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...and I'd like advice.
I'd liked to stay away from dervish style. I already did a bard and enjoyed that.
Is opening with Burning Hands at range worth using or should I stick to Shocking Grasp?
What are some of the feat options for the first five leaves?
Arcane Strike seems like an obvious choice, is weapon focus worth getting? What about combat casting and combat expertise? Is there room for spell focus and spell specialization? Dodge.. power attack. Oye the possibilities.
Chill Touch might be an interesting choice instead of Shocking Grasp, one cast can give you multiple touch attacks at higher levels, allowing you to cast it once and then cast other (non-touch attack) spells on subsequent rounds while still delivering attacks from that spell through spell strike.
With my last magus I used color spray as an opener at lower levels only of course. At higher levels I usually used a buff instead of an area attack as an opener (enlarge person, or something that gives enemies a miss chance against me). I also used shocking grasp for a time, but the group I was with doesn't make all that great characters so they did not like the amount of burst damage that I was doing, so I switched away from that spell in order to bring me closer to the other characters power wise.
Burning Hands is risky due to how low-damage it is. If you can line it up nicely to hit multiple targets it can work, but the range is pretty tight and if the targets make the save it's barely going to tickle. With spell specialization it can be pretty potent at the 1st level, but it goes obsolete pretty quickly afterwards. Since spell specialization can always be retrained on level-up, you could try it out and then change your specialized spell later. Great spell for dealing with swarms or fire-vulnerable creatures, but not so much for anything else.
Shocking Grasp will be one of your go-to spells in the long run. It doesn't have to be your be-all and end-all, but the spell is so practical that there's little reason not to have it prepared every day. It has no saving throw and you can hold the charge if it misses, so it's very reliable.
The problem with Arcane Strike is that several Magus class abilities require swift actions to activate. Since you only get 1 swift action per round, that means you'll be restricted from actually using arcane strike a lot of the time because you needed to activate a different ability that round. If you do choose to use it, pay very close attention to which magus arcana you pick; anything that requires a swift action to activate prevents you from using arcane strike that turn.
One idea is to get the familiar magus arcana and then get the improved familiar feat. Nothing quite like something with opposable thumbs that can activate a wand for you.
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Arcane Strike is good.
Sure the magus can pick a few arcanes taht uses swift actions - but they need arcane points - you don't have that many arcane points - so you won't be using them every round.
Are you going with any archetypes or are you going plain Magus? As for opener spells, Bladed dash can be a great one. For strength Magus look at the Monstrous Physique spells. They can give you extra natural attacks, more strength and other assorted goodies. Feats can very a lot based on what you want to be able to do. I like rime spell and enforcer for my first few feats, but that is largely dependent on the magical lineage trait with the frostbite spell. Intensify is a good feat if you go with a shocking grasp spell with magical lineage or wayang spell hunter trait. You should probably get that feat at or after level 7 though. Extra arcana and toughness are good early on too.
any thoughts on race? for some reason i just got an image of a badass dwarf crackin' skulls and castin' spells, lol. they have crazy good weapon familiarity (if you're proficient with martial weapons), or you could make a human with adoptive parents for the same familiarity but with better stats for Str-magus. starting out you could use a longhammer (or longaxe) in a reach build as your default (you can use spellstrike, but not spell combat, while fighting this way), and carry a waraxe for when something's adjacent or you want to use spell combat; at 7th level (or 5th, if you dip 1 level of full BAB class) you can pick up the dorn-dergar master feat and have a reach weapon that can be 2 handed with spellstrike when you can't full attack or one-handed with spell combat when you can. (take darting viper too, since you'll always have a free hand when fighting 1handed- if you need to stop using reach you can switch to 2handing grip as a free action, drop reach as a swift action, and go back to 1handing as a free action).
What books are allowed?
What race would you like to play?
What's the point buy?
What level are you starting at?
Is this just general advice?
