Step Up/Following Step/Step Up and Strike allow for a situational 10-foot step.
nab flight hex for at will immediate action hex (feather fall at will). goes well with ghostwalk, just in case your hexstrike miss.
also. taking only one level of the magus won't get you both spell-strike and spell combat. one of them is a 2nd level class ability.
Abjuring Step is a highly underappreciated/undervalued spell and it's on the Magus spell list. It allows you to make two 5-ft steps per round until you attack or cast a harmful spell, or take a move action, so as long as you're fighting indirectly via casting summons, or buffing allies, it can stay on you for an entire combat. Expect table variance on this, but an argument could be made to allow the Ashiftah's veil to deliver touch spells as "attacking indirectly" as well, because the veil functions like a Familiar making the touch attack for you.
Protecting Veil: An ashiftah’s veil is not merely a uniform, but a magical vestment imbued with power. Its ability to hold spells functions identically to a witch’s familiar. An ashiftah must veil herself and commune with her patron each day to prepare her spells and cannot prepare spells not stored in the veil.
Deliver Touch Spells (Su): Starting at 3rd level, an ashiftah can use her veil to deliver touch spells. After casting a touch spell, as a full-round action, she can tear a strip from her veil and whisper to it, designating a target. She then releases the scrap of fabric, which drifts on the wind to the target and delivers the spell as a ranged touch attack. The target must be within 20 feet of the witch. The veil mends itself after the spell is delivered.
This doesn't necessarily help your Hex Strike/Ghostwalk combo, but it will definitely help you stay mobile in melee or if you get into trouble and need to get away.
For example;
R1:
Standard: Unarmed Strike
Swift: Hex Strike
Move: Ghostwalk - 5ft step
R2:
Standard: Abjuring Step
Move: Cackle
Swift: Black Feather Hood's Flair
10ft step
5ft step
R3:
5ft step
Move: Cackle
5ft step
Standard: Buff Ally/Summon/Attack Indirectly
R4:
5ft step x2
Standard: Unarmed Strike (Abjuring Step ends)
Swift: Hex Strike
Move: Cackle
R5:
Standard: Unarmed Strike
Swift: Hex Strike
Move: Ghostwalk - 5ft step
Emergency Round:
Immediate Action: Flight Hex (before your turn starts)
Swift Action (on your turn): Black Feather
Move Action: Ghoststep (10ft)
Standard Action: Abjuring Step
===============================
If I were you, I'd take a dip in Gunslinger for the Grit pool and Firearm proficiency and use a revolver or pistol in your offhand (so now you have a ranged weapon that qualifies for the Black Feather), and then you can use Grit to activate the Black Feather several times per day. Take Magical Knack to keep your Witch CL on par. You still have your Unarmed Strike hand for casting spells. Flight and Prehensile Hair hexes would synergize nicely with this I think too.
Alternatively, you can take Amateur Gunslinger as a feat.
Emergency Round:Immediate Action: Flight Hex (before your turn starts)
Swift Action (on your turn): Black Feather
Move Action: Ghoststep (10ft)
Standard Action: Abjuring Step
I'm dumb. IA's consume your Swift the following round. I house rule that Swifts and Immediates are de-linked and sometimes I forget that, so meh.
She then releases the scrap of fabric, which drifts on the wind to the target and delivers the spell as a ranged touch attack
Depends on who's making the ranged touch attack. What are the Veil's stats?
She then releases the scrap of fabric, which drifts on the wind to the target and delivers the spell as a ranged touch attackDepends on who's making the ranged touch attack. What are the Veil's stats?
Yeah, that's why I said it's arguable :P Expect table variance.
Huh... I wouldn't expect table variance with something so clear cut but, ok. I acknowledge that there are (a lot) of people that process information different than I do, so I suppose it is to be expected.
Welp, I would allow it. It's supposed to act like a familiar, so I wouldn't count an attack from it as an attack from you for purposes of breaking Invisibility or Abjuring Step.
You have a much looser reading than I do. "Its ability to hold spells functions identically to a witch’s familiar." Aside from being the source for their spells, and holding spells to deliver touch attacks, it neither resembles nor acts like a familiar in any other way.
You have a much looser reading than I do. "Its ability to hold spells functions identically to a witch’s familiar." Aside from being the source for their spells, and holding spells to deliver touch attacks, it neither resembles nor acts like a familiar in any other way.
I think you would be technically correct to consider the attack from the veil as a ranged attack from the caster as the rules as written support it 100% (the caster is indeed using her own stats to resolve the Ranged Touch Attack in question), but that kinda defeats the point of being able to vanish with Ghostwalk. But, I also think it would be correct to consider the attack as a ranged attack from the familiar and not the caster due to the "its ability to hold spells functions identically to a witch’s familiar" clause, so that way Ghostwalk can work appropriately with the lvl 3 familiar ability in Ashiftah; because as a wizard with a familiar, you can vanish and let the familiar deliver touches for you and vanish won't break, and the purpose of Ashiftah is to give the Witch a reliable Vanish mechanic. So if the DM decides that Ghostwalk is indeed negated by the ranged touch attack from the veil because it counts as a ranged attack from the caster, then I don't see any reason to take the archetype. At that point, I would just go vanilla witch and get my two hexes back from not taking the archetype, and take the Deception or Spirits patron for Invisibility and save up for a rod of quickening, then let your familiar deliver touch attacks for you per normal. Now I have a Vanish that lasts longer and can be performed quicker, and now my Move Actions can be used for Cackle instead of Ghostwalk. /shrug
That's cool and all Ryze, but at-will move action invisibility is a trick that even a rod of quickening can't match, and 24K gold is probably a long time coming. The level 3 ability is the least important of the 3 abilities an ashiftah witch gains anyway.