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Why not just stick with Chill Touch? It lasts for multiple rounds/multiple attacks, doesn't need to be intensified, and comes with a debuff. Plus, it fits the cold theme, and stacks with something like making your weapon Icy or Icy Burst. Seems like a win/win to me. Opens you up to more feats, which is nice, and spell-strike doesn't require you to have a hand free save when you cast the spell, so you can do lots of interesting things, like two-weapon fighting, etc., if you get the stats to qualify for it, or even picking up a quick-draw shield.
Close Range only works with Ray spells.
Dragon Disciple is great if done well, but it's arguably at it's best with a Barbarian/Sorcerer smashing the *$%$& out of things by wielding a two-handed weapon with ridiculous strength and powerful, plentiful support spells (and maybe a specialized offensive spell like Scorching Ray or even Hideous Laughter). Barbarian is incredibly front-loaded, and the major benefit of Sorcerer is continued with Disciple casting levels. Depending on how much you want from Dragon Disciple, it's also easy to move into Eldritch Knight at higher levels to maximize spellcasting and melee ability. If you want a really great cold spells flavor, you can use crossblooded Draconic/Cold Sorcerer to turn any elemental spell into a Rime spell that deals extra damage.
By comparison the Magus is a very clunky fit with Disciple, since it loses all sorts of progressing class features, it grants weaker spellcasting to Disciple levels, and its one-handed fighting style can't take advantage of strength very well.
The thing about Barb/Sorc with a nice big weapon is that it doesn't use up spellcasting resources to do great damage, so if you build a Barb/Sorc to specialize in certain spells it can be quite versatile between casting and melee. Where a Magus is basically a melee machine that uses spells to go from middling damage to great damage, a Barb/Sorc is more like a specialized spellcaster that suddenly turns into a Barbarian-ish melee character when it wants.
I don't know if I'd say one type of character is simply "better" than the other overall, though I think a Magus dropping class features to go Dragon Disciple is going to end up worse. Barb/Sorc/Disciple basically just starts out working like a Barbarian; it hits it's weakest point for melee around 6/7, and then rapidly gets more powerful after that. Magus will tend to do more damage if using specific high-damage spells, though by higher levels Magus will have to use high-damage spells if it's going to keep up at all with what a two-handed wrecking machine can do.
One example of using more "pure" spellcasting on a Disciple would be a Draconic/Fey crossblooded Barb1/Sorc4/Disciple that uses Scorching Ray and Fireball with the Draconic damage bonus, and uses Persistent Hideous Laughter (with a metamagic trait) with the Fey +2DC bonus. A character like that has a couple of quite different and effective spell choices when starting a battle, and can shift over to raging with a weapon whenever the moment is right.
I would also like to drop that blood of dragons also stacks for bloodrager. If you're looking for spells, probably not the way to go, but makes for excellent melee with spell support (Full BAB until levels into DD, which sort of get made up for in STR boosts).
What is it about Dragon Disciple that you actually want? It sounds like you want a Magus Fighting style and a "dragon blood" theme, but you already get that with Draconic Bloodline Scion. Disciple costs you spells and other features in exchange for...?
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I will say, I don't know when it happened, or if I've just been doing it wrong, but Chill Touch actually deals Negative Energy damage, not cold, which is a real shame.
However, Elemental Touch, while being a second level spell, works well, especially if you're starting at 8th level, and if you want to focus on the cold thing, you can specialize in the spell just as much as you would Shocking Grasp, but instead of Intensifying it, you can Rime the spell, which means that every time you hit an enemy, you Entangle them for 2 rounds in addition to the save vs. Fatigue, which is pretty fantastic, and of course, that leaves more of your spell power available for more utilitarian & buffing spells.
It's not exactly spell combat, but you can turn the spell Fiery Shuriken into a powerful melee tool. If you use a Draconic/Elemental[Cold] crossblooded Sorcerer, you can apply Rime Spell to Fiery Shuriken to make it entangle (no save) with cold damage. Combine the Opening Volley feat with it, and each round as a swift action you can throw a bolt of cold that causes entangle -2AC and sets up a +4 to hit. On the round you cast Shuriken you can throw them around, so it can be both a general control tactic and a major melee buff.
I will say, I don't know when it happened, or if I've just been doing it wrong, but Chill Touch actually deals Negative Energy damage, not cold, which is a real shame.
However, Elemental Touch, while being a second level spell, works well, especially if you're starting at 8th level, and if you want to focus on the cold thing, you can specialize in the spell just as much as you would Shocking Grasp, but instead of Intensifying it, you can Rime the spell, which means that every time you hit an enemy, you Entangle them for 2 rounds in addition to the save vs. Fatigue, which is pretty fantastic, and of course, that leaves more of your spell power available for more utilitarian & buffing spells.
Elemental Touch gives him a Touch Attack that does not activate on his Spellstrikes:
You also deal energy damage and the related special effect when you attack with your hands using an unarmed strike, a single claw, or a single slam attack. This bonus damage can never apply to multiple weapons.
This means you either make natural attacks with the above, or you specifically use a Touch Attack to deliver the effects. No Spellstriking unless it's with an Unarmed Strike.
Not even using his basic sword attacks would work. So, no, sorry, this spell is for either Monks, Natural Weapon aficionados, or people who think it works the way they think it works, and actually doesn't.
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Here, have a guide. Eldritch Scion is much better than people give it credit for, and it's got some powerful choices for bloodlines out there.
My only concern for Chill Touch is I would either not get all of the charges out of it (I would be able to hit 3 times at level 8, 4 if I am hasted) and then I would lose it on the next turn when I cast a spell, or else I wouldn't get my extra attack for casting a touch spell the next turn (or ranged spell, with Close Range arcana) with Spell Combat/Spellstrike.
