I was thinking for building a character (an arcane caster of some sort to take a scholarly related trait from a campaign) that could also help in melee. (The team has a barbarian, an oracle and a sorcerer) I was thinking about maybe picking either a magus or an arcane duelist bard. But I wanted to hear opinions about some other cool options that I could take. What other options might work?
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Magus is the obvious one of course. Bloodrager is a thing. But that may step on the toes of the barbarian a little. Fair warning. Arcane duelist bard...is kinda bad. Alchemist can be a front liner but they aren't exactly arcane. Same deal for investigator kinda. There's a couple (bad but fun) vigilante archetypes too. If you're willing to branch out further I can give you other ideas. Or if you provide some more details on what you want I can iffer various builds from these
Its a trait about being apprentice of an arcane caster.
Everything first party is allowed (including any first party arquetypes).
20 point buy.
If you need any more detail, ask away and I will try my best to answer.
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Yeah Magus is more straight forward than Bard, but Bards can be pretty good too.
If going Bard then the ARCHAEOLOGIST makes a pretty good damage dealer. You'll want the FATE'S FAVOURED trait and the LINGERING PERFORMANCE feat to make the most of this (It sounds cheesy, but the dev who wrote this archetype knew about these options and expected them to be used, so it's balanced around the idea that you have them).
If going Magus there aren't too many bad options, my favourite is the Hexcrafter, but whatever you prefer.
You could also potentially try a Summoner, I know the most obvious would be a Synthesist Summoner, but maybe check with the GM first.
Otherwise, does it have to be Arcane? What trait are you taking for this? I think Occultists make pretty great front-line characters, and can absolutely have a scholarly feel.
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There's weird archetypes which get arcane spellcasting too. Cabalist or warlock vigilante, or antiquarian investigator could do the front line thing. The antiquarian investigator could be different; it's entirely immune to arcane spell failure so you could dip a level into something for proficiency then load up with heavy armor. Vigilantes can do odd things with their talents. Any of those three could be scholarly and traditionally arcane.
Fighter with the Child of Acavna and Amaznen archetype is another possibility. This archetype is basically a fighter chassis with prepared Bloodrager spells plus wizard cantrips.
I'll second Occultist. Full BAB through Panoply of the Warrior, great spell list, Aura Sight and Object Reading lets you do big brain stuff.
The Occultist can be durable. You're a 6th level caster with some defensive SLAs (some of which are swift/immediate actions). I haven't had any trouble keeping my Occultist alive, you just have to prioritize defence a bit.
But no, you're not arcane. I think Occultist fits the flavour, but possibly not the mechanics of the OPs request .
I'll second Occultist. Full BAB through Panoply of the Warrior, great spell list, Aura Sight and Object Reading lets you do big brain stuff.yeah, only issue with occultist for arcane frontliner is that it’s not arcane or particularly durable.
Usually when people say arcane, they want the usual spells on the Wizard/Sorcerer list which the Occultist gets some of the best ones from. Haste, Slow, Fireball, Blur, Mirror Image, just to name a few that the Occultist gets.
Yeah I think Occultist fits the theme the OP asked for, though it may not fit the mechanics (need a link the the trait they're working with).
I also think the Occultist is at as durable as the other options we're discussing - I'd definitely rate the Occultist higher than the Bard in that regard.
Usually when people say arcane, they want the usual spells on the Wizard/Sorcerer list which the Occultist gets some of the best ones from. Haste, Slow, Fireball, Blur, Mirror Image, just to name a few that the Occultist gets.I'll second Occultist. Full BAB through Panoply of the Warrior, great spell list, Aura Sight and Object Reading lets you do big brain stuff.yeah, only issue with occultist for arcane frontliner is that it’s not arcane or particularly durable.
Another occult possibility is Medium with the Spirit Dancer or Rivethun Channeler archetype. These archetypes cannot combine effective martial combat (Champion spirit) and arcane spellcasting (Archmage spirit) in the same fight, but same day? No problem to go into combat with long term arcane buffs that they cast an hour or more ago.
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Once a Dawnflower Dervish Bard reaches 8th lvl, the ability to cast Mirror Image and a swift action cure spell the same round (using Meditative Whirl) makes them especially durable, in my experience. They get Dervish Dance as a bonus feat, so there's no excuse not to take Toughness as the first feat.