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Hey everyone,
I've been playing a magus for a while and happened upon the below advice on combat tactics in a guide, which confuses me.
It reads: "Enchant your weapon as a swift action, cast Frostbite trusting your buff spells to block the opportunity attack; then make your iterative attacks plus the one from Frostbite on any targets within reach. The next turn, use spell combat to first make your remaining attacks with Frostbite, then cast another spell."
How does this work exactly? My understanding of Spell Combat, is that it allows you to take a -2 penalty to attacks to both full attack and cast one spell. And through spellstrike, if you cast a touch spell, you get one 'bonus' weapon attack to deliver the charge. From an FAQ on the reference document site, I also know that making a melee attack while holding a spellcharge allows you to freely expend it while making a weapon attack.
This together seems to make it so that if you choose to cast a spell before attacking in Spell Combat, and you cast a spell with multiple charges, you can immediately make at least two weapon attacks both expending a charge.
But back to the quoted advice, how then do I "use spell combat to first make your remaining attacks with Frostbite, then cast another spell". As if I use one of the touch spell charges and change it to a weapon attack via spellstrike, that already counts as already casting a spell, does it not? While this sequence seems to imply that I can both do this first, then cast another spell, and thus cast multiple spells each turn through spell combat, rather than one.
Could someone please help me out and clarify?
Kind regards!
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At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks.
The trick is to cast the spell before the attacks in the first round, and then doing the opposite in the second round. This prevents you from losing your charges when you cast the second spell.
Here's how it would play out if you're a hasted 8th level Magus with three attacks in addition to the spell.
Round 1:
Swift action enchant your weapon. Then full-round action Spell Combat. You cast Frostbite first and get 8 charges and a free attack thanks to Spellstrike. After that you use your three attacks from BAB/Haste to expend charges of Frostbite. If all attacks hit then you have 4 charges left.
Round 2:
You use your full-round action to Spell Combat. Instead of starting with casting your spell you perform three attacks first, expending up to three charges from your leftovers from the previous round. After the attacks you then cast your spell, which instantly makes you lose any remaining spell charges you have.
If you had started Spell Combat by casting a spell, you would not have been able to use any of the Frostbite charges. By alternating in which order you cast the spell and attacked as part of Spell Combat you saved three charges that would otherwise have disappeared.
Great answer, Wonderstell.
I flagged this thread for moving, since it doesn't seem have have anything to do with Third-Party.
Right, because of the Spellstrike ability and the rules for touch attack spells.
Spellstrike (Su): At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack...
Touch Spells and Holding the Charge: In most cases, if you don't discharge a touch spell on the round you cast it, you can hold the charge (postpone the discharge of the spell) indefinitely. You can make touch attacks round after round until the spell is discharged. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates.
If the fight is already winding down, you might even not use spell combat on the second round and just full attack with the Frostbite touches instead. Because as soon as you cast another spell, you lose the remaining touches. But as you get to higher level, you should have plenty of spells per day to "waste" a spell like that, especially with spell recall.