So I'm going with a human for the extra feat. I'm using Kensai for all lvls but lvl 3 so I can have my black blade. And in using ascetic style to get panther style, strike, and parry.then working on getting ascetic strike. My gm has allowed the urumi, as a monk weapon as it is in the fighter monk weapon group. So including improved crit I'm looking at 2d8 (15-20x3) at lvl 20.I also plan on being a lich, but I just wonder if I'm missing something....any pointers?
The feet requirements do not state that you must be a monk, in addition ascetic style is not an actual combat style or at least it does not appear to be by feat description.
Yes, but using two Style Feats at the same time does require having a class feature (such as Master of Many Styles Monk gives you) that lets you do this.
What were you thinking of dipping at level 3?
Blackblade, and you need ascetic style as a prerequisite of panther style so I have to take it anyways
Blackblade, and you need ascetic style as a prerequisite of panther style so I have to take it anyways
Archetypes don't work like that. If you want to be a Kensai Magus and a Bladebound Magus then you have to be both for every level of Magus that you take. You can't 'dip' into an archetype of a class that you already have.
Okay, so you are telling me that if I use panther style I have to be unarmed and cannot use my weapon to get the monk damage?
Sorry but that wasn't in the feet description, and I was using ascetic style to use my weapon in place of an unarmed strike. However if I can only use one style ill stick with ascetic, and ditch panther all together. That frees up three feets so I can get sacred geometry
Feat text is missleading, especially when you don't know it requires a swift action to change styles
I'm very confused. You say that Ascetic Style is a prerequisite for Panther Style, but it isn't. (And since Panther Style was written many years before Ascetic Style it would be very strange if it were.)
Aha! I missed it! Combat style mastery!... Either way the panther strikes are unarmed
Well, to use it in the way I initially intended it would have been a prerequisite so I could use my sword in place of the unarmed strikes mentioned in panther style, but since I can't mesh the styles its not even relavent.
Feat text is missleading, especially when you don't know it requires a swift action to change styles
That rule is in the description of Style Feats.
For centuries, great warriors have looked to nature and the multiverse to find inspiration in battle. Countless monastic and contemplative orders have crafted intricate unarmed fighting styles based on the deadliness and grace of natural and supernatural creatures. Although many such fighting techniques were created by secretive orders, they have since spread to practitioners the world over.
As a swift action, you can enter the stance employed by the fighting style a style feat embodies. Although you cannot use a style feat before combat begins, the style you are in persists until you spend a swift action to switch to a different combat style.
The use of Swift Actions is one reason why Style Feats aren't generally very good for a Magus which has so many other valuable ways to use Swift Actions.
I'm very confused about what you are trying to accomplish with Panther Style. Even if you could find a way to use it with Ascetic Style it seems like a huge investment of resources that could be spent more productively.
As a blade bound magus, he'd be giving up his essential class feature to use the style, too.
Kenai and blade bound together are rough, though there are some builds posted. You just give up a lot to get there.
By the way, Combat Style Master lets you start using a style or switch styles as a Free Action instead of a Swift Action. Requires 2 or more Style Feats, Improved Unarmed Strike, and BAB +6 or Monk level 5. This is still useful if you gain a way to have 2 styles going at once, because it lets you start them without a Swift Action, even in the Surprise Round, but not as necessary as if you have 2 or more styles and have to switch between them.
A way to get two Style Feats into use at the same time without being a Monk of Many Styles (which only requires a 1 level dip -- I initially wondered if that's what the level 3 dip might be for) is to get Weapon Style Mastery. Requires 2 or more Style Feats of which one has Weapon Focus as a prerequisite (and therefore for practical purposes requires Weapon Focus, even though it doesn't say so), BAB +6, and Weapon Training with a melee weapon (Weapon Training for a group that includes melee weapons will do for this). The last part is the hard one -- normally Magus doesn't get Weapon Training, and a Fighter dip (even Weapon Master) needs too many levels, but Myrmidarch Magus does get Weapon Training, starting at level 6, then again at 12, and again at 18 (also gets Armor Training at 8 and 14). Myrmidarch Magus has the problems of diminished spellcasting (like Kensai, so you can't even stack the archetypes) and trading out Spell Recall and Improved Spell Recall for Ranged Spellstrike, which is normally lacklustre and not what you want, and takes some investment to make good, that you probably don't want to pay for. Alternatively, any Magus with VMC Fighter will get it at level 11, but that is a LONG time to wait, and eats 5 feats, so you have to get into the really high levels to make it good.
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Since I'm not clear on the OP's design goals, I'm not sure if this would fit the concept, but it would be a lot simpler to play an Esoteric Magus, skip Ascetic Style, and just use Unarmed Strikes with Panther Style.
