|
1) Casting a spell provokes an attack of opportunity, whether you're using Spellstrike or not. You can attempt to cast defensively to mitigate that.
2) Arcane Spell Failure may negate your spell, depending on what type of armor you're wearing. Luckily Magi may cast spells in light armor without worrying about ASF.
Not a magi, Arcanists are affected by spell failure, so yes to number 2.
(To be precise, it affects your casting not your Spellstrike.)
Thanks! I wasn't aware that Touch attacks were a two part process, so that's where most of the confusion was. So for number one, I guess my best bet would be to infuse my weapon with my touch spell, move in, and then use the free touch attack action to hit the opponent.
Remember, spellstrike gives you one free melee attack in place of the one free touch attack provided by the spell cast.
Thanks! I wasn't aware that Touch attacks were a two part process, so that's where most of the confusion was. So for number one, I guess my best bet would be to infuse my weapon with my touch spell, move in, and then use the free touch attack action to hit the opponent.
Hm. That arcane spell failure is going to be a pain. At least it's only 15%. I wonder if taking Still Spell and preparing all of my spells with it would be worth it? Though that means I won't really be able to use level 1 spells until level 4...
You won't be able to get Spellstrike until 5th level, anyway.
As far as ASF is concerned...
Mage Armor is your best option for dealing with ASF at lower levels. At higher levels you will have options with no ASF like an enchanted Haramaki armor, Bracers of Armor, or the new Wizard's Mail from the Melee Tactics Toolbox.
The Arcane Armor Training feat works with a mithral chain shirt, but it uses up your swift actions.
Still spell works, but it does use up those higher spell slots.
For Blade Adepts, there is another option that I call the Sword and Staff Build.
-Dip a level of Magus (Hexcrafter is a good option for the expanded spell list). You now have the Spell Combat ability, although it can only be used with your Magus spell slots, not your Arcanist spell slots.
-At your 5th level of Arcanist you finally get the Arcanist Exploits class feature so you can get Spellstrike. You can now select Extra Arcanist Exploit as your 5th level feat. Select Wand Wielder. Now you can use Spell Combat to activate a wand or staff while full attacking. These are spell-trigger items so using them does not provoke AoO's and does not incur ASF. Unfortunately, Wand Wielder can't be used with Spellstrike until you...
-Get Close Range as your 7th level Exploit. This lets you deliver Ray spells through Spellstrike and since it lacks the language stating that you have to cast the spell yourself, it works with Wand Wielder. So now you can activate a Ray from a Wand or Staff (or even just cast Ray of Frost) and deliver the free attack through your weapon while still making your full attack. All without provoking or dealing with ASF.
With or without Close Range, Wand Wielder doing anything with Spellstrike is contingent on the GM agreeing that activating a wand and casting a spell are synonymous terms. I've heard that both ways.
Without Close Range, I'm sure that Wand Wielder doesn't work with Spellstrike. But it does work with Spell Combat so you can activate a staff while full attacking (at the usual -2 penalty) without provoking or dealing with ASF.
With Close Range, Wand Wielder does work with Spellstrike. Note that Close Range does not ever refer to "casting a spell."
Close Range (Ex): The magus can deliver ray spells that feature a ranged touch attack as melee touch spells. He can use a ranged touch attack spell that targets more than one creature (such as scorching ray), but he makes only one melee touch attack to deliver one of these ranged touch effects; additional ranged touch attack from that spell are wasted and have no effect. These spells can be used with the spellstrike class feature.
How you "cast" the spell isn't something that Close Range addresses. It just lets you change the delivery method.
Close Range doesn't seem to read like you think it does either, Gisher. What Close Range actually does is turn ranged touch spells into melee touch spells, which opens them up to Spellstrike--
I think you are the one misreading the Arcana. Close Range doesn't turn ranged touch spells into melee touch spells. It only lets you deliver rays with ranged touch attacks as melee touch attacks. Other ranged touch spells, like Acid Arrow would not be affected.
but it does not override Spellstrike's rules in any way. Quite the reverse: it's overriding other spells' rules to work with Spellstrike.
I have no idea what point you are trying to make. I don't think Close Range alters the rules for Spellstrike, and I can't see where I indicated otherwise.
