As the title says...
Several spells can deal roughly equal amounts of damage, but the thing that (to me anyways) makes shocking grasp the go to spell is the No saving throw part. Am I just missing some spell in some splat book that works equally well? or are all Magi doomed to be cookie cutter versions?
I like Frostbite a lot because it fatigues even though it deals non lethal damage and Snowball because it staggers and you cannot reduce the damage with the saving throw.
Also, you can use Frostbite multiple times so it helps to save spells.
Frost bite and frigid touch.
Doesn't do as much damage but TAC on Rime spell and you really hurt them.
Shocking grasp is for numbers...Cold spells are for a form of control while killing them. Both are viable.
Psychic Anthology has a Spiritualist version of Bladebound that's a more interesting Magus than Magus. You can even use your spell combat for healing.
Spells that need to hit normally don't allow a save where as spells that don't need to hit (lines and AoEs) will allow a save for half normally.
Not always true (disintegrate)
Vampire touch is good.
I like the idea of controlling with cold spells, even if the damage drops off somewhat, thanks.
Psychic Anthology has a Spiritualist version of Bladebound that's a more interesting Magus than Magus. You can even use your spell combat for healing.
Perhaps, but that would require me to invest in paizo's crappy psionics knock-off "psychic magic", when I'd rather just use actual psionics.
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Uhm... I had forgotten Frigid Touch. Great one too! Vampiric Touch is also a personal favorite, for temporary hit points and unnamed damage.
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I usually spam Touch of Fatigue while relying on static damage modifiers and crit fishing.
The majority of my memorized spells are buffs and utility.
How do you get touch of fatigue?
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How do you get touch of fatigue?
The Two-World Magic trait lets you add a 0th level spell from another class list to yours. The Samsaran race could also get it through the Mystic Past Life alternate racial trait.
The spiritualist version seems interesting and has a lot of good debuffs, with almost no spells that deal damage without some more significant other effect (well, no good options, there's always Inflict Wounds). Until they get Harm and suddenly become amazing at nuking things down.
A shame they can't get the Close Range arcana without a lot of work though, Enervation would be a great thing to crit with. Samsaran also relevant here if you did want to increase your offensive options.
As a side note, this is the second spiritualist archetype that ditches their phantom for the ability to generate a weapon and pretends to be a magus (the other being the ectoplasmatist). The magus might want to consider a restraining order, it's getting a little creepy.
magical lineage, frostbite, rime spell, enforcer, whip. Apply shaken, entangle, and fatigue all at the same time. All together that leaves them with half speed, unable to run or charge, –4 to attack rolls, -2 to str, -6 to Dex, and -2 to saves, skill checks, and ability checks.
Another sneaky combo I like is spell combat true strike plus disarm, trip, or possibly sunder.
As everyone else has said, Shocking Grasp is just the top of the damage chart. Any touch spell that suits your fancy will do just fine.
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magical lineage, frostbite, rime spell, enforcer, whip. Apply shaken, entangle, and fatigue all at the same time. All together that leaves them with half speed, unable to run or charge, –4 to attack rolls, -2 to str, -6 to Dex, and -2 to saves, skill checks, and ability checks.
Another sneaky combo I like is spell combat true strike plus disarm, trip, or possibly sunder.
Add Cruel weapon enhancement and give them the sickened condition too.
In my mind its not so much shocking grasp that makes magus builds similar - it is the critical mechanics of spellstrike. Even if you don't "build" towards shocking grasp with traits/feats/whatever, using a high crit range weapon is just better.
Yeah I agree. If you changed Spell-Strike so that you could use the weapon's crit-multiplier I think you'd see a lot more varied builds (either that or you'd just end up with a ton of Falcatas instead of Scimitars).
As everyone else has said, Shocking Grasp is just the top of the damage chart. Any touch spell that suits your fancy will do just fine.
Actually if you assume you hit twice in a round Frostbite & Shocking Grasp end up pretty much even.
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Just be careful to also invest resources in a "Plan B" for this build - lots of enemies are going to be immune to parts of the combo or even the whole thing. ("Plan B" can of course just be a shocking grasp to the face - and if the enemy has cold resistance and lightning immunity you need to fall back on "Plan C", so have some control spells memorized.)Add Cruel weapon enhancement and give them the sickened condition too.magical lineage, frostbite, rime spell, enforcer, whip. Apply shaken, entangle, and fatigue all at the same time. All together that leaves them with half speed, unable to run or charge, –4 to attack rolls, -2 to str, -6 to Dex, and -2 to saves, skill checks, and ability checks.
