Greetings all!
I am hoping to build a Magus for PFS play but have yet to play one. I am hoping to get some tips on best choices while building through level 5-6.
Character concept is for melee most likely using a one-handed weapon. I want to focus on adding spell damage to melee attacks so am looking for advice on stats, spells, as well as basic actions during combat.
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Remember that if a spell hasn't been reprinted under the same name in the remaster, you're still allowed to use it. That is important because there are less spells with attack rolls in the remaster, so you'll still want to use Shocking Grasp, Ray of Frost, etc. (That hasn't changed yet, right?)
Have a lovely time playing a Magus! There are a few options at your disposal, depending on how you want to go about it: it sounds like you'll enjoy using a Laughing Shadow as your hybrid study if you're looking for a one-handed melee build. Your spell selection and actions I think will depend significantly on whether or not you want to take a Psychic multiclass archetype:
If you do take a Psychic multiclass archetype, the standard progression is to take Psychic Dedication as your 2nd-level feat, choosing The Tangible Dream as your conscious mind, and selecting Psi Development at 6th level to get imaginary weapon. If you want, I'd also recommend taking Psi Development at 4th level to let you round off the dedication requirements at 6th level, with Mental Buffer being a decent option for a bit of mental resistance. Getting imaginary weapon will effectively allow you to deal top-grade Spellstrike damage with just a focus spell, which would allow you to use your limited spell slots for utility spells such as invisibility or haste.
If you choose not to go down this route, however, or if you don't yet have imaginary weapon, I would still recommend having a couple utility spells prepared in your slots, alongside a couple of attack spells such as blazing bolt. As Captain Morgan mentions, keep an eye out for legacy spells whose reprints have a different name, as you can still use those.
As for your actions, you will generally want to look to Spellstrike on your turn if it's available and an enemy is within range. If your Spellstrike needs to recharge or you can't easily reach an enemy, consider using your turn to do other things instead: for instance, one good way to recharge your Spellstrike and close the gap between yourself and an enemy is to use the Laughing Shadow's dimensional assault conflux spell, enter Arcane Cascade stance, and then use your third action as you like, whether to Strike again, make a skill check, or do some other third action. If you're committing feats towards a Psychic archetype, consider relying on Recall Knowledge to communicate useful information to your team if you have an action free, and if you're not, consider feats like Magus's Analysis and Force Fang for juicy single actions that'll help you recharge your Spellstrike. As a Laughing Shadow, you'd want to enter Arcane Cascade as soon as you can, which may not be on your first turn given the large action requirement, so consider what your backup plan will be if you don't have the actions to enter the stance on your turn.
Finally, as a general bit of advice, be aware that you'll have some very strong incentives for your character that can risk making them feel quite inflexible, so you'll have to manage that: you'll be really tempted to recharge your Spellstrike as soon as you can just to have it ready every turn, for example, but forcing yourself to do this will risk making your character immobile, exposed, and generally not all that effective. Similarly, you'll be tempted to go out of your way just to enter Arcane Cascade stance when it might be better for you to take another course of action. In both cases, it will not feel amazing for your character to not deal a huge amount of on-hit damage, but that is a situation you will often be in, so that will be an expectation to manage. It is also thus important to have options for when your character can't do the thing they most want to do, which is why it's useful to have a few extra utility spells and cantrips, and some skill actions to deploy during combat like Dirty Trick for when you can't Spellstrike, aren't in Arcane Cascade, and can't do either of those things immediately, but still want to do something useful on your turn. It might also be tempting to Spellstrike with a slot spell every time, but you'll likely realize that this will often lead to significant overkill and a waste of very limited resources, so don't feel bad about Spellstriking with a cantrip like gouging claw if you feel it's better to conserve spell slots in the moment.
Other than that, be also prepared to deal massive damage with your Spellstrikes, especially if you crit! There can be some incredibly high moments to playing a Magus, and when those happen, you'll feel very happy to have picked the class. Enjoy!
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To add onto the above, before you get imaginary weapon your best spellstrike option is gouging claw followed by recharging with force fang.
You can manage this is by playing an ancient elf to get the psychic archetype while using your 2nd level class feat to pick up force fang.
Really makes levels 2-5 smoother to play than if you use spell slots or start with distant grasp for telekinetic projectile before retraining it into tangible dream.
For stats, melee magus is a bit of a mess. You can realistically dump str to +0 and boost dex,int,con,wis to get the most out of your DC based spells. Or you can ignore those spells entirely and do str,dex,con,wis.
My main is a iron Magus. I wouldn't recommend optimizing a Magus for more spellstrike damage. Using gouging claw, you already have the best damaging hits in the game at level 1. Sure with imaginary weapon you could do a wee more damage at level six but there's no point bonking the big bad to -42 hit points versus -38.
You should optimize around utility or action economy so you can spellstrike more often or hit/crit more often. Magus feats generally suck so sure multiclass but go for spells, utility or accuracy boosts. Anything that saves actions like speed or reach is a win. Anything that allows you to close is a win. Anything that keeps you up is a win. My favorite Magus spell is rank 4/ greater invis which buffs accuracy and survivability. Spellstrike with cantrips. Use your magus/psychic/witch spells to buff or blast.
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The recommendations for Gouging Claw as the most damaging cantrip are quite accurate. But there are several other cantrips you might want, to attach other damage types.
Needle Darts; once you have 4 GP to invest in a cold iron & silver rings, you are ready to fight Fey/Fiends.
Telekinetic Projectile: prepares you to exploit bludgeoning, piercing & slashing weakness, or bypass defenses against such. (Note that Gouging Claw is p/s, so you really only need this for bludgeoning.)
Caustic Blast, Electric Arc, Frostbite & Ignition are good for leveraging weakness to acid, electricity, cold & fire. Learn them all and prepare the ones you think will be needed. Please remember that Ignition is the only one of these with a spell attack; the other three have saves.
Note that the first two above area an AoE/dual target cantrips. You can move and use them simply as cantrips without worrying about Spellstrike or Arcane Cascade. Also remember that Frostbite has a 60' range...
I recommend a 16 Int / 16 Dex start, with a rapier (or shortsword) as a finesse weapon.