Fighting higher level wizard with a magus.


Advice


Our DM intends to run a relatively short high level campaign focused on plotting against and eventually taking down Razmir the god-king (and 19th level wizard) of Razmiran. Our party consist of a Spell Warrior Scald|Vigilante, a Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple|Paladin and a Mesmerist|Sorcerer (Fey).

We will start the campaign at 12th level and gain 2-3 more levels before confronting Razmir himself.

I want to play a mindblade magus/mutation warrior and the build I have so far is as follows below. We play with the feat tax rules and free combat stamina feat for fighters houserules in place (which amounts to free power attack, combat stamina and greater two-weapon fighting feats for me).

Human Mindblade Magus 12/Mutation Warrior Fighter 12
Traits: Carefully Hidden, Highlander, Defender of the Society, Fate's Favored
Alternative Racial Traits: Focused Study (Stealth, Spellcraft)
Feats: Craft Wondrous Item, Smash from the Air, Weapon Focus, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical, Blind Fight, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Double Slice, Hammer the Gap, Hand’s Autonomy, Arcane Strike, Additional Traits, Combat Reflexes, Combat Stamina plus prerequisite feats.
Magus Arcanas: Prescient Attack, Accurate Strike, Arcane Scent, Lingering Pain
Discoveries: Wings, Grand Mutagen
Advanced Weapon Training: Fighter Reflexes, Armed Bravery

Items: +1 Mithral Breastplate of Light Fortification and Comfort, Belt of Physical Perfection +4, Boots of Speed, Gloves of Dueling|Elvenkind, Crown of Conquest, Headband of Vast Intelligence +4, Amulet of Natural Armor +1, Ring of Protection +1, Cloak of Resistance +5, Wayfinder with Resonating Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid, Memento Magica I

I think I have decent saves, very good protection from rays and in addition to unspellable flight, blind-fight and good damage that it should cause any mid level caster a lot of trouble. The problem is I have very little experience with high level casters and have no idea what to expect and how can a magus prepare for it. Can anyone throw a suggestion or two? Is there any significant changes I can make to my build (other than playing a full caster myself of course) more suited for dealing with a higher level wizard?


Be ready for quickened spells for double whammy 1 round damage/death and time stop shenanigans. Even if he appears weak at the start, next round he could be godly. Backup plans for backup plans. Contingencies, blocking teleportation effects, gaining mindblank for your party, and so on, will greatly improve your chances. Getting into a spell off is unadvisable, though anti-magic field might be good if you can trap him in it and not yourselves. Basically, you want to lock him down and beat him with pointy sticks. Oh, and even if you do all that, he could just be an astral projection or a simulacrum of himself and it was all for nothing. Plus, he could have clones ready. So, expect to have to fight him 3 or 4 times at full health, and surprise nukes to the face after you think you've won. That is more dependent on how your GM runs him, though. But, that's what high levels casters can do.


Is it too late to play a dwarf?

Hardy, Steel Soul and Glory of Old will give you +5 on all saves. Seems pretty useful for when facing a wizard.

Lose out on 1 feat, 12 skill points and rather than floating stat you get +2 Wis/Con and -2 Cha.

Seems like a decent trade given that you are going anti-caster.

Also now that I think about it...

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/slayer/archetypes/paizo---sl ayer-archetypes/witch-killer-slayer-archetype

Studied Target gives you a further +3 on all saves. And you get to take superstitious without the penalties. That is another +5 on all saves.

So you'd walk in there with +13 to all saves. And at Lvl 12 your class gives you +8/+8/+4.

Tag on Wis 14 (only 2 points), iron will (+2 will) and a cloak of resistance +3. That's a will save of +24. Also take clear mind so you can re-roll a failed save. Also assuming Dex16 and Con16, you have +27 to Fort and Ref as well. Tag on eater of magic so you can re-roll those as well.

Walk in, laugh at the wizard's magics, and use lingering thirst to start making his life difficult.


If you can get to 15th level the Reflection arcana gives you another layer of defence.

