when I started playing 2 years ago I picked a magus too. while they are not the easiest class to start learning on they can be a lot of fun. the kensi isn't one I would pick to play you loss to many of the core classes abilities. but if done just right they can be devastating, the GM nearly killed half the party with one. the later abilities of the kensi look like they would work well with a dervish dancer if you make it to the later levels. losing greater spell access is something that doesn't appeal to me. I love pulling from the wizard spell list, the magus just doesn't seem to get as many touch spells as I think they need.
the bladebound is my favorite archetype but you are trapped with that weapon. but since you want to go the dervish dancer route pick a scimitar and you will be set. now with the history of the blade the GM can put you in a hard place if they want the extra work. there is great RP options with that archtype. if the GM wants to do something with that I would pick the bladebound every time
Contrary to popular belief... the Kensai is actually quite devastating... even earlier on. Their "diminished spellcasting" is actually deceptive because (unlike normal magi) they tend to pump up their int ALOT (since it also cranks up their AC).
If you want a guide to the Kensai:
The kensai is also AWESOME if you are going for more a super baddass swordsman feel (combine the spell Bladed Dash or Greater Bladed dash with spell combat and things get awesome!)
If you are still leaning for the Hexcrafter:
The thing you have to remember about the Kensai is that he is actually more like a fighter than the Base Magus or the Hexcrafter. Additionally, very few people can outcrit a Kensai (between having access to more fighter feats earlier and that HUGE bonus to crit confirmations...)
The Hexcrafter does have a certain advantage when it comes to endurance though. The ability to use at will hexes is powerful... Oh... and teh Defiler build in the guide will make your GM hate you... just letting you know.
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If you combine bladebound and kensai you can dump almost all your wealth into stat boosting items and pearls of power which make up for what you traded away and then some. In a low magic or low wealth setting you can give no craps cause you will have a great weapon and no need for armor. You get awesome defensive spells like shield and mage armor as well as blur and mirror image so the low "always on" AC is a little misleading.
The one thing I will say against bladebound is that it can't gain spell storing which isn't that big but if you absolutely, positively have to explode it in one hit a keen spell storing intensified shocking grasp delivered with you other intensified shocking grasp on a crit is my favorite way to go. (41D6 + stat modifier at level 10)
Funny thing actually...
The kensai will actually have MORE AC than his normal counterparts...
Since he does not experience Max Dex Limits, his Dex will be pumped up pretty high... Additionally, by pumping up his INT his AC will actually get pretty high. It is kind of like the Monk.
On top of that, his AC is all touch AC, which is HUGE (screw you casters and gunslingers)
part of the fun with classes like this is planning for later levels and figuring out how to survive lower and higher levels. remember everyone else will at the lower levels with you. its only my preference to avoid the kensi but that archetype could work wonderfully with a dervish dancer build. mostly remember to do what you will think you will enjoy the most.
Hexcrafter every time. That'scrafter!
You get hexes! Awesome.
I'm playing one now with the 2 level dip in white haired witch and it rocks, debuffing the s#/t out of everything with 15ft reach, grab and constrict - damage output is very good and whatever you hit is going to be having a really, really bad day.
Go Strength, dex is a trap imo.
You want power attack.
You do know archetypes are optional, right? For a new player, I'd stick to the basic magus class, as you'll end up being just a bit more versatile, with less quirky rules to deal with.
The one thing I will say against bladebound is that it can't gain spell storing which isn't that big but if you absolutely, positively have to explode it in one hit a keen spell storing intensified shocking grasp delivered with you other intensified shocking grasp on a crit is my favorite way to go. (41D6 + stat modifier at level 10)
You don't get the crit multiplier on a spell cast from a spell storing weapon.
Go Strength, dex is a trap imo.
You want power attack.
Piranha Strike and the agile weapon property say hi. :)
Piranha Strike and the agile weapon property say hi. :)
Which limits you to using a light weapon.
Which limits you to using a light weapon.
