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I'll start by noting some synergy with Horrid Wilting. If you target a plant or an enemy made of water with the spell, their saving throw is automatically one degree worse. If you critically hit an enemy with an attack when using Striking Spell, then that enemy's saving throw is automatically one degree worse.
Which means, that if you use Striking Spell with Horrid Wilting, and critically hit a water elemental enemy, then if they roll a critical success on their saving throw, they get a failure, and if they roll a success, they get a critical failure.
...So basically you stabs the ennemy and sucks them dry as if your weapon was a straw ?
Sign me up.
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I'll start by noting some synergy with Horrid Wilting. If you target a plant or an enemy made of water with the spell, their saving throw is automatically one degree worse. If you critically hit an enemy with an attack when using Striking Spell, then that enemy's saving throw is automatically one degree worse.
Which means, that if you use Striking Spell with Horrid Wilting, and critically hit a water elemental enemy, then if they roll a critical success on their saving throw, they get a failure, and if they roll a success, they get a critical failure.
I think there's some language in the first errata that prevents you shifting success results from a roll more than once. It came up with the Oracle, who has both master/legendary will saves and the bump in save result from Debilitating Dichotomy.
I'm thinking of any spell with a rider effect over damage, like Hydraulic Push.
Hit someone, and then see them blast away.
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Any spell or cantrip that forces a target to save instead of rolling to hit with a spell attack is more reliable because of MAP.
If you miss on the last action after Striking Spell, you can try three more times on the next turn. First chance at +0 MAP, second chance at -5 MAP, last chance at -10 MAP. MAP doesn't affect saves, only strikes and spell attacks.
So Acid Splash is hard to land with -10 to hit, but Daze still requires the same basic save at -10 MAP as it does at +0 MAP. Its damage is not as good, but hey, stunned 1 can still happen.
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Just in looking, Spell Swipe can be fun with spells that are balanced around being a single-target spell. One I was having fun messing around with was Power Word Kill for instance. Between Spell Swipe and the level 18 Double Spellstrike, you can (with the right positioning) get off 4 Power Word Kills for a single spell slot. Since PWK doesn't need a Save or Spell Attack it doesn't even care about Double Spellstrike's power reduction. Same would apply to Magic Missile (though the 1-action version isn't that great).
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I'm thinking of any spell with a rider effect over damage, like Hydraulic Push.
This could be really effective with Spell Swipe and the like; it's like being a Mauler, only you get a heck of a lot more damage if you succeed. On that, however, it does have that annoying attack roll issue. Nice on a crit though.
I wonder if you could convince your DM to let you use Telekinetic Projectile on your weapon...
I had the same thought! Telekinetic Projectile isn't necessarily exceptionally powerful, especially given the necessary attack roll, but it does sound exceptionally cool for a Magus who wants to summon bits of the scenery to sneak-attack their opponent. It is still a single-target spell, so it should definitely work, and it'd be amazingly thematic with some Weapon Improviser in the mix. If nothing else, you'd be making sure you always had a weapon to hand if you break the one you're using.
I don't really see why a GM would disallow it; just say that, rather than channelling mystic energies directly through your blade, you're chaining your attacks with said blade to the energies of the world around you... And the world wants to join in the fun! Might get weird with Spell Swipe, but even that's just summoning two rocks instead of one.
More on the save spells side of things, Befuddle and Magical Fetters look like excellent options for a Shooting Star magus, while Touch of Idiocy could be great for the melee Magus who gets jealous of wizards having spell slots.
At range (and with some action economy shenanigans) Resilient Sphere could be a good way to trap a foe inside with that Viper Arrow you hit them with. They'd probably want to kill the darn snake before attacking the sphere, even if they do succeed on the save.
If you can get Silent Spell and a blowgun, Phantasmal Killer and its ilk could be very interesting in an intrigue-heavy campaign. Good way to ruin a reputation, methinks.
Admonishing Ray is cool if you have access to Bolas. Good for a detective or bounty hunter.
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I was thinking more "use telekinesis to swing your weapon harder", but that works too. Its also a good 10 points/40% more damage than the other cantrips at max level, although without any special effects.
I wonder if you could convince your DM to let you use Telekinetic Projectile on your weapon...
Aah, I see. Personally, I don't think it necessarily works with a held weapon, but I like the idea of it working with a "loose" and "unattended" arrow that happens to be hurtling through the air at the time.
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I imagine the two-handed magus scraping the ground with their sword while striking and having the pebbles from it fly to the ennemy's face like shrapnel.
I've been looking for spells that work well with Portal Stride, specifically that allow you to get the full teleport distance. I think it's a really awesome ability.
As far as I can see, given the limitations of Striking Spell, and that fact that while you could in theory put buffs in your weapon but almost certainly don't want to, the only conjuration spell is:
5: Impaling Spike (This is awesome tho)
EDIT:6:Collective Transposition(1 creature only)
EDIT:8:Maze
Transmutation we have a lot more options (I am somewhat confused as to why this is another option, but hey, I'll take it. Maybe because some of these spells are time-related?). We've got:
3: Curse of lost time (could be pretty useful)
3: Earthbind (Could be useful for shooting star magi)
3: Slow (Pretty sweet)
4: Bestial Curse (Probably worse than curse of lost time)
5: Grisly Growths (Doesn't seem like you're immune to the sickness check though, which makes this risky in melee)
6: Baleful Polymorph (incapacitation, so YMMV)
6: Flesh to Stone
We'll almost certainly get more options for both in the full book though.
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Maze seems like an incredible control tool for the Magus. Punch someone into another dimension.
How would sustained spells like Implosion work ?
How would sustained spells like Implosion work ?
It depends on whether you rule the Sustain effect as an ancillary effect starting from when you strike the target or a multi-targeting effect.
Personnally, I'd rule for the former, since any additional creatures you Implode weren't part of the spell's Target entry, which clearly states:Targets: 1 corporeal creature.
but you might find different rulings from different people.
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It's not 100% clear, but probably it should only require sustaining once it has discharged.
Going strictly by RAW, given you actually cast the spell when you put it in your weapon, if you don't then discharge it your turn, and instead discharge it the next turn, you may well have to then sustain it on that same turn to get it to last.
Definitely room for some clarification there, though.
Given magus action econonmy issues, it's probably not worth using until you've got Effortless Concentration.