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Take the one trait, Magical Lineage. It will give you the most run for your buck with intensifying Shocking Grasp.
Aside from that, my STR magus gets good mileage out of Mirror Image. It is an absolute must, in my opinion.
Bladed Dash (Inner Sea Magic?) is cheezy, and some GMs will not allow it, but you can technically cast the spell, and by the spell get a free move plus an attack, then take your second attack. Invisibility is also key. I've made good use of burning hands, and Infernal Healing is always nice. Expeditious retreat is worthwhile, too.
I use Arcane Strike constantly. Whenever I don't use the swift actions, that is my fallback. Extra damage is always nice. Extra Arcane Pool is probably my best friend, being a blade bound (side note: Blade Bound really hurts at some levels, where I seriously considered multi-classing except for the next level). I did go with Weapon Focus since I'm front-lining so often.
Gear-wise, a headband is nice for the extra arcane pool. My Magus at level 9 has about 16 AP points, so I really just burn through them over and over and over without care.
I find that my magus is quite enjoyable and effective, but not necessarily optimal.
One thing I do have is an action economy note card. Almost like a flow chart, I have a list in front of me to remind me to maximize my action economy. I have found that forgetting the swift action to charge your blade or recall a spell to be the absolute worst thing you can do; "I attack. [roll] hit!. CRAP, I forgot to use my swift action before hand!"
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Dip two levels into Titan Mauler Barbarian and one hand a reach weapon, not to mention you can rage now and can get a rage power of your choosing. Bardiche is a good choice, 19-20x2 critical range and decent damage, the best reach weapon you can get.
Here's a guide that I just published that can give you some inspiration. It is made for the Kensai, but look at the builds section, all of those can work as a regular magus too:
Chill Touch might be an interesting choice instead of Shocking Grasp, one cast can give you multiple touch attacks at higher levels, allowing you to cast it once and then cast other (non-touch attack) spells on subsequent rounds while still delivering attacks from that spell through spell strike.
Is that legal? I thought as soon as you cast another spell the previous spell ended, along with any unused touches?
Generally I like to come up with a way to get my damage spell of choice (usually shocking grasp because of how early you get it) to be cast spontaneously. Personal favorite is Heighten Spell -> Preferred Spell. Being able to drop your spell spontaneously lets you prepare a bunch of utility spells or buffs, and burn through them as you see fit. With Magical Lineage, you can drop a 10d6 Intensified Shocking Grasp using any spell slot 1st level and above. Spell Recall is your friend.
Spell Focus -> Spell Specialization -> Greater Spell Specialization is alright, as Spell Focus is not a bad feat if you also start preparing Fireballs and other Evo spells with DCs. Shines at early levels because Spell Specialization gives you an extra 2d6 on your Shocking Grasp, you can throw in Varisian Tattoo and get an extra 3d6, and at later levels a massive boost to overcome SR without having to take Spell Penetration, so it's not all bad.
Most of the time you will want to nab the prereqs for Spell Perfection, most of the time with Quicken Spell and Intensified Spell along with the Heighten Spell feat I mentioned earlier.
Other good feats are those that are good for anyone who does melee. Weapon Focus, Power Attack, Greater Weapon Focus later, Weapon Specialization. All of them are okay.
If you thought Bladed Dash and/or Greater Bladed Dash were bad, try picking up the Dimensional Dervish feat chain. Swift action, full round, get a spell cast and not have to worry about the concentration check because you can warp out of threat range then warp back in and attack.
I personally recommend Heighten Spell; Intensified Spell; Weapon Focus; Preferred Spell (Shocking Grasp); and whatever you want for your human feat. Unless you wanna pick up Power Attack, or Extra Arcane Pool. Even Extra Arcana is a solid choice. Arcane Strike is free as far as resources go, and not a bad choice for the other 1st level feat.
Good Arcanas to use early on are Arcane Accuracy; and Spell Blending for utility spells.