It is not even in question (if you read the rules) whether it works for ranged weapons. Of course you can use Arcane Pool at 100% effectiveness on ranged and thrown weapons. It never says, implies, or suggests anywhere that the bonus stops working once the magus lets it go.
Which is another reason why Magus is one of the best, if not the THE best, ways of getting into Arcane Archer. You become an arcane version of Treantmonk's Switch Hitter ranger. It's totally awesome.
Stand back and launch flaming Fireball arrows at them and then go magus on them when they get into melee. It's not the best build but thats pretty much just because Arcane Archer is s@!$ty. However, it is pretty fun/cool.
@TheSideKick: This will be the last time I reply to you unless you contribute something to THIS THREAD, not this idea of the "boards as a whole" that you seem to have. As I previously stated, since even the last magus thread, new stuff may have come out that makes the optimal crit-fishing shocking grasp magus different from what it was in the last thread. Also, if I were to go into one of those older threads and ask a question about a post in it, the next 3 posts after mine would be asking why I necroed the thread. I'd rather just post a new thread and maybe get some new ideas and discussion going.
@Gip Folgorn: How much would being a human change that build? As a human, I could get Combat Casting and Weapon Finesse both at level 1, and move Dervish Dance up to level 3. I also have no problem dumping Cha and/or Wis if needed to get the ability scores I need, although I see no reason why I couldn't go with 10/16/14/15/10/8 as a human, with the stat boosts at 4 to Int to give me my bonus spells, and the ones at 8 and 12 going to Dex or Int, whichever I need more at that point. The +2 from being human would obviously go into Dex. Heck, this pre-racial ability spread also looks like it would work better for an elf, as well.
BDJ, just go find a shocking grasp build, look at it, learn from it, and make your own build.
Then post your build, and ask for critique. If there's some sourcebook that's come out in the last hour you haven't read yet, then someone will surely tell you all about it.
@The Morphling: I did that and posted a build. One of the respondents told me it was terrible. Now I'm looking for help in making it not terrible. I really like Gip's build, I'd just rather not play an elf.
@Dragonamedrake Yes, Pearls of Power are legal in PFS.
Ok guys, how does this look:
Human Magus
Traits: Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp), ????
Level 1: Weapon Finesse, Intensified Spell
Level 3: Dervish Dance, Familiar arcana or Arcane Accuracy
Level 4: +1 Int
That's a good start, right? I'm really undecided as to the arcana at 3. Familiars are awesome, but I have seen a lot of people touting Arcane Accuracy.
Level 1: Weapon Finesse, Intensified Spell
Level 3: Dervish Dance, Familiar arcana or Arcane Accuracy
Level 4: +1 Int
That's a good start, right? I'm really undecided as to the arcana at 3. Familiars are awesome, but I have seen a lot of people touting Arcane Accuracy.
Why Intensified at first level? It's a dead feat until you hit 6th level since it only increases the cap, it doesn't give you an extra 5 dice of damage.
In PFS play, you'll probably top out at around 20-21 Int if you start with 15, which means you won't auto succeed level 1 concentration checks until 11th level or so. That makes Combat Casting viable, lowering your auto succeed level to 8-ish (6 - 7 for Arcane Mark.)
Another option would be to go Dual Talent, drop the extra feat completely and pick up +2s in Int and Dex.
If you've got Ultimate Campaign and are comfortable with cheese, you can pick up anything for your second feat, like Toughness, and then retrain that at level 2 for 5 Prestige Points and get Dervish Dance a level early. (The FAQ stating that you can retrain into a feat that you currently qualify for, but didn't at the time you took the original feat is here.) If you're up for retraining, any first level feat can be retrained at 6th level for Intensified Spell when it's useful.
If you're OK with picking up the Dragon Empires Primer, you can take Wayang Spellhunter and pick up Empower Spell at first level. That won't be very efficient at low levels, though. (Or you can use Wayang Spellhunter for Frostbite and pick up Rime Spell at first level for those fights where you don't need to asplode just one bad guy in a spectacular way.)
