Scorpion Whip Bound Kensai Kitsune, will this charcter work?

[JacT]

Here's my character concept:
A Bladebound Kensai Kitsune that uses a Scorpion Whip as it's Black Blade. With the Kensai Weapon Focus and the Kitsune alternate racial feature Natural Finesse, I'll be able to use Slashing Grace at level 1, and I'll get a +4 (from Dex of 19) to hit, damage, trip, and disarm with the Scorpion Whip, and I'll do all of that with a 15ft reach. I won't threaten with the Scorpion Whip until level 7, but I can use the Cestus to get AoO and help Flank (should I ever get into that unfortunate situation).

I was thinking I'll be CN, and was kicked out of my home due to a prank going to far and accidentally killing people. And I was given a LN Intelligent Scorpion Whip for the purpose of leading me to my redemption (my GM will allow it to be intelligent at level 1 if I don't treat it as magical or MW, since it makes good story, and he'll allow it to be a different alignment than my character even though the Black Blade is supposed to be the same alignment).

Stats (20 Point buy, Kitsune gets -2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha):
5 Str (7 - 2)
19 Dex (17 + 2)
12 Con
17 Int
8 Wis
10 Cha (8 + 2)

I was originally going to make a Bladed Scarf Dancer, but I've since decided to go with a Kensai that acts as a Scarf Dancer (and considers his Scorpion Whip to be a Bladed Scarf).
Additional Equipment on Body
Haramaki
Pickpocket's Outfit
Pocketed Scarf (I can't help myself from stealing things).
Spell Component Pouch
All those items along with the Scorpion Whip, Cestus, and Buckler will weigh a total of 15.5 lbs, and the Carrying Capacity is 16 lbs.

I'm thinking I can carry my rations, water, Spellbook and a couple other items in a Sack and I can drop the sack whenever battle starts, assuming I'm in a cave or somewhere else that I can't use my horse for carrying things.

Here's my character progression (I'll be starting at level 1 and ending whenever I die):
1: Arcane Pool, Cantrips, Spell Combat, Canny Defense, Weapon Focus (Scorpion Whip), Natural Finesse (racial trait), Slashing Grace(Scorpion Whip)
2: Spellstrike
3: Black Blade, Whip Mastery
4: +1 Dex, Perfect Strike
5: Bonus feat (Weapon Versatility, lets my Whip do S, P, or B damage as needed), Impersonate (because I'm a prankster Kitsune)
6: Magus arcana(UMD Familiar, or maybe Wand Wielder?)
7: Fighter Training, Iaijutsu, Improved Whip Mastery
8: +1 Int, Improved spell combat
9: Critical Perfection, Fox Shape (all the better to steal with and gather intel, and assuming I have a Headband with +4 Cha)
10: Fighter training
11: Bonus feat (Greater Whip Mastery so I don't drop my whip), Superior Reflexes, Odd Level Feat (Extra Arcana, I should be able to convince my GM to let me use Spirit Fingers from the Scarf Dancer Archetype, since the Whip is flexible like a scarf).

With a Buckler, I'll have an AC of 17 at level 1, and the AC will increase by 1 for every level due to Canny Defense (Max of my Int mod). I know I'll have the 5% spell failure until I can get a Mithal Buckler, and I won't get the Shield AC when casting with Spell Combat, but as I'll have Diminished Spell Casting, so I won't be casting as much as I could.

Overall I'm going for a character that can control the field and act as a debuffer, with a secondary purpose of dealing damage (really depends on the situation). I think I need to skip on Improved Trip and Disarm, as I can't really afford the at the early levels (due to all of the Whip feats). I also think Maneuver Mastery isn't worth it, since the Magus is already at 2/3 Bab growth, and the arcana only works for one maneuver.

I think this character will be pretty powerful, even if he does have a few quirks, such as not being able to lift anything and constantly arguing with his weapon. I just want to make sure that this will work out, and that there isn't anything I'm overlooking, such as the Cestus getting in the way of Spell Combat or Slashing Grace, or maybe the Scorpion Whip isn't as good as I think (since reading between all of the forums on that weapon is a bit confusing), or for other reasons.

