Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

[Kurald Galain]

Doesn't the exact wording of magical lineage and wayang suggest that you could cast empowered vampiric touch three times for no extra charges, no extra casting time?

Please elaborate.

Eldritch Scion gets limited spells known. Staffs can expand the spells you can cast.

I'd suggest a page of spell knowledge.

Regarding Staff of Minor arcana: it's around a 20% discount, with the ability to cast magic missiles, if you want to have a combat familiar.

How again does this staff give you a combat familiar?

[Kurald Galain]

I've just realized that the Collegiate Arcanist prestige class is another way to gain druid spells, e.g. to gain Flame Blade at level 10, at the cost of two fairly weak feats.

[Serafina]

I've just realized that the Collegiate Arcanist prestige class is another way to gain druid spells, e.g. to gain Flame Blade at level 10, at the cost of two fairly weak feats.

RAW a Magus can not take this PrC, since they can not take the Spell Mastery feat - it requires you to be a "1st-level Wizard".
Well, you could still do a 1-level Wizard dip and then take two kinda meh feats, and then take a PrC that only advances your spellcasting, but not your other class features. But I doubt that's worth it.

[Kurald Galain]

RAW a Magus can not take this PrC, since they can not take the Spell Mastery feat - it requires you to be a "1st-level Wizard".
Well, you could still do a 1-level Wizard dip and then take two kinda meh feats, and then take a PrC that only advances your spellcasting, but not your other class features. But I doubt that's worth it.

True, but wizard dip is fairly good on a Magus (e.g. to take the diviner's reroll ability and Knowledge Is Power). Getting Flame Blade plus arcane pool enchant strikes me as pretty effective.

[tadkins]

Heya, Kurald.

Challenge accepted

Turns out the Magus can do this, because it can pick some spells from the wizard list. Spend a feat to get the Janni's Jaunt spell and you're all set. If you don't need to go cross-planar, Teleport is already on the Magus list (although a wizard/EK can cast this two levels earlier than a Magus could). HTH!

I mean, hell, if it was possible for a Magus to do that, then I would be 100% behind that class. You'd probably know better than anyone if it was possible, but I've always been embarassed to ask. I just have an overactive imagination and want a character that can do the craziest things. :D

-Travel to different planes, different worlds, and through space.
-Create its own personal dreamhome demiplane that reflects its mindset/tastes/personality.

Everything else I would want, I know the Magus could do already. It really is a great class. It's just that the Wizard could do pretty much anything, including what I posted above. And making it into an EK doesn't hurt that.

Have you ever figured this out yet by chance? :D

[Kurald Galain]

Have you ever figured this out yet by chance? :D

For planeshifting, you can

• Use Spell Blending to take Jinni's Jaunt from the Wizard list.
• Use the Mindblade archetype to pick up Planeshift as a 5th level spell from the Psychic list.
• Use the Samsaran race to pick up Planeshift as a 5th level spell from the Summoner list.

Traveling through space is, weirdly enough, equivalent to planar travel in Golarion (e.g. you can use planar spells to get to Akiton). If you want to literally go into orbit, there's magic items for that like the Necklace of Adaptation.

To actually create a plane, use the Samsaran as above to take Create Lesser Demiplane as a 5th level summoner spell.

[tadkins]

For planeshifting, you can

• Use Spell Blending to take Jinni's Jaunt from the Wizard list.
• Use the Mindblade archetype to pick up Planeshift as a 5th level spell from the Psychic list.
• Use the Samsaran race to pick up Planeshift as a 5th level spell from the Summoner list.

Traveling through space is, weirdly enough, equivalent to planar travel in Golarion (e.g. you can use planar spells to get to Akiton). If you want to literally go into orbit, there's magic items for that like the Necklace of Adaptation.

To actually create a plane, use the Samsaran as above to take Create Lesser Demiplane as a 5th level summoner spell.

Awesome, thank you!

Maybe my dreams of a world traveling, space-hopping magic star-archer can be a reality after all? :)

Much appreciated!

[chrisp]

Please elaborate.


I'd suggest a page of spell knowledge.


How again does this staff give you a combat familiar?

Regarding Minor Arcana: I'm not proposing that it give you a familiar. Rather, that if you have a combat familiar being able to buff yourself and it 4x a day is not horrible.

