So, im starting a new campaign soon, and i have some info about the world.
1. In the world, there is wild magic, everytime you use magic, there is a chance it goes wrong, or maybe goes right. This goes for ALL magic.
And of course, my first thing was, im gonna make a spellcaster for fun things. So im thining of making a bladebound kensai magus, who actually doesnt need to use magic, for this im thinking of giving him a black Blade - via the bladebound archetype. And i thought, that the katana would be fun, cause then i could use it two handed, which would be great if i took power attack, and i would go a strength/int magus.
Ability scores (Human - 20 point buy)
str: 16
dex: 12
con: 14
int: 17
wis: 7
cha: 10
Could you give me advice on ideas, feats, traits and such?
Kensai really want to be higher DEX, without armor (or at least anything beyond a haramaki usually) they are going to have an AC problem without a high dex. If you want a STR Magus (which is a fine choice) I'd recommend against Kensai.
So first: Magus is a class that absolutely depends on magic for functionality. You implied that you don't want to have to use magic, but that means at level 1 your Magus will have a 13(!) AC. Any Wizard/Sorcerer should have a 13 AC at level 1 and they're not planning on wading into melee combat. Your AC will arguably cap out at 17 around level 4 (from a +1 Haramaki, 12 DEX, and 18 INT).
Your damage will be further gimped. Calculations will be at the end if you feel like reading them, but you'll be Power Attacking (further lowering the accuracy of a 3/4 BAB character) and still not keeping up with the damage of the 2-handed Fighter/Barb/Paladin/Ranger/etc next to you, and you'll be at lower accuracy. Since you don't want to rely on magic, you won't be getting benefits of Spell Combat/Spellstrike (which basically give you a second attack if you cast Arcane Mark, for instance).
Your stats also don't make much sense for a character that doesn't plan on using magic. Other than a very low WIS (which is going to hurt your will saves badly...why not dump CHA instead?) you are putting most of your eggs in the INT basket when the benefits to INT are wasted if you're not wanting to use magic. Extra pool points per day are nice, but you're going to be lucky to survive level 1 (and your Human FCB gives you extra pool points).
TL;DR: Kensai is challenging enough at low levels, and this setup makes it even more challenging. The reason to play Magus is that at higher levels they will have much greater diversity of options to do damage, debuff, etc than a fighter will be. A Skald would actually be more up your alley for this world. The raging song will bump your Strength and Con, making Power Attack more viable, it can wear medium armor, and only needs to fall back on spells as a last resort if you really want.
Math!
My unoptimized level 4 STR magus that I'm playing in a friend's 3-shot campaign does 1d6+3(STR)+ (1d6+4) from Frostbite, and ideally I'm getting two of those the round I cast Frostbite and some rounds afterwards (since I'm level 4, I hopefully use Spell Combat/Spellstrike to cast Frostbite through my sword and then take my normal attack for two swings; next round I'll use up one more swing and then try to get a second attack with Arcane Mark) That's 2d6+7, while a 2-handed swinger next to me should probably have at least an 18 STR, thus giving them 2d6/1d10+6 before Power Attack. They'll be at +1 BAB, +1 to hit from higher STR, and I have to buff myself with my Arcane Pool or spells in order to claw that difference back.
I agree going Str on Kensai would probably lead to bad things happening fast. Kensai is the type of class that wants to have high Dex and Int, since none of the abilities replace Dex, and you lost all armor benefits (The way regualar Str Magus stays AC competitive).
If you really want Katana, then dip at least 1 level into Warrior Poet. This will give you Dex to atk with Katana (even when 2 handing).
Since you dont want much use from spells, I also suggest dipping Duelist to get more Int to AC, of the GM let's it stack (same name but dodge bonus).
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Feat wise, Power Attack is a trap for 3/4 BaB characters, specially for classes that have riders like the Magus (even if that's not your plan).
If you do decide to follow the Str/Int path with Kensai, Armor Proficiency actually starts to make sense. At least for early levels while Canny Defense builds up.
So armor proficiency doesn't work with Magus because everything above Haramaki has arcane spell failure...your best hope is Darkleaf Studded Leather for a +3 armor at a 5% arcane spell failure...
