I'm strength based, juts hit level 7. We're playing skull's and shackles, and wealth by level is out the window due to a combination of perhaps excessive treasure hunting/extensive crafting.
As for race, I'm a human, reincarnated as an Aasimar.
Concerns:
My AC felt low-ish for the party (I'm joined on the frontlines by a swashbuckler), but this has been more or less resolved by the medium armor I can now wear. Probably. I also found a +1 insight to AC ioun stone, so that helped.
My main concern as far as my effectiveness goes is that I don't feel like I do a ton of damage - my shocking grasp is kind of a one-and-done, and my to hit is low compared to the ranger and . My main concern is my to hit, but my actual hits devoid of shocking grasp also feel a little light on the damage. I'm mainly doing damage these days by stacking elemental damage dice onto my cutlass via arcane pool.
My current feat lineup is;
1-Toughness
H-Combat Casting
3-Extra Arcana(Arcane Accuracy)
5-Craft Magic Arms and Armor
5-Craft Wondrous Items
7-???
And I'm out to see what I can do with that feat slot.
Also, if anyone have recommendations for magic items, ideally either wondrous ones or weapon/armor specials, I would much appreciate it. I'm looking at a Bane Baldric and +1 insight to hit Ioun Stone (5k) right now, as my next purchases.
As for the rest of the party, we've got an ogre with a minotaur double crossbow, a strix ranger, and a tengu swashbuckler (reincarnated halfling, getting him new gear was a b++&@ and a half), an extremely wierd human shipwreck/boot/sea turtle themed oracle, along with a druid, an unchained monk and an arcanist, but those last three are infrequent players to say the least.
The long and the short of it is that me and the swashbuckler holds the frontline, while the archers stand behind us.
Any ideas would be great to hear.
It's not exciting, but Weapon Focus (Cutlass)may be your best option for improving raw, non shocking grasp combat effectiveness.
Power Attack would be an option, but if you're already having trouble hitting, I'd go for accuracy first.
If you find that you aren't spending your swift action as much as you thought, then Arcane Strike might be the better choice. You won't be able to use it every round, because both it and Arcane Accuracy take a swift action (as does enchanting your weapon with your Arcane Pool). So often it's not the best feat for a Magus. But it depends on your play style.
Are you remembering when you're attacking with Shocking Grasp to ask if the enemy is wearing metal armor or wielding a metal weapon? That's a +3 to-hit on your biggest attack.
buy a chest of pearls of power and use them all!
Like seriously, use 4 shocking grasps in a fight, and then regain them all and do that a few times a day. That will keep your damage high for just some gold.
This leaves your arcane pool open to spam arcane accuracy to hit well.
Now you're hitting and always having strong damage.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Without stats, it's hard to say. Are you a strength build?
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Also, which archetype?
My first inclination would be weapon focus and retrain your craft feats for power attack. The WBL curve continues to be off the chart for most APs (those that I've read, and judging by comments regarding other APs), and if you have time to craft higher level magic items, you have time to retrain. Depending upon your needs, retraining the other crafting feat for another feat isn't a bad idea, either. At this level, the only extra arcana you can really benefit from (power wise) is enduring blade, though extra arcane pool (feat) won't hurt, either.
Basically, you've made the primary melee damage dealer into the primary crafter for the benefit of the rest of the party, and now you're feeling the effects.
Also, 7th level, hitting shouldn't be a problem if you're spending your pool points properly. If your weapon is already magical, weapon qualities should be up during every fight.
Chess Pwn wrote: buy a chest of pearls of power and use them all!
Like seriously, use 4 shocking grasps in a fight, and then regain them all and do that a few times a day. That will keep your damage high for just some gold.
This leaves your arcane pool open to spam arcane accuracy to hit well.
Now you're hitting and always having strong damage.
Thanks - there's quite a few first level buffs I want to keep around, but the idea is solid.
Thanks for the recommending weapon focus - I might go for that... Or the possessed hand feat?
taks wrote: Also, which archetype?
My first inclination would be weapon focus and retrain your craft feats for power attack. The WBL curve continues to be off the chart for most APs (those that I've read, and judging by comments regarding other APs), and if you have time to craft higher level magic items, you have time to retrain. Depending upon your needs, retraining the other crafting feat for another feat isn't a bad idea, either. At this level, the only extra arcana you can really benefit from (power wise) is enduring blade, though extra arcane pool (feat) won't hurt, either.
