| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So I just found out this archetype exists and that Paizo has finally made a functional ranged magus with spell combat rather than a weird switch-hitter.
So the main question I have now is there any benefit to mixing it with Spellslinger.
I was looking at it and trying to weigh the Pros and Cons of it.
PRO:
1. Ability to cast Cone/Line spells through the gun before level 16
2. Add Enhancement Bonus to Atk or DC of Spell
3. Stuff cast through gun is at X3 Crit
4. Get firearm proficiency
5. If a foe is beyond the range increment of the firearm a arcane gun attack would allow a touch attack at greater range than normal at the cost of a little bit of weapon damage.
6. Spellstrike even at 16 never allows Cone/Line spells in a AOE format meaning spells like Lightning bolt nor matter what would only hit 1 foe.
CONS:
1. Not using spellstrike in any scenario cuts out weapon damage
2. Eventually Focusing Spellstrike invalidates benefits of the 1st in non-aoe scenarios.
3. No real support for the gun so either a gunslinger dip or amateur gunslinger just to get quick clear would be needed.
4. Losing a caster level (get trait to fix that)
5. Losing BAB & Spell level progression
6. Using a firearm is feat intensive, if we go amateur gunslinger thats 1, rapid reload is 2.
6. One handed firearms are the limit as 2h would require a 3 level dip into musket master and at that point we're 2 CL down with magical knack and instead of losing 1 6th level spell for the dip we'd go down to having only 1 6th level spell.
Pick up Named bullet. You now have on demand x3 damage on your spells (on top of the shot critting, but I guess that's just a minor bonus compared to a 120d6 disintegrate).
Also, Slate Spider>>>>quick clear.
Named bullet isn't on the magus So i assume Spell Blending Arcana will be utilized once access to 4th level spells is gotten. It is a fun idea though when not throwing out lightning bolts and scorching rays just throw a named bullet on there with spell combat.
I forgot about slate spider though, though at 10k you'll be at the mercy of misfires for lower levels.
Also I guess Reach Spell Metamagic might be a required feat though as well, as melee touch spells are off the list with ranged spellstrike, which probably means with Intensified we're looking at 3rd level spell slots just to use a Close Range Intensified Shocking Grasp.
EDIT: My bad forgot about Reach Spellstrike arcana, so need for Reach Spell.
An interesting thought:
According to the archetype, the eldritch archer "doesn't need a free hand for ranged spell combat."
Which means, if you're already using a one-handed pistol, your other hand is perfectly capable of holding something else. Such as, say, a quicken metamagic rod.
An interesting thought:
According to the archetype, the eldritch archer "doesn't need a free hand for ranged spell combat."
Which means, if you're already using a one-handed pistol, your other hand is perfectly capable of holding something else. Such as, say, a quicken metamagic rod.
True, though it creates the age old problem of reloading the firearm. Reloading hands only does 1 bullet/round meaning you're going to be limited on reloading. So being a tiefling so you can swap the metamagic rod to the tail or using gloves of storing would be required, and at that point having the free hand for casting isn't even a problem anymore because both are free actions anyways.
If they didn't errata the double barrel weapons, you could replicate the melee cold touch shenanigans with a double the number of attacks. I think that's still an option anyway (chill touch with reach spell that is).
If we went with a double-barreled pistol I think it would work as follows.
It says "ONE free ragned attack with a ranged weapon" just like normal spellstrike says "one free melee attack" as part of casting the spell.
So you're never allotted multiple extra attacks, as double barrled guns are still basically 2 separate attack rolls shot as part of the same action i'd assume it went as follows:
"If you have multiple attacks per round with that weapon (such as from having a BAB of +6 or higher), you can use the weapon to deliver multiple spell touch attacks per round, so long as you have uses of that spell touch attack remaining."
So in theory I'd assume spellstrike is giving you 1 free attack action, meaning you can do 2 attacks(one for each barrel) in that action, meaning 2 chill touches on that attack. Then your regular attack can do 2 more, and then more after that BAB allowing.
Isn't firing both barrels of a double-barrelled firearm its own standard action? which would make it incompatible with the full-round action of spell combat?