Trait-wise, I can't see how anybody can make a case that Pragmatic Activator from Ultimate Campaign is not good for an Int based class. (As long as you pair it with Wayang Spellhunter: Shocking Grasp.) You can also just go Magical Lineage + Wayang Spellhunter, as mentioned earlier.
Reactionary is good, if you use it right: Even if you get a high AC, you're still a squishy D8 class, so if you use a high initiative mod to try to beat the Barbarian to the punch... Yeah, don't do it. If you use your high initiative to get a buff off before others have acted, ready an action, or delay so that others get their buffs off but you still get to act before the bad guy, go for it!
@Akerlof: Thank you, that is the kind of advice I was looking for. I do not have UCam and probably won't until later this year. Dragon Empires Primer is a possibility. I took intensified spell at 1 because I didn't know what else to take. I really like the idea of wayang for frostbite and magical lineage for shocking grasp. Then I could take rime spell with weapon finesse at level 1, dervish dance at 3, and intensified spell and something else at 5.
What do you recommend for the level 3 arcana? I'm really having a hard time deciding between familiar and arcane accuracy.
I'm always tempted to consider a level of Admixturer for any Magus, especially one who's going to focus on Shocking Grasp rather than a multi-touch spell. For a PFS character who will get Spell Focus instead of Scribe Scroll, I find it even more tempting since it opens up Spell Specialization (use on SG until you're high enough to reach the Intensified damage cap then switch it to something else) and Varisian Tattoo.
And if you're willing to take the Admixturer dip, Heighten / Preferred lets you cast your SG with as much or as little metamagic, of whatever element makes the most sense at the time.
As for traits, rather than doubling up on both magical lineage and wayang spellhunter, I like Precocious Spellcaster (or any other PFS legal trait that will give you a caster level boost to SG)
For crit fishing, all you need is take Improved Critical on your scimitar or rapier ASAP and keep your chance to hit as high as possible. The actual weapon damage is practically irrelevant. If you see an easy way to improve your crit confirm rolls, take it.
@ZanThrax: I currently have a straight admixture wizard I'm playing in PFS, so I don't know if I want to start my magus off as one unless I can get enough GM credit to get it to 2 before I play it. Precocious Spellcaster is nice, but I'll have to see if there is anything else in the Taldor book that will make it worth buying. My general rule is not to buy splat books only if they make 1 character work.
@XMorsX: Your feat progression looks a little off. How are you getting a feat at character level 4? The build looks interesting and I definitely understand the sorcerer dip, but why bother with fireball at all?
@XMorsX: Your feat progression looks a little off. How are you getting a feat at character level 4? The build looks interesting and I definitely understand the sorcerer dip, but why bother with fireball at all?
I fixed it. When you can add a serious amount of damage, fireball can become a powerful spell for clearing rooms from hordes of weaker creatures. But the best use is combining it with a Dazing rod. A little hard on action economy, but starting the battle with a high-damaging dazing fireball will have a terrific impact.
Other than that, eventually you will reach the damage cap of the intensified shocking grasp and spell specialization will become useless. This is the best time to boost fireball.
What do you recommend for the level 3 arcana? I'm really having a hard time deciding between familiar and arcane accuracy.
A couple options for Arcana:
Arcane Accuracy is good, but at 4th level you'll have, what, 5 Arcane Pool Points? Figure two or three fights a day you'll want to enhance your weapon, so that leaves two or three points a day to use for the arcana. You also have to choose between that and Spell Recall. I don't see myself using it all that much, but ymmv and I'm not the best at resource management by a long shot.
Familiar is really good, no question about that. Taking a rabbit, Compy or Greensting Scorpion for the initiative boost? Or one of the birds for the Perception bonus and as a scout?
