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Now that SoM is out what are the magi builds percolating in everyone's minds? I personally want to build an inexorable iron magus with a witch dedication to get more arcane spells plus the life boost focus spell to couple with sustaining steel when things get hairy. The free familiar is a nice bonus.
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Waiting for G&G to drop so I can give a gun to a Starlit Span character; the ranged option is far and away my favorite of the Hybrid Studies.
I am thinking of something like Magus dumping int in favor of charisma and picking draconic sorcerer and then dangerous sorcery for some more damage and expansive spellstrike the breath weapon focus spell for some cool shenanigans.
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Probably the first magus I'll play will be a Twisting Tree magus. My idea is to get student of the staff at 4 feat and Fused Staff at 8. With this you will get 2 staffs that can be exchanged in 1 action and share both property and fundamental runes. Sadly there are not good staves with attack roll spells, so you can't have a staff of divination as a main staff and a sub staff to cast spellstrikes from there (a custom staff with low level utility attack roll spells like Telekinetic Maneuver and Hydraulic push would fit like a glove here).
Besides that I would probably get AoO at 6 and Lunging Spellstrike at 10. Spinning staff is also a little bit situational so Force Fang would be alright I think.
If I got in a FA game I would go for Soulforger Archetype for sure. With that and the staff stuff I could finally play a magic girl for peak anime performance.
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Ulfen Magus with the Sparkling Targe study who wields a battleaxe to make good use of spell swipe. That’s right, Eldritch Viking.
If it helps I don't think you could do your double staff build anyway. You can only prepare one staff at the beginning of the day, so you could get your divination staff, or your attack spellstrike staff, but not both.Probably the first magus I'll play will be a Twisting Tree magus. My idea is to get student of the staff at 4 feat and Fused Staff at 8. With this you will get 2 staffs that can be exchanged in 1 action and share both property and fundamental runes. Sadly there are not good staves with attack roll spells, so you can't have a staff of divination as a main staff and a sub staff to cast spellstrikes from there (a custom staff with low level utility attack roll spells like Telekinetic Maneuver and Hydraulic push would fit like a glove here).
Besides that I would probably get AoO at 6 and Lunging Spellstrike at 10. Spinning staff is also a little bit situational so Force Fang would be alright I think.
If I got in a FA game I would go for Soulforger Archetype for sure. With that and the staff stuff I could finally play a magic girl for peak anime performance.
Checked it, that's a bummer. Thanks tho.
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Oh, also poking around to figure what would be the best hybrid study/emotion combo for a cathartic mage magus to play as a Sith.
Laughing Shadow for the Hybrid Study, I’d say. There’s no real “dual wielding” hybrid study at the moment, but single hand lets you represent Vader & Dooku, so it works well.
Cathartic emotion has to be anger or hatred. It’s the Sith. C’mon.
C'mon folks, you know how it goes... “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Clearly the first Cathartic Emotion must be Fear, followed by Anger, and then Hatred. :)
Of course, Sith from The Old Republic era would tell you their code states, "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me." Make of that what you will.
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Oh, also poking around to figure what would be the best hybrid study/emotion combo for a cathartic mage magus to play as a Sith.
Hmm. That's an interesting concept!
I could see Vader as a practitioner of Inexorable Iron (wielding a bastard sword); Dooku as a practitioner of Laughing Shadow; Maul as a practitioner of Twisting Tree and Palpatine as either the Wizard that got a Magus dedication or the Magus that got a caster dedication.
As for the cathartic emotion, I'd say anger or hatred. You'll want to get the feat that lets you take your catharsis reaction as a two action activity. Unless I'm wrong, you could use it to take your reaction without meeting the trigger...
If the free archetype rule is in play, I'd complete the builds with the respective champion archetypes or with the soul forger archetype (the cause being the Jedi or Sith codes and the 'manifest armament' being the igniting of the lightsaber... the essence forms could mimic other mechanics such as saber throws and the like).
