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I am making a Magus for a Rune Lords game, most likely a Bladebound one.
However, I don't want to do the generic "Shocking Grasp", Intensify, Maximize version.
I realize the reason people make this one is because it does a lot of damage.
I have looked at different builds here and with google and whether it is a normal magus or a hexcrafter, they all use shocking grasp.
Well, there was the one that used Vamparic Touch and Necromancy, but I wasn't so sure about a character build around Necromancy. I was thinking of a Lawful Good character.
I'd like some ideas for something that that should last long term.
Thanks for any help.
If you don't want to go the crit shocking grasp thing I would try a different archetype. Try staff magus or use a whip and try being battle field controler . true strike plus a trip or disarm means you are going pull it off. Enlarge person plus whip means you can trip or disarm it a big area protecting everyone around you.
I have a Magus and have great fun with frigid touch and the enforcer feat. The rime Spell metamagic feat will stack for a great debuff but i havnet grotten around to that yet. Depending on expected wealth level for tha campaign the Black blade AT May be a good idea. My magus was a barbarian until level 4 when i retrained him that back Ground have been great rp wise and i think that you should remember that it is the story you play and tell that will make your magus different from all the others not his build.
I really like the Hexcrafter magus. There's a pretty awesome guide out there somewhere. I love all the uses of prehensile hair.
It's a long way off...but I've thought about adding Calcific Touch via Spell Blending or Broad Study and casting it as an empowered, maximized Calcific Touch. Most creatures should be reduced to 0 Dex and completely helpless after you've made all of your attacks in a round.
At the lower levels, I think a Rimed Frostbite is very good. You are doing as much damage as a Paladin's Smite + an additional 1d6 + entanglement.
I'm running a Rise of the Runelords game and our magus uses Frostbite and some crazy stuff to dish out a whole bunch of status damage
The "force punch" spell can be very effective, but you can only start using it at high level... there just arent any decent options for pure damage at low-level other than shocking grasp.
As for other playstyles... a lot of people prefer hexcrafter. (but it's not LG in appearance). There just isnt a lot of options beyond spellstrike abuse. Most of the useful spells (frostbite, calcific touch, etc.) have been mentioned.
Using Chill touch and later switching to Vampiric Touch could also be good.
Hexcrafter is a very popular archetype.
The main reason Shocking Grasp is so popular is because it is available from lvl 1, and continues to be good up through levels 7-8. Past that, with the right feats your "attack" spell should have Preferred Spell on it to use it spontaneously, regardless of what it is.
A Kensai magus "feels" LG to me. They get quite a bit, although they also give up quite a bit. If you can figure out a way to take advantage of all of their AoO, they can be devastating. Maybe a dip into Monk and/or Fighter...
As a Hexcrafter, you could make a build around delivering Disfiguring Touch, Bestow Curse and other touch curses. Not many builds like that out there.
You could take Close Range as your 3rd level magus arcana and deliver spells like Mudball and Snowball via spell combat. A Snowball build could be amazing--it deals damage like Shocking Grasp and inflicts the staggered condition as well.
You could make a Bladed Dash build starting at 4th level--it’s better than Pounce in some ways.
I like the idea of True Strike plus combat maneuvers. It it might work well with Pilfering Hand.
If he goes Bladebound he can't do this until lvl 6, which is sad because it is really cool.
Close Range also allows you to deliver Ray of Frost with Spellstrike allowing you to go through Spell Combat and get a full round of attacks without having to actually waste a spell slot.
You could take the Kensai archetype, and focus more on straight-up martial ability. With high Dex, Canny Defense, Harakami/ceremonial robes, and a mithral buckler, you could get scary high AC, and a +1 Agile Wakizashi would keep your damage up pretty solid as well.
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my favorite magus is a hexcrafter with rime spell + magical lineage (lowers meta magic levels) + frost bite + cruel (weapon enchant) to debuff the snot out of people.
i used this feat build with a human magus, strength based with a battle axe (or earth breaker):
rime spell, enforcer, powerattack, cleave, cleaving finish,
max ranks in intimidate, and wade into battle trying to hit every thing in your path stacking debuffs to attack, saves, ac, stat penatlies, movement and skill checks. then once the save are lowered you cast blindness defness or bestowcurse with their saves lowered by 4, almost guranteed at that point.
a really powerful build that can still nova with intensified spell + shocking grasp if you need to just deal damage.
I've seen some interesting Wand Wielder magus builds. One had a wand of Vanish and used a Rogue dip for sneak attack with a trident: Round 1: Vanish, move into position; Round 2: Sneak Attack, Vanish, 5-foot step. Repeat until dead.
Another used a wand of True Strike in one hand and a whip in the other. Add Weapon Wand to a wand wielder, and you open up a world of options.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I didn't see Corrosive Touch. I suppose because it does only d4 instead of d6 per level?
@Cap. Darling: I see where you are coming from, I could have a whole group of identical fighters with the same feats, etc but they are different because of their back stories. However this is probably my one and only Magus (who knows what we will be playing in two years). I'd like to make this character unique other than his story.
@LazarX: Perhaps I should have been REALLY specific. I forget sometimes. This is a Blackblade with Dervish Dance. Thus he is DEX based. Or perhaps I misunderstood. I wanted a spell direction, not just a melee direction.
@RainyDayNinja: I considered a Blackblade Kensai. At first I was head over heels for it until I reread Canny Defense and realized I didn't get all my INT bonus. It's enough to think about taking a level of Monk just to get a full Wisdom bonus to AC! I'm not sure about the Eastern Armor. My GM was okay about my Ranger build getting a pair of Wakizashi but Eastern Armor? Also Kensai says they are not proficient with armor or shields and the Silken Ceremonial Robe is considered light armor (or is there a FAQ someplace)
@Cap. Darling: I see where you are coming from, I could have a whole group of identical fighters with the same feats, etc but they are different because of their back stories. However this is probably my one and only Magus (who knows what we will be playing in two years). I'd like to make this character unique other than his story.
.....Kensai says they are not proficient with armor or shields and the Silken Ceremonial Robe is considered light armor (or is there a FAQ someplace)
If this is gonna be your one and only Magus he will be unique no matter how generic he is;)
And if you use armor without armor check penelty it have no game effect if you are profisient or not, exept for monks i guess.Look at the Magi Ravindork have on his site they are great and flavorfull full.
And if you use armor without armor check penelty it have no game effect if you are profisient or not, exept for monks i guess.
Look at the Magi Ravindork have on his site they are great and flavorfull full.
Well, the book says
I think it is entirely up to the GM's discretion. I personally think my GMs would say no to the idea of the Robe and say try something else. Obviously another GM would have another opinion.
I have looked at the the two magi that I saw on his site Both Shisio and Kang use Shocking grasp. I see both are entirely different. I for one would never build a Staff magus or use a Scythe.
It does prove your point about being able to make your point about being able to have diverse characters, however it also proves my point that (most) everyone seems to build the same type of character.
What about monsters immune to cold. Are they still entangled?