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IMAGINARY WEAPON. Conjure a weapon from your minds eye and overlay it with a real weapon to create a weapon that hits from both the physical world and the metaphysical one. Better than fire ray now. That is all.
Archives of Nethys JUST added the content from Dark Archive. Give me SOME time to go over everything. Yeesh. LOL.
AMPED PRODUCE FLAME AND RAY OF FROST
DEVASTATING SPELLSTRIKE. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
That actually won't work for the Magus as well as some would like. Spellstrike, being a combined action, already cannot benefit from metamagic abilities. Amps would be subject to that same restriction if I'm reading the rules correctly.
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That actually won't work for the Magus as well as some would like. Spellstrike, being a combined action, already cannot benefit from metamagic abilities. Amps would be subject to that same restriction if I'm reading the rules correctly.AMPED PRODUCE FLAME AND RAY OF FROST
DEVASTATING SPELLSTRIKE. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
You can't use metamagic with spellstrike because metamagic requires you to spend your next action casting a spell, not activating spellstrike.
Amps have no such activation conditions.
That actually won't work for the Magus as well as some would like. Spellstrike, being a combined action, already cannot benefit from metamagic abilities. Amps would be subject to that same restriction if I'm reading the rules correctly.AMPED PRODUCE FLAME AND RAY OF FROST
DEVASTATING SPELLSTRIKE. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
You can't use metamagic with spellstrike because metamagic requires you to spend your next action casting a spell, not activating spellstrike.
Amps have no such activation conditions.
Looking over everything again, this is true. Thank you for pointing that out.
So yeah Psychic is shaping up to be a FANTASTIC multi-class archetype option for the Magus. Only reason I haven't already added as much in the guide itself is I'm still trying to figure out how to handle the whole Archetypes section going forward, but once that's done I'll make adding my thoughts on the Psychic and Thaumaturge a priority. (Though at a glance, Thaumaturge is looking like a MUCH less attractive option... ouch.)
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The downside of using your Focus Points on amped cantrips is that you won’t have that Focus Point to cast a conflux spell which will do a thing while recharging your Spellstrike.
Not saying it’s a bad idea, just that there is a trade off there.
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The downside of using your Focus Points on amped cantrips is that you won’t have that Focus Point to cast a conflux spell which will do a thing while recharging your Spellstrike.
Not saying it’s a bad idea, just that there is a trade off there.
The neat thing is that there isn't a tradeoff. Conflux spells aren't strong enough to compete with a true strike spellstrike with these kinds of focus spells.
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The neat thing is that there isn't a tradeoff. Conflux spells aren't strong enough to compete with a true strike spellstrike with these kinds of focus spells.The downside of using your Focus Points on amped cantrips is that you won’t have that Focus Point to cast a conflux spell which will do a thing while recharging your Spellstrike.
Not saying it’s a bad idea, just that there is a trade off there.
Doesn't that depend at least a bit on how valuable your actions are?
Is it me or is the Sentinel Archetype missing from the list of Archetypes?
It absolutely is missing! Amongst several others.
The archetypes section is far from complete; and frankly I've been considering down-sizing the whole section, save for the multi-class and class archetypes. I don't play around with enough archetypes to feel comfortable with providing as detailed an analysis as I've been trying to give, and most of what's up there is already white-room conjecture; I'll cop to this probably being laziness born from a lack of motivation where archetypes are concerned, but it seems every time I finish analyzing a few archetypes, Paizo's already published more.
As for Sentinel, I think it's generally alright. The advancement in heavy armor alone is good, and a great excuse for a STR-based Magus to ignore their DEX, that you can get feats to shove as a reaction and bolster your Reflex save is just gravy!
Doesn't that depend at least a bit on how valuable your actions are?The neat thing is that there isn't a tradeoff. Conflux spells aren't strong enough to compete with a true strike spellstrike with these kinds of focus spells.The downside of using your Focus Points on amped cantrips is that you won’t have that Focus Point to cast a conflux spell which will do a thing while recharging your Spellstrike.
Not saying it’s a bad idea, just that there is a trade off there.
Agreed. Sure the amp'd Focus cantrips from a psychic are powerful, but the Magus's conflux spells are all action-economy boosters!
Good to have some free PF2e Magus's martial magickings stuff out there, Nintendogeek01. ;)
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I’m a little more tempted to play a magus after reading through this guide.