Piranha Strike and the agile weapon property say hi. :)
If you're a kensai, there are plenty of crit-fisher light weapons.
The spell storing spell doesn't crit because it doesn't require its own attack roll, it hits automatically, therefore it cannot roll a crit. It is triggered after something else has occurred, and is its own free action without an attack roll.
My first PF character was a bladebound kensai and I loved it. We had a 20 point buy and I was a tiefling so I had a bit more DEX and INT then you will, but when you don't spend money on a weapon you have quite a bit of extra cash. The first couple of levels are a bit rough, but even a 16 DEX with silk ceremonial armor gives you a 15 AC, not great but usually good enough to survive first level. By third when you are dervish dancing with your black blade things are pretty great.
I had a huge AC by the end of the game, thanks to stat bump items and other misc. AC boosts.
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The spell storing spell doesn't crit because it doesn't require its own attack roll, it hits automatically, therefore it cannot roll a crit. It is triggered after something else has occurred, and is its own free action without an attack roll.
Incorrect. If the weapon crits the effect from spellstoring crits as well. This has been discussed repeatedly.
I believe you need to use a magus arcana to get mage armor as I think it's not on the magus spell list.
If you do pick up a level of Devish Dancer, you can grab yourself some Darkleaf Leather armor. It's +2 AC, 0% spell failure chance, and has a very high DEX modifier.
no..read the darkleaf material again, the minimum spell failure is 5%
the best armor is a Haramaki or the silken ceremonial armor. 1 AC, legitimate 0% spell failure chance, and there is no limit in the DEX.
And don't pay attention to Dervish haters, dumping Str is the best as a Kensai. the best thing of the kensai is that it makes the dervish build viable.
Incorrect. If the weapon crits the effect from spellstoring crits as well. This has been discussed repeatedly.
Yes, this has been discussed in multiple threads and the spell storing spell NOT critting is the general consensus within these threads. Perhaps you have found something different or more persuasive? I'm more than willing to listen/investigate.
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I believe you need to use a magus arcana to get mage armor as I think it's not on the magus spell list.
If you do pick up a level of Devish Dancer, you can grab yourself some Darkleaf Leather armor. It's +2 AC, 0% spell failure chance, and has a very high DEX modifier.
no..read the darkleaf material again, the minimum spell failure is 5%
the best armor is a Haramaki or the silken ceremonial armor. 1 AC, legitimate 0% spell failure chance, and there is no limit in the DEX.
And don't pay attention to Dervish haters, dumping Str is the best as a Kensai. the best thing of the kensai is that it makes the dervish build viable.
any build where the strongest part of the class can be defeated by a simple darkness or invisibility spell is not something I consider very good. Heck a simple bluff check removes almost all of the Kensai's defensive ability.
To OP, anything that removes the Dex bonus also removes the int bonus from AC and with the lack of actual armor the Kensai becomes as hard to hit as any other mage. Throw on that a Disarm combat maneuver and the kensai loses all of it's fighter feats as well. And since the Kensai tanked his Strength he is extremely vulnerable to all combat maneuvers.
All of this can be taken from him in 1 round by any halfway decent martial build and almost every caster build.
But it's a game, play what you want.
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The Kensai might have poor strength, but he is adding his int to CMD (as a dodge bonus) so he isn't all that vulnerable to disarm.
Having the ability to see in the dark and see invisible are good plans for a Kensai though (and I'd argue that while Kensai might be slightly more screwed when they can't see, pretty much any character is screwed enough by not being able to see that the difference is neglible).
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The Kensai might have poor strength, but he is adding his int to CMD (as a dodge bonus) so he isn't all that vulnerable to disarm.
Having the ability to see in the dark and see invisible are good plans for a Kensai though (and I'd argue that while Kensai might be slightly more screwed when they can't see, pretty much any character is screwed enough by not being able to see that the difference is neglible).
