I'm not saying your build is bad by any means, its entirely viable and a novel take on the Magus. What I am saying is that by focusing on two-handed weapons you're missing out on part of what makes the Magus an excellent class :).
As for the no miss chance on a big attack...
You're basically putting all your eggs in one basket. This has benefits and drawbacks. For instance, if you go up against an opponent with Mirror Image and Displacement for instance, you have an 11% chance of hitting your target. If your one monster attack whiffs, you've wasted a shocking grasp. Plus you essentially wasted your round popping one of 8 mirror images.
Conversely, a magus could use Spell Combat to dispel the various protection spells, then follow the dispel up with a quickened SG and a flurry of attacks. Or he could do his full flurry of attacks to remove some of the mirror images, then cast SG and use the free attack at the end to see how he does. Or he could use any other kind of spell combined with attacks to try and outmaneuver the defensive debuffs.
From what I can tell you're making a giant beatstick, and judging from your choice in feats I'm guessing it's not the first giant beatstick you've made. The magus will do that for you, but it's akin to saddling up a race horse to pull a plough. You're not really making the most of your character.
But my new build took Heirloom Weapon specifically so he could use Spell Combat until later levels with the kitana...
Heirloom Weapon doesn't work with exotic weapons sadly.
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Sorry if I came over too strong, English is not my first language - I can get a little defensive about it sometimes :-).No...I agree. I just wasn't sure what you meant. Spell combat can be pretty sweet. I've seen plenty of classes with abilities that people just gloss over...not a big deal...but this is one that I'd call significant.What's a 'conventional Magus'? Are their rules on how you have to build it, to be conventional?I'd say a magus that is specifically designed to not use his defining class ability, specifically Spell Combat, would qualify as "unconventional". Conversely, a magus that does use Spell Combat would qualify as conventional.
Of course (like I've said repeatedly) you can play your character however you want but since Marshmallow specifically wanted to discuss optimization, it doesn't seem unreasonable to point out that what his build is trying to do looks to me personally like a direction that is most likely not optimal.
Too strong? I don't think so...nope...not from my point of view.
You've taken a position...one I don't see as being wrong...and are arguing it. All good. :)
But my new build took Heirloom Weapon specifically so he could use Spell Combat until later levels with the kitana...Heirloom Weapon doesn't work with exotic weapons sadly.Well for PFS play. And it only gives prof with THAT VERY Katana not all Katanas, thus he is one sunder or shatter away from being up the fecal flowing water without a wood based propulsion device. Seriously though with medium BAB the chances of hitting on a 15 are somewhat less than with full BAB so eh I never really saw the need to use a 18-20 crit weapon but, thats just me. Sword Scion is such an awesome trait and it stacks with weapon focus so most my weapon using chars use Longswords just for that trait. Then again there are many times my characters just use spell combat without spellstrike to ensure I hit the target with the spell.
Falcata is also an option if you lean more on the weapon damage than the spell damage side of things.
As an aside a blue dragon, lich or anyone with say a resist energy spell is gonna either negate or greatly reduce shocking grasp based builds, so I am always mindful of having too many of my resources tied up in one trick.
Finally, I am going to be brutally frank with this last opinion. Late blooming builds suck. For a build to be good it must be decent at all levels. If your build is sub-par for levels 1-12 then it does not matter how great your build is at 13, cause your character is dead before it hits its limelight. Now if your game is starting at 13 great. No problem roll the char and punk whatever isn't elec immune or resist, but if you have to organically grow said character through its career you have to make sure that it can survive to its glory days.
One way for a strength based magus to do this is be a tiefling, the Armor of the Pit feat giving +2 natural armor shores up one of the biggest low level weaknesses you have. Throw out the darkness spell like and get some claws, toss out fiendish sorcery and get a...
Still has a bunch if options, originally had elemental spell on the list to make up for that particular weakness. I also like the vampiric touch approach.
And my build isn't unplayable for the early levels, it just has a low AC.
Too strong? I don't think so...nope...not from my point of view.
You've taken a position...one I don't see as being wrong...and are arguing it. All good. :)
Okay, good - thank you :)
Still has a bunch if options, originally had elemental spell on the list to make up for that particular weakness. I also like the vampiric touch approach.
And my build isn't unplayable for the early levels, it just has a low AC.
This is actually where the Dervish Dancer variant of Magus shines - it performs ok at level 1 and 2 with weapon finesse and a rapier, AC 19-21 with a chain shirt before buffs. Then at level 3 you're getting dex to damage with your scimitar and you're looking at +7/1d6+5 before buffs. Strength Magus stays behind in AC and damage for a while and never catches up on Reflex saves and initiative, but at level 13+ heavy armor bridges (most of) the AC gap. I didn't bring this up since it seemed like you wanted your build critiqued specifically for the high levels.
It should also be noted that Dervish Dance is fantastic if you're in a game that has a low PB or where you rolled less than stellar stats - the feat completely removes strength as a priority for magi, leaving you open to focusing on Dex>Int>Con>wis>cha=str.