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I could have sworn that I had done a read-through of this very shortly after it came out, but now that this has been updated (most recently just a few days ago), it feels completely new, so giving it another read-through. This time I got up through Skills -- sections beyond that will have to wait for another post (actually, probably another 2 posts).
One thing that would be really cool would be to add 1st Edition to 2nd conversion tips (for 1st Edition, see THE Magus Guide). I can see the obvious:
- • Inexorable Iron doesn't correspond to any option of 1st Edition Magus;
• Laughing Shadow corresponds to a (usually) Dexterity-based 1st Edition Magus with no archetype or a 1st Edition archetype that doesn't change TOO much about the way the Magus works;
• Sparkling Targe corresponds to a 1st Edition Skirnir Magus, although starting off with better body armor;
• Starlit Span corresponds to a 1st Edition Eldritch Archer Magus and/or Cardcaster Magus -- Eldritch Archer Ranged Spell Combat (sort of) and Spellstrike, but doesn't lose the option of melee Spell Combat (sort of) and Spellstrike. I wonder if it is viable to build a switch-hitter with this (would sort of correspond to Myrmidarch Magus, and maybe add Fighter Multiclass Archetype if you really want to develop this -- not sure if that does better than starting out Dexterity-based melee and going Eldritch Archer)?
• Twisting Tree corresponds to a Staff Magus.
But being not yet fully Trained in 2nd Edition, I have much less of an idea how good a job these actually do, and it still seems like 2nd Edition is missing a LOT of options that 1st Edition had (not just for Magus, but for everything). This would also work for backporting from 2nd Edition to 1st Edition, except that 1st Edition does not support any equivalent to Inexorable Iron, other than (sort of) a Mindblade Magus at high levels (but then 1st Edition has a lot of options that 2nd Edition does not support, such as Mindblade Magus, or only supports poorly, such as Hexcrafter Magus -- see below).
To any of the above, if you don't like what Wavecasting does to your conversion, you could add Wizard Multiclass to fill in the lost spell slots. Or you could add Witch Multiclass if you're trying to make a valiant attempt to convert a Hexcrafter Magus; but 2nd Edition Witch isn't very good (and I'm not the only one on these boards to notice this), and the half level progression of what's left of Hexes in 2nd Edition hurts, and lower spell DC will hurt if you pick anything other than an Arcane Patron. Either way, you're going to be hurting for Magus Feats after all that investment.
Magus Feats: Magus doesn't get a 1st level feat slot, but it does have a choice of 1st level feats, so it pays to be Human with Natural Ambition. In line with Spellstrike not working with Metamagic, none of the feats listed on Archives of Nethys have the Metamagic tag.
Skill Feats: Note that Magus and Investigator actually get feats at the same rate as almost everybody else -- unless I missed something recent or something weird hidden beyond the out-of-the-box Investigator class details, ONLY Rogue gets more.
Strength-Based Magus: Mentions the Sentinel archetype (also mentioned in a couple of other places), but the Sentinel archetype is not in the guide.
Dexterity-Based Magus: What about using this for an Inexorable Iron Magus with a 2-Handed Finesse Weapon: Bladed Scarf, Combat Grapnel, Dueling Spear, Elven Branched Spear, Elven Curve Blade, Spiked Chain, Whip Claw (actually gets a mention later in the guide), and a few AP-specific weapons? Or does something I missed throw a wrench in the works for this?
Ancestries: Dwarf: Clan Dagger looks like it is under Senses -- should have a Special Qualities entry for things like this. Same deal for some later Heritages.
Ancestries: Android: With no Strength boost and average hit points, shouldn't this be only Green for a Strength-Based Magus (like Automatonn is only Green for a Dexterity-Based Magus)?
Versatile Heritages: Dhampir: The Negative Energy Affinity stops being a disadvantage if you are in a party that actually has a more ready supply of Negative Energy spells than Positive Energy spells. This would usually be Evil parties, but even then, the GM needs something to work with.
Versatile Heritages: Oread: You label Elemental Trade as "the real winner", but rate it as Green and rate Elemental Eyes as Blue.
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Continuing from last post, now with Feats, and going through 4th level spells. More in a future post.
10th Level Feats: Dimensional Disappearance: Other potential uses: Steal stuff! Or plant something unfriendly. Maybe even rescue a hostage, in the right circumstances.
Arcane Spells: Cantrips: Chill Touch -- this really got nerfed hard relative to 1st Edition.
