Magus Expansive Spellstrike and Spell Swipe clarification


Rules Discussion


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I had a doubt when reading the Magus and was hoping to get an oppinion on how you read the Expansive Spellstrike and Spell Swipe feats.

Expansive Spellstrike reads::
Rather than needing to use a spell that has a spell attack roll for a Spellstrike, you can use a harmful spell that can target a creature or that has an area of a burst, cone, or line (abiding by any other restrictions of Spellstrike). When you Cast a Spell that doesn’t have a spell attack roll as part of a Spellstrike, it works in the following ways.
• If your Strike critically fails, the spell is lost with no effect.
• Creatures use their normal defenses against the spell, such as saving throws.
• If the spell lets you select a number of targets, it instead targets only the creature you attacked with your Strike.
• If the spell has an area, the target must be in that area. A burst is centered on a corner of the target’s square, or the square corner closest to the center of the target, if the target is Large or larger; you choose the corner if more than one is eligible. A cone or line emits from you and must include the target; if you’re not adjacent to the target (using a reach weapon or starlit span, for
example), choose any square adjacent to the target as the source. The spell affects all creatures in the area as normal, but the Strike still targets only one creature.

Spell Swipe reads like this:
You attack in an arc and enact your spell against everyone you hit. Make a Spellstrike, but roll separate Strikes to attack two creatures, each of whom must be within your melee reach and adjacent to each other. If your spell could affect two or more targets, your spell affects whichever foes you hit, not just the first target; otherwise, choose one target to affect with the spell. A Spell Swipe counts as two attacks for your multiple attack penalty, but the penalty doesn’t increase until after you make both attacks.
If you’re using a weapon that has the sweep trait, its circumstance bonus applies against both targets. You can use this activity with only melee Strikes, even if you have the starlit span hybrid study or a similar ability.
If you use Expansive Spellstrike to Spellstrike with an area spell, apply the area as described in Expansive Spellstrike, choosing one of the creatures you Strike to determine the area and whether the spell fails due to a critically failed Strike. If you use Expansive Spellstrike to Spellstrike with a targeted spell, the spell is lost completely only if both Strikes are critical failures.

So what I was wondering was: a Magus using Expansive Spellstrike to Spellstrike with, say, Electric Arc or Chain Lightning will only hit a single creature (as per the third bullet point in Expansive Spellstrike).

Can the Magus uses Spell Swipe with a spell such as those and get the spell to go off against the two creatures targeted by Spell Swipe?


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It says "If your spell could affect two or more targets, your spell affects whichever foes you hit, not just the first target". So yes.

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