Another sneaky combo I like is spell combat true strike plus disarm, trip, or possibly sunder.
plan C- true strike + combat manuvers as a whip shouldn't provoke.
PLAN d- Hope a team mate has the counter and chance to shine. If not is there a way to neutralize (trap swarm in a separate room. ECT ECT)
Plan E- escape and come back with a spell list to beat the challenge.
Magus is very versatile.
A hexcrafter gets a bunch of curse touch spells to play with.
In the right situation spell combat + color spray works just fine. Especially but not exclusively for a puppetmaster magus.
Eldritch archer magi use different spells of course, their closest equivalent to shocking grasp is snowball but they're more likely to use buffs.
Polymorphing into a gargoyle or something is fun/worthwhile later on.
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My kensai uses the pragmatic activator trait to turn on a lead blades wand, an improved familiar with a wand to enlarge, and a wrist-sheathed wand of true strike + wand wielder to squeeze the most out of Perfect Strike. Make that 3d8 from your lead and enlarged bastard sword turn up a 24 every time, on anything but a 1 to hit, and you have a solid damage floor to build on with other options without any shocking grasp. Though I do use that spell often, too.
Which book is the two world magic trait from?
Pathfinder Companion: Sargava, the Lost Colony
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I've recently become smitten with Force Punch and I'm toying with ways to use it as a primary spell as a Wizard or Magus. A metamagic discount feat can make Toppling Spell same-level, allowing you to send foes spinning.
As a bonus, you don't worry about any resistances and incorporeal opponents aren't a big deal.
How do you get touch of fatigue?The Two-World Magic trait lets you add a 0th level spell from another class list to yours. The Samsaran race could also get it through the Mystic Past Life alternate racial trait.
{. . .}
Also don't forget to get the Magus Arcana Broad Study, which is required to enable use of a non-Magus spell with Spell Combat and Spellstrike. (This is true even if you are going VMC Magus and using a primary class with a different list for your spellcasting, and presumably also true of Blade Adept Arcanist, which doesn't have wording that says otherwise, although the Sorcerer/Wizard and Magus spell lists overlap enough, especially with respect to spells that you need to use with Spell Combat and Spellstrike, that it may not matter in most cases.)
Switch-hitting eventually Trip-em-out-of-the-air Myrmidarch Magus -- doesn't depend upon Shocking Grasp (although you potentially have a flex feat at level 7 that you could use for Intensify Spell and use Shocking Grasp tolerably well if you wanted to, although in this case Diminished Spellcasting and the total lack of Spell Recall or its Improved version hurts).
Skirnir Tank Magus build -- doesn't depend upon Shocking Grasp (although by swapping 1 feat at level 5 for Intensify Spell and choosing a different weapon, you could make it use Shocking Grasp tolerably well if you wanted to, although in this case Diminished Spellcasting (although it would suffer from the lack of Spell Combat until level 8 and the lack of Spell Recall until level 11).
How do you get touch of fatigue?
Spell Blending at sixth gives me both Touch of Fatique and Mage Armor for the price of a single arcana.
So is force hook charge
So is prehensile hair with a hexcrafter.
And it allows you to do really cool headbang too!
(Just being random out of boredom xD)
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Force Punch
BLADED DASH + QUICKENED-TOPPLING-FORCE PUNCH (probably using SPELL PERFECTION) is pretty hilarious.
You get pounce while denying your opponent the ability to get close to you.| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
So is prehensile hair with a hexcrafter.
And it allows you to do really cool headbang too!(Just being random out of boredom xD)
PREHENSILE HAIR + FORCE PUNCH = HEAD-BANGER! \m/
A shame they can't get the Close Range arcana without a lot of work though, Enervation would be a great thing to crit with. Samsaran also relevant here if you did want to increase your offensive options.As a side note, this is the second spiritualist archetype that ditches their phantom for the ability to generate a weapon and pretends to be a magus (the other being the ectoplasmatist). The magus might want to consider a restraining order, it's getting a little creepy.
An Eldritch Knight VMC Magus could take the Close Range Arcana at 7 and start Spellstriking with Enervation at 11, couldn't he? But a Samsaran Eldritch Archer with a keen crossbow is probably less hassle.
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Force PunchBLADED DASH + QUICKENED-TOPPLING-FORCE PUNCH (probably using SPELL PERFECTION) is pretty hilarious.
You get pounce while denying your opponent the ability to get close to you.
Falcon PUNCH!