Arcane Spells: Cantrips: Tanglefoot: Seems this should be useful in case you are up against hit-and-run enemies, to help keep them from getting away -- would get better if your party also has other hefty damage dealers.
Arcane Spells: 1st Level: Jump: Gets a LOT better when heightened to 3rd Level. According to Archives of Nethys, in PFS, Laughing Shadow gets this spell as a Studious Spell at 11th level instead of Shift Blame . . . and Jump actually sounds more thematically fitting for Laughing Shadow anyway.
Arcane Spells: 1st Level: Restyle: If you're in an Intrigue campaign, a Wand of this might be not a bad idea.
Arcane Spells: 2nd Level: Expeditious Excavation: If you need to dig holes often, Wand it.
Arcane Spells: 2nd Level: Glitterdust: Nerfed since 1st Edition, but in 1st Edition it was too powerful for a 2nd level spell, so that's not all a bad thing, but they may have overnerfed it a bit.
Arcane Spells: 2nd Level: Instant Armor: Wand or Scroll.
Arcane Spells: 2nd Level: Water Breathing: Wand or Scroll.
Arcane Spells: 3rd Level: Haste: Eventually (11th level) ends up in your Studious Spells.
Arcane Spells: 3rd Level: Vampiric Touch: Maybe it's just me being not fully Trained in 2nd Edition, but why is this by default incompatible with Spellstrike?
Arcane Spells: 3rd Level: Web of Eyes: Gets much better if you or another party have See Invisibility running (like for instance, from Arcane Shroud), or True Seeing.
Arcane Spells: 4th Level: Confusion: What a MASSIVE nerf from 1st Edition!
Arcane Spells: 4th Level: Dimension Door: Technically, you can't take your Familiar with you.
Arcane Spells: 4th Level: Mirror's Misfortune: The way I read this, if a creature attacks the duplicate, it doesn't matter if it also attacked you, so if the creature (including a Swarm/Troop?) uses multiple attacks to hedge its bets and hit both, or hits both with an area of effect attack, the misfortune triggers unless the creature passes its Save.
Arcane Spells: 4th Level: Rope Trick: Got level-bumped from 2nd level to 4th level?
Arcane Spells: 4th Level: Temporal Twin: Actually Spell 3 according to Archives of Nethys (but pf2.d20pfsrd.com doesn't seem to have it at all).
Arcane Spells: 4th Level: Web of Influence: Appears to be explicitly of no Tradition (and pf2.d20pfsrd.com doesn't have it at all), so it probably only exists as some kind of bonus spell specific to the Blood Lords Adventure Path.
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Arcane Spells: 3rd Level: Vampiric Touch: Maybe it's just me being not fully Trained in 2nd Edition, but why is this by default incompatible with Spellstrike?
Despite the name and unlike the PF1 version, there's no spell attack for Vampiric Touch, the enemy just makes a save. Without Expansive Spellstrike, spellstrike only works with spells that have an attack associated with them.
^I had assumed it was a Touch Attack spell from the description -- wonder if this was an oversight in assembling the spell entry?
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Continuing from last post, now with 5th level spells through 9th level spells. Going to have to go into overtime to get further than that.
Arcane Spells: 5th Level: Bandit's Doom: I could see using this as a trap, but with your limited spell slots, best to leave this to the fullcasters.
Arcane Spells: 5th Level: Black Tentacles: Seems like a nerf overall relative to 1st Edition -- level-bumped, and instead of using CMB that scales with your level, it goes against your enemies' Fortitude Save. But due to the change of the nature of the spell, I could be missing something that makes the 2nd Edition version stronger when you first get it.
Arcane Spells: 5th Level: Flowing Strike: This and several other spells that don't scale become a poor use of your wave of limited spell slots as you level up, precisely because they don't get any better. So neat effect right when you can get them and for the next couple of levels, but then it's time to ditch them.
Arcane Spells: 5th Level: Quicken Time: You probably want this if your party has a lot of ranged attackers, but not otherwise.
Arcane Spells: 5th Level: Return Beacon: Until you get it up to 8th level, you can't use it to take your Familiar with you. In addition, a clever enemy could prevent you from using it by having their Familiar or sufficiently stealthy Summon sneak into your backpack. Note that even when you get it to 9th level, the same problems could keep you from using it to get your whole party to go with you; you'd probably be okay with it at 10th level, but you can't get it to 10th level. Also, a whole minute is an awfully long time to activate the transport, which will by itself often enough to keep this from being an emergency escape option.