The first round, you cast Chill Touch (or Frostbite) and make 3 or 4 attacks; the second round, you first make the attacks and then cast a new spell. That's up to eight hits (you will be hasted in most combats at higher levels) plus OAs as needed, which is fine for a 1st level spell.
Elemental Touch gives him a Touch Attack that does not activate on his Spellstrikes:
That is incorrect. You need to quote the whole spell.
You gain a melee touch attack causing 1d6 points of damage of that energy type, along with a special effect described below. You also deal etc etc.
Elemental Touch works with spellstrike just fine because of the first sentence. It also works on slams etc but that's not relevant to the Magus.
Spellstrike requires "a spell with a range of 'touch'" which Elemental Touch doesn't have, so it's ambiguous at best. Even if it does work you still don't get a free spellstrike attack out of casting it as you would with a proper touch spell.
Here, have a guide. Eldritch Scion is much better than people give it credit for, and it's got some powerful choices for bloodlines out there.
My only concern for Chill Touch is I would either not get all of the charges out of it (I would be able to hit 3 times at level 8, 4 if I am hasted) and then I would lose it on the next turn when I cast a spell, or else I wouldn't get my extra attack for casting a touch spell the next turn (or ranged spell, with Close Range arcana) with Spell Combat/Spellstrike.The first round, you cast Chill Touch (or Frostbite) and make 3 or 4 attacks; the second round, you first make the attacks and then cast a new spell. That's up to eight hits (you will be hasted in most combats at higher levels) plus OAs as needed, which is fine for a 1st level spell.
Elemental Touch gives him a Touch Attack that does not activate on his Spellstrikes:That is incorrect. You need to quote the whole spell.
You gain a melee touch attack causing 1d6 points of damage of that energy type, along with a special effect described below. You also deal etc etc.
Elemental Touch works with spellstrike just fine because of the first sentence. It also works on slams etc but that's not relevant to the Magus.
Ninja'd by Badbird, but to add, just because you gain a Touch Attack by casting a spell doesn't mean you can deliver it like you would any other Touch effect.
The text I quoted overwrite the basic ability to Spellstrike with it because it specifies Claws, Slams, and Unarmed Strikes as being usable in addition to the Touch Attack ability. So if I attacked with a Cestus, Brass Knuckles, etc., it would not trigger this effect. The factor that it cites specific Natural Weapons should be indicative enough as to it not working with effects like Spellstrike.
Even if it does work, there is a much better Touch spell he can use that fits his flavor much better, and doesn't require any Saving Throw shenanigans.
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Yeah, but he'd probably be better off just specializing in Shocking Grasp and taking Elemental Spell. Then he'd at least be doing 5d6 instead of 4. No stagger, but the save won't be that high anyways, and he can use up 2nd level spell slots (same as frigid touch) to prep Intensified, Elemental Shocking Grasps which would scale up. If Elemental Touch or Chill Touch don't work, I see little reason to not just enhance shocking grasps a bit differently, which is SO dull. XD
Yeah, but he'd probably be better off just specializing in Shocking Grasp and taking Elemental Spell. Then he'd at least be doing 5d6 instead of 4. No stagger, but the save won't be that high anyways, and he can use up 2nd level spell slots (same as frigid touch) to prep Intensified, Elemental Shocking Grasps which would scale up. If Elemental Touch or Chill Touch don't work, I see little reason to not just enhance shocking grasps a bit differently, which is SO dull. XD
Makes sense, optimization-wise, to do that instead. Taking Magical Lineage with Metamagic Master (the general name of the Wayang Spell Hunter trait) would allow him to cast Intensified Elemental Shocking Grasps as a 1st level spell. It'd also allow him to cast Empowered Shocking Grasps as well. Note that although it would deal Cold Damage (and that's all it can do) with an Elemental Spell (Cold) feat, it doesn't change the type, so effects dependant upon [Cold] spells will not apply to it.
Keep in mind that Frigid Touch does not require a Saving Throw. Spell Resistance, sure, but the Staggered effect (as well as the full damage) automatically apply, no saving throw is allowed, and the Staggered effect increases to 1 minute on a Critical Hit, synergizing damn nice with with a Magus' Spellstrike.
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Ninja'd by Badbird, but to add, just because you gain a Touch Attack by casting a spell doesn't mean you can deliver it like you would any other Touch effect.
Wait, so your argument is that just because you gain a touch attack doesn't mean it acts like a touch attack? That sentence is self-contradictory.
The text I quoted overwrite the basic ability to Spellstrike with it because it specifies Claws, Slams, and Unarmed Strikes
No, it specifies that it ALSO works with claws, not that it only works with claws. The word "also" is right there in the spell text.
Ninja'd by Badbird, but to add, just because you gain a Touch Attack by casting a spell doesn't mean you can deliver it like you would any other Touch effect.Wait, so your argument is that just because you gain a touch attack doesn't mean it acts like a touch attack? That sentence is self-contradictory.
The text I quoted overwrite the basic ability to Spellstrike with it because it specifies Claws, Slams, and Unarmed StrikesNo, it specifies that it ALSO works with claws, not that it only works with claws. The word "also" is right there in the spell text.
Undortunately for the magus, they're right.
Elemental Touch does not have a range of "Touch" (instead being "Personal"), which means that Spellstrike, which requires a spell with a range of "Touch", does not work with Elemental Touch, even though it grants you a touch attack.
I think you could make an argument based on the FAQ about multiple touch attacks that Elemental Touch could work - not an airtight argument, but enough for a GM to say sure, OK. The issue though is that you still don't get to make a free attack as part of casting, making it strictly a buff spell.