Not only do you get to cast shield 8x, you also don't have to pick shield or magic missile, and you gain thee ability to fire off mm at cl. Not horrible.

~~~~~

Magical lineage: Pick a spell. When you apply meta. to this spell treats its actual level as 1 lower...

Staff of the Master: "The wielder can apply any metamagic feats she knows when she casts the spells above from the staff. This consumes a number of charges equal to the number of spell levels increased by the feat. She can apply no more than one metamagic feats to a spell cast from the staff in this way. Using the staff for this purpose does not increase the casting time of the spell."

Linege doesn't say when you cast a spell, it says when you apply meta to a spell.

So, the point of ML is to decrease the # of levels of a meta applied to a spell by 1.

So empowering vampiric touch would cost you 1 charge(plus the 2 for vampiric touch). Or you could cast it three times.

But even better would be casting authoritative shocking grasp 5 times for no increase in time.

Walk to opponent, hit with authoritative shocking grasp, and tell it to move away....

[chrisp]

Regarding the bloodlines: What I was saying is that Eldritch Scion gets limited spells known. Staffs can expand the spells you can cast.

Page of spell knowledge...

Sure, but ..

Page of spell knowledge (disintegrate) = 36K.
Baleful polymorph 25K
Polymorph 25K
Blink 9k.
Alter self 4K
Exp. Retreat 1K.

100K worth of spell knowledges - but the Staff of Transmutation is only 82 k.

Plus, spell knowlege casts from your slots. Staff casts from charges.

[Kurald Galain]

Regarding Minor Arcana: I'm not proposing that it give you a familiar. Rather, that if you have a combat familiar being able to buff yourself and it 4x a day is not horrible.

I didn't say it was horrible, I said it was overpriced. At low levels, you probably want to shield yourself too but you can't afford the staff yet. At higher levels, you are limited by action economy so you probably want a better buff than Shield.

100K worth of spell knowledges - but the Staff of Transmutation is only 82 k.

Disintegrate is overpriced both on a staff and on a spell page. It would be sensible to just spend one of your in-class slots on it.

Plus, spell knowlege casts from your slots. Staff casts from charges.

By the time you can afford this staff, you've long passed the point where you have WAY more spell slots per day than you're going to need.

This is why it's overpriced. It gets you more spells known and spells per day than your regular limit, BUT this limit is wide enough that you don't particularly need that. It's not horrible to get more of something than you need, but it's probably not worth 82000 gold pieces either.

Spark Staff is still good though, primarily because it lets you cast a meta'ed spell as a standard action.

[tadkins]

Thanks so far for your guys' help. I think for the most part this will be my last inquiry.

For planeshifting, you can

• Use Spell Blending to take Jinni's Jaunt from the Wizard list.

The spell is described as being like Plane Shift, but restricted to the Astral, Material, and Elemental Planes. But from the Astral you can get to pretty much every other plane, I believe? So that'd be a viable way to travel across the cosmos?

I think from there I would take the Eldritch Archer archetype, but be a specialist in guns. Was thinking that as part of the concept, my character could be an explorer and a researcher, searching the world and beyond for rare earths and metals with which to experiment with firearm technology.

I dunno, maybe I'm reaching too far? Thoughts?

[Serafina]

Thanks so far for your guys' help. I think for the most part this will be my last inquiry.



The spell is described as being like Plane Shift, but restricted to the Astral, Material, and Elemental Planes. But from the Astral you can get to pretty much every other plane, I believe? So that'd be a viable way to travel across the cosmos?

I think from there I would take the Eldritch Archer archetype, but be a specialist in guns. Was thinking that as part of the concept, my character could be an explorer and a researcher, searching the world and beyond for rare earths and metals with which to experiment with firearm technology.

I dunno, maybe I'm reaching too far? Thoughts?

The Eldritch Archer can be really good - you're basically doing everything the Magus does, but at range. Well, you do have to change up your spell selection to use ranged touch spells - but you're in luck, I wrote a mini-guide for that! It's even for a gun-using Magus!


And if you want more range, I also have a build that uses the Dragoon Musket. It's usually for higher levels, where you can spare the spells to use Reloading Hands to keep it reloaded and thus still full-attack. But even at lower levels, if you can get quick draw, you could use a two-handed dragoon musket and some other firearm which you quickdraw when needed, which admittedly has a lot of style.