Arcane Spells: 5th Level: Rewinding Step: Same problem as Return Beacon, except that on the plus side, activating it is just 1 action, but on the minus side, no amount of heightening will let you bring your Familiar or allies.
Arcane Spells: 5th Level: Transmute Rock and Mud: The return of the AD&D Reversible Spell! But the area of effect is rather small in Pathfinder 2nd Edition.
Arcane Spells: 6th Level: Chromatic Image: Too bad it doesn't have a heightened version that gets more colors (like the other Chromatic-series spells) or stronger effects.
Arcane Spells: 6th Level: This could have some utility if an ally has been captured but you don't know where they are. Unfortunately, the spell doesn't tell you the direction to where they are being kept, so you're going to have to guess that from identification of their environment.
Arcane Spells: 7th Level: Eclipse Burst: The replacement for Freezing Sphere.
Arcane Spells: 7th Level: Energy Aegis: The comprehensive coverage is nice, but the Energy Resistance is awfully small for a 7th level spell.
Arcane Spells: 7th Level: Momentary Recovery: Another teleportation spell that won't let you take along your Familiar.
Arcane Spells: 8th Level: Antimagic Field: This could have some use against a heavily magic-dependent enemy party, as long as your own party mostly consists of characters capable of fighting well without magic. Do note, however, that this spell has been nerfed going from 1st Edition to 2nd Edition, so that if they are capable of casting higher-level spells (which an equal-level heavily magic-dependent party will be), this won't stop them from using those. Even so, if you know that they've already used up their big shots, you could come out ahead.
Arcane Spells: 8th Level: Falling Sky: Deluge has a greater area of effect and much greater range, but you might not be able to get Deluge (which is Uncommon).
Arcane Spells: 8th Level: Undermine Reality: I think you meant that anything your target uses gives a result 1 degree better for its targets.
Arcane Spells: 8th Level: Unrelenting Observation: This could have some utility if you make an object the tracked target and then place it so that guards will pick it up and carry it into their stronghold. But this is an awfully high level spell for that.
Arcane Spells: 9th Level: Prismatic Shield: Lasts only 1 round? Pass gas on that.
Arcane Spells: 9th Level: Proliferating Eyes: No Save, and unless they or their friends have a way to detect invisible things or make a successful roll to identify the spell when you cast it, the target won't even know.
Arcane Spells: General Observation: If you're going to cast all those utility spells and especially spells that don't scale with level, you really won't have enough spell slots (except for utility Cantrips) for more than a 15 minute adventuring day unless you go Multiclass Wizard or maybe even Multiclass Witch (although in the latter case, you might be picking something other than Arcane for your secondary spell list). Unless you got it as a Free Archetype, this will consume Class Feats at levels 2, 4, 8, 12, and 18 (in the case of Witch, you might also need to consume one at level 6 so that your Familiar is at full spec while you get a little bit of Witch ability, although unlike in 1st Edition, you're never going to be a very good Hexcrafter).
To any of the above, if you don't like what Wavecasting does to your conversion, you could add Wizard Multiclass to fill in the lost spell slots. Or you could add Witch Multiclass if you're trying to make a valiant attempt to convert a Hexcrafter Magus; but 2nd Edition Witch isn't very good (and I'm not the only one on these boards to notice this), and the half level progression of what's left of Hexes in 2nd Edition hurts, and lower spell DC will hurt if you pick anything other than an Arcane Patron. Either way, you're going to be hurting for Magus Feats after all that investment.
The problem with witch is the base class. As an archetype, it's pretty solid (as long as you are looking for an int-based prepared caster and like the idea of having a familiar). The places where the witches suffer are the chassis and the fact that they don't get the wizard tricks that give extra daily spell slots, and neither of those matters for the archetype. In the meantime, Basic Lesson is freely available, and once you grab it you get to upgrade to a full-featured familiar at no extra cost.
Then, too, there's Living Hair and its follow-on feats. Most people won't care, but for certain niche builds, it can be pretty solid... as long as you have the int to begin with, which your magus is going to have anyway.
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Anyway, to (finally) finish out my reading of the guide, starting with Archetypes.
Multiclass Archetypes: Druid: If you are getting this as a Free Archetype, see Wizard below (the Strength of Thousands level 20 Druid Archetype Feats are the same as the ones for Wizard; oddly, they exist only for the Druid and Wizard Archetypes, and not for the base classes).