There's all kind of tricks a high level sorc/wiz might use. Mind Blank and other save boosters/reroll generators to make the mesmerist|fey sorcerer mostly useless is an easy one, Moment of Prescience & Foresight/ring of continuation to make sure he doesn't get nuked first round, Simulacrum to surround himself with utterly loyal copies - make sure you're really fighting Razmir and not copy #11. Also if he becomes aware of you he might make copies of your party, watch out for substitutions/infiltrators. Create Demiplane to ensure a perfect environment for him. The list goes on. If at all possible you're going to want to narrow that list down to what he actually has done and not what he could have done before you meet him.

BTW, Hammer the Gap adds very little damage. Maybe - assuming you're crit-fishing as a magus anyway - try Blighted Critical instead? Or Banishing Critical to cut down on summoned monsters.


How is Hammer the Gap adding little damage? With Haste and spell combated Bladed Dash I can unleash 9 attacks per round against touch and/or flat-footed AC. With one stamina point powering the feat to mage the damage increase +2 per landed hit it goes to +2/+4/+6/+8/+10/+12 (assuming two of the attacks miss) and is multiplied on crit. It's an overkill against wizards probably (since getting in a position to bladed dash them without no contingency in place to bail them out is already a game over for them), but it eats big hp. sponges alive.

Blighted Critical does seem awesome though. Are there some wizard spells that give easy access to fortification effects or outright critical immunity? I am using high crit. weapons and I have improved critical so even a single hit has a reasonable chance to crit.

In that regard, what is an easy way to get some swift action for of movement. The bladed dash 30 ft. pounce is a bit too limiting when fighting a high level caster and the Quick Runner's Shirt got nerfed hard. Dimensional Agility + spell combated dimension door will do the trick I guess, but it will cost me a feat.

In regards to simulacrums - how easy it is to protect a simulacrums from getting discovered with a DC 20 sense motive check or to protect it from arcane scent?

Slayer does seem awesome, but I want so many feats so far that I can't see myself switching from fighter and switching from magus will turn me into somewhat deadweight pure martial character.

Silver Crusade

Consider Domension Door or other speed effects and the Step Up feats, Disruptive too. You have to stop him casting.


Hammer the gap requires consecutive hits against one target in a single full attack action. If you hit four times, miss once, hit three more times then miss the last one (for example) then the damage bonus is 0/+1/+2/+3 and 0/+1/+2 = +9, doubled with the stamina combat trick (which I admit I missed before) for a total of +18 damage. It could be worse and wouldn't usually be the +42 of your example above. Miss chances make hitting 7/9 times unlikely too.

Elemental body or iron body are spells which give critical immunity and there's likely others. So, bad idea, sorry I mentioned it.

I don't think you'll get swift action movement for less than a feat's cost unless you go 3rd party or to D&D items. Force Hook Charge/spell combat moves you a little further than bladed dash though, 60' at caster level 14-15.

Arcane scent would pick up the real Razmir at least as much as any simulacrum. Sense Motive might well work if you can interact with them at all.


Max initiative and UMD. Scroll of Excellent Enclosure/Antimagic Field/Spellbane anyone?


Oh... aw... I have missed the consecutive part of the feat. Thanks for the clarification.
Force Hook Charge is also a neat spell I have missed. Too bad that I am dual wielding and can't just grab a minor metamagic rod of enlarge.


Dastis wrote:
Max initiative and UMD. Scroll of Excellent Enclosure/Antimagic Field/Spellbane anyone?

The simulacrum problem is one of the main reason I'm not eager to go with "optimize for initiative and throw 4000 gp in the surprise round at the face of the first lookalike you see"


Magus makes for a very efficient mage-killer.

Consider:

Plus the ability to cherry-pick the wizard spell list. Consider Echo Location, it defeats Mind Blank + Invisibility.

A kensai can easily have a 50+ initiative at this level, and Bladed Dash or Dimensional Agility ensure a full round attack on the opening round.

With Lingering Pain, you only need one good hit to prevent all spellcasting by your opponent. Phase Locking means even if he has a Contingency, he won't be going anywhere. Arcana Theft will allow you to steal any troublesome spells he may already have in place. True Sight means you won't be fooled by Simulacrum.

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