| aza9999 |
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Male human (kellid) magus (bladebound, hexcrafter) 5 NE Medium humanoid (human) Init +2; Senses Perception +6
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Defense
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AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, +1 deflection)
hp 39 (5d8+15)
Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +6
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee bloodletter(blackblade scimitar) +9 (1d6+8/18-20) and
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 13, Cha 12
Base Atk +3; CMB +7; CMD 20
Feats Arcane Strike, Elemental Spell APG, Extra Arcane Pool UM, Heighten Spell, Preferred Spell APG
Traits anatomist, devotee of the green, magical lineage
other Gear mwk chain shirt, +1 composite longbow, cloak of resistance +1 , ring of protection +1 , 50 gp
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Special Abilities
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Anatomist +1 to confirm critical hits.
Arcane Pool +2 (9/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers.
Arcane Strike As a swift action, add +1 damage, +1 per 5 caster levels and your weapons are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Elemental Spell (Acid) You can cast a spell with half or all its damage type replaced with this feat's
damage type.
Heighten Spell Increases spell level to effective level desired.
Hex Arcana You can substitute Hexes for Magus Arcana. Hex Magus (Su) You gain access to witch hexes.
Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp) A chosen spell counts as 1 level lower when metamagic feats are applied to it.
Preferred Spell (Shocking Grasp) The chosen spell may be cast spontaneously, and metamagic can be added to the spell without increasing its casting time.
Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other.
Spellstrike (Su) Deliver touch spells as part of a melee attack.
So I just reached level 5 and took preferred spell shocking grasp as my feat, allowing me to spontaneous cast so that i don't have to memorise it. I'm trying to work out where i go from here.
At level 6 i get either my first magus arcana or another hex. I was thinking of taking either slumber or evil eye hexes, as none of the arcana really stand out to me.
Slumber enemy gets a DC18 will save (no hit-dice limit). On a fail it's asleep for 1 round/level, can't be woken by noise or light, only by someone taking a standard action to wake it or by taking damage. Can only be used on each enemy once per day.
Evil eye gives -2 to my choice of ac/atk/saves/skills (-4 at lvl 8), can be used multiple times on the same enemy (different stat penalty each time), lasts 8 rounds unless they make a DC18 will save in which case it lasts for 1 round.
Slumber can take a bad guy completely out of the battle, but if it fails or they get woken then it's wasted. Evil eye only debuffs, but it can debuff multiple stats on the same enemy, use as many times as i want and even if they save the debuff still lasts for 1 round.
As for the rest of my build my current style is to use my knowledge skills to identify enemies and weaknesses before combat starts if possible. I then run in, preferably on one of the guys the tank is beating up and use spellstrike/spell combat with brand, or shocking grasp if it's a tough one. If the enemies are grouped up before combat starts i may throw out a glitterdust on them, but at this level not many are failing their saving throws any more. Also boosting my blade stats with arcane pool, at level 5 i can now start adding 'keen' as well as flaming/ice/shocking etc.
I plan to concentrate mostly on melee dps with spell support so i'm looking for build ideas to work towards that fit that. I've read through walters guide and got some good information from there, but i was looking for other input, especially from people who have played a hexcrafter/bladebound magus.
At level 7 i plan on taking intensified spell metamagic (+1 spell level) which allows me to increase the dice cap of shocking grasp to 10d6. Magical lineage gives a -1 to metamagic spell level and preferred spell lets me spontaneous cast shocking grasp and add metamagic without increasing spellcasting time, effectively making this a free metamagic to use every time.
At 9 i take the other hex i didn't take at 6 (evil eye/slumber). I'm not sure what feat to take here, but thinking of extra arcana/hex, or maybe something combat related.
Beyond that i don't really have a plan yet, but i'd love to hear feedback or criticisms telling me why my build is a failure and better ways to do things :tongue:
| KnotAguru |
Any chance you can retrain your feats? Arcane strike is a waste for a magus as it requires a swift action. Most arcane pool powers also require a swift action. Extra arcane pool is a waste too. With a 20 INT you should have plenty of pool points (even with the bladebound archetype) especially with the ability to use hexes and save pool points.