Multiclass Archetypes: Fighter: One problem is the Fighter Dedication feat itself -- it gives you training with Simple and Martial weapons, but you already have this, so it basically just gets you Trained in Acrobatics or Athletics (or another skill if you already have both). That said, if you really go whole hog on Fighter, you can amortize that loss of opportunity, especially if you grab Fighter Resiliency to make yourself really beefy. Although a lot of the Fighter feats take actions that might not be compatible with Spellstriking, or at best make it impossible for you to recharge your Spellstrike during the same turn. If you are getting this as a Free Archetype, you will have plenty of Fighter feats to charge up Fighter Resiliency, which then becomes a must-have, and then you will become a real meat wall.
Multiclass Archetypes: Investigator: This one is good -- the Investigator Dedication feat doesn't duplicate anything; Investigator's Stratagem is good; and a decently large subset of low-level Investigator feats don't require extra actions. If you are getting this as a Free Archetype, you won't run out of good stuff.
Multiclass Archetypes: Psychic: Although the spells are Occult instead of Arcane, it still includes many of the spells reviewed above, as well as some others. If you choose The Tangible Dream for your Conscious Mind, this will be the closest you can get to a 1st Edition Mindblade Magus.
Multiclass Archetypes: Witch: On the one hand, the Witch Archetype isn't as bad as the base class. On the other hand, it shares the same problem with other spellcasting archetypes, that to get even just the spells and a sub-spec Familiar (that you nevertheless have to store your spells in), you have to spend 4 class feats, some at levels that you really need for must-have Magus feats (according to the guide), and then to get the closest equivalent to a single 1st Edition Hex (although admittedly getting your Familiar up to spec at the same time) is another feat, and any more (sort of) Hex equivalents are 1 more feat each, and pretty soon you don't have any room for Magus feats. This may just be me being not fully Trained in 2nd Edition, but I didn't find most of the Witch feats to be impressive (although Life Boost is good for making you or another party member tankier, with the bonus spell Spirit Link that you get with it being potentially usable for the latter purpose). One particular problem for a Magus is that many 2nd Edition Hexes (but not Life Boost) are Sustained, which is bad for Magus action economy. This combination seems overall a tattered shadow of the 1st Edition Hexcrafter Magus, apart from getting higher level spells (which the Magus base class does anyway, although losing most of the lower level ones). That said, if you want a Familiar anyway, this is an economical way for a Magus to get it, but you have to be especially careful with it, since it is your spellbook for your non-Magus spells (although unlike 1st Edition, at least you get free Cloud backup). If you are getting this as a Free Archetype, the investment will be a lot less painful, but you might run out of stuff you can really use.
Multiclass Archetypes: Wizard: You're here for one thing: to fill in your lower-level Arcane spellcasting without the Dedication feat using part of its benefits on something you're going to have to fill out with more investment, and you get free (in all but name) Cantrip Expansion with it. That said, the Wizard feat list has some decent pickups; in the event that you need to cast spells frequently as not part of a Spellstrike, some of the Metamagic feats could even be decent. Split Slot could help you make the most of your limited number of spell slots, which will be particularly useful for the spell slot you get of the level below your Magus spell slot level, since you will only get one of these even with Arcane Breadth. Caution: The way the Arcane School Spell feat is worded, it doesn't give you any extra Focus Points (since as a Magus, you will always have at least 1 Focus Point by the time you can get this). If you are getting this as a Free Archetype, you won't run out of good stuff; furthermore, with material published to date, if you are getting this as a Free Archetype, it's likely because you are in the Strength of Thousands Adventure Path, and then you get access to the Level 20 Wizard Archetype feats, some of which are pretty good.
Combat Style Archetypes: Add Sentinel: This lets you go whole hog on Strength and leave Dexterity flat -- Blue (****) for Strength-Based Magus (except Green = *** Sparkling Targe); Red (*) for Dexterity-based Magus. The Sentinel Dedication feat will get you Heavy Armor proficiency. Get yourself armor with the Bulwark property (usually Plate). Get Armor Specialist to boost your protection a bit when you have a Potency Rune on your armor; get Mighty Bulwark to improve the Bulwark property of your armor. This is the equivalent of the 1st Edition Armored Battlemage, except that unlike that, it's actually pretty good. The main downside of this archetype is that if you are a Sparkling Targe Magus, it would be delaying you from getting the Bastion archetype (or Lastwall Sentry if you are a Knight of Lastwall). (If it wasn't for the arbitrary rule that you can't take a second Dedication feat until you have taken 2 feats that go with the first, this would not be a problem.) Being Human and taking the Multitalented Ancestry Feat helps with this, but you still have to wait until 9th level for that.
