Next round, I take a 5 foot step and take a full round attack with both a standard weapon and a touch to deliver my spell.
You cannot do this. Delivering a held spell is a standard action. You need to use the Spellstrike class feature if you want to both attack with your weapon and deliver your held spell in the same turn (in which case it's no longer a touch).
If I make a standard weapon attack with the intent of delivering through spellstrike, but miss - Is it too late for me to attempt to deliver the spell by touch attack?
You can still choose to deliver it as a touch attack if you choose. The held spell is not dissipated on a missed attack. You can hold the charge indefinitely, so you can try again by either method.
I would have had to declare that I wanted to use spell combat ahead of time, and taken the weapon attack at a -2 in order to give myself the chance to deliver through the off hand
You cannot do this. Spell Combat allows you to cast a spell as part of your full attack, it does not allow you to deliver a held charge with an additional attack.
Remember, you only get an extra free attack at the time you cast the spell. Otherwise, you must spend a regular attack to deliver it.
you're getting things quite confused. Here are you options
1) standard action attack with sword.
2) standard action, cast a spell, maybe using spellstrike to deliver it instead of the free touch attack. This will end any held charges.
3) standard action, deliver a held touch attack, either by touching or with weapon through spellstrike.
4) as full-round action, use spell combat to cast a spell and make the rest of your normal full-attack. All of your attacks with this take a -2 to your attack rolls.
So spell combat can eventually let you do your spell and get 4 attacks off with haste. Thus you're not doing 2 standard action, you're making 1 special full-round action.
This means if you attack without declaring you're using spell combat then you can't add on spellcasting to your turn.
If you cast a spell without declaring spell combat you can't take your normal attacks after the spell.
Now if you have a held charge already you can still declare spell combat and do the spell last. So you'd make your attack with your weapon using spellstrike to deliver the held charge and then now that your normal attacks are done you cast a spell and get the free attack using spellstrike.
Next round, I take a 5 foot step and take a full round attack with both a standard weapon and a touch to deliver my spell.You cannot do this. Delivering a held spell is a standard action. You need to use the Spellstrike class feature if you want to both attack with your weapon and deliver your held spell in the same turn (in which case it's no longer a touch).
This is unclear to me... I was under the impression that Spell combat allowed me to make the attack and then deliver the held touch spell in the same round. If I can swing my sword (std action) and then cast a touch spell, (std action), why wouldn't I be able to swing my sword (std action) and deliver a held touch spell (std action)? It's counter intuitive that a simple action (touching) is not permitted while a more complex action (casting) is permitted. Is there RAW somewhere that shows your interpretation to be correct?
You've got 2 different descriptions that say contrary things. In your first comment you say "Next round, I take a 5 foot step and take a full round attack with both a standard weapon and a touch to deliver my spell." Which you follow up with "I was under the impression that Spell combat allowed me to make the attack and then deliver the held touch spell in the same round."
These are two different things. You can't do the first, you can do the second. In the first, you cast the spell then attempt to use the free attack in the "Next round." That's the part you can't do. You can only use the free touch attack in the round that you cast the spell.
I am playing a lvl 2 magus, and I have moved one 5 foot square away from a zombie.
I cast and held shocking grasp so that I wouldn't have to cast defensively or roll concentration to avoid an AoO.
So far, so good.
Next round, I take a 5 foot step and take a full round attack with both a standard weapon and a touch to deliver my spell.
This is not how it would work. Spell-combat allows you to cast a spell and full-attack in one round. It does NOT allow you to deliver a previously cast touch spell and full attack. The reason you would normally get an extra attack by casting Shocking-Grasp (or whatever) is because Touch Spells have thier own special rule which states that you get a free touch attack to deliver the spell ON THE ROUND YOU CAST IT. Since your example had you cast a spell the round before, you lost the "free action" that would have allowed a touch attack to deliver the spell (or the free action spellstrike because you're a Magus).
What you could do instead is this:Move 5 feet away from the zombie and just wait.
Next turn use Spell-combat to cast a spell & make a full attack (in the following order):
1. Cast Shocking Grasp
2. 5 foot step toward the zombie (you can 5-foot-step at any point during a full-attack action)
3. Deliver your free touch attack (or spellstrike) that you get because you cast a touch spell this turn
4. Make your regular attack (which can deliver the spell if the first attack missed because of spellstrike).
No concentration check needed, and you get your spell-combat & spellstrike, all good.
I miss both,but retain the charged spell.
Later in the round, the Zombie misses me, so I am still holding the charged spell.
The round completes, no one else threatens me, and I start the round with the spell still held.At this point, what I am able to do becomes unclear to me.
If I make a standard weapon attack with the intent of delivering through spellstrike, but miss - Is it too late for me to attempt to deliver the spell by touch attack?
I think the answer is yes?
Yes it is.
I would have had to declare that I wanted to use spell combat ahead of time, and taken the weapon attack at a -2 in order to give myself the chance to deliver through the off hand (again, with a -2). Right?
You're confusing CASTING a spell and DELIVERING a spell.
If you start with a touch-spell held, you can declare Spell-Combat and use this order:1. Make your normal attack with your weapon (which can deliver a touch spell because of spellstrike)
2. Cast your spell
(3. If your spell was a touch spell you may use a free action to deliver your spell as either a touch attack or a spellstrike with your weapon)
If your first attack misses and you decide you'd rather not waste your held Shocking-Grasp, you can instead forgo step 2 (and 3) and keep your held spell till next round to try again.
The important thing here is that you would have to declare spell-combat before you make any attacks, as spell-combat comes with a -2 to hit on all attacks for the round. This is different from a normal full-attack action (where you can decide wheter it's a standard attack action or a full attack action after the first attack is made) because of the penalty involved.
It seems like a balance decision and kind of makes sense... but I'm questioning it because Magus is a new class for me. If I deliver through the weapon, I then have a chance to cast another touch spell and deliver it right away - but I could also just not take the second attack if, for example, I wanted to conserve my spells? And the price I pay for that freedom is the -2 to attack on both.
I don't quite understand this paragraph, but I think it's basically saying what I said in my paragraph above, and if so I think you're correct. Not sure though =P
Yeah don't stress, this is one of the hardest classes to get down. I mean just look at that guide you linked in your original post - it's huge!
If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.