Either way, the Dragoon Musket gives you the best range out of all early firearms - 60 feet is 50%/20 feet more than a Musket, and that scales with Distance and other weapon augments. Now a Dragoon Cartridge holds three shots, but even with Rapid Reload it'd take a standard action to reload (since only the feat, and no class features and other modifiers can be applied) - so you don't do that, and instead use the Reloading Hands spell, which does it for you once per round. That way, even when you get to four attacks per round eventually, you can fire away freely - you fire three shots from your gun, your ongoing spell reloads it for free, you fire one more. Next round, you fire the remaining two, get a free reload, fire two. Then you fire one, reload three, fire them. Only then would you be stuck with reloading three, and only firing those - but at that point you're in your fourth round of combat and are only missing out on a single attack, and also if you have a backup weapon that's the perfect excuse to draw it.

Basically, if you want to go for an Eldritch Dragoon build and get that increased range, which of all gunslingers only you can use well since you get Reloading Hands, you take Quick Draw instead of Rapid Reload. At early levels, instead of reloading one firearm, you swap to another. At later levels, you do that less, but if you do you make use of the Training property on a pistol to make it reload for free - that's your backup weapon when your reload like above runs out.

And since you can craft all those items yourself, I believe it actually fits perfectly with your travelling gun researcher! You'd have multiple guns, and make good use of them, and really it should all fit quite well?

[TiaC]

The best way to get around reloading is the Shadowshooting enhancement. It automatically reloads your weapon, but you will usually do minimum damage. However, most of your damage is generally coming from flat bonuses and non-weapon sources, so this shouldn't be much of a problem.

[Selion]

Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel
Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus[/list][/spoiler]

It's a very good guide, thank you for your efforts

[tadkins]

The Eldritch Archer can be really good - you're basically doing everything the Magus does, but at range. Well, you do have to change up your spell selection to use ranged touch spells - but you're in luck, I wrote a mini-guide for that! It's even for a gun-using Magus!


And if you want more range, I also have a build that uses the Dragoon Musket. It's usually for higher levels, where you can spare the spells to use Reloading Hands to keep it reloaded and thus still full-attack. But even at lower levels, if you can get quick draw, you could use a two-handed dragoon musket and some other firearm which you quickdraw when needed, which admittedly has a lot of style.

Either way, the Dragoon Musket gives you the best range out of all early firearms - 60 feet is 50%/20 feet more than a Musket, and that scales with Distance and other weapon augments. Now a Dragoon Cartridge holds three shots, but even with Rapid Reload it'd take a standard action to reload (since only the feat, and no class features and other modifiers can be applied) - so you don't do that, and instead use the Reloading Hands spell, which does it for you once per round. That way, even when you get to four attacks per round eventually, you can fire away freely - you fire three shots from your gun, your ongoing spell reloads it for free, you fire one more. Next round, you fire the remaining two, get a free reload, fire two. Then you fire one, reload three, fire them. Only then would you be stuck with reloading three, and only firing those - but at that point you're in your fourth round of combat and are only missing out on a single attack, and also if you have a backup weapon that's the perfect excuse to draw it.

Basically, if you want to go for an Eldritch Dragoon build and get that increased range, which of all gunslingers only you can use well since you get Reloading Hands, you take Quick Draw instead of Rapid Reload. At early levels, instead of reloading one firearm, you swap to another. At later levels, you do that less, but if you do you make use of the Training property on a pistol to make it reload for free - that's your backup weapon when your reload like above runs out.

And since you can craft all those items yourself, I believe it actually fits perfectly with your travelling gun researcher! You'd have multiple guns, and make good use of them, and really it should all fit quite well?

Thanks for the suggestions. :) I enjoyed reading your guide and have saved it for future reference, for the day I actually build this character for an actual game.

The character I have in mind will be the explorer/geologist type I mentioned in the last page, who uses magic to seek out treasures and to get around. The devotion to guns as a main weapon I thought would be a neat addition due to how it utilizes metals and earths to make the black powder from; gives him more of a reason to be a skilled miner.

[Serafina]

Well, if you go with Samsaran Magus 1/Wizard 1/Magus 13, you could have your planar travelling online by 14th level, and your own demiplane by 15th level*.
