The Magus Class and Spell Slots

[Rory Collins]

Disclaimer: I am a new player/GM for Pathfinder 2E.

My question is, for the Spellstrike ability does the Magus burn a spell slot for any spell that is not a cantrip?

[Leomund "Leo" Velinznrarikovich]

Yes.

Though, they can also use staves, scrolls, etc.. for spellstrike.

[Ascalaphus]

Well, not for focus spells, but of course they would have to spend the focus point.

Casting a spell for spellstrike basically costs the same as casting it to use it the normal way.

[Rory Collins]

Thanks! So the best option (or only option for sustaining Spellstrike) would be to use a cantrip with an attack roll for the Spellstrike (well, after recharging)?

[Ascalaphus]

Spell selection is pretty important for magi. Fortunately, you're a book caster can change when something turns out not to work too well. Things that have worked well for me:

- I took the Force Fang feat which gave me a better focus spell with which to recharge spellstrike than my school spell (the shooting star for starlit span).
- I took a wizard dedication and spent a lot of feats on it, got a ring of wizardry and endless grimoire, which gives me a whole lore more spell slots.
- I got a lot of Spellhearts to gain more cantrips. I like to have all possible attack cantrips so I always have the best tool for the job.
- Later on I also got Expansive Spellstrike and Fused Staff. Those two feats turned out to work well together, because a lot of the good spells on staves need Expansive Spellstrike. Also, Starlit Span and Expansive Spellstrike allows you to place line and cone spells in very unusual directions which makes it easier to line up multiple enemies.

Note that most of the magus focus spells aren't useful for use in spellstrike. They're kinda the opposite: useful to combine regaining spellstrike with another action. It could be useful though to get some spell attack focus spell. Very popular nowadays is to do that through a Psychic dedication, because they have very powerful options. Other ways are through cleric or champion dedication and then using Fire Ray from the fire domain (initiate).

[YuriP]

Also there's a some spells useful for magus more than pure casters like Blazing Dive, Draw the Lightning, Corrosive Body and some others.

[BretI]

Most of the time you use your cantrips and focus spell. The focus spell is usually for the second round, in order to recharge your spell strike. Seriously consider the Cantrip Expansion feat so you can have a cantrip for each of the basic energy types.

Save your spell slots for the boss fights. A magus is capable of doing massive damage in a single attack.

[Claxon]

Posting in here just because I feel like these are some good suggestion on how to play a magus that I hadn't thought about.

[Rory Collins]

Thanks all! It makes sense to me now