My idea is to equip the magus with multiple nets sized for small, medium, large creatures.
My primary stats will be constitution and intelligence. Dex and strength will be no more than 14.
I think this will be effective due to targeting touch ac with the net.
I'm thinking half-elf for the race.
What feats do you suggest? I'm thinking quick draw, pointblank, and all the net feats. Other suggestions?
Card Caster can spellstrike with any thrown weapon, so, it's clever, but you probably still want strength for the control line and there are much easier ways to entangle. For example, just using any weapon with a Rime Frostbite.
Harrowed Spellstrike:
"Beginning at 2nd level, a card caster can invest a single thrown weapon with a single touch or ranged spell as part of the spell's normal casting time. The spell must target a single creature, and the spell's range changes to match the thrown weapon's range increment. This ability otherwise functions identically to spellstrike, except it can only be applied to thrown ranged weapons instead of melee attacks.
This ability replaces and modifies spellstrike."
So, yeah, it just says one thrown weapon, doesn't specify any specific one. As obvious as it is that it's intended to be only for cards, it doesn't say it's only for cards, so, it's not. A net works.
It just isn't really worth it because of Rime Frostbite.
Two features require cards and two do not (the arcane focus just refers to ranged weapons, then calls out a deck as a possible choice with special rules).
It works on any thrown weapon. And the only thing that destroys the cards is Deadly Dealer (the feat). A regular thrown weapon would not be.
It's even possible to read that, using the Deadly Dealer class feature without Arcane Strike does not consume the cards, since they become deadly just by you having Arcana. That's a bit of a stretch, though, for sure.
Deadly Dealer won't work with a net, that's ridiculous. I think he brought it up to deliver touch spells at range with something that hits touch ac and entangles.
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Of course, there is nothing stopping anyone from using regular spellstrike with a net via the Net Adept feat. Using harrowed spellstrike with a ranged net is perfectly balanced with using it as a melee weapon for the same reach.
It's a neat trick, but ultimately, out-classed for entangling due to rime frostbite.
The only other possibility is maybe a mangling of logic vs. rules where one might claim that if someone is tangled by the net and the magus is holding the trailing line, a touch spell would automatically hit via the net.
But that is so obviously not how it works, and touch spells are so easy to hit with anyway, it hardly seems like a worthwhile strategy.
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I'm thinking you shouldn't do it. You may want to re-read the card caster archetype before going this route since as it's written it doesn't work.
The card caster is a terrible archetype for the same reason that the Myrmidarch is terrible, it doesn't have any synergy with the default magus abilities.
Remember, it only modifies how spellstrike and Arcane Pool work so it's not compatible with spellcombat which requires a melee weapon in your mainhand which a net isn't. No spellcombat means you can't cast and attack unless you cast a touch spell which gives you 1 attack a round. PERIOD.
This is a TERRIBLE archetype, don't do it.
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You can just quickdraw a weapon for the ranged spellstrike. You can't do the whole sequence with it, true, but you can still do that.
You can also just use thrown weapons. With throw anything, you can do a full attack with a kukri, then throw it for spellstrike.
The net is kinda great, because it delivers the effect and also gets you entangle and it's targeting touch. So, all great things basically.
No, this doesn't work.
Remember spellcombat requires the weapon in hand for the entire round so quickdraw doesn't cut it and throwing doesn't cut it.You cast the spell and if it is a touch spell you get one attack. If it's NOT a touch spell you don't get to attack at all.
If you want to use spellcombat then you have to switch to a melee weapon and if it isn't a ranged melee weapon (Like a throwing Dagger) you can't spellstrike with it.
It's a trap, run from it.
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You spellcombat, cast the spell, hold the charge, quickdraw the net and then spellstrike with it once spell combat is over.
If that doesn't work, feel free to point out where I'm wrong.
Ok, here:
To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty).
I bolded it for you. Full round actions means from the beginning of the round to the end of the round that weapon HAS to be in his hands. Using quickdraw means there is a time in the round when the weapon isn't there so you fail to fulfil the full round action requirement of spellcombat.
This has been discussed ad nauseum for years and this is how it works, go read the discussions on the Myrmidarch and you'll see.
You spellcombat, cast the spell, hold the charge, quickdraw the net and then spellstrike with it once spell combat is over.
If that doesn't work, feel free to point out where I'm wrong.
Ok, here:
To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty).I bolded it for you. Full round actions means from the beginning of the round to the end of the round that weapon HAS to be in his hands. Using quickdraw means there is a time in the round when the weapon isn't there so you fail to fulfil the full round action requirement of spellcombat.
This has been discussed ad nauseum for years and this is how it works, go read the discussions on the Myrmidarch and you'll see.
Fortunately, this is not for PFS. Meaning, my gm will allow me to play it as it is intended. With that being said, have any suggestions?
My suggestion is:
Don't bother because Rimed Frosbite makes every weapon entangling.
Also, merge these two threads going on the topic ;)
Here is another reason for net.
I want to make it a spell storing weapon so I can hit the target with two spells at once.
You can do that with any weapon, though. You would need at least 3 spell storing nets, and nets get broken all the time. It just seems like a lot of effort for very little payoff.
Just because a build doesn't optimally synergize with all of your abilities doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. With a thrower, you're still encouraged to have Strength and many thrown weapons are melee weapons, so the magus can thrive with a switch hitter build. What matters is that you're having fun. I played a two-hander magus and another magus that was rather effective with a bow while the other melee-oriented gish in the party sat there twiddling her thumbs because she refused to carry a ranged weapon. Why? Because it wasn't "optimal" for her character.
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You spellcombat, cast the spell, hold the charge, quickdraw the net and then spellstrike with it once spell combat is over.
If that doesn't work, feel free to point out where I'm wrong.
Ok, here:
To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty).I bolded it for you. Full round actions means from the beginning of the round to the end of the round that weapon HAS to be in his hands. Using quickdraw means there is a time in the round when the weapon isn't there so you fail to fulfil the full round action requirement of spellcombat.
This has been discussed ad nauseum for years and this is how it works, go read the discussions on the Myrmidarch and you'll see.You'll have to link me to these "ad nauseum for years" discussions, because I can't find them. No errata/FAQ on it either, so even if discussions exist, nothing is official.
Also, while spellcombat may take a whole turn, free actions made during/before/after it are separate action and shouldn't be influenced by using spellcombat; if things worked by your logic, you couldn't drop an offhand weapon/shift grip as a free action before starting spell combat, which is ridiculous and an extremely contorted read of RAW that I can find no support for.
I'm guessing you might need to brush up on your search skills then. if you search the messageboard for Myrmidarch the first result explains this issue to you.
Or this one:
Or this one:
Myrmidarch and spellcombat
Every version of the Magus is explicitly restricted from using spellcombat with ranged weapons. Spellstrike yes but no spellcombat.
And yes, free actions can be done at anytime on your turn BUT there is nothing about them that changes the fact that during spellcombat you MUST have a melee weapon in your main hand for the duration.