I'm always tempted to take Wand Wielder. Level 1 wands are ridiculously cheap in PFS, they don't provoke AOOs, and are pretty flexible: Spell combat Shield on your first round and still get an attack if the enemy comes to you. Spell Combat/Spellstrike Shocking Grasp with impunity, (or Frostbite, Chill Touch, Corrosive Touch depending on the enemy's energy resistances), or True Strike, Vanish (attack first)... There's tons of level 1 spells you can abuse at 2 PP for 50 charges in those early levels. The utility of this will probably trail off fast as you level up and can start using Shocking Grasp multiple times every fight, so it's probably a short term strategy. I like this better than using the Close Range arcana to Spellstrike Acid Splash instead of Arcane Mark, it's much more flexible.
There are a lot of great level 6+ arcana to take, but those are what I think are the best at third level. Spell Blending is awesome, but I would wait until I can get two first or two second level spells with it.
I'm always tempted to dip either Sorcerer or Wizard (or both), but that puts off the Magus progression, which is painful.
So that gets me to level 5 before I have any decision to make, which with me playing a PFS game every other week, means I have about 6 months before I have to decide. And that's if I only played my magus over that time, lol.
@TheSideKick: @Gip Folgorn: How much would being a human change that build? As a human, I could get Combat Casting and Weapon Finesse both at level 1, and move Dervish Dance up to level 3. I also have no problem dumping Cha and/or Wis if needed to get the ability scores I need, although I see no reason why I couldn't go with 10/16/14/15/10/8 as a human, with the stat boosts at 4 to Int to give me my bonus spells, and the ones at 8 and 12 going to Dex or Int, whichever I need more at that point. The +2 from being human would obviously go into Dex. Heck, this pre-racial ability spread also looks like it would work better for an elf, as well.
I personally don't like humans. Elves get a bonus to your casting stat as well as dex. Not to mention the Elf favored class bonus is pretty awesome (not to say the human one isn't good). Sadly changing to human does alter that particular build a lot.
Any given magus build lies somewhere on gradient of a wizard with a sword to a fighter with spells. Elves tend to do best on the wizarding side, while humans do better as a spellslinging fighter (its really just about mindset when you play/choose feats). Honestly, if I were to play a spellcasting fighter, I would prefer a mounted halfling magus to a human magus.
I am ready to pull this build out as soon as my character dies in my current game, except as a goblin.
Basically, mounted fighter on all your feats, and squeeze in intensify spell and charge on a riding dog with a lance (one handed weapon while mounted!). Not counting your occassional spell, at lvl 12 your halfling can produce some respectable damage. YOu have a +14 to hit on a charge dealing 3d6+33 damage before any magic items, spells, and magus abilities. Then when you hit with a spellstrike the shocking grasp does triple damage as well. Think about a paladin's smite. Except you can spell 2 AP to make your charge into a touch attack instead of having full BAB. After your weapon enhancement, rhino hide armor, and spell, at lvl you can do 38d6+36 and 1/day do 8d6+216 damage (1d6 weapon, 1d6 flaming, 3 str, 6 Power Attack, 2 Weapon Specialization, +1 weapon enhancement and 10d6 shocking grasp (maximized)).
Why Halfling? Small creature, Medium mount. You can charge anywhere anybody else can. Plus it's funny.
I personally really don't like the feel of crit fishing (and it has a surprisingly small amount of extra average damage). I highly recommend the Staff Magus archetype as an alternative. At low levels you get more consistent damage output when not using spell combat because you use the staff in both hands and because you can get weapon specialization early if you want it (if you have more than 3 combats per day at low level this happens a bunch). At mid levels your armor class gets high (and your speed stays at 30, and you save an action by not casting shield) and you start laying down trips (and getting the AOO's) while casting.
It hurts to lose the big crit range... but not as much as you'd expect when you realize that with your first attack a trip, you have a significantly higher chance of actually landing the spell. Also all of your team-mates will thank you as they murder your tripped opponent with AOO's.
That's all well and good Thaago, but I've said a few times I want to build a vanilla magus. If I did decide to go for an archetype, it almost certainly would not be staff magus.
Then when you hit with a spellstrike the shocking grasp does triple damage as well.
Spells always have a x2 crit mod.
Spellstrike wrote:
This attack uses the weapon's critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.
