So, I am building a Human Magus. I'm adding to her the Alacritous Template (+2 CR). This gives her Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Run, and Spring Attack as bonus feats. Her scores are as follows:
STR - 16
DEX - 14
CON - 15
INT - 20
WIS - 11
CHA - 14
I want to create a character who almost literally "dances" around the battlefield with her Keen Katana in hand. I want to take advantage of her 15-20 critical threat range, and I want her to be hard to hit. What feats should I take as she progresses to ensure these three ideas?
Um, while that sounds very cool, make sure you know that your GM is OK with you taking a +2 CR template from a 3rd party publisher.
Assuming it's OK, you might head for the Crane Style tree since you'll be fighting with a hand free anyway. Deflect Arrows wouldn't be a bad idea either. As far as offence goes a magus really has that covered via spells. Besides the obvious damage increases you might like to go for Frostbite (because it affects multiple attacks, and you're likely to run out of spells if you're not careful) and Frigid Touch (because staggered for 1 minute on a crit could be handy). If you use both you might also want Rime Spell.
As an aside, 20 int is horribly unnecessary for a magus, especially if you're more focused on being melee and just buffing yourself.
Improved initiative is a good start. Going first is good for a front line PC. As you have that covered, you are good. The template seems to have given you the basics already. Seriously, the basic feats that I would say you would need are already rolled into the template, and everything else is just cake.
Personal preference - have silent spell. This allows you to sneak around while casting, and it also helps prevent you from being shut down by a spell of silence. It has nothing to do with your concept, just a good thing to have. Then again, I make Magus types that focus on spellcasting, scouting, and archery.
If you're using a katana then you're gonna need to pick up EWP by burning a feat, or going Kensai, if you have any plans to use spell combat.
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TAke Kensai
You'll get a lot more mileage out of that 20 Int.
Intensify Spell, combined with the Magical Lineage trait allows you to add up to 5 levels of damage to the selected spell, such as shocking grasp or frigid touch.
At 10th level, you can cast shocking grasp as a 1st level spell for 10d6, 20d6 on a crit.
What level are you starting at?
Arcane Strike can add a nice little boost to damage as a swift action, and it does multiply on a crit.
Combat Expertise + Whirlwind Attack might be useful if you use chill touch or another spell that can affect multiple attacks.
As has already been pointed out, 20 INT is much more than any magus ever needs.
I recommend Toughness as a feat. You can never have too many hitpoints.
I get that, but for this character I need the extra skill points for role-play reasons (this is meant to be a role-play character, not a die-hard combat character; that's just a bonus).
That said, I'll look into the toughness one.
Intensify Spell, combined with the Magical Lineage trait allows you to add up to 5 levels of damage to the selected spell, such as shocking grasp or frigid touch.
At 10th level, you can cast shocking grasp as a 1st level spell for 10d6, 20d6 on a crit.
What level are you starting at?
Arcane Strike can add a nice little boost to damage as a swift action, and it does multiply on a crit.
Combat Expertise + Whirlwind Attack might be useful if you use chill touch or another spell that can affect multiple attacks.
I'm starting at level one, but I want to have an idea of what feats to take as the character progresses. I'm planning up to level 12 for now.
I like the whirlwind attack idea... I like it a lot!
If you geet a free +2 CR template, you can probably do better than that.
The only magus I played was a dwarf barbarian 1/magus 6 or 7.
Traits: Magical Lineage (shocking grasp), Berserker of the Society.
1. Barbarian, Power Attack
2. Magus
3. Magus, Dodge
4. Magus
5. Magus, Combat Reflexes
6. Magus, Arcane Strike
7. Magus, Intensify Spell
I used a dwarven waraxe. Either 2-handed while raging and Power Attacking, often enlarged with pre-fight buffing, or 1-handed and using spell combat and/or spell strike. It was a fun, versatile combatant. My AC was often really bad (while enlarged, I ALSO lost my Dodge feat! My Dex went from 14 to 12), but my damage was 2d8+16 while Power Attacking. I could tweak it more by spending Arcane Pool points to buff my weapon and Arcane Strike and bull's strength.