You can find other ways of lowering an enemies saves or applying debuffs to help slumber succeed. Many magus go for frostbite/enforcer trick (fatigue + shaken). I personally prefer power attack/cornugon smash (shaken effect) because it applies to all hits as long as you are power attacking, which you should be if your focus in dps. You can still frostbite too for the fatigue effect, but it looks like you want to focus on shocking grasp burst.
You can use arcane accuracy arcana to apply INT bonus to attack rolls for the round to help cushion the 3/4 BAB and power attack penalty. Flight is an excellent hex as well to fly around the battlefield and avoid obstacles. What hex did you take at level 4?
| aza9999 |
Extra arcane pool i just took so i can definitely retrain that, arcane strike hasn't had a huge effect (half the time i forget to add it in) so i can probably get my gm to let me retrain it.
I took flight at level 4. I could take extra hex instead of extra arcane pool to get slumber or evil eye now and slumber next level (can't take extra arcana because technically i don't have arcana yet due to hexcrafter).
Power attack/cornugon smash seems like a good combo. I'll need to buff my intimidate a bit since cha was my dump stat and i've only put one rank in so far. I could take power attack at 7 and cornugan smash at 9.
Thanks for the advice :)
| KnotAguru |
Keeping all the metamagic feats you have for versatility, your build could like this:
(H) Heightened spell
(1) Elemental spell
(2)
(3) Power attack
(4) Flight hex
(5) Preferred spell (shocking grasp), (bonus)Intensified spell
(6) Slumber hex
(7) Cornugon smash
(8)
(9) Evil eye hex, ?feat?
(10)
(11) ?feat?, ?bonus feat?
(12) ?arcana/hex?
Some possible feats/arcana/hexes: intimidating prowess, arcane accuracy, spell-scar arcana, ice tomb
| Kendreyek |
I'm doing my own Hexcrafter, and I liked Arcane Strike for that new feat in the ACG, Riving Strike. Whenever you hit someone with Arcane Strike you can lower their saves by two. Helps to land Bestow Curse when I want it, and since I'm in an all spellcaster group everyone else loves me. Not a major thing though, especially if you don't have many other casters in the party, then I'd ditch it.
I also use Frostbite/Enforcer instead of Power Attack/Cornugon smash. I use a Rapier with Precise Strike (Flamboyant Arcana and Arcane Deed, also from ACG), much better damage than Power Attack (especially since you don't have Full BAB) and it doesn't lower your attack rolls so you hit even more.
I've wondered quite a bit whether others thought the feat investment for Riving Strike and Precise Strike are worth it though. I'm extremely happy with them right now, though I'll admit that Arcane/Riving Strike might take up too much space for what it does.
| KnotAguru |
Riving strike is okay, depends on the group makeup. It's the loss of a swift action that bothers me. The effects only last one round though, which is why demoralize is better. It effects more than just spell saves and has a chance to last longer, along with a possibility of setting the base fear effect for frightened/panicked depending on group strategies (i.e. bard with dirge of doom feat line).
I went the frostbite route with my hexcrafter as well, but I've been focusing on polymorph spells for multiple natural attacks to pile on the damage, so my scimitar is only used 25% of the time. I've been using arcane accuracy to boost my attack rolls, which helps when rolling 3-5 attacks depending on form. I had my hexcrafter built long before the ACG though.
That's what I love about the magus, so many options :)
| Paulicus |
I'm going a similar build for my bladebound/hexcrafter. She's not getting much beyond the flight hex, but I wanted Bestow Curse as a spell! Combine that with Riving Strike and that's just awesome. And the two swashbuckler arcana really fit the image I had of her.
Arcane Strike shouldn't interfere too much with your other swift actions, especially without spell recall. It'd conflict more with the Flamboyant arcana and the parry/riposte deed.