BDJ, I'd consider elf or half-elf for your race - the elf favoured class bonus is that much better than the human's. Losing Combat Casting feat hurts a bit at low levels, but given the way Spell Combat works, you can cast your spell, five step into melee range, and then full attack if you need to avoid attacks of opportunity.
1.)I think the arcane strike feat gets a bad rap for Magi. It does mess with action economy in the big fights (as you will have a couple of rounds of swift actions before it becomes an option), but it is great for a fight you don't want to waste resources on. For instance, if you are fighting the 1st-3rd level warrior mooks that are thrown out at low level PFS, you could either A.)Burn one of your 3-5 arcane pool points to get a +1 attack/damage, or B.)Burn one swift action to get a +1 damage. It will be better to do B because the attack won't be a huge deal on human warriors of those (or really, most) levels.
2.)I know you said you wanted no archetype, but might I point out that Hexcrafter archetype lets you use hexes (slumber and fly are the best IMO), and spell combat with a wider variety of spells (as you get a bunch of curse spells).
3.)You might want the Clever Wordplay trait (pathfinder society primer), which lets you use any one charisma-based skill as an intelligence-based skill. With season 5 being focused on plot an NPC interactions, a decent diplomacy is becoming important.
4.)+1 Wand Wielder arcana. It does lose versatility at high levels, but shield and true strike wands are just stupid cheap in PFS, and it allows you an burnable 50 spells of one type to SC with when you need to save resources.
Wand Wielder is really best for a Staff Magus using multi-touch spells rather than novaing with SG. But does PFS even allow for a Staff Magus that creates his own custom staff?
Then when you hit with a spellstrike the shocking grasp does triple damage as well.
Spells always have a x2 crit mod.
Spellstrike wrote:
This attack uses the weapon's critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.
Emphasis mine.
I think he's talking about Spirited Charge allowing you to do triple damage with a Lance on a charge, not crit.
@ZanThrax: I haven't completely ruled out playing an elf, but I really didn't want both of my arcane casters to be elves. I guess there are worse things in the world, though.
@ArmouredMonk: Hexcrafter makes you put off Spell Recall until level 11, which I have very little interest in doing. Arcane Strike is a nice feat, and I haven't completely ruled it out. Also, I seriously considered Wand Wielder and it's very possible I will take it at level 6 instead of Close Range. However, the bump to initiative from a compy familiar is almost too good to pass up.
That's all well and good Thaago, but I've said a few times I want to build a vanilla magus. If I did decide to go for an archetype, it almost certainly would not be staff magus.
Whoops! I missed when you said that. In response to your posted build:
I'm not a fan of dumping down to 7 on Cha just because I don't like roleplaying those characters - totally your call though.
I would drop intensify spell at lvl 5 - it does no good at that level without something that boosts CL for shocking grasp - and pick it up at 7. That gives you 2 feats at 5: the main candidates I see are toughness, extra arcane pool, weapon focus, arcane strike, and extra arcana.
Toughness is always good for a squishy melee (its a pity you can't take it earlier). Weapon focus is boring but every bit helps, especially with the -2 from spell combat. The arcane pool is endurance - either extra buffs or straight up extra spells per day through recall. Arcane strike: from your build it seems that your only use of swift actions are the pool buff and spell recall - you'll have time for arcane strike if you don't use spell recall in combat, and its a solid boost. You can use the extra arcana to grab close range at 5, then at 6 grab Empowered Magic. Once per day may not sound good - I like to think of it as a bonus 5th level spell at level 6 - totally worth it.
At 9th level take lunge as your feat. The extra 5 feet that lets you full attack happens fairly often (and you don't need to cast defensively if they only have a 5ft reach and you use your 5ft to step back at start).
My only other comment is a useful faq I recently discovered: http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5ld3d?FAQ-Attack
You can cast a touch spell and take a 5ft step before using the free attack. Amazing at avoiding those defensive casting checks at low level, though its impossible to pull off all the time.
So that gets me to level 5 before I have any decision to make, which with me playing a PFS game every other week, means I have about 6 months before I have to decide. And that's if I only played my magus over that time, lol.