Obviously, I wasn't crit-fishing (spell damage is NOT x3 with an axe!), but combining a relatively high Int with the Barbarian and Magus skill list, I could do a lot out of combat too. The barbarian level was initially taken for the speed increase, but came in handy a lot of other ways. I would probably have taken a 2nd level in barbarian for the Moment of Clarity rage power for some mid-rage casting.
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Arcane Strike is a good one to fit in somewhere, if you aren't using your swift action every round. It's basically a free boost to damage. I've been trying to figure out 5th level feats for my Magus, and I think I've settled on it as one of them. You have the strength for Power Attack, though, and that might be a better first option. Can't take it at level 1, though, because of the BAB requirement. Combat Casting is another default option, if you don't have something better to take.
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I've found that a Magus has so many things to use his swift action on that Arcane Strike basically never comes up.
Whirlwind is nice. It's normally problematic because of its prerequisites, but if you get most of those for free, go for it. That means you should consider a reach weapon and the Long Arm spell, and of course Combat Reflexes to go with it.
I would not recommend barbarian, for the simple reason that you can't cast spells while raging, and a Magus basically wants to cast a spell every round.
And being hard to hit... it's a good idea to open each combat with a defensive buff like Mirror Image or Displacement. That'll do wonders for your survivability.
I've found that a Magus has so many things to use his swift action on that Arcane Strike basically never comes up.
Whirlwind is nice. It's normally problematic because of its prerequisites, but if you get most of those for free, go for it. That means you should consider a reach weapon and the Long Arm spell, and of course Combat Reflexes to go with it.
I would not recommend barbarian, for the simple reason that you can't cast spells while raging, and a Magus basically wants to cast a spell every round.
And being hard to hit... it's a good idea to open each combat with a defensive buff like Mirror Image or Displacement. That'll do wonders for your survivability.
That's good to know. Thanks guys! (Any other ideas still welcome; I'm still building the character)
The Current Build thus far.
Feats by level progress:
From Template: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Run, Spring Attack.
Level 1: Exotic Weapon proficiency (Katana, in this case), and Combat Expertise.
Level 3: Power Attack
Level 5: Sidestep, and either Wand Dancer or Furious Focus (Bonus feat)
Level 7: Whirlwind Attack
Level 9: Combat Reflexes
Level 11: Wind Stance and Shield of Swings (Bonus Feat)
Level 13: Toughness
I'm thinking metamagic feats will fill up everything beyond that.
Also, I'm not regretting the 20 INT now; the benefits to spell casting are definitely a plus (8 spells known and 3 spells per-day at level 1; options are fun!).
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I'd suggest adding Intensify Spell around level 7. I frankly don't see the point of Sidestep, and you should probably rely on spells for defense instead of combat exp.
Consider that you're a medium-BAB class, with your primary in intelligence, and you routinely take -2 to hit from the Magus's main ability (i.e. spell combat). This means that taking yet more attack penalties from feats is probably not the greatest idea...
Alternatively, some of your spells target touch AC, so sometimes you can afford to take some penalties to attack rolls in exchange for some extra AC, especially since you will be relatively lightly armored and shieldless.
I'd suggest adding Intensify Spell around level 7. I frankly don't see the point of Sidestep, and you should probably rely on spells for defense instead of combat exp.
Consider that you're a medium-BAB class, with your primary in intelligence, and you routinely take -2 to hit from the Magus's main ability (i.e. spell combat). This means that taking yet more attack penalties from feats is probably not the greatest idea...
The idea is to make this a character more focused on role-play than on combat (the GM tends to favor role-play over combat), and Sidestep fits with both the character's style and with the idea of her "dancing" around the battlefield.
Hmm, then again, Intensify Spell DOES sound fun...