I've seen you mention Add sentinel multiple times. I'll tell you why I haven't yet. I've been going by category on Archives of Nethys and Sentinel is actually not listed as a Combat Style archetype. Though I'll also cop to not feeling terribly motivated when it comes to trying to keep up with archetypes.
On the subject of updating... I THINK I've added the Impossible Lands content. I had a lot going on yesterday so I wouldn't be surprised if I missed something, lol.
On another note, I see a lot more replies than when I last checked in here. I can't guarantee I'll get around to giving a response to everything but I'll be sure to give a look and respond when I'm able.
I feel observations about the adventure path archetype Staff Acrobat are a bit flawed and I would really like to see some numbers to back it. How does its' benefits lend to a dex-based Inexorable Iron? It seems quite obviously beneficial to a strength-based Inexorable Iron Magus spinning about with a polearm. Considering the added vulnerability of the lack of a shield on a two-hander the use of a reach weapon seems mighty convenient. Yes, the high dex requirement is MAD, but couldn't this also make for a strength-based twisting tree magus too? I have not looked closely at twisting tree possibilities though.
Incidentally, I did see the Filcher's Fork in the spear group, which seemed like a hilarious opportunity for a Halfling Magus with a Cook background, carrying Scooby snacks as a healing benefit. In a way that could fit the view of a dex-based Inexorable Ironer, although not being a 2-hander I'm not sure it actually qualifies.
Are there weapons or options I've missed?
The High DEX require is exactly why I think it's better suited for a DEX-based Inexorable Iron. The Magus is, tragically, a MAD class that needs its primary attack stat, CON, INT, and like any class ought to drop its spare points into WIS and however much DEX is needed for its best armor.
Giving how ability boosts work at character creation, getting the required 16 DEX alongside 18 STR would mean CON and INT start at a risky 12. Not unplayable, but going DEX-based Inexorable Iron just gives you more freedom to assign ability boosts across the ability scores a Magus wants to have. Sadly DEX-based does exclude Twisting Tree since staves are not finesse weapons, so if you want a Twisting Tree Staff acrobat you'd have to short yourself somewhere.
So, it's done. The archetypes section has been reduced to multiclass and class archetypes, plus some very general advice. It's become increasingly clear I've neither the time nor expertise to try and give specific advice about every freaking archetype out there (you folks at Paizo, keep it up. You do good work). The general advice may get expanded as I get a better feel for some archetypes but I'm not going to run myself ragged trying to analyze every archetype out there in a white room.
I've seen you mention Add sentinel multiple times. I'll tell you why I haven't yet. I've been going by category on Archives of Nethys and Sentinel is actually not listed as a Combat Style archetype. {. . .}
I see, it comes up as a Profession archetype (and Core).
The reason I had brought this up is that you had mentioned it in the guide as being good, but then didn't put it in the Archetypes section. I tried to make my take on it such that you could mostly just lift that and use it.
Glad to see I wasn't nuts on thinking of Dexterity-based Inexorable Iron with Elven Curve Blad, etc.
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Important update! The previously color-coded-only rating system has been updated to include stars (*) so as to provide a visual indicator for color-blind individuals.
Shout out to VestOfHolding for his work on the guide to formatting guides, which highlighted the need for an update to the ratings. Thank you for your work. ;-)
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Thanks for incorporating my advice! Especially on the scale that your guide is. Love how extensive the guide is.
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Absolutely enjoyed reading your Guide!
Thank you and everyone that does them.
I skimmed through it, but couldn't find anything...
Are there ways to expand the number of cantrips a magus can cast per day? I've seen the Cantrip Expansion feat (+2), but I don't think you can selct that feat more than once.
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I skimmed through it, but couldn't find anything...
Are there ways to expand the number of cantrips a magus can cast per day? I've seen the Cantrip Expansion feat (+2), but I don't think you can selct that feat more than once.
By cast per day, you mean prepare, yes? Cantrips are not expended when cast, meaning they are at will each day.
Archetypes like the Wizard dedication can get you more, as well as a familiar ability for one. Ancestry heritages and feats can often add more as well, but they are often Charisma based in that case.