That looks okay. However, Combat Casting is kind of a trap and loses its luster at later levels. If concentration checks really scare you, I'd take a trait or something to do it. Close Range arcana is also kind of meh unless you got the Snowball spell. I wouldn't take spell blending until you can get two spells out of the deal.
Since you're having trouble finding a good feat for first level, I'd suggest being an elf. I know you weren't fond of playing another elf, but if you have Advanced Race Guide, you can pick up their awesome alternate favored class bonus.
My suggested build. It's pretty simple. No ridiculous dipping and you can do pretty much everything with CRB, ARG, and UM.
Spoiler:
Elf Magus
Favored Class Bonus: The magus gains 1/6 of a new magus arcana.
Traits: Magical Lineage (shocking grasp), Anatomist (or Reactionary or something that makes Perception a class skill)
Str: 10
Dex: 19
Con: 12
Int: 17
Wis: 10
Cha: 7
Level 1: Weapon Finesse
Level 2:
Level 3: Dervish Dance, Familiar (compsagnathus)
Level 4: +1 Int
Level 5: Extra Arcana (Spell Shield or Arcane Accuracy), Intensify Spell
Level 6: Empowered Magic, <Spell Shield or Arcane Accuracy>
Level 7: <Spell Penetration or Extra Arcana or Weapon Focus[scimitar]>
Level 8: +1 Dex
Level 9: <Greater Spell Penetration or Extra Arcana>, <Spell Blending or Arcane Edge>
Level 10:
Level 11: Improved Critical (scimitar), <Extra Arcana (heroism, protection from energy) or Greater Weapon Focus[scimitar]>
Level 12: +1 Dex, Critical Strike, Maximized Magic
In case you're wondering why there's so many feats and arcana at later levels, magi get bonus feats at 5th, 11th, and 17th levels. Also, elf magi can get a bonus arcana at 6th, 12th, and 18th levels via favored class bonus. Extra Arcane Pool is always a handy feat because of Spell Recall.
You've got me convinced Cyrad. I'll go with an elf magus and forego Combat Casting. One last question, if I were to end up with a +1 keen scimitar, what would you get instead of Improved Critical at 11?
I'd personally get +2 scimitar or perhaps heartseeker or limning to help with concealment issues.
Also, although the FCB isn't quite as appealing, might I suggest tiefling? I mean, you have the same bonuses, but a CHA penalty will be easier to handle then a CON penalty, and Darkvision is very useful in PFS games. Of course, the roleplay issue does make some draw a line, but still its really nice from an optimization standpoint.
I don't have a problem playing a tiefling. My paladin is actually a demon born tiefling, lol. I guess if I go tiefling I take the FCB for extra arcane pool and just make do with less arcana. So that means I would only get 4 arcana and one of them is going to familiar.
Then again, I could stay an elf and invest in potions of darkvision.
You need to find a way to cover the standard Magus weakness which is insufficient HP, the 12 con elf build for example has 69hp at level 11 which is pretty much 1 trample, 1 crit, 1 failed reflex/fort/will save from death.
Remember you are basically a frontliner you require some of the same sacrifices as other front liners (you need at least HD x level hit points which for a Magus is 8hp per level or 88 by level 11, 110 is better if you can do it). A Magus with Toughness and a 14 con has a hp of 91 (meeting what I would consider the minimum requirement).
Dont worry so much about spell recall for 1st level spells if you are going the shocking grasp route you can buy pearl of power 1's for 1k gold (I have seen Magus builds with as many as 30 pearls just so they can nova every battle without worrying about spell slots you just need enough 1st level slots to kill everything in this battle next battle you will be fully prepped again).
You probably want to use the close range arcana and snowball instead of shocking grasp (it has no SR meaning it bypasses the need to even bother with a caster level check plus it carries a fort save or be staggered for 1 round which effectively cripples the opponent if they fail) this spell is much better against creatures not resistant to cold, coupled with a crossblooded sorc orc/fire blooded (so you can spontaneously convert all spells to fire damage as almost nothing is immune to both cold and fire plus you get 1 damage per dice).