Thanks for any input and sorry for the TLDR,
JacT

[Gisher]

I see a lot of problems, but I'll just mention two to start.

(1) You can't take the Whip Mastery line of feats because you don't have Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip) or Weapon Focus (whip).

(2) Slashing Grace doesn't work with Spell Combat so it really isn't very good for a Magus.

[JacT]

These are both part of the Kensai class, so I can get Whip Mastery at level 3.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
"A kensai is proficient in simple weapons and in a single martial or exotic melee weapon of his choice. A kensai is not proficient with armor or shields and suffers normal arcane spell failure chance when casting magus spells while armored."

Weapon Focus (Ex)
"At 1st level, a kensai gains Weapon Focus with his chosen weapon as a bonus feat."

As far as I can tell, a Scorpion Whip is treated as a Whip, so that should work (it's a bit confusing looking at all of the boards as there were two versions of Scorpion Whip), but I can be entirely wrong about that.

As for the issue with Slashing Grace and Spell Combat, I think I'm fine with that. Spell Combat will work with Trips and Disarms (I can cast True Strike for a +20 to hit).

I imagine I might end up in the situation when I might need to carry an unconscious ally, or something else heavy, so I'll save up to get the Muleback Coords to help with lifting, and I'll get a Belt of Dex+Str as soon as possible.

Overall, I'm not trying to be OP, but instead I'm going for flavorful, and hoping I'm not too weak. Most of the other players I'll be playing with are rather causal, and won't be spending much time, if any, planning outside of the sessions. Because of that, they'll be a bit underwhelming in terms of power, and I don't want to completely overshadow them, hence I'm going with a debuffer to help their characters seem stronger in battle.

[Gisher]

Scorpion Whips and Whips are two different weapons. One obvious difference is that Scorpion Whips are light weapons, but Whips are one-handed weapons.

The Whip Mastery feats require that you have Weapon Focus (whip) which in turn requires Exotic Weapon Proficiency (whip). Weapon Focus (scorpion whip) and Exotic Weapon Proficiency (scorpion whip) don't qualify. You can make a Scorpion Whip behave nearly the same as a Whip, but only if you have proficiency in both weapons.

Here is the FAQ.

FAQ wrote:

Scorpion Whips: How do scorpion whips work? There are several published sources of scorpion whips, and they seem inconsistent.

Change the last sentence in the Ultimate Combat scorpion whip's description to say "If you are proficient with both scorpion whips and whips, you can use a scorpion whip in either the normal way, as a typical light performance weapon, or as a whip. When you use a scorpion whip as a whip, it is otherwise equivalent to a whip, but it deals lethal damage and can harm creatures regardless of their armor bonus." This change will be reflected in future errata.

What this means is that the scorpion whip is normally a light performance weapon with no other special weapon features, but that someone with both proficiencies can also use it as a whip, in which case it acts precisely like a whip in all ways (one-handed weapon, attack out to 15 feet, provoke an attack of opportunity, can use the Whip Mastery feats, etc) except that it deals lethal damage and can harm creatures regardless of their armor bonus.

If you want to use the Whip Mastery feats with a Scorpion Whip the chain looks like this.

• Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Scorpion Whip)
  
• Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip)
  
• Weapon Focus (Whip)
  
• Whip Mastery
  
• Improved Whip Mastery
  
• Greater Whip Mastery

Keep in mind that the Whip Mastery Feats only work when the Scorpion Whip is being used as a Whip (one-handed mode). They don't work if you are using the Scorpion Whip as a light weapon.

[JacT]

Well, that makes me sad, thanks though.

Maybe I'll use a normal whip and just do nonlethal damage until level 3 (my original plan before I discovered the Scorpion Whip). Having Slashing Grace to boost nonlethal damage seems a bit silly, maybe I'll get Enforcer instead at level 1, and go for Slashing Grace at level 5.