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A tower shield (I believe you called it 'Fortress Shield') is difficult to use in Pathfinder 2e, in that you have to Raise Shield (1 action) to get +2 AC. Then you get another +2 AC if you take Cover behind it (1 action). As Magus is one of the more intensive action juggling classes, the extra action to Take Cover doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
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Honestly you don't NEED heavy armour, if you hit your dex cap on the medium armour you'll have enough AC for most purposes, espesically with your shield.
Not having mastery of it at later levels is a pretty big issue, especially since you want to be tanking, imo. You'll be down +2 AC which is pretty harsh, so if heavy armour is something you want, sentinel/bastion dedication is a good idea.
Psychic dedication w/ Magus is one of if not the best class/archtype combos out there, for all the reasons you noted, but especially imaginary weapon.
I would also really advise against investigator/guardian, as Sir Belmont said, Magus is incredily action heavy, as you need to be consistently spellstrking, refreshing spellstrike and potentially arcane cascade, and having to add the additional action cost of divise a stratagem or taunting on top is going to squeeze you, especially since you're potentially raising a shield and taking cover.
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Yeah I'm leaning towards psychic, its the coolest from flavor standpoint too. So basically, if I don't go after heavy armor, I need to make sure I am DEX based instead of STR? And yeah I really want to take bastion, but it doesn't give heavy armor proficiency for some reason (annoying). I think psychic/bastion would be ideal.
You don't need to be dex based. You could take something with a dex cap of 2 with medium armour and your AC would still be pretty decent.
In your case, i would probably rate quick shield higher than heavy armour because it means you can take reactive strike (or attack of oppertunity, whatever magus calls it) without comprimising your ability to hold melee attackers in position.
You want to either be 0 dex or max dex. Wasting time on +1 or +2 dex just puts you at lower AC than plate while also having lower ref vs damaging effects while also taking those stat investments away from con or wis.
My basic plan for this build would be:
Half elf
+4 str +2 con +2 int +1 wis
01) General training (armor), nimble elf
02) force fang or expansive spellstrike (b route), psychic archetype
03) if your gm allows spell battery to work, natural ambition (familiar), otherwise your choice
04) emergency targe, psi casting
05) gloomseer, darkseer (if the ethnicity requirement doesn't bother you), otherwise your choice
06) psi development, reactive strike
At level 8 you need to determine if you get reactive strike off often enough that you need quick shield block for the bonus reaction or if you want ally block
Assuming that:
08a) bastion archetype, shield warden
09a) multitalented (alchemist)
10a) quick shield block, advanced alchemy
If not:
08b) sentinel archetype, steel skin (skill feat), standby spell
09b) multitalented (alchemist)
10b) mighty bulwark, advanced alchemy
11) elf step
12) expert casting, conflux focus
14) any alch archetype feat, witch dedication
16) basic and expert witch casting
18) conflux wellspring, master casting
20) master casting, supreme spellstrike
What this gets you is IW, 2x 1st-8th rank occult slots from psychic and witch, printing haste potions for your potion pouch to save on some money and make your life less miserable pre-20, and your choice of ally shield block plus bonus reaction or super bulwark plus standby spell for any spell you can use with expansive spellstrike. I only included the ancestry stuff I most recommend, pick whatever you like.
On the bastion route you will need to boost dex at some point to switch to medium armor or sacrifice witch to take sentinel. Personally, I prefer the sentinel route.
Since you're new, here's a short list of general feats:
Fleet
Toughness
Incredible initiative
Canny acumen (late game only)
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One suggestion.
If you are using a non reach weapon but want to pick expansive spellstrike as a magus pick up the enlarge spell. You can enlarge +arcane cascade for your round one. Now you have reach and can place lines and cones from more advantageous angles instead of just from you forward.
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Okay, my view on things as someone who loves to experiment with builds and gamemasters a lot
1) Medium armor is good, light also, if your campaign goes high level, picking up heavy armor with a feat is a misinvestment as heavy gives you +1 ac over medium, -5ft movementspeed but your proficiency lacks behind by -2
1.1) Light armor has the advantage of being cheaper in the early levels and giving a better saving throw, heavy armors can compensate for that but you need an archetype to really use them properly
2) as said before, tower shields and similar are too action intensive (and possibly slow you down), you are going to be action starved anyway and likely have to use your focus spell for shield raising (or at least want to do that as often as possible for the action economy)
Thhe best shield for most characters is the standard steel shield
3) imaginary weapon is arguibly the strongest spell you can regulary use for your spellstrike, in fact is so good that there are people forbidding the archetype for your class wwith houserules and there are rumors of possible spell nerfs
4) Spellstrike is build with attack spells in mind, we do have enough of those but just in case you should check with your gm on how he rules expansive spellstrike in particular, using the spellstrike to deliver a saving throw spell is not quite as effective in the current ruling, but the system has a certain leaning towards those
5) I would advise against the guardian archetype *except* you get specifically the shield raise taunt
the taunt is a great teamwork skill, but as magus you have no need for dozens of alternate options, one or two are good, but you still have cantrips, a shield to raise and other stuff to do, so many players I know try to avoid getting to many extra action options, since we rarely have the actions anyway
Nah i meant the fortress shield:A tower shield (I believe you called it 'Fortress Shield') is difficult to use in Pathfinder 2e, in that you have to Raise Shield (1 action) to get +2 AC. Then you get another +2 AC if you take Cover behind it (1 action). As Magus is one of the more intensive action juggling classes, the extra action to Take Cover doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
That's actually worse. A standard Tower Shield is always 1 action to raise and 1 action to take cover behind in order to get a better bonus than a regular shield.
The Fortress Shield (which is also a Tower Shield) is 1 action to raise as long as you have a +2 STR bonus. Otherwise it is 2 actions to raise. And it is always still another action to take cover behind in order to get a better bonus than a regular shield.
And that is assuming that your campaign is ignoring Bulk rules.
A normal shield with level-appropriate shield runes would probably be best.
I played a tanky sparkling targe magus in a Strength of Thousands campaign. I did go Champion MC however. (Ancient Elf to pick that up, GM allowed it alongside the AP's limited Free-Archetype, but was limited to spending regular class feats on the MC Champion, rather than the FA bonus feats).
Personally, I didn't feel like I was being a useful tank until we reached level 6 and got the champion's reaction to be able to negate some of the incoming damage. (And I think Champion is better than Guardian for Magus based tanks due to action economy).
Prior to 6, it really came down to simply placing myself as the easiest to hit target. There weren't enough long-lasting fights or fights where the opponents new ahead of time who the bursty damage dealers were. So they had no reason to target me, unless I made it easy. This often means you're spending an action to position yourself, an action to raise shield, and then a non-spellstrike in the early rounds. Round 2 spell strike, and raise shield (or shielding strike, but you're wasting the high MAP strike). Round three was often move, shielding strike (to recharge, strike, raised shield) and a skill action or an extra strike. You will be a movement based tank which is tough, until you're hasted.
If you intend to be a primary tank, and not just a once in a while tank, I would plan on going down the champion dedication. You'll need the champion's reaction to create the real dilemma for the opponents. And I would save the heavy armor is worth it for the 1 extra AC, especially on turns you can't get the shield raised.