^You'd pretty much have to skip Ascetic Style. Esoteric Magus isn't so great(*) -- I wish that they had made a true Magus-Monk hybrid.
(*)Myrmidarch is hurting a bit too if you don't put some effort into making the Ranged Spellstrike useful, since you had to trade out Spell Recall and Improved Spell Recall for it. This can be done, but unfortunately, this probably doesn't fit with what the original poster wanted . . . .
Well, I'm trying to get as many attacks as possible by using panther style, and I was under the impression that I could use the 2 styles together... Wrong, ill admit. So I did a but of tinkering...lol 1 master of many forms, then Kensai magus all the way. Feets (in order taken) combat reflexes,panther style, panther claw, panther parry, weapon focus urumi, ascetic style, craft wondrous item, ascetic form,ascetic strike,improved crit (urumi),extra arcana ×2, combat style master, sacred geometry, and another extra arcana.
Still 2d8 on weapon damage, a weapon that can be used with panther parry with the monk archetype. And I get an even higher ac with my wisdom modifier added to it...thanks again monk lvl
I want to be in the center of the action, no ranged spells, only touch that don't offer saves. Its gotta hit hard and as often as possible... I want to build the guy that you drop in the middle of an army.... Well ill fly to the middle... But ya get The point
By the way, Magus Guide.
I listed my feets in order I would be taking them, I will have a low dc on my spells that's why I am using the ones that don't offer saves, lvl 16 feet is combat style master and I should be good to go around lvl 13
Feet......................lvl
Combat reflexes.............1
Panther style...............1
Panther claw................1
Improved unarmed strike.....1
Stunning fist...............1
Weap prof simple............2
Panther parry...............3
Weapon focus urumi..........5
Ascetic style...............6
Craft wondrous item.........7
Ascetic form................9
Ascetic strike.............11
Improved crit..............12
Extra arcana...............13
Extra arcana...............15
Combat style master........17
Sacred geometry............18
Extra arcana...............19
Arcana.....................lvl
Pool strike.................7
Flamboyant arcana..........13
Natural spell combat.......13 (lich touch attacks)
Maneuver master............15
Arcane deed (evasive)......16
Critical strike............19
Arcane dealer..............19
Stats are old school roll 4d6, remove the lowest, my constitution score doesn't matter to me as I plan on being a lich. Oh and I will be a master of many forms first lvl, and then bladebound kensai for the rest of the way. I know my build leaves gaps in spell combat, however I'm not the only party member =)...I've been called a power gamer before and so now I pick 1 job and try to do it well lol
Str=12
Dex=17
Con=10
Int=18+2(racial)
Wis=16
Cha=13
I am going to give you a radically different suggestion of an Int/Str focus magi drowning in Arcane Pool points.
Levels 1-3
You are a wizard who is really good at using a reach weapon
Level 4
You get spell recall and 9 arcane pool points. You can maintain the shield spell to have good AC or you could go full mage and have more spells per day than wizards at this level. Or you can mix it up.
Levels 5-10
This is an interesting time in your career when all the spells you can cast and your class features stack really well with your lack of gear and enemies lack of True-sight. But it's also where this build approach helps you the least. But you can still use Arcane Accuracy a lot more than other magi and you will have higher to-hit when it matters.
Level 11-16
With Improved spell recall you can really start spamming spells. Level 3 spells or lower all cost 1 arcane pool point to re-prepare. At level 12 you will have a whopping (assuming a +4 int item) 26 arcane pool points. You can spam polymorph spells, protection from energy, and other buff spells to boost your survivability and damage. A lot of rounds you'll two-hand smash foes for damage rather than relying on spell combat for damage which is good because foes start to have lots of energy resistance and SR to negate that. I've seen magi's mainly die from reflex saves. Between poor progression and lower health than real fighters many die from that subtle killer since their spell list has no protections. That is where spell blending comes in to patch that weakness and other recovery options not in their kit. These are worth grabbing since you can spont prepare mid combat at great arcane pool point cost. Where that would cripple most magi, this is merely expensive for you and can really save an unlucky party member and turn the battle around.
Level 17-20
This is where the narrative power starts coming in between magic items and greater spell access. I think that late in the game is the perfect time to get lots of minions. Wizards could have been doing this stuff since level 11, but I find DMs are not too keen on letting players get tons of minions at low levels.
Overall, I've had a better time with this magi approach than I've seen any of the standard dex-magi builds have when they are getting murdered or having trouble hitting things because they are not adding two stats to-hit like they are suppose too :P
I dig that build, however I was going for sword master with just a touch of magic. Just enough to throw my enemies for a loop mid-sword play. Ill keep this in mind if I ever play another magus. This one should be closer to a shiningami from bleach than anything else after
When are you turning into a lich? From the start or is this just a thing you want to have happen?
By lvl 15
Well, we are starting at 3 so not that bad