I've read various guides on the Magus and they pretty much uniformly dislike the Close Range arcana for the Magus.
I am playing my first Magus (a Dex based Magus, no archetypes) that is just now getting Dervish Dance feat and their first Arcana. Looking through the resources, it doesn't appear like there are that many good starting Arcana.
I know that there are a limited number of Ray spells available.
Ray of Frost Magus 0, Sorc/Wiz 0
Disrupt Undead Magus 0, Sorc/Wiz 0
Ray of Enfeeblement Magus 1, Sorc/Wiz 1
Scorching Ray Magus 2, Sorc/Wiz 2
Ray of Exhaustion Magus 3, Sorc/Wiz 3
Enervation Sorc/Wiz 4
Cosmic Ray Magus 5, Sorc/Wiz 6
Contagious Flame Magus 6, Sorc/Wiz 6
Disintegrate Magus 6, Sorc/Wiz 6
Need Spell Blending arcana in order to get:
Ray of Sickening Sorc/Wiz 1
Admonishing Ray Sorc/Wiz 2
Heat Stroke Sorc/Wiz 3
Dimensional Anchor Sorc/Wiz 4
Wracking Ray Sorc/Wiz 5
Elemental Assessor Sorc/Wiz 6
Hellfire Ray Sorc/Wiz 6
Of those, Ray of Frost or Disrupt Undead could take the place of Arcane Mark in order to get an extra attack each round via Spell Combat. Ray of Enfeeblement would make a nice debuff against high-strength opponents, while Ray of Exhaustion gives a reasonable debuff that would be great against raging characters.
Of the other options, a lot of people seem fond of Arcane Accuracy. My problem is that we have been having several battles more than a minute apart during the same day, so the Arcane Pool is rather limited right now. I could see it being more useful at higher levels, but not right now. Familiar can always be useful, but other factors are causing me to steer away from that at the moment. I don't have Dispel Magic for quite a while so Silent Spell is once again something for the future. None of the others seem that great.
Am I missing something?
I suspect it's because so many see Shocking Grasp as the be all end all of Magus spells, with occasional uses of Snowball and Forcehook/Bladed Dash.
Too many people are focused on Shocking Grasp.
Close range is a good Arcana and gives the magus some much needed flexibility.
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Close Range isn't limited rays, but it applies to any spell that requires a ranged touch. It can be decent, but there are only so many spells you can cast per day.
There are good spells that can be used here, but really, there are plenty of touch based spells that can be delivered by spellstrike already, that it generally isn't worth spending an arcana on it.
Shocking Grasp is just coming into it's own now, but is still a very limited resource from what I've seen. Later on equipment and the Spell Recall class feature will help that, but given what I've seen of the campaign I think it is only for the big fights.
Close Range isn't limited rays, but it applies to any spell that requires a ranged touch. It can be decent, but there are only so many spells you can cast per day.
That isn't the way I read it.
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 attacks from that spell are wasted and have no effect. These spells can be used with the spellstrike class feature.
Bolding added.
Seems pretty clear that it is only intended for Ray spells. Even if you interpret the second sentence as expanding the spells it can be used with, it would not allow any except ray spells to be used as a melee touch spell. Trying to use that interpretation with Snowball would result in taking an Attack of Opportunity since you would still be firing a ranged attack.
There are good spells that can be used here, but really, there are plenty of touch based spells that can be delivered by spellstrike already, that it generally isn't worth spending an arcana on it.
So given that in the last adventuring day we had about half a dozen battles, what Arcana do you think is a better first pick?
I like the two wand arcana. Note that the wand spell doesn't have to be an offensive spell (so you can declare spell combat and take your melee attacks and also e.g. use a wand of shield on yourself). This can also help your spell slots go a lot further. Also note that neither drawing or using a wand provokes, so this is a good option for those situations where you would otherwise have to cast defensively. Lastly, note that this arcana does not allow you to deliver a wand spell via spellstrike.