But this highlights why Kensai REALLY isn't good at the lower levels...Kensai ABSOLUTELY can have higher AC than a standard Magus because it can always cast Mage Armor on itself...but because your spell slots are reduced, you'll barely have any slots left for other spells once you've cast Mage Armor...at level 1 you LITERALLY won't have other slots left. Same deal at level 4...you'll have 1 Mirror Image per day effectively. Kensai only is worth playing if you manage to survive (and enjoy) the lower levels that Kensai makes a challenge.
If you go Kensai Bladebound Magus, I'd very much recommend going DEX...with 20 point buy you can get something like
STR 9
DEX 15+2
CON 14
INT 17
WIS 10
CHA 7
If you and your DM don't mind your carrying capacity being fairly low (~25 lbs, although you won't be wearing armor) you can drop STR to 7 and raise DEX to 16+2. Bump INT to 18 at level 4. Now you'll have a starting AC of 16 (which is respectable), a level 4 AC of at least 19 (and boostable with Mage Armor), and high Reflex (Magus poor save) and Initiative bonuses.
Traits: Magical Lineage (Frostbite), Bruising Intellect
Feats:
Level 1:Weapon Finesse, Bonus: Enforcer
Level 3: Dervish Dance
Level 5: Rime Spell, Bonus: Up to you
The reason I recommend this setup is because you are only going to have a small number of spells at low levels. Frostbite is actually more effective than Shocking Grasp in the long run, except for against undead (and then just have Chill Touch prepared instead). For instance, at level 4 a Shocking Grasp Spellstrike will do 5d6+5 damage (1d6+5 from your Bladebound sword +4d6), but Frostbite will do 2d6+9 (sword +(1d6+4) from Frostbite) four times, which definitely outweighs Shocking Grasp in the long run. Obviously sometimes you need to nuke a sucker, but for staying power (which arguably the Kensai needs more of) Frostbite is better. The traits are because Frostbite does nonlethal damage. Enforcer gives you an Intimidate check against anyone you do nonlethal damage to with a weapon attack. Congrats, you just inflicted Shaken against the opponent. Bruising Intellect is to ensure you can use your INT modifier instead of Charisma for Intimidate. Rime Spell will automatically inflict the Entangled condition on any target that takes cold damage from you, and Magical Lineage ensures that a Rime Frostbite stays a 1st level spell. Oh, and did I mention that Frostbite inflicts the Fatigued condition on its own? Yeah, pretty awesome.
I didn't realize before this thread that you even could be a Bladebound Kensai. That's cool.
Dave Justus wrote: Kensai really want to be higher DEX, without armor (or at least anything beyond a haramaki usually) they are going to have an AC problem without a high dex. If you want a STR Magus (which is a fine choice) I'd recommend against Kensai. I'd switch Dex and Con. It's a shame, because you need both, but I think the higher AC will pay off better than 1 hp/level.
I like Bastard Swords better than Katanas, but I'm admittedly prejudiced against Crits. Mostly, though, I just like getting my Damage up front over the promise of super hits later. I think it works out to more damage in the long run to just get that damage on every hit. The most attractive thing I see about Kensai is that inflicting maximum Damage thing, so you want that damage to be as high as possible. Something to remember: Perfect Strike does not stack with Critical Hits. Critting means you roll 2 dice of damage instead of 1, and Perfect Strike only lets you do max damage on 1 of them. You can spend 2 extra points from your Arcane Pool to roll 3 dice instead of 2: that's cool. But I'm not sanguine about building on multiple Arcane novas on crits.
Ok, after reading all this, i think i might go dex build instead. It seems greater, and i think that because magic isnt a good thing in this plot, having a higher ac, lets me have a higher chance of not getting hit, since healing is gonna be a problem.
Even though a magus uses spells, i still wanna play a bladebound, primarily for the flavour, i just love it, it may not be optimized but i will try to make it work.
The reason i wanted a katana was for the high crit - would it be viable to do a high dex crit build on the magus?
If there is another of gaining a black blade i would consider it, i just love the idea of having a black blade, and my gm will finally let me take it.
If you like the Bladebound flavor but don't want to use magic, look up the Gloomblade fighter archetype. Doesn't give you the intelligent weapon but gives the mechanical bonuses. Your GM could maybe allow it.
But anyway, I think Kensai is a bad idea but Bladebound is still a good idea. And maybe magic will still be a good thing for you.
Spell strike favors weapons with high crit ranges. So most magus builds use those kinds of weapons.
Here is the comprehensive guide to the kensai magus. More advice in that tome than you can shake a stick at.
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