It's mostly a question of whether you're allowed to take from the old Summoner list, or have to use the Unchained Summoner list. The former gives you Plane Shift a level earlier (meaning you don't have to use Jannis Jaunt) and gives you Create Demiplane (or Create Lesser Demiplane as a 5th-level spell). And a few other goodies

Also consider what you'll spend the other 2-3 spells you get this way on. The Magus has a bunch of gaps in it's spell repertoire to fill - though keep in mind you can also use Spell Blending arcana for this. Sure, you can get Endure Elements from Mystic Past Life, but is it worth it? Is Locate Portal worth it? Sure it can be taken either way, but maybe you want it ASAP so you can go on planar adventuring sooner?

If you're goin with the old Summoner list, you'll want Create Lesser Demiplane, Create Demiplane, Plane Shift, and one or two more spells depending on your intelligence. You'l need Spell Blending arcane to grab Permanency, and some of the necessary planar adaptation and mining-related spells. *to get Spell Blending ASAP you'd have to wait until 15th level, and take it via your 15th-level feat.

If you're going for a theme of grabbing high-level Wizard-esque spells anyway, you might want to take Greater Teleport, which is otherwise unavailable to the Magus, but a 5th-level spell for the Summoner. Or a Teleportation Circle, which is otherwise also unavailable. Sure, in the latter case you're getting a 9th-level spell as a 6th-level spell - but really, it's entirely a non-combat spell, and you're getting it at 17th level (with your multiclass), so it doesn't even break anything. Just ask your GM whether it's fine in advance.

[tadkins]

Well, if you go with Samsaran Magus 1/Wizard 1/Magus 13, you could have your planar travelling online by 14th level, and your own demiplane by 15th level*.
It's mostly a question of whether you're allowed to take from the old Summoner list, or have to use the Unchained Summoner list. The former gives you Plane Shift a level earlier (meaning you don't have to use Jannis Jaunt) and gives you Create Demiplane (or Create Lesser Demiplane as a 5th-level spell). And a few other goodies

Also consider what you'll spend the other 2-3 spells you get this way on. The Magus has a bunch of gaps in it's spell repertoire to fill - though keep in mind you can also use Spell Blending arcana for this. Sure, you can get Endure Elements from Mystic Past Life, but is it worth it? Is Locate Portal worth it? Sure it can be taken either way, but maybe you want it ASAP so you can go on planar adventuring sooner?

If you're goin with the old Summoner list, you'll want Create Lesser Demiplane, Create Demiplane, Plane Shift, and one or two more spells depending on your intelligence. You'l need Spell Blending arcane to grab Permanency, and some of the necessary planar adaptation and mining-related spells. *to get Spell Blending ASAP you'd have to wait until 15th level, and take it via your 15th-level feat.

If you're going for a theme of grabbing high-level Wizard-esque spells anyway, you might want to take Greater Teleport, which is otherwise unavailable to the Magus, but a 5th-level spell for the Summoner. Or a Teleportation Circle, which is otherwise also unavailable. Sure, in the latter case you're getting a 9th-level spell as a 6th-level spell - but really, it's entirely a non-combat spell, and you're getting it at 17th level (with your multiclass), so it doesn't even break anything. Just ask your GM whether it's fine in advance.

To be honest I think I'd try avoid going Samsaran (they seem a little outlandish and weird for what I imagine) and go with a standard Human or Dwarf. So I'd be willing to forego the Create Demiplane part of it. I could just carve a small niche in an appropriate part of the material plane, or standard established alternate plane. All I'd really want is a place to kick up my feet after a days work, and a secure vault to store treasures in. Maybe a nice little secluded mountain fort somewhere. :D

Spells like Endure Elements and the plane/space travel spells and such would make sense though. He'll be doing a lot of traveling and exploring, in areas fantastical and not, so the ability to survive in such locales would be great. I would consider even sprinkling a little Ranger flavor in there to help emphasize it.

[Serafina]

That's good too, though if you just pick up Jannis Jaunt via Spell Blending, you'll only be able to get it as a 6th-level spell and thus have to wait quite a while to get it.

A possible alternative with a permissive GM is always to acquire a staff - as long as it has one spell you can cast, you can recharge it, and use the spells on it you can't cast with those charges, even if they're quite high level. For purely non-combat uses, it doesn't matter if you need a couple of days to recharge the staff or such. A Spherewalkers Staff costs 43k gp, and thanks to the Dimension Door on it a Magus can recharge it - and it even boosts your land speed by 10 feet. It's possible to add the Create Demiplane spells onto this, even after the staff has been created - this could easily be an appropriate quest reward at high levels!
