Spellstrike Gloves and Magus loot in general

[Level 1 Commoner]

Right now I'm preparing the loot list for our trip to Schloss Caromarc. We don't play with crafting yet, because we're still newbies. There are no magic marts in our world, because we like a sense of wonder and don't want Cloaks of Resistance +5 in 6 different colors at every corner. But on the other hand my players should still get the cool toys.

Almost everybody in the group (level 4-6) has some nice and specific gear by now. I read up some older threads regarding Spellstrike Gloves when I tried to find something fitting for our Bladebound Magus (level 5.9999). His only magical gear besides his free weapon is a Pearl of Power and a Ring of Protection +1. When I saw that name I thought "Yay, cool Magus stuff!" but the description was very disappointing from what I understood.

1. Is its field of use as narrow (less than a handful of useful spells that benefit from it) as the description indicates?
2. Can you give me some alternatives for magus loot at lower and medium levels? Light armor will soon be replaced and Rings of Wizardry or Arcane Mastery are a little bit too good for such a relatively low level when I bear WBL in mind. Their time will come in two or three levels.

[tkul]

Stat items and consumables are generally what casters have for "drops" at lower levels. A wand of magic missile(cl 5) is handy thing to have around. Gloves of arcane striking (assuming he has the feat),could be fun. From what you listed he's got almost every slot open. Look at where his character is focused and find something that supports the theme.

[Claxon]

Headband of Vast Intelligence
Amulet of Natural Armor
Belt of Dexterity or Strength

You player would probably appreciate any of these

[williamoak]

For the glove os spellstrike, yes, the use is INCREDIBLY narrow (sadly). I myself have a bladebound magus who was disspointed by them.

Another useful item for the magus is the "ring of arcane mastery". Cool stuff, gives extra use to the arcane pool. I'm fond of the "jingasa of the fortunate soldier", it's fun to have.

I'm also fond of wayfinders, but that's just me. Scrolls can also be useful, depending on the player's UMD.

[Drachasor]

More pearls of power (1st) are always nice. More and more and more and more. Especially if he can cast Intensified Shocking Grasps as a 1st level spell.

If he has a dex build, then muleback cords are handy to increase carrying capacity.

Both of those are just worth 1k each.

[Artoo]

He might appreciate a Scabbard of Keen Edges, assuming he's a fairly standard crit fishing magus. Although that's a very expensive item for a 6th level character.

Claxon has already suggested the more common items, although some appropriate armor would also be something he might like.

Something that's a bit unusual but as far as I know was only ever printed in a PFS scenario is the Acrimony Veil:

Acrimony Veil:

Aura Moderate evocation; CL 9th
Slot head; Price 13,500gp; Weight 1lb.

Description

Acrimony veils are rare ancient magic devices created by Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath. They are normally composed of several types of interconnected metal and human bones, each etched with complex designs. The device covers the wearer's entire face but provides no benefits to AC. This mask functions as a lesser empower metamagic rod, but only affecting spells of the evocation school. Additionally, the wearer may cast rage on himself once per day.

Construction

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, rage; Cost 6,750gp

That or a similar custom item might be of interest to him. Once again that's a somewhat pricy item for a level 6 character, though.

[Claxon]

Drachasor wrote:

More pearls of power (1st) are always nice. More and more and more and more. Especially if he can cast Intensified Shocking Grasps as a 1st level spell.

If he has a dex build, then muleback cords are handy to increase carrying capacity.

Both of those are just worth 1k each.

According to this FAQ, I believe an intensified shocking grasp spell would require a Pearl of Power 2, regardless of the fact that a magus can prepare the it as a first level spell. But I'm not 100% sure because of the interaction with the trait that reduces the metamagic cost.

It's mostly irrelevant, except for magus characters.

[Drachasor]

Claxon wrote:

Drachasor wrote:

More pearls of power (1st) are always nice. More and more and more and more. Especially if he can cast Intensified Shocking Grasps as a 1st level spell.

If he has a dex build, then muleback cords are handy to increase carrying capacity.

Both of those are just worth 1k each.

According to this FAQ, I believe an intensified shocking grasp spell would require a Pearl of Power 2, regardless of the fact that a magus can prepare the it as a first level spell. But I'm not 100% sure because of the interaction with the trait that reduces the metamagic cost.

It's mostly irrelevant, except for magus characters.

I don't pay attention to rule-changing FAQs. They have far too many FAQrattas to keep track of. If they want to change the rules, they can do a proper errata.

That said, even that FAQ says it counts as the spell level necessary to cast it.

[Claxon]

Drachasor wrote:

Claxon wrote:

Drachasor wrote:

More pearls of power (1st) are always nice. More and more and more and more. Especially if he can cast Intensified Shocking Grasps as a 1st level spell.

If he has a dex build, then muleback cords are handy to increase carrying capacity.

Both of those are just worth 1k each.

According to this FAQ, I believe an intensified shocking grasp spell would require a Pearl of Power 2, regardless of the fact that a magus can prepare the it as a first level spell. But I'm not 100% sure because of the interaction with the trait that reduces the metamagic cost.

