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

[Kurald Galain]

Added Gathlain race, Erutaki Sky Reader and Inspired traits, Clay Skin spell; and a section comparing the Magus to Eldritch Knight builds. Perhaps surprisingly, the Magus has substantially higher to-hit, fort, ref, and HP, as well as more feats than a typical EK build. And, of course, high threat range on touch spells; armored casting; and spell combat. Gish players should really avoid the EK, except perhaps at level 15-20 (if their campaign even gets that high).

[Kurald Galain]

Added Deja Vu spell, and a note on VMC'ing for the phantom blade. The new Heroes of Golarion book appears to have no material especially fitting for the Magus. And added Deja Vu spell.

[Lanlaorn]

Hey guys, for the Book of Harms, it specifies that it only works on a "Wizard Evocation Spell", is there any precedent or FAQ I can point to showing that this means "evocation spell that appears on the wizard spell list" rather than "evocation spell cast by a wizard"?

It's a pretty great item I'd be happy to pick up in one campaign but I can see that wording being contentious, some source that makes it clear would be nice.

[Bags]

Hello,

I came across your Magus guide via google while searching for pointers on how to build my Eldritch Archer (I'm gonna refer to it as EA from here on out) with a musket as the ranged weapon.

1.)I got this recommendation for starting my build:

• Class - 1 level into Wizard[Spellslinger] for the easy access to the firearm pre-reqs (feats, etc) at level 1, --along with x3 crits with a musket and touch, cone, line, ray casting -- then go into full EA leveling. (This avoids the harsher drawbacks of going full Spellslinger).
• Feats - Arcane Strike, Spell Cartridges (to avoid all that reloading feat drain), point blank shot->precise shot->rapid shot->deadly aim "(those last two are interchangeable)", Weapon Focus (Musket), Weapon Specialization (Musket).

I'm playing Ratfolk and my DM rolled me 2 18s that I'm putting towards Dex/Int. We are starting 1. I'm not sure if Weapon Focus + Weapon Specialization would be worth it over some metamagic feats at that point though.

2.) So from what I can see, Spellslinger (SL) + EA gives you (at lower level) from RAW:

• SL - x3 crits to all spells delivered through the gun ("spells fired through the arcane gun that require an attack roll have a ×3 critical hit multiplier")
• SL - Rolling a 1 on attack or enemy rolling 20 vs the spell causes a misfire
• SL - Ranged touch, ray, cone, line spells fired through the gun get gun's enhancement bonus to the spell's attack roll or saving throw roll ("any ranged touch attack, cone, line, or ray spells through his arcane gun. When he casts through the arcane gun, the gun’s enhancement bonus (if any) is a bonus to the spell’s attack rolls or to the spell’s saving throw DCs")
• EA - Any ranged spell (so basically just not melee touch?) works for ranged spellstrike ("whenever an eldritch archer casts a spell that calls for a ranged attack ... an eldritch archer can make one free ranged attack with a ranged weapon (at her highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell") (or does 'spell that calls for a ranged attack' just mean ranged touch?)

So basically... any ranged spell can be delivered via ranged spell strike and they get the gun's enhancement bonus for the attack to hit? (Along with the negative misfire part added by spellslinger). And if the gun crits, the gun gets its x4 multiplier, and the spell gets an x3 multiplier. I'll get a handful of level 1 spells from the Wizard dip that once I don light armor as part of the Magus proficiency now have arcane fail chance, while my Magus learned spells don't. So they'll be useful for about a level. The big ambiguity for me is does spellstrike (attaching the spell to the bullet) count as "spell fired through gun".

3.) So for combat, I want to see if I understand some situations and how they would function

If I wanted...

• To cast scorching ray, I'd: Roll for gun to hit, check vs their touch AC. If I beat their touch AC (I include enhancement bonus to the chance to hit because fired through the arcane gun), the bullet rolls for damage, and since scorch ray has no saving throw, they take the damage from it.
• To cast color spray, I'd: roll for gun to hit, check vs their touch AC. If it beats it (I include enhancement bonus to the chance to hit because fired through the arcane gun), bullet rolls for damage, but then the target and anyone else in the cone have to roll a saving throw, and if my gun had an enhancement bonus from Arcane pool or Arcane bullet, that would be added to the saving throw.
• To cast snowball with an enemy next to me, threatening me. I would cast defensively (can't take a to hit bonus because of ranged weapon), and if successful, it works like scorching ray, otherwise I lose the spell but provoke no AoO.