Now normally you need to have a spell slot of that level available to recharge a staff - so if the staff has a 8th-level spell, you'd need an 8th-level spell slot. Be a Staff Magus (which stacks with Eldritch Archer), and that's no longer an issue at 10th level, since you now can use your Arcane Pool for the recharging (potentially even recharging more than one charge per day, though that'd be super-expensive).

That way, you can basically nab any obscure utility spell from any list, with the only requirement being that you have a GM that allows you to find friendly spellcasters with the Craft Staff feat to add those to your staff. But if you're using it to go for a specific theme - which you're clearly doing - it's a pretty good idea, and I think most GMs would love it.

[tadkins]

That's good too, though if you just pick up Jannis Jaunt via Spell Blending, you'll only be able to get it as a 6th-level spell and thus have to wait quite a while to get it.

That's what I was actually wondering about. Would Janni's Jaunt be a viable way to travel the cosmos with? I know it's restricted to the Material, Astral and Elemental Worlds, but if I'm not mistaken all the other planes can be accessed from the Astral, so that'd technically work if I want to go anywhere I want, right? My planned character would be Chaotic Good and it wouldn't be inconceivable that he'd want to strike at Hell occasionally. xD

[Serafina]

That's what I was actually wondering about. Would Janni's Jaunt be a viable way to travel the cosmos with? I know it's restricted to the Material, Astral and Elemental Worlds, but if I'm not mistaken all the other planes can be accessed from the Astral, so that'd technically work if I want to go anywhere I want, right? My planned character would be Chaotic Good and it wouldn't be inconceivable that he'd want to strike at Hell occasionally. xD

It depends on whether the GM puts any naturally occuring connections on those planes. If you want a game of planar exploration they really should, but it's of course GM-dependent.

If you want the staff-solution, and have downtime available, you can take the Craft Staff feat for yourself, and then hire a spellcaster to cast it for you. Cooperative Crafting is possible (there's rules for it), you'd just have to pay the spellcaster every day. In that case, Plane Shift is a 5th-level Cleric spell, so you could probably find a cleric capable of casting it in a large city, and you'd need to pay them 450 gp per day of crafting. It'd be most effective to create most of the staff first, then tack on the Plane shift later to cut down on the amount you have to pay the hireling. But even if you have them for a whole month, it'd cost 13,500 gp, which is expensive but doable at 10th level where your staff-trickery gets online anyway, and almost the same level as Clerics for acces to Plane Shift.
And of course it's very reasonable to get something like this as a reward for a quest - after all, you're just getting one spellcast per day which doesn't take much time, that's a very reasonable reward to ask.

The same applies to other spells you might want - you either know the spell yourself (in which case, why bother? Well, actually, as a Staff Magus you get the abiltiy to recharge staves with your Arcane Pool so it's a form of spontaneous casting) or you hire someone to help you with the crafting, or possibly get that help for free somehow.

Also, adding a spell to a staff should work like this:
You re-calculate the cost of the staff as if it were an entirely new staff, including new caster levels and everything, with the new spell on it. Then, you take the price of the previous staff (ideally you had that written down somewhere), and only have to pay that difference - that's just how it goes for all magic items really, such as upgrading a +1 sword into a +1 keen flaming sword. And you only need the requirements for the new abilities you are adding, in this case the new spell you're adding.

Only time, gold, and the various prerequisites required of the new ability to be added to the magic item restrict the type of additional powers one can place.

Which fortunately cuts down massively on the time you need to hire the other spellcasters for - you create everything you can about your staff on your own, and then only have them add the bits you can't.

[tadkins]

It depends on whether the GM puts any naturally occuring connections on those planes. If you want a game of planar exploration they really should, but it's of course GM-dependent.

If you want the staff-solution, and have downtime available, you can take the Craft Staff feat for yourself, and then hire a spellcaster to cast it for you. Cooperative Crafting is possible (there's rules for it), you'd just have to pay the spellcaster every day. In that case, Plane Shift is a 5th-level Cleric spell, so you could probably find a cleric capable of casting it in a large city, and you'd need to pay them 450 gp per day of crafting. It'd be most effective to create most of the staff first, then tack on the Plane shift later to cut down on the amount you have to pay the hireling. But even if you have them for a whole month, it'd cost 13,500 gp, which is expensive but doable at 10th level where your staff-trickery gets online anyway, and almost the same level as Clerics for acces to Plane Shift.