It's mostly irrelevant, except for magus characters.

I don't pay attention to rule-changing FAQs. They have far too many FAQrattas to keep track of. If they want to change the rules, they can do a proper errata.

That said, even that FAQ says it counts as the spell level necessary to cast it.

Like I said, I'm not 100% sure. An intensified shocking grasp is a 2nd level spell by all accounts. Some magi can prepare it as a 1st level spell because they have a trait that reduces the metamagic cost by 1 level on their favored spell. This reduces the intensified shocking grasp to a 1st level spell if they prepare it. But I'm nto sure how this interacts with Pearls of Power in this specific instance, and I can't find the thread which resulted in that FAQ to see if it was discussed.

[Drachasor]

Yeah, that's the problem with FAQratta. If you believe in it, then suddenly you can't make any sense out of the rules, because what they mean is dependent on whatever the devs are thinking/feeling at any given moment.

There's plenty of FAQratta that is directly contradicting the text, and yet the FAQratta acts like it is just explaining what the text REALLY means.

I've no idea what new FAQratta would say on the matter. They could go either way, because fundamentally they don't care about what the rules actually say. If that led to balanced stuff, then I'd probably be a bit more lenient, but the FAQratta tends to be overly restrictive more than anything. That's why I find it best to just ignore it.

That particular FAQratta (and I was part of the thread originally discussing it) came in response to the fact that the rules are very poorly written about metamagic. However, rather than rewrite those rules so it is clear, they pretend it is clear and just issue a FAQ. It's a FAQ that contradicts the rules, but again...they don't care.

Bah, I say.

[The Morphling]

Claxon wrote:

Drachasor wrote:

Claxon wrote:

Drachasor wrote:

More pearls of power (1st) are always nice. More and more and more and more. Especially if he can cast Intensified Shocking Grasps as a 1st level spell.

If he has a dex build, then muleback cords are handy to increase carrying capacity.

Both of those are just worth 1k each.

According to this FAQ, I believe an intensified shocking grasp spell would require a Pearl of Power 2, regardless of the fact that a magus can prepare the it as a first level spell. But I'm not 100% sure because of the interaction with the trait that reduces the metamagic cost.

It's mostly irrelevant, except for magus characters.

I don't pay attention to rule-changing FAQs. They have far too many FAQrattas to keep track of. If they want to change the rules, they can do a proper errata.

That said, even that FAQ says it counts as the spell level necessary to cast it.

Like I said, I'm not 100% sure. An intensified shocking grasp is a 2nd level spell by all accounts. Some magi can prepare it as a 1st level spell because they have a trait that reduces the metamagic cost by 1 level on their favored spell. This reduces the intensified shocking grasp to a 1st level spell if they prepare it. But I'm nto sure how this interacts with Pearls of Power in this specific instance, and I can't find the thread which resulted in that FAQ to see if it was discussed.

You're insane if you think "The spell counts as the level of the spell slot necessary to cast it." means that it counts as a level higher than the spell slot necessary to cast it.

If your magus is expending a first-level spell slot to cast an intensified shocking grasp, it counts as a first-level spell.

It doesn't matter in the slightest if a different caster would cast it as a second-level spell. The magus uses first, so it's first.

[Gwaihir Scout]

What the creature with the flexible anatomy said. Pearls (and runestones) of power interact with your actual spell slots, not the theoretical standard. Magical Lineage means you need less "power" to prepare the spell with metamagic, so a 1st-level pearl of power will be all you need to re-prepare the spell.

And spellstrike gloves can be pretty nice when you're facing only one opponent, since you get the extra attack from Spellstrike and can still deliver a spell you normally couldn't. Worth the 8,000 gp at higher levels.

[Claxon]

The Morphling wrote:

You're insane if you think "The spell counts as the level of the spell slot necessary to cast it." means that it counts as a level higher than the spell slot necessary to cast it.

If your magus is expending a first-level spell slot to cast an intensified shocking grasp, it counts as a first-level spell.

It doesn't matter in the slightest if a different caster would cast it as a second-level spell. The magus uses first, so it's first.

Okay, slow your roll.

I never said that it was absolutley funcitoning that way. I said I was unsure if that was a consequence of the FAQ. To me it's a little unclear and I was trying to provide a warning that it may or may not be an issue.

That aside, I asked in the thread the FAQ was written in and the prevailing opinion seems to be that PoP1 should work fine (with Magical Lineage).

[Level 1 Commoner]

Thanks alot for your answers! :-)

After talking with him he bought a Cloack of Resistance +2 with his own funds (while there is no magic mart in our world, there are still opportunities to buy some magic items, especially in bigger settlements like Lepidstadt - so he bought the only available Cloack). I settled for an Amulet of Natural Protection + 2 now and a Ring of Arcane Mastery at Level 7/8. He will be over the WBL-curve during most parts of the next book, but Broken Moon seems to be light in terms of loot anyway.