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I like the two wand arcana. Note that the wand spell doesn't have to be an offensive spell (so you can declare spell combat and take your melee attacks and also e.g. use a wand of shield on yourself). This can also help your spell slots go a lot further. Also note that neither drawing or using a wand provokes, so this is a good option for those situations where you would otherwise have to cast defensively. Lastly, note that this arcana does not allow you to deliver a wand spell via spellstrike.
It's really good for truestrike on a whip build.
I had missed that you couldn't use a spell from a wand with Spellstrike. Is that an extension of this FAQ about Items as Spells?
Right now I'm thinking it would eat too many resources going wand arcana. In addition to the Wand arcana, I would want either Unseen Servant or a familiar to fetch the dropped wands. The wands cost money and if I attempted to save on cash by creating them, that would be another feat.
I can see how it could be good, but right now it doesn't appear to fit with how the campaign is going.
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Close range is certainly not bad, but at low levels you simply have other priorities, and the Magus has plenty of touch spells on his list already even if you don't use shocking grasp. Wand Wielder, on the other hand, is very good at low level (and less so at higher level when you'll have plenty of spell slots).
At higher level, CR + Enervation or Disintegrate are good combos.
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Because you can use brand(if hexcrafter) or arcane mark for the same thing. The latter is considered cheesy though.
Lots of players play PFS, which is five fights per day. You might face more in an AP, or maybe if you do, you might want to think on whether you wanted to stop for a break...
I wouldn't take close range, but I like hexcrafters a little too much, so...
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Close range avoids table variation on using arcane mark for non-hexcrafters; it also does actual damage, and I don't sneer even at an extra 1d3. (In an undead-heavy game, I'd almost say the option to use disrupt undead that way is worth the price of admission alone...) I generally consider it key to avoiding nova-magus syndrome.
Close Range is a fine Arcana, if you want to take it, take it. In your situation it sounds like Wand Wielder is a better bet for you, but it's your character & your game, so you'd know better than us.
I think the problem with Close Range is that it doesn't give you any new spells, it just changes the delivery method (and grants you an extra attack).
Ray of Exhaustion/Enfeeblement are great debuffs - you're absolutely right - but you can already use them without taking that arcana. All you gain by taking Close Range is 1 attack.
The main reason for taking it that I can see (in your current scenario) is for ray of frost. Having spellstrike on a cantrip can deliver a LOT of damage over the course of the campaign (or rather, it can deliver damage while saving resources for bigger fights), so it's definitely worth considering.
If your group is fine with Arcane Mark Spellstrike, it becomes a fair bit less important, though it still has it's uses.
(I will have to agree with Just a Mort here, I'm a bit too in love with Hexcrafters, and they have Brand. Aalthoough... a Hexcrafter with Accursed Strike & Close Range would have a HUGE library of touch range spells... Worth it? ... Maybe?).
I can see why some characters would stray away from it. But I would like to point out it does work with Disentegrate. Which gives me a feel for the old Black Blade of Disaster
My GM ruled, that the close range aracana also makes the spell a touch spell. That includes the holding charge clause. And I really like the idea of trying again after I missed my first attempt of enfeeblement, dimensional anchor, desintigrate,.. etc. Especially since my melee ATK is so much better than my ranged (going STR and profiting from the weapon)
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Well, I've never actually met a GM who banned spellstriking with Arcane Mark, but if that's your only goal here, you could also use the Two-World Magic trait or a cheap Cracked Orange Prism to cast Touch of Fatigue with spellstrike. Both of these are cheaper than an arcana and usable a few levels earlier.
(I will have to agree with Just a Mort here, I'm a bit too in love with Hexcrafters, and they have Brand. Aalthoough... a Hexcrafter with Accursed Strike & Close Range would have a HUGE library of touch range spells... Worth it? ... Maybe?).
I wouldn't spend an arcana on that, because curse spells tend to be long-term effects that aren't particularly useful in combat. Aside from that, the best curses (e.g. Bestow Curse) are already touch spells anyway.
My GM ruled, that the close range aracana also makes the spell a touch spell.
That's literally what the arcana says, yes.