And of course it's very reasonable to get something like this as a reward for a quest - after all, you're just getting one spellcast per day which doesn't take much time, that's a very reasonable reward to ask.

Chances are a game I join wouldn't really involve a lot of planar travel (most DMs will include one or two as part of the main story arc from my experience) it's just cool to know that my character can go "off exploring" as part of the campaign epilogue or something. xD

But yep chances are I will be taking the Staff Magus along with the main build. I liked the point you made in your guide about how it doesn't really take anything away from a gun-wielding magus. So doing things through staves isn't off the table.

[Serafina]

Having a magic staff is also another nice reason to have Quick Draw:
Normally, you're in the backline wielding a two-handed gun. But when enemies get close, you can draw both your staff and your pistol as a free action, and get a lot of extra AC that way - and possibly defensive properties of your staff, since you'll likely have Craft Magic Arms and Armor (and magic staves can often be enchanted like weapons).

I must say I really quite like your character concept It's a nice unique take on the Magus, and I'm of course especially glad that my sub-guide finds some use for it.

[tadkins]

Having a magic staff is also another nice reason to have Quick Draw:
Normally, you're in the backline wielding a two-handed gun. But when enemies get close, you can draw both your staff and your pistol as a free action, and get a lot of extra AC that way - and possibly defensive properties of your staff, since you'll likely have Craft Magic Arms and Armor (and magic staves can often be enchanted like weapons).

I must say I really quite like your character concept It's a nice unique take on the Magus, and I'm of course especially glad that my sub-guide finds some use for it.

Only downside is that he's gonna look quite stocked by the end, haha. Carrying a staff, a pistol, a two-handed gun, and of course a pick for carving out the earth. Among other things.

But yep, thank you! I've looked at the possibility of a "battle geologist" concept for the longest time and the Magus seems like the class that can really deliver. :)

[Serafina]

You probably can't afford too much Strength on this build, so you'll want to use other means to increase your carrying capacity. Burdenless armor (+50%, 4000 gp), Muleback Cords (+8 Strength for carry capacity, 1000 gp, shoulder slot), a Masterwork Backpack (+1 Strength Score), the Ant Haul spell (triple carrying capacity, lasts two hours per level) and the Muscle of Society trait (+2 to Strength checks to break things, +2 to Strength for carry capacity, combat trait) can all help there.

I mean, that's all already addressed in this guide, other than the trait. You might want the trait - usually it's not something to recommend, but you might not like the "barely carrying anything" look at low levels, and your GM might allow you to apply it to attacking objects with a pickaxe (I certainly would).
If you start with Strength 10 and the trait, you could carry a 50 pound light load. Add Muleback Cords (as an add-on to your shoulder slot item, it's cheap) and Burdenless Armor, and you get 230 pounds light load. Add Ant Haul, and it's 688 pounds light load, despite technically only having Strength 10.
That's almost half a metric ton of stone and ore you can carry, without even using any bags of holding.

[tadkins]

You probably can't afford too much Strength on this build, so you'll want to use other means to increase your carrying capacity. Burdenless armor (+50%, 4000 gp), Muleback Cords (+8 Strength for carry capacity, 1000 gp, shoulder slot), a Masterwork Backpack (+1 Strength Score), the Ant Haul spell (triple carrying capacity, lasts two hours per level) and the Muscle of Society trait (+2 to Strength checks to break things, +2 to Strength for carry capacity, combat trait) can all help there.

I mean, that's all already addressed in this guide, other than the trait. You might want the trait - usually it's not something to recommend, but you might not like the "barely carrying anything" look at low levels, and your GM might allow you to apply it to attacking objects with a pickaxe (I certainly would).
If you start with Strength 10 and the trait, you could carry a 50 pound light load. Add Muleback Cords (as an add-on to your shoulder slot item, it's cheap) and Burdenless Armor, and you get 230 pounds light load. Add Ant Haul, and it's 688 pounds light load, despite technically only having Strength 10.
That's almost half a metric ton of stone and ore you can carry, without even using any bags of holding.

Truth. I also remembered that what I listed is the typical "load" of an adventurer before I went to bed. I've known players who'd carry everything including the kitchen sink. But yep strength wasn't something I planned on investing much in it. My character might look rugged, but deep down he's still a nerd, in it for nerd reasons, and probably won't look like a hulking brute. xD

