I had noticed the fact that the Mystic (Champions of the Spheres) and Bladebound archetypes for Magus were actually compatible (I was surprised because normal sphere magus did not have this compatibility)... However, I wanted to ask something rather simple about this fact.
How much would removing the "One-handed Slashing or Piercing" restriction change the balance of the bladebound archetype? I always assumed the restriction was more "This is the magus' niche and we want you to stay there" than something that really made a major difference, but I also know that it would be foolish of me to act like it's not possible that there's some sort of exploit that wasn't originally intended that I don't know about because I'm not smart.
Also on a totally unrelated topic (but magus related) is there any way for a magus to get a bloodline other than eldritch heritage?
I don't know the Mystic archetype, but otherwise ...
Removing the slashing/piercing restriction shouldn't break anything. If you want to wield a mace or warhammer I don't see how that could unbalance the game, but I would ask what weapon you're planning to use before allowing it (just to avoid cheese).
For a bloodline there's the ELDRITCH SCION archetype. It changes a lot about the magus though, so compatibility may be an issue (and in this case the flavour changes a lot too).
Thanks, I just thought ask since I'm sure that if there was a way to break it someone would have found it by now and could tell me.
Also... eldritch scion has the issue that 1: black blade's 1/3 arcane pool + needing to use points from their pool in order to use spell combat would be all kinds of nasty. 2 the Scion replaces a lot of the same abilities as Mystic.
I mean you would have 2 handed weapons taking the place of 1 handed weapons, but that's all.
True, I just thought maybe there was a reason that it specifically wanted "One-handed slashing or piercing weapons"
I mean you would have 2 handed weapons taking the place of 1 handed weapons, but that's all.True, I just thought maybe there was a reason that it specifically wanted "One-handed slashing or piercing weapons"
I think it's largely an aesthetic choice. The Black Blade was designed for a Magus (so 1-handed), and it's piercing/slashing because it's a "Blade".
I think it's largely an aesthetic choice. The Black Blade was designed for a Magus (so 1-handed), and it's piercing/slashing because it's a "Blade".I mean you would have 2 handed weapons taking the place of 1 handed weapons, but that's all.True, I just thought maybe there was a reason that it specifically wanted "One-handed slashing or piercing weapons"
True... And I guess I ought to make mention of the fact that a major part of my reasoning for removing the limitation is because Mystic basically tosses the limitation as well. Spherecasting doesn't explicitly need a free hand unless you choose to take the Somatic Components Drawback in your casting tradition, you lose Spell Combat as a whole and instead your primary "channeling" ability is Advanced Spellstrike...
Actually wait, I think it might have been eratta'd somehow but I'm not sure..
Advanced Spellstrike (Su): At 2nd level, whenever a mystic uses a standard action to activate any magic sphere ability that requires a touch attack, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding (including ranged weapons). Instead of making a touch attack to deliver the effect, a mystic can make one free attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of activating this ability; this attack is treated as an attack action. If successful, this attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the magic sphere ability. This attack uses the weapon’s critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon special ability or similar effects), but the sphere effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.
Can you still use special attack actions with advanced spell strikes in this wording? I can't really tell.
It looks like you could use Vital-Strike/etc with that wording (it's an "attack action").
It looks like it works, you can use spheres of might to make it a special attack action. It doesn't sound like it works with spell combat though.
I can't help but wonder what the real difference is between this and the champion feat that does a similar thing. (The feat is called spell attack and make an the attack a special attack action, allowing vital strike and other spheres but not other special attacks).
Well.. Spell Attack is a special attack action in and of itself, meaning you couldn't say use Vital Strike and Spell Attack together. (Edit. Vital Strike can be used with spell attack, but other special attack actions like Deadly Shot or Dual Strike can't
The Old Wording of Advanced spell strike (Or at least how I read it, though maybe I read it totally wrong) Was that when you made an attack action you could attach a spell to it. So from my interpretation you could for example, use the Sniper Sphere's Deadly Shot with Spellstrike, or the Brutal Strike ability of the Berserker Sphere, or the dual attack ability of the Dual Wielding Sphere, etc.The question is basically whether Advanced Spellsrike is just an Attack Action, or if it's a Special Attack Action