Here's my quick shot at a first level Magus. Comments welcomed. :-)
Guillen
Male human magus 1 (Lost Omens Character Guide)
NG, Medium, Human, Humanoid
Heritage versatile heritage
Background pathfinder hopeful
Perception +3
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Osiriani, Varisian
Skills Acrobatics +6, Arcana +6, Crafting +6, Intimidation +3, Medicine +3, Milani Lore +6, Pathfinder Society Lore +6, Society +6, Survival +3
Str 12 (+1), Dex 16 (+3), Con 14 (+2), Int 16 (+3), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 10 (+0)
Other Items leather armor, dagger, staff, throwing knife[LOGB]s (3), backpack, bedroll, chalks (10), Combat Spellcasting Notes, flint and steel, minor healing potion, rations (1 week)s (2), rope (foot)s (50), soap, torchs (5), waterskin, purse (6 gp, 4 sp)
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AC 17; Fort +7; Ref +6; Will +5
HP 19
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Speed 25 feet
Melee [1] dagger +6 (versatile S, thrown 10 ft., agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+1 P
Melee [1] staff +4 (agile, two-hand (1d8)), Damage 1d6+1 B
Melee [1] throwing knife +6 (thrown 20 ft., agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+1 P
Ranged [1] dagger +6 (versatile S, thrown 10 ft., agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+1 P
Ranged [1] throwing knife +6 (thrown 20 ft., agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+1 P
Arcane Magus Spellcasting DC 16, attack +6; 1st longstrider Cantrips (1st) light, mage hand, ray of frost, shield, telekinetic projectile
Arcane Arcane Tattoos DC 16, attack +3; Cantrips (1st) electric arc
Focus Spells 1 Focus Point, DC 16; 1st Spinning Staff
Ancestry Feats Arcane Tattoos[LOCG]
General Feats Toughness
Skill Feats Additional Lore
Other Abilities arcane spellcasting, conflux spells, hybrid study, spellbook
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Must be Twisting Tree style Magus since you have Spinning Staff.
Toughness is probably a good choice. It doesn't do much at level 1, but its value increases as you gain levels. Most full martial classes get 10 HP per level, so being melee oriented with only 8 HP is harder.
What other cantrips and spells do you know? The listing only gives what you have prepared. You should know more spells than that though.
The only thing that I have concerns over is the 12 STR. I don't see any way for you to get finesse on your staff attacks, so you are still using STR to land your attack spells with spellstrike. Otherwise you are using your INT to cast them normally. Which may be a decent option with 16 INT.
Unless your plan is to draw your dagger when using spellstrike. But that seems really action intensive.
Cantrips: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Message
1st Level: Burning Hands, Grease, Gust of Wind
It may be that I didn't think through the spell strike business enough. Maybe going STR rather than DEX would be better. Hm. How does STR 16, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 14 sound?
Cantrips: Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Message
1st Level: Burning Hands, Grease, Gust of WindIt may be that I didn't think through the spell strike business enough. Maybe going STR rather than DEX would be better. Hm. How does STR 16, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 14 sound?
That is more in line with what I would expect to be effective. You can boost the melee attack bonus using item bonus from runes. As well as boosting STR as you level up, and getting other attack boosting effects like circumstance bonuses or flat-footed penalties on your enemies. Because that is where your main benefit is - it is easier to boost your weapon attack accuracy than it is to boost your spell attack accuracy and save DC. So you will be able to land those spell attack spells easier than I can.
The tradeoff is the non-spellstrike casting. For buff spells it won't make any difference at all. But for things like Burning Hands and Grease it will lower your spell save DC - making it more likely that enemies will succeed at the save. So for spell selection, you even more than more traditional casters, are going to be looking for either buff spells or spells that don't have the Incapacitation trait and still have worthwhile effects on a successful save.
Going STR based as above, here's his stats:
Guillen
Male human magus 1 (Lost Omens Character Guide)
NG, Medium, Human, Humanoid
Heritage versatile heritage
Background pathfinder hopeful
Perception +3
Languages Common, Elven, Osiriani, Varisian
Skills Acrobatics +5, Arcana +5, Crafting +5, Intimidation +3, Medicine +3, Milani Lore +5, Pathfinder Society Lore +5, Society +5
Str 16 (+3), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2), Int 14 (+2), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 10 (+0)
Other Items leather armor, dagger, staff, throwing knife[LOGB]s (3), backpack, bedroll, chalks (10), Combat Spellcasting Notes, flint and steel, minor healing potion, rations (1 week)s (2), rope (foot)s (50), soap, torchs (5), waterskin, purse (6 gp, 4 sp)
--------------------
AC 16; Fort +7; Ref +5; Will +5
HP 19
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Speed 25 feet
Melee [1] dagger +6 (versatile S, thrown 10 ft., agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+3 P
Melee [1] staff +6 (agile, two-hand (1d8)), Damage 1d6+3 B
Melee [1] throwing knife +6 (thrown 20 ft., agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+3 P
Ranged [1] dagger +5 (versatile S, thrown 10 ft., agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+3 P
Ranged [1] throwing knife +5 (thrown 20 ft., agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+3 P
Arcane Magus Spellcasting DC 15, attack +5; 1st longstrider Cantrips (1st) light, mage hand, ray of frost, shield, telekinetic projectile
Arcane Arcane Tattoos DC 16, attack +3; Cantrips (1st) electric arc
Focus Spells 1 Focus Point, DC 15; 1st Spinning Staff
Ancestry Feats Arcane Tattoos[LOCG]
General Feats Toughness
Skill Feats Additional Lore
Other Abilities arcane spellcasting, conflux spells, hybrid study, spellbook
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free demo available at https://herolab.online
Pathfinder and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc., and are used under license.
He's lost a language (Draconic) and a trained skill (Survival), but that's no big deal. I should probably look at his spell list, too.
On second thought, I dropped Acrobatics for Athletics. Also, his Spellcasting DC, AC and Reflex Save all drop by one.
He's lost a language (Draconic) and a trained skill (Survival), but that's no big deal.
I dropped Acrobatics for Athletics. Also, his Spellcasting DC, AC and Reflex Save all drop by one.
I'm assuming you will be boosting your INT as you level up to improve your spellcasting, so you will eventually get those back.
I should probably look at his spell list, too.
Before you get Striking runes for your weapons, Magic Weapon is fantastic. After you get Striking runes for your weapons, it is nearly worthless.
You might look at Mud Pit instead of Grease. Mud Pit is similar to the area version of Grease. It costs more actions to cast though, which may be a problem. But it doesn't allow a save.
Echoing Weapon is amusing. I'm not sure I would actually recommend it. You probably don't make enough Strike actions to make it worth it. Casting it on a Flurry Ranger ally could be useful. Once you get level 2 spells, Flame Wisp probably is worth getting. You do just need to have a Fire cantrip such as Produce Flame on hand in case you need to recharge it. Spellstrike with Produce Flame should do the job.
There are also some defensive spells. Shattering Gem is one of my favorites.
But it may be best to experiment with different spells and see what you like best and what you find that you don't end up using.
I'm assuming you will be boosting your INT as you level up to improve your spellcasting, so you will eventually get those back.
Yes.