Which is why we said to use Bluff. A simple bluff (feint) strips the Kensai of his dex & his Int dropping his CMD against a disarm to 10+bab+str and as a 3/4 bab class with the tanked Strength most Kensai have it's pretty much an automatic disarm (or trip, or bullrush or literally any combat maneuver you want). With every realistic combat maneuver build taking improved feint it's always a sad day for Kensai's.
For a 2 feat investment (improved feint & Greater Feint) a Kensai is effectively a sitting duck for the entire opposing team.
No, with all the glaring weaknesses the Kensai archetype has it's at best a glass cannon with a huge crack in it and if you yell boo at it it shatters.
The Kensai might have poor strength, but he is adding his int to CMD (as a dodge bonus) so he isn't all that vulnerable to disarm.
Having the ability to see in the dark and see invisible are good plans for a Kensai though (and I'd argue that while Kensai might be slightly more screwed when they can't see, pretty much any character is screwed enough by not being able to see that the difference is neglible).
Which is why we said to use Bluff. A simple bluff (feint) strips the Kensai of his dex & his Int dropping his CMD against a disarm to 10+bab+str and as a 3/4 bab class with the tanked Strength most Kensai have it's pretty much an automatic disarm (or trip, or bullrush or literally any combat maneuver you want). With every realistic combat maneuver build taking improved feint it's always a sad day for Kensai's.
For a 2 feat investment (improved feint & Greater Feint) a Kensai is effectively a sitting duck for the entire opposing team.
No, with all the glaring weaknesses the Kensai archetype has it's at best a glass cannon with a huge crack in it and if you yell boo at it it shatters.
This argument only makes any sense assuming PvP or something. I've been playing 3.x since the day it launched, across dozens of campaigns, and I've never been feinted once. Basically the DM has to build a Kensai killing NPC for any of this to make any sense.
Which entry in which Bestiary or Codex has these two feats? Even if there are any it's an incredibly niche case. You can put forward any character and we could hash out the perfect NPC to kill it, but that's never going to happen in actual play. Realistically there are a lot of builds that will simply OHKO any magus (or any character) if he loses initiative. But again, never going to happen in actual play.
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The Kensai might have poor strength, but he is adding his int to CMD (as a dodge bonus) so he isn't all that vulnerable to disarm.
Having the ability to see in the dark and see invisible are good plans for a Kensai though (and I'd argue that while Kensai might be slightly more screwed when they can't see, pretty much any character is screwed enough by not being able to see that the difference is neglible).
Which is why we said to use Bluff. A simple bluff (feint) strips the Kensai of his dex & his Int dropping his CMD against a disarm to 10+bab+str and as a 3/4 bab class with the tanked Strength most Kensai have it's pretty much an automatic disarm (or trip, or bullrush or literally any combat maneuver you want). With every realistic combat maneuver build taking improved feint it's always a sad day for Kensai's.
For a 2 feat investment (improved feint & Greater Feint) a Kensai is effectively a sitting duck for the entire opposing team.
No, with all the glaring weaknesses the Kensai archetype has it's at best a glass cannon with a huge crack in it and if you yell boo at it it shatters.
This argument only makes any sense assuming PvP or something. I've been playing 3.x since the day it launched, across dozens of campaigns, and I've never been feinted once. Basically the DM has to build a Kensai killing NPC for any of this to make any sense.
Which entry in which Bestiary or Codex has these two feats? Even if there are any it's an incredibly niche case. You can put forward any character and we could hash out the perfect NPC to kill it, but that's never going to happen in actual play. Realistically there are a lot of builds that will simply OHKO any magus (or any character) if he loses initiative. But again, never going to happen in actual play.
Just because your GM doesn't use the options that the game has put out there doesn't make the weakness any less glaring.
Also Feints aren't a build, it's a standard action that requires no investment to use, any combatant can do it at will. The feats and skill points are there simply to make it more efficient.ANY opponent that a Kensai meets who thinks about it for 2 seconds can destroy that Kensai with no problem if they take these actions, the only difference is the one who doesn't invest in this feat needs 2 rounds to do it instead of one. That's it.
