11.(Dimensional Dervish: Normal Feat), Bonus Feat(Step Up-Combat, Item Creation, Metamagic), Superior Reflexes
12.Magus Arcana ()
13.Feat(Following Step), Iajutsu Focus, Transfer Arcana (Blackblade)
14.
15.Feat(Weapon Spec), Magus Arcana(Bane Blade)
16.
17.Feat(Greater Weapon Spec), Bonus Feat(Step up and Strike-Combat, Item Creation, Metamagic), Spell Defense (Blackblade)
18.Magus Arcana
19.Feat, Iajutsu Master, Lifedrinker (Blackblade)
20.Weapon Mastery.
So there are a few feats missing that I need help selecting and some magus arcanas I still need to pick up. This is my first character and I happened to come across the samsaran build while researching the class. The whole dimensional agility and whatnot was not my idea at all, in fact, I probably won't know how to pull it off exactly. Either way, it's how I envisioned my character when creating it, a samurai bouncing around the battlefield with some spells at his disposal.
Anywho, if anyone has any experience with some helpful feats that I missed or can fill in the build with that would be awesome! Again, this is a first time character in a campaign with all first timers, even the GM.
Again, thank you all in advance for your help! These forums have been great so far and so much help!
I'm not sure what you mean by "dimensional agility", but, typically, a Kensai Mangus is based off of Dexterity, not Strength. If you want a build based off of strength, I suggest going Bladebound/Hexcrafter Magus, not Kensai.
Take Weapon Finesse to get your Dex bonus on attack rolls and then take Dervish Dance (and use a Scimitar) to get Dex to damage. If your playing a human, these should be your feats at level 1. A high Dexterity will also add to your AC (Kensai can't wear armor) and Initiative - so at around level 4, you will rock in both these areas.
Also, you should take Arcane Strike at 3rd level. It is basically Power Attack for casters (without the -attack bonus) and is based off of Caster Level instead of BAB. You could take both PA and AS as their bonuses do stack, but, I would take AS first.
Finally, I suggest stacking the Bladebound archetype with Kensai if you want a Blackblade. If you did, you would get a Blackblade for free at 1st level without needing to spend arcana on it. Beyond that, I would take the two Arcana that add your Int to AC and Attack (I don't remember what they are called).
The build is currently a bladebound kensai. And dimensional agility and that line of feats that builds up to dimensional dervish lets me teleport around the field striking enemies. If I use spell combat I can Dimension Door between each of my attacks, then at the end of the teleporting cast Greater Blade Dash to make my way back to my group hitting all the baddies along the way.
Ill take a look into arcane strike, sounds like a nice feat, havent seen that one, thanks!
Edit: Just looked at arcane strike, looks like it uses up a swift action, which I believe Magi are starved for.
You do not Qualify for Dimensional Agility until level 10 as a Magus, and even then you have to cast Dimension Door to make use of it. Your upper levels casts per day remain low. You can probably do a lot better picking different feats by the time you get access to this chain. The pay out is pretty good by the time you get to Dimensional Savant, but again you get to use it once per cast of Dimension Door. That's quite a limit on a feat you pick up so late in the game and that requires further investment to pay out significantly.
d20PFSRD.com: Samsarans wrote:
Mystic Past Life (Su) You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class's key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you're adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.
There are some important points about adding spells. You cannot add a spell to your spell list if it is already on your list. Magus has Dimension Door at 4th level. You do not get to add Dimension Door as a lower level spell from the Summoner Spell List. Further, this gets smashed in the face by clarifications put forth in response to identical issues using Unsanctioned Knowledge. I don't have the thread or post handy, but essentially, when adding spells to your list, you pick from where it is available in a certain order. For instance, if a spell appeared on a Bard spell list and a Wizard spell list, you would have to select it from the Wizard list even it is less advantageous to do so.
I would look at getting Lunge for the added range to Spell Strike and Spell Combat.
The Critical feats are enormously efficient for the Kensai, especially with a Katana or Wakizashi. Since you have to move/replace the Dimensional Agility chain anyway I'd look into the investment.
Spellscars are kind of cool, you get 18 spell levels worth of tattoos you can cast as a scroll. It provides some good versatility but it cannot be used with Spell Combat or Spell Strike, so it's not as amazing as it could be.
I strongly urge you to take Wand Wielder as a Kensai. Since your casting pools is gimped by the Archetype, several commonly employed spells can be made into Wands that you CAN use with Spell Combat. True Strike is probably the first one everyone thinks of, but there are several.
Arcane Strike is commonly used to free up Arcane Pool for higher priority things, allowing you to boost damage performance without costing more resources. You won't use it every round, but it pays out well and affects AoO until your next turn, which synergizes neatly with Combat Reflexes.
Accurate Strike is great for getting in a devastating round of Spell Combat.
Ghostblade and Devoted Blade help you bypass some harder to access resistances for a cheap cost.
Spellblending gives you access to some great buffs like Heroism. Once you get to 10 it gives you two spells up to 3rd level or one 4th.
Thanks Errant! Had no idea about the restrictions on picking up spells with the Mystic Past Life. That pretty much ends my dreams of teleporting around the battlefield lol.
I think I'll probably end up sticking to being a Tiefling in this case.
Going to look into the feats and arcanas you suggested. Looks like i still have a bit of research to do! Thanks for the input, really helpful!
Edit: Looking at Accurate strike and Arcane accuracy, how much worse is one than the other. I'm not familiar with how much +4 or +5 to hit is compared to making something touch AC. On the one hand the arcane accuracy only costs 1 point from your arcane pool as opposed to 2.
Do you know what the average loss of AC is on a bad guy when you get to resolve attacks as touch attacks?
Poke through the MM's or some NPC galleries around online to get a look at them. From what I have seen, touch attack vulnerability is common in early season modules and less severe later on. Look up the Gunslinger threads to see the amount of hate touch attacks get when employed extensively. Touch AC will be your best and easiest To Hit number. Monks and the like will not have a very different AC, but everyone else gets screwed. Or, in this case, explodified with arcane absurdity.