You've got me convinced Cyrad. I'll go with an elf magus and forego Combat Casting. One last question, if I were to end up with a +1 keen scimitar, what would you get instead of Improved Critical at 11?
I would take Greater Weapon Focus as my magus bonus feat and Extra Arcana as my 11th level feat. Though, I'd personally prefer a +2 scimitar over a +1 keen scimitar, but I see the merit in it. I'm not sure how limited wealth is in PFS.
Shisumo is also right. The Arcane Focus alternate racial trait is a good choice. You lose weapon familiarity (which isn't useful because you're sticking with scimitars), but gain a bonus on concentration checks to cast defensively.
While your hitpoints won't be high, you should have a good AC. Remember that nukes aren't your only spell asset. Defensive spells like vanish and mirror image are excellent for keeping your magus alive. Let the fighters go first and use your first turn to vanish and get into a good position. If you're still worried, then try tweaking your ability scores so you have a 13 Con and put a 4th level or 8th level point into it to get retroactive hitpoints.
Then when you hit with a spellstrike the shocking grasp does triple damage as well.
Spells always have a x2 crit mod.
Spellstrike wrote:
This attack uses the weapon's critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.
Emphasis mine.
It's not a crit. It is flat multiplied damage due to a feat. If you crit with a lance on spirited charge then your spell does x4 (from x3, as per the multiplying damage rules) but your lance (which has a x3 crit range) does x5 damage.
The increased damage is not a crit, but from spirited charge.
As for that human build, Elf is better but human is not bad. Combat casting does lose luster (it just carries you through your suck period).
I would call spending an arcana on close range and getting a wizar spell or 2 sub optimal, but not bad. However, I would be sure to grab a utility spell (clairvoyance?)
However Magi have no business with familiars. All a familiar does is give you a flanking partner at best or a conduit for a "ranged" shocking grasp. I suppose that could justify it if that's your thing but I would give is 1-2 stars out of 5. However, even on my wizards I drop the familiar for the bonded object so you may want to take my opinion with a grain of salt. I hate familiars. They are the stuff of wimpy wizards.
Then when you hit with a spellstrike the shocking grasp does triple damage as well.
Spells always have a x2 crit mod.
Spellstrike wrote:
This attack uses the weapon's critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.
Emphasis mine.
It's not a crit. It is flat multiplied damage due to a feat. If you crit with a lance on spirited charge then your spell does x4 (from x3, as per the multiplying damage rules) but your lance (which has a x3 crit range) does x5 damage.
The increased damage is not a crit, but from spirited charge.
...
Uhhh, why would spirited charge effect the spell damage? It says you deal double damage with a melee weapon. A spell is not a melee weapon. Rather, the spell is delivered through the weapon. To quote spellstrike:
"...he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell."
@Caderyn: I see your point. However, by level 11 many combats will start off with a spellstruck vampiric touch which at level 10+ gives me on average 18 temporary hp and 36 if it's intensified. Maybe I'll find somewhere to sneak toughness into the elf magus build. Maybe I'll get a Dex and Con belt. I'll figure out a way not to be squishy.
@Thaago and Gip: Don't derail the thread. Start a new thread about it in the rules forum. Although I think Thaago is correct,.
@Caderyn: I see your point. However, by level 11 many combats will start off with a spellstruck vampiric touch which at level 10+ gives me on average 18 temporary hp and 36 if it's intensified. Maybe I'll find somewhere to sneak toughness into the elf magus build. Maybe I'll get a Dex and Con belt. I'll figure out a way not to be squishy.
Vampiric touch does a max of 10d6 with 1d6/2 CLs. You should never have a need to intensify it, which only increases the maximum CL by 5; meaning you can go from 10d6 at CL 20 to 12d6 at CL 25.
However Vampiric Touch is a great spell and I highly recommend it. I use it on my Magus BBGG in my evil campaign I run and it makes her tanky as s*%~ (combined with DR 10 and Fast Healing 5).
