kensai Bladebound Magus where I focused that spell list for combat. And I used the Alchemist side for utility and bombs. You could also go with vivisectionist for the sneak attack if that appealed to you. And with Dervish dancing Dex based mutagens make you quite a bit better.

As for the prestige class thing that popped up, I always ruled that in order to take a prestige class you needed to qualify on one side only. It did lead to some weird situations where a Eldritch Knight/Cleric could do pretty much everything but I actually never had any players try that *shrug*


Dal Selpher wrote:

If you're wanting to steer more pure melee magus with a bit of self-buffing ability, I'd actually recommend gestalting magus with fighter.

By the time a magus can cast in heavy armor, the fighter's Armor Training allows him to move without penalty in heavy armor and also increases his max dex bonus considerably.

Mithral Full plate and a Fighter's Armor training will still allow you to get a good chunk of your Dex bonus into your AC, while also giving you a huge armor bonus to boot.

Alternatively, you could gestalt with Rogue and cackle with glee whenever you land a spell combat-shocking grasp-crit that also gets sneak attack.

i was going fighter first, but a friend brought up sword saint archetype of samurai with a bladebound kensai combination. and im pretty certain im sticking with that.


anything with statistical synergy is good as long as it avoids too much overlap. I think the kensai/bladebound magus would actually work well with the urban warrior archetype. The uncanny dodge and dexterity rage mechanic will have you hitting very hard without ever loosing all of your armor class. Rage powers also make for some amazing saves and tertiary abilities that are just cooler than most martial classes get without magic help.


all cool ideas, but for this char, i think im gonna go with sword saint for the bladebound kensai.

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