Another Hexcrafter Thread - appreciating advice!

[Wasum]

Aloha there!

I am going to play a magus pretty soon and have some troubles finishing my build. What I got so far is Magus, eventually
hexcrafter archetype, rolles stats (16, 16, 15, 14, 12, 10)Str based.

I for sure want to get a familiar and even surer I do not want a spike nova build. In
fact, I want to heavily focus on
debuffing.

Already set is magical lineage (frostbite), rime spell, enforcer and the
flght hex, as well as bruising intellect.

Okay, now I've got several questions.

1) Is Hexcrafter the right choice in my case?

Yea, as I said I want to focus on debuffing, mainly abusing frostbite synergies. Therefore I do not need that many spells / arcanas and I have a lot of space for interesting stuff. That is what made me think of hexcrafter as he'd be able to debuff even more and to do something when not attacking.

But I still have some doubts. I dont want to utilize slumber so I'm looking at misfortune and evil eye as offensive hexes. Maybe I'd just pick one of those two, but Im not yet sure about that - guess its gonna be evil eye. Thing is, Magus is really begging for full attacks and any full attack I'm taking will interrupt my cackling. That means, if I evil eye someone and he saves I'd have to keep cackling in order to keep the hexes up. So when I start combat, I hex some enemy and then start fullattacking, I wount be able to keep up my cackle and therefore debuff. I could focus on spellstrike only when I have to cackle but

I doubt thats a good idea. I do need advice here! Should I focus

2) The Race
Human elf, half elf. Right now I think I dont want the elf due to con penalty, while half elf offers a bonus feat at first level (EWP or skillfocus) even though +2 will saves is kinda interessting as well. On top of that I get that really nice elven FCB, granting me a new arcana every 6 levels.
Humans on the other hand got that bonus feat (for me, it has about the same value as the FCB of the elf/half elf) and skilled (which I do not need that much) and in addition to that they'd get 1 hp per level as they take it as fcb.

Breakdown: Bonusfeat and FCB evens out, so now I need to check which of these feats I'd chose as bonusfeat: toughnes, iron will, EWP or skillfocus. If its going to be toughnes I'll take human, otherwise half elf.

3) The Stats

As I said I rolled 16, 16, 15, 14, 12, 10.

I'd arrange them like that:
Str: 16
Dex: 15
Con: 14
Int: 16
Wis: 12
Cha: 10

And now I'm trying to figure out where to put my +2 - str or int.

Putting it on str means +1 to hit and +1 (or +2 if THFing) to damage.Putting it on int means +1 to save DCs (actually not that many I'm about to abuse) and +1 on HEX DCs as well als +1 for arcane accuracy in case I take it and +1 for my arcane pool.
What do you think would be the better choice?

So many questions, I'd be so glad to get your advice!

Wasum:)

[Captain Beaky and his band]

1, In my experience you almost never want to hex on round one. Casing shield or mirror image etc is far more likely

2, Half Elf will gain an extra arcana every 6 levels - worth way more than a feat

3, INT! Arcane Accuracy is awesome. As an added reason 2 levels of White Haired Witch is awesome for a Hexcrafter. With enlarge person you have 15ft reach, can use INT for attack and damage and grab (and by extension constrict). Massive increase in chance to hit (with AA you'll never miss) and damage plus you'll do that damage twice with constrict! Take Prehensile Hair and you'll set. Power Attack is gravy. This will also double your 1st level spells and witch gives you Ill Omen which fits your build perfectly. Bludgeoner may be of use if you're fighting lots of Demons (cold resist).

-----------
Artful Owl

[Rerednaw]

Hexcrafter adds versatility, SR-bypassing and concentration check free debuffs. What you give up (Spell Recall) is relatively minor and can be compensated by gear (Pearls of Power).

Cackling can be made a swift via the Cackling Hag Blouse.

As a caster you have options to boost stats (temp). But the benefits of permanent int > permanent str for a debuff magus, esp. a hexcrafter.

I play a witch and I do Hex on round 1. Still YMMV.

In the end what concept = more fun is what I would go with.

Happy gaming! :)

[DRS3]

Id switch dex and wis since you aren't going dex build. Eventually you will be in full plate (adamantine full plate) and the dex 15 will be slightly wasted. As far as my flexible stat bonus, probably strength to 18 and then you can forget about that stat for good. Do not white hair witch, I know its a thing now, but you get a good chunk of what it offers from prehensile hair alone, and doesn't delay your advance in your chosen class at all. Also some advice, free of charge, the long spear, carry one for the first few levels ditch it once you hit level 3. I emphatically agree that Half-Elf is your go to race.

As for your main weapon of choice, now with ACG, hands down rapier. Because at 3rd you take Flamboyant Arcana as your arcana, and then your feat is Extra Arcana and Arcane Deed: Precise strike. Now someone will pop up and say "by the strictest RAW reading it doesn't work' you counter with, all swashbuckler deeds reference 'the swashbuckler' not 'the magus' which makes all the deed options magus can pick up (including the ones from flamboyant) useless. Could it be they left out a line? Yeah. Could it be that they looked at it and said "Only a daft person would think these don't do what they are meant to do" Possibly. But, what this does is gives you your Magus level to damage with light or one hand piercing weapons, including when thrown within 30ft as long as you maintain 1 point in your arcane pool.

