How effective is the class in combat? I have been invited to play in a Carrion Crown campaign starting at 5th level. I would really like to play this class but am looking at the feat that lets you throw the cards, does not look like much damage. 20 pts buy. What feats would be good. I am looking at playing either a human or a half elf, maybe a full elf.
Staff magus can be as strong as every other Magus. A versatilie human would let you start with stats like Str and int 16, dex and con 14 wis and cha 10. Weapon focus and spec at level 1 and 3 and 2 feats more for the Card stuff at 5. I dont know any thing about Card casting so i May be totally of but if you want too be Gambit i think you need more than a 20 point buy:)
If you use them together then I would suggest the staff be more for defense and casting potential than actual attack (since you can use the quarterstaff defense just by holding the thing).
The cards themselves won't do much damage but as a carrier for spells they aren't bad, and you can still use any thrown weapon with your class abilities so you don't always have to use cards btw.
Just do I'm clear I use the cards and can CST my spells on the correct rather than the staff? Or I can use them like darts and have them shock or flame?
Yes
What constitutes a thrown weapon?
Nice. I could throw a pot and charge it?
Is it worth investing in the point blank and precise sh0t feats?
It is called the card caster. It does stack with the quarterstaff magus.
You can throw a card as if it were a dart, with the same damage, range and other features.Magus can add their spellstrike to it as well as their arcane special abilities.
Arcane Pool Focus (Su): A card caster’s arcane pool can be used to augment only ranged weapons. At 5th level, a card caster can use his arcane pool to add the following weapon special abilities to ranged weapons: brilliant energy, distance, flaming, flaming burst, frost, icy burst, returning, seeking, shock, shocking burst, and speed. He can use his arcane pool to augment an entire harrow deck as if it were ammunition. All cards from a deck enhanced with a special ability, such as flaming, must share the same bonus. This ability modifies arcane pool.
This is a good Reading to. Be a little carefull with the Archtype i would say.
It is not gonna be even functional unless you have a Harrow deck. Changing arcane pool, spell strike and the level 3 arcana is expencive for what you get.
Yeah if you are going this route you should definitely get point blank and precise shot (and once you can improved precise shot). You will likely want rapid shot and quick draw (otherwise drawing darts is going to take a move action). You will likely want deadly aim as well.
I shoud note that you can't spell combat with cards if you wield a staff since you lack a third hand. Doesn't really mesh well as an archetype combo.
I noticed that. So it is either one or the other archetype to be effective.
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I noticed that. So it is either one or the other archetype to be effective.
Yup.
And cards can be nasty. Even with only 1 base damage, that's only 3.5 less on average than a longbow...and by higher levels,3.5 is a trivial difference compared to everything you're adding on. Heck, with Str 14, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, and Arcane Strike, by 7th level you're doing 10 damage per attack not counting Arcane Pool enhancements.
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I noticed that. So it is either one or the other archetype to be effective.Yup.
And cards can be nasty. Even with only 1 base damage, that's only 3.5 less on average than a longbow...and by higher levels,3.5 is a trivial difference compared to everything you're adding on. Heck, with Str 14, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, and Arcane Strike, by 7th level you're doing 10 damage per attack not counting Arcane Pool enhancements.
Yup. Monks can use Shuriken really well, and they don't have the option of using them for spellstrikes.
The main drawback of cards is that they cannot be enchanted (actually they can, but being ammunition are destroyed on impact), making you rely only on arcane pool advancement to keep up. That's pretty brutal since you need to wait level 17 for a +5 weapon. Ouch.
@Abraham dart are considereed ammunition not thrown weapon so you don't need quick draw. Darts are a pretty unique weapon.
The cards are thrown as Darts (which are not ammunition), but are destroyed and enchanted as if they were ammunition. They are not to be confused with Blowgun Darts which are ammunition launched from the blowgun. Quickdraw is a necessity if you have more than one attack and want to take advantage of it.
Also, if you have the quickdraw feat, I don't see a problem with using the Harrowed Spellstrike while holding something (like a staff) in your other hand. Use the free hand to cast and quickdraw the card that is to be used to channel the spell.
If you wanted to make your enchanted deck last a bit longer, you could always add "returning" which will bring back the ones that miss (since a hit=destroyed). Still, it's probably better not to bother enchanting it and suffer the lack of a +5 weapon. You may be able to make the cards out of various materials (I don't see anything saying the cards need to be from paper) to help with DR and the like.
EDIT: I wasn't aware of all the new archetypes there. As another thread has pointed out, three levels of Cartomancer Witch allows you to use Deadly Dealer without fear of the cards being destroyed _and_ they get the returning property (and can be used to deliver touch spells...)
Would you take a weapon focus in darts to be be better to hit with the cards?
The archetypes do give the deadly dealer feat for free.
why grab arcane strike anyway? For a cross bow or something?
doesn't that archetype for the witch, which gives you deadly dealer + some other stuff, have the scaling damage from arcane strike already worked in? So there's no need to get arcane strike unless you plan to use it with other weapons as well. ?
The Witch archetype does, the Magus one doesn't. But the Witch's cards deal no damage if used to deliver touch spells, though resolving as touch attacks. If you're after damage, Magus is better, if you really just want to reach your touch spells, Witch is.
I am looking at some of the other archetypes. Is the blase singer effective?
Actually...
Arcane Pool Focus (Su): A card caster’s arcane pool can be used to augment only ranged weapons. At 5th level, a card caster can use his arcane pool to add the following weapon special abilities to ranged weapons: brilliant energy, distance, flaming, flaming burst, frost, icy burst, returning, seeking, shock, shocking burst, and speed. He can use his arcane pool to augment an entire harrow deck as if it were ammunition. All cards from a deck enhanced with a special ability, such as flaming, must share the same bonus.
So, that SEEMS to me to say that you could then keep your cards, same as any other ammunition.
There's also a new shiny deck in there for card casters.
[sarcasm]Oh cool, 54 attacks with double the Arcane Strike damage before the entire deck is destroyed! What a great use of 13k! [/sarcasm]
The #1 issue with ammunition-based characters is having to pay for new weapons every other day. Being able to enhance them like a Magus does helps, but it's still prohibitively expensive.
I've been trying to find a thread on this. Ive been playing a cartomancer and thought about the touch spells. If you have rapid shot would you be able to dish out multiple chilled touches? Or each round would you be hitting with one normal card and one touch spell? I'm interested in hearing someone elses opinion on the matter.
On the round of casting Chill Touch you are allotted a "free" touch attack with that spell, on subsequent rounds you can deliver the remaining touches to the limit of your ability to utilize attacks. If you are a magus and you combo spell strike with spell combat you can deliver two in the round of casting it. Although in further rounds using spell combat would mean casting another spell and thus dispersing further charges of the chill touch.
I don't think the posters between us noticed the threadomancy.
If you use them together then I would suggest the staff be more for defense and casting potential than actual attack (since you can use the quarterstaff defense just by holding the thing).
I'm pretty sure you have to be using it in melee to get the defense bonus, just like in a defending weapon or canny defense. The bulk of damage for most magi is not generally in the attack forms, but in the spells that they carry.
Is it worth investing in the point blank and precise sh0t feats?
Anything that depends on hitting with range makes the latter feat mandatory, and since the first is a pre-req, yes.
The real question is why are you even bothering with the staff magi archetype? The two really don't synergise well, since in the round you're throwing around cards, you really can't benefit from your staff magi abilities and vice versa. I'd choose one path, and work it.