Hey everyone! Just curious on some opinions of this...
I think I'm going to be making a Staff Magus because they seem really fun and are what I want to try being, considering I've been a regular magus and bladebound kensai before. However, someone had pointed out, I can be a Hexcrafter Staff Magus.
It seems like an awesome combo, really, being able to curse things through spell-strike and gaining access to hexes when I could take an arcana. However, the loss of Spell Recall seems a partial concern to me. I can in theory just balance this out with some Pearls of Power, so it doesn't HAVE to be a huge lose, but then I kind of take another look at the witch hexes and almost wonder if it's worth losing spell recall to gain those, especially when my character is going to be a bit more offense-based.
Just curious on if anyone else has played this particular combo, if they felt losing Spell Recall was worth it, and what experiences they've had in this particular area. Also, I suppose, what Hexes are worth getting for a more offensive type of character, if I do follow through with this idea.
Also, curious. At level 11, do I still gain Improved Spell Recall or no?
Edit: Er, sorry, I just read up on it and found the wording that explains I get Spell Recall in place of it.
Hexcrafter actually does wonders for the magus. One of the unwritten advantages of being able to pick between both arcana and hexes is that you don't get stuck with a subpar arcana. If there's no arcana you want, just pick up a really nice hex. Another thing to keep in mind is that hexes are basically reusable spells. While you might only be able to target a particular individual once per 24 hours, there's no upper limit to how many people you can target with it in one day.
As far as hexes to pick for an offensive character, evil eye is a nice way to soften up enemies, sleep/icy tomb are auto kills if they land, prehensile hair opens up options for making yourself INT-based (there's at least a couple guides out there for how to do this).
when you say offensive though, are you looking for just being able to take down enemies fast, or are you more interested in playing something closer to the standard crit-fishing setup. An int based hexcrafter can pretty much kill anything with an ill-omen/icy tomb/coup de grace chain , but I'm not sure that's what you're looking to do.
Also, remember that a staff magus that takes the Wand Wielder arcana isn't as dependent on prepared spells, so Spell Recall is less of a "need."
Spell Recall is powerful, but getting hexes is a fair trade. You give up the ability to spam spells in exchange for quasi-at-will abilities often more powerful than spells. The Flight hex alone is worth it, allowing you to fly in every combat before the vanilla magus can get the fly spell. Levitation and a constant feather-fall sweetens the deal. Being a staff master, you can become a wushu warrior, treading lightly on the leaves of trees and smacking people with your magic staff that discharges lightning.
The best part about the hexcrafter is that they're constantly making new hexes and curse spells, including a hex that lets you create difficult terrain at will.