Hello everyone,
I have never played a Magus, so would like to have some input on whether the build below is 'correctly' built as a baseline for a Magus.
I need assistance with the general build (gear, feats, etc), but also with some specifics, namely:
- Which Hex to chose?
- I am about 1500 gold above the WBL...
- Spell selection
- Second trait choice
Will be grateful for any insight :D
Cheers.
Caesar
Male half-orc magus (hexcrafter) 7 (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 9, 48)
CG Medium humanoid (human, orc)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
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Defense
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AC 23, touch 15, flat-footed 20 (+7 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 luck, +1 natural)
hp 52 (7d8+14)
Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +8
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee +1 cold iron longsword +9 (1d8+14/19-20) or
. . mwk cold iron bardiche +9 (1d10+13/19-20) or
. . mwk silver morningstar +9 (1d8+9)
Special Attacks arcane pool (+2, 8 points), hex arcana (flamboyant arcana, flight[APG]), opportune parry and riposte, spell combat, spellstrike
Magus Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th; concentration +11)
. . At will—feather fall (self only), fly (self only)
. . 1/day—levitate (self only)
Magus (Hexcrafter) Spells Prepared (CL 7th; concentration +11)
. . 3rd—haste, vampiric touch
. . 2nd—blur, mirror image
. . 1st—frostbite[UM], shield, shocking grasp
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Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +5; CMB +8; CMD 26
Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Power Attack, Rime Spell[UM]
Traits fate's favored
Skills Acrobatics -1 (-5 to jump), Climb +6, Fly +9, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (arcana) +13, Knowledge (planes) +13, Spellcraft +14, Swim +10, Use Magic Device +9; Racial Modifiers +2 Intimidate, derring-do
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Goblin, Orc
SQ hex arcana, hex magus, knowledge pool, medium armor, orc blood
Combat Gear jingasa of the fortunate soldier[UE]; Other Gear +1 breastplate, +1 cold iron longsword, mwk cold iron bardiche[APG], mwk silver morningstar, amulet of natural armor +1, belt of giant strength +2, cloak of resistance +1, headband of vast intelligence +2
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Pool +2 (8/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers.
Combat Reflexes (3 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Deed: Derring-Do (+2 extra dice) (Ex) Use 1 panache, +1d6 to Escape Artist, Fly, Ride, or Swim check. On a 6, roll another die.
Deed: Opportune Parry and Riposte (Ex) 1 panache and 1 AoO to attempt to parry a melee attack, then counterattack.
Flamboyant Arcana (Ex) Gain a selection of deeds, and can use arcane pool in place of panache for them.
Hex Arcana You can substitute Hexes for Magus Arcana.
Hex Magus (Su) You gain access to witch hexes.
Knowledge Pool (Su) Spend Arcane Pool points to prepare a magus spell that is not in your spellbook for 1 day.
Medium Armor (Ex) Medium armor proficiency and no Arcane Failure chance in medium armor.
Mobility +4 to AC vs. AoO provoked by moving out of or through a threatened area.
Orc Blood Half-orcs count as both humans and orcs for any effect related to race.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Rime Spell Spell with the cold descriptor also entangles creatures if the spell damages them
Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other.
Spellstrike (Su) Deliver touch spells as part of a melee attack.
Why do you have Dodge, Mobility and Combat Reflexes? The first two are just bad, and Combat Reflexes just allows you to dump your entire Arcane Pool into parries.
Hi Shade of mauve.
Well, those are prerequisites for Spring Attack, which I was planning on taking.
And Combat Reflexes was chosen because I was planning on using a Reach Weapon, then drop it once things get hairy and move to the Longsword? No good?
I mean, that's one way to play a Magus, I guess. It's just a particularly weak way.
Thanks for the feedback so far people - I admittedly am not knowledgeable about Magus, hence my request for assistance ;)
So, I would scratch the idea of going Spring Attack - but one thing still puzzles me, a spell is only available a finite amount of times (Bladed Dash in this case), or at least how many times I have it memorized.
While the feat would always be available. One does not make up for the other, does it?
Also, why is Spring Attack so bad on a Magus?
Thanks for the feedback so far people - I admittedly am not knowledgeable about Magus, hence my request for assistance ;)
So, I would scratch the idea of going Spring Attack - but one thing still puzzles me, a spell is only available a finite amount of times (Bladed Dash in this case), or at least how many times I have it memorized.
While the feat would always be available. One does not make up for the other, does it?
Also, why is Spring Attack so bad on a Magus?
While using Spring Attack and/or a reach weapon, you can't use Spell Combat. The Magus class basically wants to use Spell Combat every turn if at all possible.
...but one thing still puzzles me, a spell is only available a finite amount of times (Bladed Dash in this case), or at least how many times I have it memorized.
Well, If you weren't playing a Hexcrafter, you'd be able to use Spell Recall to reuse a spell a few extra times a day.
Honestly, if you are unfamiliar with a class, I'd recommend staying vanilla. Just play a straight Magus, so you can learn about all the core class abilities, before swapping them out for abilities from other classes.