For spells, electric arc, chain lightning, gravitational pull, jump, longstrider, haste, charm, befuddle, cry of destruction, shield, telekinetic projectile and true strike all mimic force powers. One could even ignore the cosmetic aspects and use a high level forceful hand to mimic a few uses of force push/grab/choke/crush
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Oh, also poking around to figure what would be the best hybrid study/emotion combo for a cathartic mage magus to play as a Sith.Laughing Shadow for the Hybrid Study, I’d say. There’s no real “dual wielding” hybrid study at the moment, but single hand lets you represent Vader & Dooku, so it works well.
Cathartic emotion has to be anger or hatred. It’s the Sith. C’mon.
As far as my reading goes, nothing in the laughing shadow prevents you from dual wielding either; as far as my reading of it goes, magi who dual wield can still get the speed boost and use dimensional assault; they just cannot get the benefit of the extra damage.
My current build is a dual wielding laughing shadow magus with the rogue dedication feat. Eventually, I plan on getting arcane ray to have three sources of damage (sword, spell, ray) without an attack penalty even though the last attack will be at a lower attack bonus (shadow signet would not work since it is not a spell).
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Oh, also poking around to figure what would be the best hybrid study/emotion combo for a cathartic mage magus to play as a Sith.Hmm. That's an interesting concept!
I could see Vader as a practitioner of Inexorable Iron (wielding a bastard sword); Dooku as a practitioner of Laughing Shadow; Maul as a practitioner of Twisting Tree and Palpatine as either the Wizard that got a Magus dedication or the Magus that got a caster dedication.
As for the cathartic emotion, I'd say anger or hatred. You'll want to get the feat that lets you take your catharsis reaction as a two action activity. Unless I'm wrong, you could use it to take your reaction without meeting the trigger...
If the free archetype rule is in play, I'd complete the builds with the respective champion archetypes or with the soul forger archetype (the cause being the Jedi or Sith codes and the 'manifest armament' being the igniting of the lightsaber... the essence forms could mimic other mechanics such as saber throws and the like).
For spells, electric arc, chain lightning, gravitational pull, jump, longstrider, haste, charm, befuddle, cry of destruction, shield, telekinetic projectile and true strike all mimic force powers. One could even ignore the cosmetic aspects and use a high level forceful hand to mimic a few uses of force push/grab/choke/crush
I aggree on the last bit, I think customising the visuals of a spell is well into what a lot of casters do.
For the emotion I would suggest Pride too, would be great for a character like Dooku.
Toasty! (1st level staff Magus) stars in his own Sideshow on the Absalom streets called "Will It Burn."
Hasn't been super lucrative so the adventuring life it it!
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Honestly Palpatine would be a dual-class character, he's the result of 1000 years of Sith "natural selection" and had a lifetime to preparation. Would be more boss material than PC but well.
Yep dual class Magus plus a regular full caster. Also has a better starting array of stats. He has insane mental stats and is a powerful warrior as well. He’s really a final boss type character
For builds though, I was starting to think about a crafter Magus. To bring back my dead 1e Magus.
Probably Sparkling Targe, and the an archetype that would complement a magic weaponsmith. Maybe Talisman Dabbler (with fulus it could be super nice, once level 12 or 13 when you can apply one for 3 actions). I don't know if there is other archetypes that would fit this ?
Quick Repair to fix a shield midcombat with a simple bonk from his hammer, like the dwarves of God of War would be kind of hilariously cool.
There's a few. I wanna remake my 1E spelldancer as a Laughing Shadow with a rapier and all the speed boost feats. I also wanna re-re-remake my playtest Witcher as either another Laughing Shadow or an Inexorable Iron Magus with an alchemist-multi and bounty hunter archetypes (free archetypes being present). And I'll probably use the feats as a template for a monster built 25th Baam from Tower of God, punching Shinsu into people and making them explode from the inside out
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John Henry, the Inexorable Iron Magus. It was like the hybrid study was built for the American folk tale.
Uses a maul. Focus spell replicates the sound of the mountain caving in, but is actually just his hammer sucking wind. Can keep going all day as his temporary hitpoints replenish themselves.
