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Hey all,
So I am completely new to RPGs (like COMPLETELY new), and was hoping to get some advice from those more experienced than I.
I was interested in choosing a Bladebound Kensai Magus (mostly just because it seems cool), but am now questioning whether it is a good choice after my groups first session.
Given a 15 point build, my character so far is
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Bladebound Kensai Magus
Starting Level: 1
Abilities
Str 10
Dex 15 (17)
Con 13
Int 15
Wis 10
Cha 8
With Weapon Focus (Scimitar), Skill Focus, Weapon Finesse, Arcane Training, Canny Defense, and Magic Lineage (shocking grasp) as a trait.
The plan was to do a dancing dervish build, high on both Dex and Int. However, I'm starting to question this choice. For example, with only at 15 point build, I can't get both Dex and Int really high, so even with full Canny defense at level 3 I'd only have an AC of 16 (since Kensai's can't be proficient with armor). I guess I technically could be an Elf and punt Con as well to get +4 and +3 to Dex and Int in some arrangement, but it still seems to pale in comparison to being able to use armor towards AC.
Do people still think this can be a viable build at low levels with a moderate abilities purchase? I'm now questioning whether the combination of low AC (due to no armor) and downgrades to spellcasting (Less spells per level, no spell recall) is worth the added benefits of Kensai. (For reference, our group is made up of a Witch, and Oracle, and a tank-ish Druid, so we have more casters than good melee fighters, which was part of my rationale for choosing Kensai).
Furthermore, does Bladebound make sense? The decrease to arcane pool sucks, but I was mostly choosing it for the RPing side anyways. For example, a huge benefit to Magus seems to the Dancing Dervish build is to use a keen-enhanced scimitar to land massive Crits with spellstrike/spell combat Shocking grasp. Is it possible to apply those enhancement bonuses from your arcane pool you get at level 5 to a black blade?
Thanks in advance! Hopefully there aren't too many questions buried in here
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Well with those stats you should have 16 ac at level 3. Items can add a little to that but screw 'em, you are a magus, use a miss chance from defensive spells instead of ac. Though I've seen kensai get ac up to 30 at mid levels without much difficulty.
You're right, that should have been a 16, not a 10 (just a typo). I've edited the original post to reflect the change. However, is 16 still sufficient for the majority of the lower level combats (assuming I don't miraculously come across some kind of magic item or a crap ton of gp)?