Esoteric Magus: Worth a Second Look?

[nighttree]

Well hell.....it's looking like a Phantom Blade/Spiritualist who just keeps their weapon harbored can do this concept a fair stretch better :P

[swoosh]

Phantom Blade does punching pretty well, but the main draw of the esoteric here is the ability to fuel your arcane pool skills much more easily than a traditional magus. Phantom Blade pretty much goes in the opposite direction and has a very limited pool that you can't expand much at all.

[Bladelock]

Brawler can be a good option for feat efficiency on a high level build that is not using Dragon Style. 2 levels of Brawler get the same number of needed feats as a fighter plus Martial Flexibility

The main issue is the delay in receiving touch based attacks and powerful combat spells. Not really an issue in a higher level campaign, but a pain to bring all on line if starting from level 1.

[Bladelock]

nighttree wrote:

Well hell.....it's looking like a Phantom Blade/Spiritualist who just keeps their weapon harbored can do this concept a fair stretch better :P

I don't see how a Phantom Blade could do this better. The Phantom Blade does not have:

-access to scaling weapon damage
-ability to enhance a weapon with Impact
-a pool that can be interchanged with Ki
-the ability to focus on int with two weapon fighting

Phantom Blade can do some interesting things but in terms of damage output and skill utility, they are not on par with an Esoteric.

[Shinigami02]

Bladelock wrote:

The Phantom Blade does not have:

-access to scaling weapon damage

While for the most part you are correct, this part is explicitly wrong.

Weapon of the Mind wrote:

While the weapon is harbored, the phantom blade gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat and treats her unarmed strike damage as a monk of her level – 2.

[Bladelock]

Shinigami02 wrote:

Bladelock wrote:

The Phantom Blade does not have:

-access to scaling weapon damage

While for the most part you are correct, this part is explicitly wrong.

Weapon of the Mind wrote:

While the weapon is harbored, the phantom blade gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat and treats her unarmed strike damage as a monk of her level – 2.

Nice! I never noticed that before.