Jitskan Artificer is stupidly good, seriously it's another category over the previous options.
Ascetic Oracle has bad BaB, attacks per turn, damage and defenses.
Iron striker has bad defenses and focuses on a weak mechanic, besides being very feat intensive.
Jitskan Artificer trades very little for a lot more power and options.
Oracles get better buffs since they're casting off the divine spell list and are full spellcasters, but if your fights tend to start with enemies within charge range then an oracle gets one buff at best before they need to fight back. That's a matter of GM style or the adventure writer's style if you're using published adventures, not an absolute.
Between the magi, iron-ring gets weirder abilities and Jistkan more powerful ones. Combat maneuvers & odd arcane pool abilities, or a heavily enchanted arm which eventually gets to flurry (i.e. full BAB + 1 attack)? Either can cast spells while still punching, and can do the shocking grasp or frostbite tricks.
I like Justkin Artificer. It also stacks with Hexcrafter, and as an unarmed combatant you can get some use out of the Hex Strike feat without jumping through hoops the way the Hexcrafter usually does. I like this because it helps make up for your fewer spells per day if you can hex someone as part of a full attack.
I'd say Frostbite is probably a betterdamage option than Shocking Grasp since you're not getting the benefit of the 15-20 crit range, but if you do go Hexcrafter you could make Ill Omen your go to spell (and take the Wand Wielder arcana since Ill Omen has no save). You can either force them to roll twice then target them with a hex (as a swift action with hex strike) or you could save Ill omen for after you've hit them with Evil Eye or something, to stack two no-save effects every round.
This is basically what I'm looking at as a backup character for one of my games, so I'm right in the middle of planning it.
Phantom blade Spiritualist is a solid magus like option. It's definitely worth checking out if you are interested in this type of character. As long as you don't manefest your phantom blade it counts as unarmed strike with damage of monk level -2 and you get the steady enhancement bonuses of the weapon for free ppuss ghost touch. It's like having built in free hand wraps. Plus you can pick up feats as if you were a full level fighter with your bonus feats. All while wearing heavy armor if you want from level 1.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It wasn't till I got to the end of the Jistkan Artificer that I realized it's supposed to be Edward Elric
Just to give a couple other options to check out, though they are probably lower on the magic front are Medium of the Master (Medium archetype) and Elemental Ascetic (Kineticist archetype).
One option that wasn't mentioned is the Iroran Paladin. Not particularly great, but it's there.
There's Iron Tyrants on the Antipaladin side too.
|
I think the Jistkan Artificer is overall the best one. Of course, other ones might be better for specific applications. Feel free to give a look at this Jistkan Artificed build for a change from the usual Shocking Grasp Magus.
There is also the Phantom Blade Spiritualist Archetype that grants you Unarmed Strike while your weapon is sheathed, something to consider
It would be silly, but don't Jistkan Artificer and Hexcrafter both modify spellcasting and so not stack?
I don't think there's a problem there. One modifies your spell list, one your number of spell slots.
It would be silly, but don't Jistkan Artificer and Hexcrafter both modify spellcasting and so not stack?I don't think there's a problem there. One modifies your spell list, one your number of spell slots.
I didn't even think about that to be honest, but I think avr's right and it works fine. Lucky me, I could have looked foolish =P