But yep thanks for listing all of those. They will indeed be helpful until bags of holding can actually be acquired.

I'm still debating somewhat on the build. So far I would be aiming for Wizard 1 (Spellslinger)/Magus (Eldritch Archer/Staff Magus) 19. Since I won't be aiming for the Magus capstone, I am wondering if there might be other worthwhile classes/PrCs to mix in there that would fit the theme/add power. Thoughts?

[Serafina]

Well, if you want to use Staves, you'd want at least 10 Magus levels. At which point you're one level away from Improved Spell Recall - though you probably traded that out via Hexcrafter to get a virtual free hand for reloading. And when comparing the ability to restore one charge to staff for 1 arcane pool point to Spell Recall, the former wins.

So that'd give you nine levels in which you lose out on four arcane pool points, two feats, three arcana, Improved Quarterstaff Defense, the ability to take Major and Grand Hexes, Greater Spell Combat, Counterstrike, and Greater Spell Access (which is a pretty good capstone on it's own, giving you a ton of Wizard spells).

Honestly the only prestige class that I can think of fitting somewhat is Collegiate Arcanist(Magaambyan Arcanist), because it can add Druid spells to your list. But paying a two-feat entry fee on a character that already wants to do ranged combat and item crafting isn't cheap, and the spells you'd get would be very low level (two levels below what you can cast, so you'd start with 2nd-level spells added). You'd also get versatility in the spells you need to prepare, or rather not prepare, but you can already do that with staves to a good degree.
And honestly, when I consider that via eventually getting Greater Spell Access, it's really not worth it IMO. Maybe it is for you though, so I'm mentioning it.

I'll also mention the Runeguard. You'll add the Glyph- and Symbol-spells to your list - now you can't cast most of those, since they're too high level, but it still allows you to fortify a place pretty well with those that you can cast. Nine levels of it would allow you the ability to go nuts with metamagic nine times per day - take a look at the Zeal Rune. Add any metamagic feat you know, provided it increases the spell level by no more than 1. You can stack multiple metamagic feats with this effect, as long as they're all +1 ones. Reach Spell, Tenebrous Spell, Disruptive Spell, Intensified Spell, Piercing Spell or more....applied all at once. Of course this is utterly uptopic since you don't really have that many feats, so this really isn't worth it, and you can already grab the Symbol-spells you want in other ways.

Other than that, take a look at the prestige classes and multiclassing listed in this guide, but I don't think anything is worth losing out on Greater Spell Access - which as I said is a perfectly good capstone, basically giving you the effect of more than seven Spell Blending arcana.

[tadkins]

Yup, tough call. After reading up on the options on the front page, I think the Wiz1/Magus19 would be a fine and respectable build. Kurald mentions the 20 capstone for Magus isn't that great so I won't worry too much about missing out on that.

Thanks for all of your help in crafting this (hopefully future) character. :)

[TiaC]

An interesting feat I just came across is Benthic Spell, which seems like it would be nice to have a rod of for when your frostbite magus runs up against undead or outsiders, as the nonlethal cold damage typing of Frostbite is one of its biggest downsides.

[Kurald Galain]

The Plane-Hopper's Handbook is up on d20pfsrd. For the Magus, of note are the Aphorite race (+str/int, good saving throws, a nice defensive racial ability, and a speed-boosting SLA) and the Planar Mentor feat, particularly the neutral and evil benefits.

An interesting feat I just came across is Benthic Spell, which seems like it would be nice to have a rod of for when your frostbite magus runs up against undead or outsiders, as the nonlethal cold damage typing of Frostbite is one of its biggest downsides.

Yes, this has a similar effect as Elemental Spell. It appears that both of these feats override the "nonlethal" part of frostbite. I tend to use Chill Touch instead when facing undead.

[Thais]

First of all kudos to Kurald, this guide is really awesome and partially because of it the magus became my favorite class in pathfinder.

I am about to make my second magus and it will be an elven bladebound/kensai magus.

The only thing i am not sure about is the part about the black blade allowing the magus to roll knowledge and perception checks twice:

Like a familiar, it gives you alertness for free and lets you roll twice on knowledge and perception checks.

I haven't found any other sources to back this up, i mean it would be great but so far it seems to me that the black blade only gets additional languages and skill points for knowledge arcana every time it's int bonus increases.

Please help me to sort this out :)

Thanks

Ps.: i tried the search function within this board and on google but couldn't find an answer