I skimmed through it, but couldn't find anything...
Are there ways to expand the number of cantrips a magus can cast per day? I've seen the Cantrip Expansion feat (+2), but I don't think you can selct that feat more than once.
By cast per day, you mean prepare, yes? Cantrips are not expended when cast, meaning they are at will each day.
Archetypes like the Wizard dedication can get you more, as well as a familiar ability for one. Ancestry heritages and feats can often add more as well, but they are often Charisma based in that case.
Exactly like Xethik says; you can take a caster-dedication feat (INT-based one recommended) alongside Cantrip expansion to get 3 or 4 extra cantrips total from class feats.
Ancestry heritages and feats can also grant additional ones, but be sure that you select cantrips that don't rely on your spell-attack rolls or spell DCs (Detect Magic and Shield are the most stand-out examples) since cantrips gained in such a manner are CHA based.
Isn't that somewhat mitigated with Expanded Spellstrike?
^I couldn't find an Expanded Spellstrike. Maybe you meant Expansive Spellstrike? But I don't think that mitigates the non-Intelligence base of Heritage spells.
Isn't that somewhat mitigated with Expanded Spellstrike?
Expansive Spellstrike won't change that; say you got electric arc via an ancestry or heritage feat. You hit with a spellstrike, and now they're rolling reflex against your CHA-based spell DC rather than your INT-based spell DC, not ideal.
That said, and this is something I overlooked in my last response, if you pick cantrips with the attack trait for the express purpose of combining them with spellstrike, then your spell-attack rolls won't matter. Still not what I'd recommend though; having the extra range on Produce Flame or Ray of Frost gives you more options so getting those via ancestry feats or heritages would be less than ideal.
Use innate spells to get Shield, non-offensive spells, and offensive spells you're less likely to use outside of Spellstrike. That'll free up one's Magus slots for ones that use Spell Attack rolls.
That said, I'm not a fan of using Spell Attack rolls on a Magus. :-)
Their main shtick is bypassing that need via Attack rolls instead, so those should be tertiary solutions IMO, except maybe to get one's Arcane Cascade going.
It'd be interesting to see how a Cha-Magus might fare. Though they lack the actions to make great use of Cha's combat applications, it'd add versatility and non-combat value.
Isn't that somewhat mitigated with Expanded Spellstrike?Expansive Spellstrike won't change that; say you got electric arc via an ancestry or heritage feat. You hit with a spellstrike, and now they're rolling reflex against your CHA-based spell DC rather than your INT-based spell DC, not ideal.
That said, and this is something I overlooked in my last response, if you pick cantrips with the attack trait for the express purpose of combining them with spellstrike, then your spell-attack rolls won't matter. Still not what I'd recommend though; having the extra range on Produce Flame or Ray of Frost gives you more options so getting those via ancestry feats or heritages would be less than ideal.
The feat says "Creatures use their normal defenses against the spell, such as saving throws" -- this means that if you're going to do this with offensive innate spells, you had better pick innate spells that don't have a Save.
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It would seem that with the release of the Tian Xia books, Paizo is bringing in a new hybrid study. Oh I'm looking forward to this update.
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Updates to the guide following Rage of Elements are WIP. As are updates to the guide based on what we currently know for the Remaster.
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Been a while since I've posted here, just wanted to let readers know that I am currently making the, long overdue, addition of magic items I think bear mentioning for the class. This section is still a WIP so there's more to come to this section.
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About a day late announcing this, but I've updated the guide with Howl of the Wild's ancestries, plus a few spells.
Full disclosure, I've barely touched the large ancestries so my rating of "situational" on their size is largely conjecture on how I'd have fared with those ancestries if I swapped them out with current characters I'm playing.
Mainly having to squeeze through sooooo much space... lol.
Hello.
Can you add a chapter talking about the Magus+ content? The Hybrids Studies and news feats out here.
This guide is for the class as published by Paizo with errata, and not a guide about the third-party content out there for the Magus. Even if I were a fan of third-party content I wouldn't include any here.
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At long last, I got to add the new hybrid studies to this guide! Not only that, the ancestries and heritages from the Tian Xia character guide are in here as well!
I haven't updated the Magus tactics section of the guide for the new Hybrid Studies just yet, I want to do more study/testing before I do. At a glance the new hybrid studies require a bit more system knowledge to make the most of, but I'm excited about what they bring to the table!