4.) Under archetypes, you said about EA: "Full archer that gets a free spell every round." -- is this unique to the EA, or is this related to the Arcane Mark cantrip that all Magus can use for a free spell + attack?

5.) What spell would be the bread and butter? Snowball? Scorching ray?

I appreciate anyone who can correct me on any of these things not interacting as I read it, for Arcane gun + Spellstrike.

[Kurald Galain]

Hey guys, for the Book of Harms, it specifies that it only works on a "Wizard Evocation Spell", is there any precedent or FAQ I can point to showing that this means "evocation spell that appears on the wizard spell list" rather than "evocation spell cast by a wizard"?

The rituals were first printed in Ultimate Magic thinking only of wizards, but newer text from Arcane Anthology states they also apply to other classes, including clerics and even sorcerers; so for (e.g.) a cleric that line should be read as "cleric evocation spell".

I came across your Magus guide via google while searching for pointers on how to build my Eldritch Archer (I'm gonna refer to it as EA from here on out) with a musket as the ranged weapon.

You're welcome

The catch about the Eldritch Archer is that ranged spellstrike is a trap. The most effective way to play one is to make a full attack with your bow, and then cast an area effect spell (or a self-buff) that you do not attach to an arrow. This still applies if you're using a gun. If you cast (e.g.) Snowball normally, it's a ranged touch for up to 10d6 damage. If you cast it with a bullet, it gets only minor bonuses (+1d4 to damage, as you don't need to-hit bonuses on a touch attack) but you're spending several feats for that, as well as your swift action each round. This is not a good tradeoff!

So the bread-and-butter would be something like Fireball or Glitterdust or Mirror Image. Other than that, your understanding of the rules appears to be correct. HTH!

[Bags]

The rituals were first printed in Ultimate Magic thinking only of wizards, but newer text from Arcane Anthology states they also apply to other classes, including clerics and even sorcerers; so for (e.g.) a cleric that line should be read as "cleric evocation spell".


You're welcome

The catch about the Eldritch Archer is that ranged spellstrike is a trap. The most effective way to play one is to make a full attack with your bow, and then cast an area effect spell (or a self-buff) that you do not attach to an arrow. This still applies if you're using a gun. If you cast (e.g.) Snowball normally, it's a ranged touch for up to 10d6 damage. If you cast it with a bullet, it gets only minor bonuses (+1d4 to damage, as you don't need to-hit bonuses on a touch attack) but you're spending several feats for that, as well as your swift action each round. This is not a good tradeoff!

So the bread-and-butter would be something like Fireball or Glitterdust or Mirror Image. Other than that, your understanding of the rules appears to be correct. HTH!

Gotcha. When you have some time can you break down two mid level scenarios (somewhere like 7- 10?) of firing it with a bullet (how I was thinking to play), vs your suggested way, to see how much damage/etc I'm giving up for it? I get your point but I'm trying to wrap my head around how much I'm actually giving up, and seeing some numbers between the different build + playstyle might help... My bit of confusion is that this seems like the opposite of melee spellstrike and I'm a bit confused why this doesn't apply to that then.

I like the idea of it shooting on the projectile from a flavor aspect, so I want to know how much less effective it is (due to feat sink for like arcane strike, spell cart, etc).

Thanks!

[Kurald Galain]

My bit of confusion is that this seems like the opposite of melee spellstrike and I'm a bit confused why this doesn't apply to that then.

The difference is that if you miss with a melee spellstrike, you "hold the charge" and the spell applies to your next attack; whereas if you miss with a ranged spellstrike, your spell is gone.

Aside from that, the melee build will also often use spell combat to either cast an area spell or a self-buff, instead of a touch spell.

[Bags]

The difference is that if you miss with a melee spellstrike, you "hold the charge" and the spell applies to your next attack; whereas if you miss with a ranged spellstrike, your spell is gone.

Aside from that, the melee build will also often use spell combat to either cast an area spell or a self-buff, instead of a touch spell.