Oh and several of the published material out there has opponents using Feint as their written tactic, it's not that rare.
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As far as AC goes, 18 is low at level 8. But mage armor last eight hours by that point and you have all the pearls of power you could want. Shield bumps that up another four points if you want to spell combat to bring it up. There is 26 AC. You can also rock a ring of protection and amulet of natural armor for a few more points at that level. Plus you can drop mirror image which gives you a miss chance and that is better than AC in my opinion.
At level 8, my bladebound kensai has a 28 with Mage as my only active buff. As soon as things get dicey, that goes to 32 with Shield. I could have gone higher, but I enjoy having a decent charisma and social skills.
By 9th level, my AC will go to 30 with just Mage Armor.
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The Kensai might have poor strength, but he is adding his int to CMD (as a dodge bonus) so he isn't all that vulnerable to disarm.
Having the ability to see in the dark and see invisible are good plans for a Kensai though (and I'd argue that while Kensai might be slightly more screwed when they can't see, pretty much any character is screwed enough by not being able to see that the difference is neglible).
Which is why we said to use Bluff. A simple bluff (feint) strips the Kensai of his dex & his Int dropping his CMD against a disarm to 10+bab+str and as a 3/4 bab class with the tanked Strength most Kensai have it's pretty much an automatic disarm (or trip, or bullrush or literally any combat maneuver you want). With every realistic combat maneuver build taking improved feint it's always a sad day for Kensai's.
For a 2 feat investment (improved feint & Greater Feint) a Kensai is effectively a sitting duck for the entire opposing team.
No, with all the glaring weaknesses the Kensai archetype has it's at best a glass cannon with a huge crack in it and if you yell boo at it it shatters.
This argument only makes any sense assuming PvP or something. I've been playing 3.x since the day it launched, across dozens of campaigns, and I've never been feinted once. Basically the DM has to build a Kensai killing NPC for any of this to make any sense.
Which entry in which Bestiary or Codex has these two feats? Even if there are any it's an incredibly niche case. You can put forward any character and we could hash out the perfect NPC to kill it, but that's never going to happen in actual play. Realistically there are a lot of builds that will simply OHKO any magus (or any character) if he loses initiative. But again, never going to happen in actual play.
Just because your GM doesn't use the options that the game has put out there doesn't make the weakness any less glaring.
Also...
It takes a two feat investment in Feint, plush the skill points invested. Not something I have ever encountered in a PFS scenario. It may exist, but would be exceedingly rare. Shadows and Greater Shadows, with their incorporeal touch attacks are far more common.
PFS GM's do not have the ability to modify encounters to block a specific player tactic. No loading scenarios with Greater Feint to kill the kensai. No loading the scenario with Greater Shadows to kill characters boosting their AC with normal armor.
*At higher levels, a bladebound magus can teleport his weapon to his hand for free.
The Kensai might have poor strength, but he is adding his int to CMD (as a dodge bonus) so he isn't all that vulnerable to disarm.
Having the ability to see in the dark and see invisible are good plans for a Kensai though (and I'd argue that while Kensai might be slightly more screwed when they can't see, pretty much any character is screwed enough by not being able to see that the difference is neglible).
Which is why we said to use Bluff. A simple bluff (feint) strips the Kensai of his dex & his Int dropping his CMD against a disarm to 10+bab+str and as a 3/4 bab class with the tanked Strength most Kensai have it's pretty much an automatic disarm (or trip, or bullrush or literally any combat maneuver you want). With every realistic combat maneuver build taking improved feint it's always a sad day for Kensai's.
For a 2 feat investment (improved feint & Greater Feint) a Kensai is effectively a sitting duck for the entire opposing team.
No, with all the glaring weaknesses the Kensai archetype has it's at best a glass cannon with a huge crack in it and if you yell boo at it it shatters.