However, in regards to staying alive, you need to position and think with your (elf) magus like you would a rogue. Get flanking as you can, avoid getting flanked, wear a mithril breastplate (for move speed and low armor check), and put some points into acrobatics.
I know you are against archtypes, but if you are concerned about survivability of and elf magus, consider the elf magus archtype Spell Dancer. You get a +2 and +4 insight bonus to AC (making your AC and Touch AC very high). Acrobatics as a class skill. On the downside you lose your 5th level bonus feat for a bonus to Stealth, Acrobatics, Climb, and Escape Artist checks when you cast a spell (meh...). You also lose your standard weapon enhancements in exchange for +10/20 move speed buff and +2/4 vs AoO or blur, fly, or haste on yourself as a swift action. It sucks if you are thinking about what you are losing too much but you have to remember that it is intended to change how the magus is played and personally I prefer that style. It's not a "good" or "bad" deal, but just a change.
Basically the Magus is the Bladesinger from 3.5 made into an awesome base class, but changed to work for any race. The Spell Dancer is a return to the true feel of the Bladesinger (including the "elf only" requirement).
I wasn't worried about the survivability, Caderyn said I should be. Vampiric touch was my answer to dealing with lower than average ho. Also, this is for PFS, so I won't be going past level 12, which means CL 16 for VT. I'll make sure to memorize a VT every day and then at level 11 I can recall it for 1 arcane point.
I shouldn't have any problems thinking like a rogue, my most frequently played character is a ninja I play in a home game. So getting into flanking position is force of habit for me.
As far as the Spell Dancer archetype, I'm not sure if it's PFS legal, so I'll have to look I to that. I'm also not sure I want to give up the ability to enhance my weapon via arcane pool.
I wasn't worried about the survivability, Caderyn said I should be. Vampiric touch was my answer to dealing with lower than average ho. Also, this is for PFS, so I won't be going past level 12, which means CL 16 for VT. I'll make sure to memorize a VT every day and then at level 11 I can recall it for 1 arcane point.
I shouldn't have any problems thinking like a rogue, my most frequently played character is a ninja I play in a home game. So getting into flanking position is force of habit for me.
As far as the Spell Dancer archetype, I'm not sure if it's PFS legal, so I'll have to look I to that. I'm also not sure I want to give up the ability to enhance my weapon via arcane pool.
How are you getting the CL16? I don't see anything boosting caster levels in your build. Also I still am dubious about taking Intensify at level 5 where it does nothing, rather than 7. I guess it depends on whether you want to be a feat weaker at 5 or have d6 more damage on the spell at 6.
Intensified vampiric touch would have an effective CL of 16 at level 11 and 17 at level 12. However there is no effective difference between CL 16 and CL 17 for vampiric touch.
As far as Intensified Spell at level 5, I guess it's all just a matter of preference. If you have a recommendation for what to take at 5 instead, I am all ears.
Intensified vampiric touch would have an effective CL of 16 at level 11 and 17 at level 12. However there is no effective difference between CL 16 and CL 17 for vampiric touch.
As far as Intensified Spell at level 5, I guess it's all just a matter of preference. If you have a recommendation for what to take at 5 instead, I am all ears.
You are mistaken as to the effect of intensify: it raises the maximum damage dice by 5 levels. Your caster level remains what it would be normally. For shocking grasp this lets you get up to 10d6 at level 10. For vampiric touch it does nothing unless you get your CL above 20.
Its true it is preference - if you're using the shocking grasp a lot then the 1d6 at 6 may be worth it. In my post above I outlined 5 feats I think are a good fit for lvl 5, with a short discussion on them ( toughness, extra arcane pool, weapon focus, arcane strike, and extra arcana).
I think your build is going to be effective and fun to play from level 3 onwards. :)
Well damn that sucks about intensifying VT. I'll just have to hope I roll good for my 5d6.
As far as the level 5 feats, I only had Intensified Spell. I still get the bonus feat so Extra Arcane Pool might be good to go with it. Also, waiting until level 7 for Extra Arcana opens up more options for arcana that require level 6+.