Edit: I think I see what you mean. Spellstrike says that you have to cast the spell. But Close Range doesn't say you have to cast the spell, and it's last line specifically states that you can use the altered Ray spells with Spellstrike. So I suppose it would override the normal Spellstrike rules.
Reading it as you do opens up a lot of queso in Magus 3/Wizard 17s being able to deliver 8th-level or 9th-level spells with Spell Combat, despite not having the arcana that is designed to actually do that.I have no idea where this is coming from. Of course a Magus 3/Wizard 17 can't use Spell Combat to cast high level Wizard Spells. He would have to have the Broad Study Arcana which requires at least 6 levels of Magus. When did I suggest otherwise?
I think I see your argument now. Reading other threads on Close Range, I became convinced that Close Range worked with Wand Wielder, but I am willing to reconsider my position. This is a complex issue since Blade Adepts, unlike the wizard in your example, actually get Spellstrike and the Arcana through their own class rather than through multiclassing with Magus, so I want to take my time to work through the details. I suspect that this will require a long post, so I will probably open a new thread rather than derail this one any more.
In the meantime, do you agree that a Blade Adept with the Wand Wielder Arcana and a single dip into Magus would be able to activate a wand or staff (for a spell on the Magus list) during Spell Combat without worrying about ASF or provoking an AoO by casting?
That one is... probably.
By RAW, yes. By RAI... well, whoever wrote the Blade Adept didn't have any idea what they were doing when they mentioned Wand Wielder. But the whole 'treat Arcanist levels as Magus levels' sours me on the whole thing from a conceptual standpoint, because to me that means that the ability doesn't work across the classes any more than Arcane Accuracy taken as an Exploit should be able to use the Magus' Arcane Pool.
*Shrug* Best answer I have. RAW is a yes on that point at least.
It really is a mess. As a guiding principal for interpreting RAW, I assume that no class ability is intrinsically non-functional. Since Wand Wielder requires Spell Combat, and Spell Combat can only be obtained by dipping Magus, I assume that a Blade Adept who gets Wand Wielder as an Exploit and then dips Magus could combine the two abilities.
But it isn't clear to me whether he would only be able to activate spells that are on the Magus List (because Spell Combat came from the Magus level) or if he could activate any spells that are on the Arcanist list (because Wand Wielder came from the Blade Adept Exploit).
It does seem to me that, even without dipping Magus, an 18th level Blade Adept with the Spellstrike Exploit and the Close Range Exploit could deliver Energy Drain through Spellstrike like your hypothetical magus/wizard.
Maybe I'll just let this one go until they publish the errata for the ACG. I seem to recall that they promised to publish online corrections quickly, but it has been a quite a few months now with hardly an entry on the ACG FAQ. I guess the book needed way more rewriting than they originally thought.
That one is... probably.
By RAW, yes. By RAI... well, whoever wrote the Blade Adept didn't have any idea what they were doing when they mentioned Wand Wielder. But the whole 'treat Arcanist levels as Magus levels' sours me on the whole thing from a conceptual standpoint, because to me that means that the ability doesn't work across the classes any more than Arcane Accuracy taken as an Exploit should be able to use the Magus' Arcane Pool.
*Shrug* Best answer I have. RAW is a yes on that point at least.
It really is a mess. As a guiding principal for interpreting RAW, I assume that no class ability is intrinsically non-functional. Since Wand Wielder requires Spell Combat, and Spell Combat can only be obtained by dipping Magus, I assume that a Blade Adept who gets Wand Wielder as an Exploit and then dips Magus could combine the two abilities.
But it isn't clear to me whether he would only be able to activate spells that are on the Magus List (because Spell Combat came from the Magus level) or if he could activate any spells that are on the Arcanist list (because Wand Wielder came from the Blade Adept Exploit).
It does seem to me that, even without dipping Magus, an 18th level Blade Adept with the Spellstrike Exploit and the Close Range Exploit could deliver Energy Drain through Spellstrike like your hypothetical magus/wizard.
Maybe I'll just let this one go until they publish the errata for the ACG. I seem to recall that they promised to publish online corrections quickly, but it has been a quite a few months now with hardly an entry on the ACG FAQ. I guess the book needed way more rewriting than they originally thought.
Well, the errata came out and Wand Wielder is no longer on the list of Arcanist options. So that build is out. At least it is settled.