This argument only makes any sense assuming PvP or something. I've been playing 3.x since the day it launched, across dozens of campaigns, and I've never been feinted once. Basically the DM has to build a Kensai killing NPC for any of this to make any sense.
Which entry in which Bestiary or Codex has these two feats? Even if there are any it's an incredibly niche case. You can put forward any character and we could hash out the perfect NPC to kill it, but that's never going to happen in actual play. Realistically there are a lot of builds that will simply OHKO any magus (or any character) if he loses initiative. But again, never going to happen in actual play.
Just because your GM doesn't use the options that the game has put out there doesn't make the weakness any less glaring.
Also...
You might as well stop hating on the Kensai, for real. your argument has been proven invalid a lot of times, if you're a GM we can already see you're the metagaming type.
*add blur and mirror image to that 30 AC @arthanos. boom! yeah right glass cannon. my mirror images saved the group just by taking blows millions of times.
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I believe you need to use a magus arcana to get mage armor as I think it's not on the magus spell list.
If you do pick up a level of Devish Dancer, you can grab yourself some Darkleaf Leather armor. It's +2 AC, 0% spell failure chance, and has a very high DEX modifier.
no..read the darkleaf material again, the minimum spell failure is 5%
the best armor is a Haramaki or the silken ceremonial armor. 1 AC, legitimate 0% spell failure chance, and there is no limit in the DEX.
And don't pay attention to Dervish haters, dumping Str is the best as a Kensai. the best thing of the kensai is that it makes the dervish build viable.
any build where the strongest part of the class can be defeated by a simple darkness or invisibility spell is not something I consider very good. Heck a simple bluff check removes almost all of the Kensai's defensive ability.
So what you're saying is that every Kensai should take Blind Fight (keeps you from losing Dex bonus to AC against opponents you can't see) and put skill points in Sense Motive (to oppose Feint checks)? Easy enough.
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The Kensai might have poor strength, but he is adding his int to CMD (as a dodge bonus) so he isn't all that vulnerable to disarm.
Having the ability to see in the dark and see invisible are good plans for a Kensai though (and I'd argue that while Kensai might be slightly more screwed when they can't see, pretty much any character is screwed enough by not being able to see that the difference is neglible).
Which is why we said to use Bluff. A simple bluff (feint) strips the Kensai of his dex & his Int dropping his CMD against a disarm to 10+bab+str and as a 3/4 bab class with the tanked Strength most Kensai have it's pretty much an automatic disarm (or trip, or bullrush or literally any combat maneuver you want). With every realistic combat maneuver build taking improved feint it's always a sad day for Kensai's.
For a 2 feat investment (improved feint & Greater Feint) a Kensai is effectively a sitting duck for the entire opposing team.
No, with all the glaring weaknesses the Kensai archetype has it's at best a glass cannon with a huge crack in it and if you yell boo at it it shatters.
This argument only makes any sense assuming PvP or something. I've been playing 3.x since the day it launched, across dozens of campaigns, and I've never been feinted once. Basically the DM has to build a Kensai killing NPC for any of this to make any sense.
Which entry in which Bestiary or Codex has these two feats? Even if there are any it's an incredibly niche case. You can put forward any character and we could hash out the perfect NPC to kill it, but that's never going to happen in actual play. Realistically there are a lot of builds that will simply OHKO any magus (or any character) if he loses initiative. But again, never going to happen in actual play.
Just because your GM doesn't use the options that the game has put out there doesn't make the weakness any less glaring.
Also...
I swear.... every time I see your comments they are always rude and honestly, really dumb....
NEVER have I seen Feint being used by a GM... and Darkvision is fairly standard fare....
Using black blade on a swordcane pistol makes a finessable enchantable item with an opening for a second item to enchant.
Using black blade on a swordcane pistol makes a finessable enchantable item with an opening for a second item to enchant.That's really pushing it, especially with a DM like me who does not allow any enchantment of blackblades.
Think of it as the pistol was attached later to the swordcane