From our prior thread discussions, you may recall that I'm a big Speaker for the Past fan. Playing a Battle spirit Shaman with Speaker for the Past in ROTR, and it has been extremely solid. Lots of tools and tricks via hexes, revelations and spells, and a very capable melee ally to the main frontliners. He is also the primary source of status removal, and tends to keep a few open spell slots every day for that and utility.
I didn't go with the monk dip because of the way I built him from the start (IO have a reach build instead), but I can definitely see the advantages of that. I think we discussed those merits in a prior thread, but one note as I think about this is that you'll want to think about taking the monk dip *after* getting the armor-granting revelation, and just wearing armor before that. Bit of a wait before it all comes together.
Regarding the magus option, I have less familiarity with the class, but you've pointed out the key highlights already. I think i prefer the extra versatility of the Shaman option (leaving slots open and being able to pull from the whole spell list on a given day is really amazing).
Considering revelations, I have found the following to be quite useful:
- Temporal Celerity (rolling 2x and taking best for initiative -- 3x at 11th -- and always acting in the surprise round is really fantastic, and a great ability for any character)
- Time Hop (this seems to see use every day, and it offers a lot of flexibility to be able to move around the battlefield without regard for AOOs, bypass certain hazards, and get squishier characters out of bad situations -- probably my favourite revelation, even though Temporal Celerity might be strictly "better")
- Time Flicker (least used of the three, but is another layer of protection and in a recent fight the 20% miss chance came through big time on several attacks, allowing the character to take down a BBEG that likely would have taken him out otherwise -- the ability to use as Blink could also be very good in the right circumstances)
At 12th, I'm looking forward to choosing between Spirit of the Warrior or Time Sight (the confusion about how the latter progresses is the only thing that worries me -- will need to clarify with my DM).
While I think the revelations add a lot to the Speaker build, I think you'll ultimately need to ask yourself whether you want a character primarily focused on combat (damage and debuffing), or if you want a slightly less combat-focused character, but with the ability to do some healing, status condition removal and other utility.
If the former, Hexcrafter is probably best, whereas the latter probably pushes towards Speaker for the Past.
What level do you think you'll be starting at, and finishing at? Any sense of what the rest of the party will look like? Those things could be a big factor.
So maybe if one of the other players goes for a cleric or oracle, go for the magus, and if not, go for the shaman?
Agreed that standard actions are a bit of a bottleneck for my own Speaker build (which does not feature any dips). I sometimes use a swift action for the Bane ability from Battle Spirit, but swift actions are rarely seeing a lot of use for me.
But if your plan is to dip Monk and use Hex Strike, that's going to be eating your swift actions anyways, so the fact that swift actions are otherwise typically open is actually a positive more than a negative in this case.
I wish I gave the battle shaman with the speak of the past archetype a closer look. That is pretty much exactly what I wanted from my PFS oracle of battle :/
I forgot hex strike is a swift action...So maybe if one of the other players goes for a cleric or oracle, go for the magus, and if not, go for the shaman?
Agreed that standard actions are a bit of a bottleneck for my own Speaker build (which does not feature any dips). I sometimes use a swift action for the Bane ability from Battle Spirit, but swift actions are rarely seeing a lot of use for me.
But if your plan is to dip Monk and use Hex Strike, that's going to be eating your swift actions anyways, so the fact that swift actions are otherwise typically open is actually a positive more than a negative in this case.
That's what friends are for! :D