That makes sense, thanks. So your suggestion is to cast them as a spell not on the projectile, and take less range buffing feats?

[Kurald Galain]

That makes sense, thanks. So your suggestion is to cast them as a spell not on the projectile, and take less range buffing feats?

Precisely. There's a lot of good feats (and arcana) so I generally dislike those that give you +1 to one thing you can already do.

[Bags]

Question, if you know. I read that the EA is banned from PFS (Which isn't relevant in my campaign, as it's not part of PFS), but that made me curious to look why and they said because the arcane bonded weapon was way too good.

Pros:
- Somatic spell casting still possible with the weapon in your hand
- Something about item crafting that I don't understand

Cons
- If you drop the arcane bond (in EA case, weapon) or it's destroyed or w.e, spellcasting is hard
- It can't do the free spell cast that the wizard's can

What is so strong about the item crafting part? I don't have any pathfinder experience with crafting magical items, so that's probably why I don't understand it. We're going to be starting level 1, so I'm going to pick up EA at level 2.

I guess this question isn't directly Magus related (as arcane bond is from the wizard), but is there's a good guide or way for me to understand why this is strong and what I can do with it?

Thanks :)

[Kurald Galain]

Question, if you know. I read that the EA is banned from PFS (Which isn't relevant in my campaign, as it's not part of PFS), but that made me curious to look why and they said because the arcane bonded weapon was way too good.

To my knowledge, the PFS staff has never commented on why they impose bans, so I'm curious why you think they said that.

Anyway, EA is good not because of bonded weapon, but because archery is one of the strongest combat styles in Pathfinder (as well as being rather uninteresting in gameplay), and this is an archer that gets to make a full attack AND cast a spell every turn.

[Bags]

To my knowledge, the PFS staff has never commented on why they impose bans, so I'm curious why you think they said that.

Anyway, EA is good not because of bonded weapon, but because archery is one of the strongest combat styles in Pathfinder (as well as being rather uninteresting in gameplay), and this is an archer that gets to make a full attack AND cast a spell every turn.

I googled and found a thread on Paizo about the ban, guess I thought it was some official discussion! People kept bringing it up. Thanks.

[Bags]

Me again, question about familiars

you said "or starters, you gain a free +2 perception and +4 initiative (or +2 to the save of your choice, or some other tasty bonuses)."

From the table of bonuses for familiars, I don't see any with +2 perc and +4 initiate. Does the perception come from something else? I have 0 familiarity with familiars, never played a class with em before.

"And then you can pick an archetype for your familiar, which could e.g. let it flank with you, cast buffs on you, or resurrect itself for free. A very good arcana for anyone who's not a Bladebound; see the section on familiars later in this document."

These archetypes come from feats? Or are they free?

[Ellrin]

Me again, question about familiars

you said "or starters, you gain a free +2 perception and +4 initiative (or +2 to the save of your choice, or some other tasty bonuses)."

From the table of bonuses for familiars, I don't see any with +2 perc and +4 initiate. Does the perception come from something else? I have 0 familiarity with familiars, never played a class with em before.

"And then you can pick an archetype for your familiar, which could e.g. let it flank with you, cast buffs on you, or resurrect itself for free. A very good arcana for anyone who's not a Bladebound; see the section on familiars later in this document."

These archetypes come from feats? Or are they free?

That +2 perception he's referencing isn't the familiar bonus, it's from the bonus Alertness feat that the master gains while the familiar is within arm's reach. The initiative bonus (or other bonus of your choice) is the one stemming from the type of familiar.

The archetypes he's referencing are the familiar archetypes, which essentially work just like class archetypes for your familiar—your familiar may gain class skills and/or lose certain abilities in favor of others. Like a class archetype, if your familiar gains an archetype, it gains everything from that archetype and loses everything that archetype gives up, you can't pick and choose. Also like class archetypes, you can stack familiar archetypes as long as none of the abilities altered/given up by any of your archetypes are altered/given up by any other archetypes you've chosen (though there aren't many compatible ones).

So to answer your question, the archetypes are "free," though they come with their own prices—giving up various abilities that your familiar would otherwise have access to.

