Evening folks!
Been invited outta the blue to a campaign that heavily involves mages and a world that revolves around cycles of magic. In this grim darkness we are all asked to have one at least half-casting class. With this in mind I went to Magus, I like it, it fits, bada-boom.
But for those unfamiliar with "Gestalt" it is a system in which you pick two classes to level simultaneously, receiving the better of two like skill point number or save, ect.
Now, for this character. He's going to be from a declining noble family. He wields their ancient Black Mace and sports a rather grim and nihilistic attitude toward -everything-. Sort of like if an Edgelord didn't try. Likely going to flesh him out more but that's my couple hour thought. Either way, issue now is finding a second class that works!
I want him to be scary, spooky! Intimidate build.. because it's real easy to just look at a mage and Unchained Intimidate his arse into submission, but we need more! So far my eye has been drawn to the 3pp Direlock class and to the Untouchable Rager Archetype for Bloodrager, giving me an SR of 8+Level - eventually 12+Level for the cost of my Bloodrager spellcasting, which would be massive if I wasn't a magus, so.. yey.
Oh, also taking Bruising Intellect so my Intimidate goes off Int, smart is spook.
If you've any suggestions on feats, traits, classes.. anything really, I'm all ears. Only restriction is Human race with first feat being Noble Scion, aside from that.. Go nuts!
Thank you in advance!
Well, the Mace is a bludgeoning weapon and there are wonderful feats for those when combined with Sneak Attack. Ninja/Magus could be pretty awesome. Swift Action vanish to get close, land a nice full attack with a ton of extra damage on the next round, and then Swift Action vanish and five foot away. When you can cast Greater Invisibilty it only gets better with Sneak Attack spells. :)
Honestly, the best way to "Anti-Mage" something is by being the better mage, so a full Arcane spellcaster would be your go-to, which makes Wizard a powerful choice. Adding a more expansive spell list, etc. gives invaluable versatility. Bonus points for taking a school like Admixture so your damage spells can overcome resistances with ease.
Combined with the factor that you can take an Arcana that lets you effectively mesh your Wizard spells with your Magus features makes this a no-brainer.
If you like intimidate and 3rd party is on the table you might find Dreamscarred Press's Path of War to your liking, specifically the Black Seraph discipline. A warder with the Fiendbound Marauder archetype can get it, or any of their classes who joins the Black Thorn Knights. Eternal Guardian uses intimidate too but it's less grim. A warlord with the Vanguard Commander archetype gets that.
Something by Paizo you might consider is an investigator. They can get plenty of benefit out of intelligence (especially if empiricist), inspiration can benefit intimidation, 6 base skill points and a good reflex save fill some gaps for a magus in gestalt. Extracts allow you to save your magus spells for more offensive uses (handy for a 6-level caster who doesn't get huge numbers of spell slots). Studied Combat is a nice bonus too.
Oh blast! I asked the DM about it and Path of War is a no-no! As well as Psionics. I'll try to force my way through Martial Training, but we'll see where that goes!
As a note, thank you for the quick responses everyone, these comments are well appreciated.
Witch
-You get a familiar that can open with intimidate using your ranks
-Full caster with access to all the fear spells
-Int based synergy
-Hexes would give more debuff potential. Considering everyone in the party is a caster someone should be able to capitalize on that -12 to saving throws
-Thematically a patron can add even more darkness or even provide a more family backstory
I've looked at Witch, thematically it fits rather well, but my issue with it is how well it would fit with the action economy of a Magus. They're usually fond of using up those Standard/Move actions for Hexes, which I'll need for Spell Combat, if I recall Cackle needs to be re-re-re-applied to function.
But it's a good suggestion, I'm considering it.
The Magus class is a full action economy class. You will be hard pressed to fit in anything into the action economy unless it is a free or Swift Action.
Magus//Fighter- Adds more feats and D10 HD. Things like Disruptive and Spellbreaker will be a good pick up to help give you an edge versus other casters. You can add in the Dimensional Agility line of feats since you can D. Door.
Magus//Cavalier- Challenge a foe and then Spellstrike with a High critical weapon the damage will be insane.
Magus//Brawler- Martial Flexibility is a great feat since Spellcasters can cause a lot of situational problems.
Magus//Wizard- Fighting Fire with Fire.
Magus//Investigator- Quick study is a swift action. You can grab Mutagen and use the extracts to buff yourself while your Magus Spells fuel your Spell Combat.
Magus//Vivisectionist Alchemist- Sneak attack, Mutagen, and Buffs.
When it comes to taking out a wizard, I want to a) go first and b) hit hard.
In the campaign you describe, where every PC is going to have magic, I probably wouldn't want spell resistance that I couldn't lower (or even had to spend an action to lower.) There is just too much good stuff that you and your allies will want to cast.
I'd be tempted to go one of two ways.
If you want more martial focus I'd think strongly about Slayer. You get talents for some extra feats, works well with lighter armor which you will have for most of your career, and sneak attack doesn't hurt, especially if you can get a drop on your opponent or maneuver around for a flank (and magus has some good options for movement) and it would work well with an intimidate focus. Plus you end up with full BAB, d10 HD and all good saves, which is always nice.
The other option would be wizard, specifically a diviner. I'd go with the Kensai archetype for the magus for sure with this option. Going first shouldn't be a problem most of the time, Broad Study once you get to 6th means Kensai diminished spellcasting won't matter. I'd probably throw the exploiter archetype on the wizard, because you always throw the exploiter archetype on wizards. This is probably a less 'interesting' build, but probably superior as far as raw dominating power.