Will probably take the mauler dedication at level 2 even though its utility doesn't really kick in until level 5, when you get expert weapon proficiency. Knock down is probably a more useful level 4 feat for a magus than it is a fighter because fighters tend to crit about as often as you are going to be able to use knock down in combat and with a Maul, that will knock the enemy down automatically (with crit specialization). After that is probably all magi feats with AoO, runic impression, sustaining steel, Conflux refocus, Arcane Shroud, Improved Knockdown, conflux well spring, Supreme spell strike.
We have dual class characters in our party, currently we have two magi (both laughing shadow)
One is a monk/magus who uses admonishing ray for nonlethal spellstrikes and crowd controls and flurries the rounds the spellstrike has to be charged (the additional movement helps with bringing the spellstrike to the enemy)
And one Swashbuckler fencer who is just in love with the feint build in in the spellstrike to get panache going and finisher the enemy in the following turn (before recharging)
In another party (free archetype) we have a kobold with twising tree and dragon disciple, didnt have opportunity to play yet but the players likes actually getting prophiciency for the focus spells the dragon disciple gets :P
A shuriken ranged magus could make great use out of scroll striker. You could spellstrike with them when you're not holding them. Would get expensive though
get the scroll trickster archetype and you have part of the problem solved
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Hmm.. I wonder if a Twisting Tree magus would give a good Gandalf...
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I want to do quick repair in combat, but I think you need two free hands and a flat surface to use the repair kit :(
The ground is a flat surface :D
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I've been having a lot of difficulty coming up with fun, interesting magus builds lately. Aside from the staff magus, there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of mechanical synergy or "cool factor."
They just all seem so boring to me, at least on paper. Maybe things will improve for the class (or rather my perception of the clas) when new material that affords more opportunities gets released
Anyone have any advice for making something as interesting as it is effective?
I've been having a lot of difficulty coming up with fun, interesting magus builds lately. Aside from the staff magus, there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of mechanical synergy or "cool factor."
They just all seem so boring to me, at least on paper. Maybe things will improve for the class (or rather my perception of the clas) when new material that affords more opportunities gets released
Anyone have any advice for making something as interesting as it is effective?
Witch dedication grants you more spellcasting, a familiar, and access to a lot of cool lesson focus spells. a laughing shadow multiclassed witch with greater lesson for malicious shadow focus spell is a pretty fun gishy edgelord. My build plan involved life boost to augment the sustain of inexorable iron.
I had planned of bringing my 1e crafter Magus back in.
So either Inexorable Iron or Sparkling Targe. Sentinel dedication and investing heavily into crafting, ideally to apply some craft related activities (like fulus and talismans) in combat. I know it's not possible mid-combat, but repairing the shield with 3 actions is just hilarious to me.
Inexorable Iron with witch dedication would result into a nice tank.
by lvl 7 you'll be tanky enough for the boss
- 8 hp/round ( lesson of life )
- 3 temphp/round ( Arcane Cascade )
- 5 physical DR ( stoneskin )
- +2 AC from warding assaultas for the gameplay, I guess it will always be the same.
Strike x2 + recharge
Spellstrike + rechargeor if quickened
Stride/intimidate + Strike x2 + recharge
Stride/intimidate + spellstrike + rechargeBut if you think about it. 99% of the characters have a standard routine ( strike x2, flurry of blows, hunted shot/twin takedown, double slice, twin feint, Animal barbarian exploiting the monk flurry of blows, etc... )
HOLD THE LINE!!!
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Inexorable Iron with witch dedication would result into a nice tank.
by lvl 7 you'll be tanky enough for the boss
- 8 hp/round ( lesson of life )
- 3 temphp/round ( Arcane Cascade )
- 5 physical DR ( stoneskin )
- +2 AC from warding assaultas for the gameplay, I guess it will always be the same.
Strike x2 + recharge
Spellstrike + rechargeor if quickened
Stride/intimidate + Strike x2 + recharge
Stride/intimidate + spellstrike + rechargeBut if you think about it. 99% of the characters have a standard routine ( strike x2, flurry of blows, hunted shot/twin takedown, double slice, twin feint, Animal barbarian exploiting the monk flurry of blows, etc... )
I think I'll make use of that lol. I always wanted to make a tank magus and this could be it, 2handed focus spell isn't as easy to use as the others anyway.