Basically, you've made the primary melee damage dealer into the primary crafter for the benefit of the rest of the party, and now you're feeling the effects.
Also, 7th level, hitting shouldn't be a problem if you're spending your pool points properly. If your weapon is already magical, weapon qualities should be up during every fight.
I'm a Hexcrafter, which is the reason for the extra arcana feat at third. This gets rid of Spell Recall, which I'm definitely feeling the lack of. I'll craft me some more pearls of power at first opportunity.
"Rest of the party" nah, I'm sure they appreciate it, but those two feats have already given me way more power than any other feats could do, in terms of items. Retraining is one of the few things my GM doesn't allow, regardless.
Hitting isn't a "problem", per se, it's just that my swashbuckler buddy has +15ish to hit, and my own +9/+9 feels shoddy in comparison.
At lv 7 you only have a +9 to hit?
bab 5, str 5, magic weapon+2, arcane pool +2, spell combat -2 = +12/+12, which of this are you not doing to only have a +9?
You are right at the point where intensify on your shocking grasps is becoming worth it, you don't mention having magical lineage as a trait though, and if not, that is less awesome. You could do worse than taking extra traits now and intensify at 9th.
You don't say what equipment you currently have, but obviously the first steps should be enchanting your weapon as well as strength enhancing item.
+9/+9 means you are at +11 for a single strike. That seems low for a level 7 magus, particularly one with crafting and lots of wealth. I would expect your starting str to have been at least 16, which that and your bab gets us to +8, a +2 weapon and +2 belt of str gets us the rest of the way, which is ok, but only barely, and not what I would expect with both crafting and high wealth.
If your GM allows Possessed Hand, then yes, it would be better than Weapon Focus. Unless you're planning to take anything that uses Weapon Focus as a prerequisite, like Weapon Specialization sometime after 10th level (when you can count as a Fighter).
Dave Justus wrote: You are right at the point where intensify on your shocking grasps is becoming worth it, you don't mention having magical lineage as a trait though, and if not, that is less awesome. You could do worse than taking extra traits now and intensify at 9th.
You don't say what equipment you currently have, but obviously the first steps should be enchanting your weapon as well as strength enhancing item.
+9/+9 means you are at +11 for a single strike. That seems low for a level 7 magus, particularly one with crafting and lots of wealth. I would expect your starting str to have been at least 16, which that and your bab gets us to +8, a +2 weapon and +2 belt of str gets us the rest of the way, which is ok, but only barely, and not what I would expect with both crafting and high wealth.
Yeah, I know it's low.
+4str, +5BAB, +1cutlass (wanted it keen instead of +2, might have been a mistake, it's the kind of thing that discussion would be nice about), +1 possessed hand for a total of +11. It rises to +16 when using arcane accuracy, and down to +14 when spell combating. I've +9/+9 when not using arcane accuracy, which is pretty bad.
This is all unbuffed, though.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
You're a hexcrafter that hasn't taken any hex arcana yet. Flight.
Whatever gives you that impression? I've got that one and Slumber.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Ierox wrote: I'm a Hexcrafter, which is the reason for the extra arcana feat at third. This gets rid of Spell Recall, which I'm definitely feeling the lack of. I'll craft me some more pearls of power at first opportunity. What did you take for the normal magus arcana you get at 3rd level? What about the hex arcana you got at 4th level?
EDIT: superseded by previous comment.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Ierox wrote: Whatever gives you that impression? I've got that one and Slumber. The fact that this comment was the first you mentioned either is what gave me that impression.
EDIT: grrr... (because my edit-fu sucks).
Ierox wrote: +4str, +5BAB, +1cutlass (wanted it keen instead of +2, might have been a mistake, it's the kind of thing that discussion would be nice about), +1 possessed hand for a total of +11. It rises to +16 when using arcane accuracy, and down to +14 when spell combating. I've +9/+9 when not using arcane accuracy, which is pretty bad.
This is all unbuffed, though.
Well your first action should be swift action arcane pool for the +2 to accuracy and damage. That helps both accuracy and damage. Not using that is missing out on one of the better buffs for the magus.
And then just having lots of pearls to spam spells with should keep your damage high.
Something I thought about for Possessed Hand... It's an insight bonus, so it won't stack when you use arcane accuracy.
Yeah, seems you're right about that, thanks. I'll go with weapon focus instead.
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