Now onto some theoretical things that might go against the grain of what most people think is optimal. Arcane Accuracy? Ignore it, yes its a nice bonus to hit, but we want to limit our Arcane Pool usage in this build, and AA chews Arcane Pool fairly quickly. Evil Eye? Id steer clear of it for this build. Magi are about quickly taking someone down (Nova) or one action debuffing them into uselessness (your build) evil eye is a 'pressure cooking' ability best left to a witch, hexes I'd look at are (in no particular order) Healing, Fortune, Slumber, Misfortune, Flight, Swamp's Grasp, Water lung, Charm. Let's talk feats, I may suggest (and this goes against the canonical Walter's Guide), Arcane Strike, why? ACG mostly, there is feat from there called Riving Strike, which gives people a -2 to saves vs spells and spell-likes for 1 round after hitting them with a melee weapon enhanced by Arcane Strike, which provides great synergy with spell combat and further it accomplishes what your build wants to do, debuff while doing damage. Also lets you enhance your sling bullets at levels 1-2 for 1d4+5 damage assuming 18 str which is not entirely horrible. Should you choose to go another route you can pick up Arcane Deed: Menacing Swordplay which lets you intimidate a target you hit with your rapier as a swift action as long as you have one Arcane Pool Point remaining, which means you aren't using Arcane Strike so ditch that. This means Intimidating Prowess at level 1 granting you your strength bonus + your int bonus to intimidate so which means at level 1 your intimidate will be 1 rank + 3 class skill bonus, +3 Skill Focus, + 4 str, +3 Int= +14.

Putting it all together looks something like this.
Half Elf Freebies: Either the +2 to will save or Skill Focus (Intimidate) (If going menacing swordplay)
1. Arcane Strike or Intimidating Prowess (if going Menacing Swordplay)
2. -
3. Flamboyant Arcana, Extra Arcana: Arcane Deed: Precise Strike
4. Flight or Slumber or Healing hex your choice
5. Rime Spell (bonus) +(Your Choice Extra Arcana: Arcane Deed: Menacing Swordplay or Riving Strike depending on build)
6. 2 (FCB here) Arcanas of your choice here because the build is essentially complete do whatever you fancy, Hexes, Deeds, Vanilla Arcana.

Regards,
DRS

[Wasum]

Captain Beaky and his band wrote:

1, In my experience you almost never want to hex on round one. Casing shield or mirror image etc is far more likely

Yea, that is true probably but - when would I cast hexes then?

First round of combat: selfbuff. Second round spell combat full attack, activating rime frostbite. So now the further rounds consist of either fullattacking or hexing. In case I hex I should avoid further full attacks as those would prevent me from cackling and therefore end my evil eye/misfortune debuff. That is kinda mocking me. I feel like I could nor utilize both my strengths at the same time and yea, I just dont like it at all, it seems like I would not gain much through hexes this way.

Captain Beaky and his band wrote:

2, Half Elf will gain an extra arcana every 6 levels - worth way more than a feat

Yea, I'm not sure whether the campaign will last long enough to gain more than one arcana, but if it does, sure, half elf is stronger. Even though a little squishier.

Captain Beaky and his band wrote:

3, INT! Arcane Accuracy is awesome. As an added reason 2 levels of White Haired Witch is awesome for a Hexcrafter. With enlarge person you have 15ft reach, can use INT for attack and damage and grab (and by extension constrict). Massive increase in chance to hit (with AA you'll never miss) and damage plus you'll do that damage twice with constrict! Take Prehensile Hair and you'll set. Power Attack is gravy. This will also double your 1st level spells and witch gives you Ill Omen which fits your build perfectly. Bludgeoner may be of use if you're fighting lots of Demons (cold resist).

At that point I'm struggeling. I have some trouble with that kind of build to be honest. I dont like that I have to activate prehensile as standard action. I also dont like losing 2 casterlevels (I'd have to take magical knack to make up for it, so no bruising intellect) and delaying magus spell progression as well as my already crippeled BAB. As Hexcrafter I'd have ill omen on my spelllist anyway.

The advantage of the WH witch are pretty obvious though... Would I still be using manufactured weapons with that concept? Mah, I'm just not sure whether this would be the right thing for me, I feel like it would somehow cripple me as well.

Rerednaw wrote:

Hexcrafter adds versatility, SR-bypassing and concentration check free debuffs. What you give up (Spell Recall) is relatively minor and can be compensated by gear (Pearls of Power).

Cackling can be made a swift via the Cackling Hag Blouse.

As a caster you have options to boost stats (temp). But the benefits of permanent int > permanent str for a debuff magus, esp. a hexcrafter.

I play a witch and I do Hex on round 1. Still YMMV.

In the end what concept = more fun is what I would go with.

Happy gaming! :)

Cackling Hag Blouse sounds like an awesome way to make this character work the way I'd want him to work!

Other than that I think I'm set on Int > Str ... thats at least something:D

[Captain Beaky and his band]

No manufactured weapons needed - everything goes through your hair. With the WHW levels and the PH hex you'll have it on permanently.

The thing with this build is the hexes you take are passive. Hair/Flight/Wand Wielder(if SR is an issue-cast everything through a piercing or merciful rod for INT to SR checks).

What you do is attack without worrying about AoO(reach) using bab(which is only 1 behind) + 2*INT(maxed out) + pool + buffs = never miss. You hit twice, grab twice, constrict twice (without being grappled yourself) plus spell damage twice. If, and it usually is if, they are still standing, they are shaken/entangled/fatigued/grappled and if you want tripped too! You're a wrecking ball of death and debuffing!

[Captain Beaky and his band]

Having said that, if it isn't doing it for you then stay straight Hexcrafter! Different Strokes and all!