Is a Bladebound / Kensai magus feasible?

[Neongelion]

What are the pros and cans of taking both archetypes for a magus? A character in a game I'm running wants to play one and asked me for advice. As I rarely combine archetypes for classes, let alone for the magus (of which I have never played) I thus turn to you wise ones.

[Matt2VK]

Simplified - bladebound

They are very nice for low magic games.

PRO
Cheap magical weapon at no real cost.

CON
Can't really apply any enchantments to the weapon as it's all class abilities.

[Ascalaphus]

It's not just feasible, it's one of the most common magus build played. Probably more common than a baseline magus.

You usually see them take:

Spell: Shocking Grasp. It's been ruled in the FAQ that a melee weapon used to deliver the spell does get the

Trait: Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp). Reduce metamagic costs by 1.

Intensify Spell, used to increase the maximum damage from Shocking Grasp to 10d6 rather than 5d6.

Then, a weapon is chosen: the Scimitar. It has a big Crit range which can be further extended with Arcane Pool to make it Keen. This ties in neatly with the Kensai's 4th level Perfect Strike ability; if the Kensai crits (30% chance of threat) the crit multiplier can be increased by one. The critical damage includes the damage from the Shocking Grasp! Making them 33d6 critical hits at level 10!

Finally, why Scimitar instead of another good crit-range weapon like the Rapier? Dervish Dance. This magus doesn't need Strength after level 3. Combined with the Kensai's Canny Defence ability, the monster-PC gets a huge AC and huge damage output.

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Frankly, I think the Bladebound archetype is quite superfluous, even holding the character back a bit by decreasing Arcane Pool. However, getting a guaranteed magic weapon of your choice can be important if the GM is being difficult about the availability of sufficient loot to sell or magic weapons to craft/buy.

[TGMaxMaxer]

This combo means he will have no armor/weapon costs. He will have few spells. His AC will be good (provided he invests in dex/int heavily, and will probably have a lower Str (subject to your rolling/point buy method).

Assuming 20pt buy, should be looking at stats close to...
Str 10 Dex 18 Con 12 Int 17 Wis 10 Cha 8. Subject to racials, but I would do this with an elf (if you can deal with the con penalty), or a half elf for the elf FCB without the con hit (to make up for the fact that you give up your 3rd level and 9th level arcana). People will insist on Str 13 to get power attack, but he should be fine even without it. Others will say get Dervish Dance with a scimitar, etc. If you are the GM, reskin the Dervish Dance feat to apply to any single light or 1 handed slashing weapon for the player, just so he doesn't look like the cookie cutter version and can have some fluff. (since he'll only ever use the one he chose as a black blade, you know how it will go)

At 1-3 levels, he plays like a dex fighter, with a couple of spells.
Decent to hit, (finesse) decent AC (dex and int, as well as Mage armor spell) decent damage (bursty spells)

4-6, he gets his gear on, at level 5 he will have the equiv of a +3 weapon for most fights each day. (+1 blackblade, +2 from arcane pool, expect +1 Keen, and either an energy if the enemy is vulnerable, or a straight +2 Keen)

7-9 they get fun. Some fun spells, qualify for fighter feats, add dex and int to init, possibly get some crit feats.

10-12 is the best. If they are keeping dex/int maxed with gear, and mage armor/shield up, they have a great AC, good spell damage, decent to hit, and some nifty options.

13+ I haven't played, as I normally play PFS and that is where it caps.

[Neongelion]

I should clarify that this character will be for the upcoming Iron Gods Adventure Path with a 20 point buy, and he wants to play a human.

[TGMaxMaxer]

I have no reference for that AP, but with a 20 pt buy and human I wouldn't take both, just because of the double hit to Magus Arcana and arcane pool.

The only reason to mix both is if you don't trust the GM/AP to give weapon/armor loot properly, or are just really set on playing an anime style character (no armor but frontline fighty type with a few magic powers).

At least with elf or half-elf you get the Arcana back by level 12.

Half elf lose a feat (which you won't really miss) and a skillpoint/level off of human. Int based character makes up for the skills, and +2 will (h-elf racial) or skill focus (lots of characters take it) makes up for the feat, since Kensai gets free weapon focus/prof in their chosen weapon (even exotic).

[Arcturus24]

I've been thinking about one of these myself, and one problem I found with a strength-build is that, at low level, you have a very low AC. At level 1, Canny Defense only gives one point of int-bonus, tour dex won't be very high because you need str/con/int, and the fact that you aren't proficient in any armor means you can only take silken ceremonial armor or a haramaki (those have 0 armor check penalty and no arcane spell failure chance, so you don't suffer a non-proficiency penalty nor a failure chance). In my build, I came to AC 13 at level 1, which is pretty crap for a melee character. However, as you gain levels and wealth your AC will start to reach normal levels.

As for a bladebound: yes, you can't enchant it yourself. But you have arcane pool! As magus, you're normally better off getting numerical bonuses on your weapon, so you can use arcane pool to suit the situation (troll? Flaming! Jabberwock? Vorpal!). And bladebound does the same: he gets numerical enchantments on his weapon. The blade's energy atunement can also be very handy, as nothing resists force damage.

Lastly, if you're going the strength path, a katana is probably your best choice; better damage than the scimitar, and you get free exotic weapon proficiency.

[Neongelion]

TGMaxMaxer wrote:

I have no reference for that AP, but with a 20 pt buy and human I wouldn't take both, just because of the double hit to Magus Arcana and arcane pool.

The only reason to mix both is if you don't trust the GM/AP to give weapon/armor loot properly, or are just really set on playing an anime style character (no armor but frontline fighty type with a few magic powers).

At least with elf or half-elf you get the Arcana back by level 12.

Half elf lose a feat (which you won't really miss) and a skillpoint/level off of human. Int based character makes up for the skills, and +2 will (h-elf racial) or skill focus (lots of characters take it) makes up for the feat, since Kensai gets free weapon focus/prof in their chosen weapon (even exotic).

I don't have a reference either, other than that it will be full of technological stuff like cybernetics, lasers, plasma grenades, etc. alongside normal things like magic weapons, potions, and the like, so lord knows what that'll do to what I have to do in terms of loot :P It seems like he likes the combination almost exactly because of what you said (ie anime-esque character/for the flavor).

I'll ask him about how he feels about half-elf though, he's still pretty flexible about his character since the game won't start for two more months.

[Ascalaphus]

As a side note, you can also use these archetypes with a Whip, and take the Whip Mastery feat line. You won't be doing quite as much insane amounts of damage, but you get to do funny stuff like True Strike->Spell Combat->Whip Trip/Disarm.

Yes, a whip can be a Black Blade. It's a one-handed slashing weapon. Even allows for Weapon Finesse. Kensai gets you the Exotic Weapon Proficiency. And in that case the Black Blade is more justified; what are the odds of finding neat magical whips (compared to mainstream swords)? Flavorwise it's easy - devil's whips make convincing black blades.