Charisma Magus Build

[Ventnor]

So, the Magus class is pretty neat. It also encourages you to boost your Intelligence score to get the most out of your spells (since Int does boost the damage your spellstrikes do). But, it isn’t strictly necessary.

If your Magus is a human, elf, gnome, tengu, or some other ancestry that can get Innate Spells, you could go for Charisma as your spellcasting stat! Neglecting Intelligence would mean your spell slot spells wouldn’t be as strong, but you can also prepare buff and utility spells in those slots, so they wouldn’t be useless by any means.

Now, why a Charisma Magus? Well, Charisma is let’s you go ham with social skills. In fact, the Distracting Spellstrike feat lets you make a free feint as a part of a Spellstrike, and more Charisma means a better chance to fake your opponent out. Bon Mot and Demoralize are also nice tricks to have in your back pocket.

[Kyrone]

Well, sorcerer is an interesting choice for Magus to multiclass into it if you are going charisma, as it let you pick Dangerous Sorcery as well for a little more bang on your spellslot damage if you are using them for that.

[Castilliano]

Int adds to Cantrip damage too, though if the Magus sourced their offensive Cantrips through innate spells (and maybe an Arcane Charisma MCD; Sorcerer or Summoner for more) then this route would balance well.
And I think tossing in a Demoralize (and landing it) before spending a spell slot makes those more valuable whether going vs. AC or saves.

I think the problem is wanting to boost Str, the three save-stats, & Charisma (or Int for a regular Magus). It'd take some finesse to balance them all.

[Falco271]

Str18 Cha16 Con12 Wis12 and Sentinel for a magus would seem a nice starting point. With str you get the extra damage on hits and the option to use hvy armor with little penalties. Hvy armor with bulwark and later mighty bulwark for reflex. Would work fine I think, with spells mostly for buffs.

[gesalt]

Half elf, shadow or iron magus
Start 18/10/12/10/12/16 or 18/8/14/8/12/16

Otherworldly magic 1
Champion dedication 2
Ancestral paragon 3 flickmace or cantrip
Champ resiliency or basic devotion 4
Cantrip at 5
Champ reaction 6
Toughness or fleet 7

That's a competent enough shell I suppose. Gives you a bit of extra hp to survive in melee, ensures you have reach, a better reaction than AoO and a few cantrips to play with. I'd take blade ally at 8 just to never be inconvenienced by undead but it's wide open at that point.

[Gortle]

Ventnor wrote:

... tengu ... you could go for Charisma as your spellcasting stat!

Tengu's fan spells are unusual The DC for spells you cast with your tengu feather fan is your class DC or spell DC, whichever is higher

So almost everyone can use it at a reasonable DC.

Given it can get you 3 level 5 lightning bolts, its probably not a bad option for a wave caster who is going to run out of spells.

[The Raven Black]

I might give a try to an Oracle of Battle MCD for the Call to arms, Arcane Cascade, Spellstrike first round of combat.

[Ascalaphus]

Very interesting, yeah charisma magus looks surprisingly plausible. Nice to know for Laughing Shadow builds too.

But it also puts Champion MCD on the table; champion reactions instead of attack of opportunity at the earliest opportunity.. that's actually a comparison to think about instead of a no-brainer.

[Castilliano]

Frankly, Champion MCD looks too scrumptious to pass up.
Cha for innate Cantrip damage bump, Demoralize, & non-combat
Dedication for armor to dump Dex + some skills.
Lay on Hands to help an 8 h.p. melee participant w/o the actions to skirmish
A great Reaction
Blade Ally (or maybe Shield if Sparkling Targe)
Expert Heavy Armor
Potentially good Focus Spell(s) from deity (highly dependent, yes)
Resilience if accumulating all these feats, for a good bump

(Note that I'm talking as somebody unimpressed by Magus feats, but I could see using most of one's low-mid level feats on Champion)

Also still a fan of Cleric MCD too. Hmm...