[TiaC]

Speaking of familiar archetypes, Arcane Amplifier is pretty good. It gives free metamagic a few times per day on touch spells delivered by the familiar. Extend Spell from level 1, which can make a difference for long-duration buffs. Empower or Heighten (+2) from 7th and Maximize from 13th. Letting your familiar use one of your touch spells can be quite nice. An empowered Frostbite deals decent damage, although this is risky.

[Kurald Galain]

Speaking of familiar archetypes, Arcane Amplifier is pretty good.

I'd say it's pretty good on a witch or wizard, but not so much on a Magus - because you probably want to deliver your touch spells via spellstrike.

[Verth Immon]

First of all, love the guide, it’s really helped me put together strong builds when I play magus!

Have you taken a look at the Bladed Brush feat from Paths of Righteousness yet? It’s a bit fiddly but depending on how it’s read it should allow for magus to use spell combat while wielding a glaive. While this isn’t particularly optimal as the glaive has a 20/3x crit range, it does bring the advantages of two handed strength bonuses for strength magi, adjustable reach with no penalties, and the more niche ability to use the emblem of greed spell from Arcane Anthology to gain a full BAB with a decent weapon that can be fixed up with arcane pool.

I understand if you don’t want to add an option that’s as finicky as this one, but at the very least it’s an interesting concept!

[Kurald Galain]

Thank you! Well the reason it isn't listed is because there is disagreement over whether it actually works. The guide does list several other ways of getting reach on a Magus, though.

[Verth Immon]

So after checking back through the guide and seeing that piece on using weapon trick to one hand polearms, do you think that creates a niche use for the emblem of greed spell? Getting full bab is a decent buff if only for the extra attack, and the enchantments are decent enough, especially considering you can slap everything else you might want onto it with your arcane pool

[Kurald Galain]

So after checking back through the guide and seeing that piece on using weapon trick to one hand polearms, do you think that creates a niche use for the emblem of greed spell?

Well, the bonus isn't great (since your gold and the GMW spell should give you a better weapon at this point), but getting a fourth attack is pretty decent even if it's at -15 to hit. So yes.

Also, I've taken a look at Concordance of Rivals and it contains no new material pertinent to the Magus.

[Chaos Jackal]

Hello.

First, you have my thanks for the guide. I've been using it as reference for months now, and it has helped me a lot with learning and playing my magus efficiently in my Pathfinder home campaign.

I'd like a general opinion on Close Range. I agree in regards to its rating, it's an OK arcana with a cool niche but nothing too strong or too standout. I was considering it at some point just for the fun of blasting lasers through swords to add some flavor, and I've been considering the best level range to do so. To me, it seems that it would be better overall if picked early; replacing Arcane Mark's simple melee hit with a 1d3+1 damage bonus from Ray of Frost is definitely good at lower levels, where damage is lower and spell slots fewer. Cosmic Ray and Enervation crits later are definitely fun, but a crit isn't something you can rely on to happen when needed, and by that time 1d3+2 is kinda lame, assuming you'll resort to using a cantrip in the first place.

Obviously it's not the best choice anyway, but assuming you go for it, is it worth picking up Close Range at mid-to-high levels at all?

[TiaC]

I was looking through the guide again, and I notice that you don't seem to call out a common misconception about Empower Spell. For spells like Magic Missile and Frostbite, it multiplies all the damage, not just the die roll. A lot of people miss this and undervalue Empower spell. I think it would be worth mentioning that when talking about Empower Spell.

[Kurald Galain]

Obviously it's not the best choice anyway, but assuming you go for it, is it worth picking up Close Range at mid-to-high levels at all?

Yes, you should definitely pick yellow options that you find fun and flavorful. It's only the red options that are traps.

I was looking through the guide again, and I notice that you don't seem to call out a common misconception about Empower Spell. For spells like Magic Missile and Frostbite, it multiplies all the damage, not just the die roll. A lot of people miss this and undervalue Empower spell. I think it would be worth mentioning that when talking about Empower Spell.

Interesting; I was not aware that this is a common misconception.

[rypt]

Just wanted to point out how great the flash forward spell is for any of the unarmed magus archetypes (the Jistkan artificer, in particular, since it has access to flurry of blows). If you pick up Pummeling Style and Pummeling Charge, you can make a normal full attack with spell combat, then cast flash forward, which triggers Pummeling Charge, and allows you to make another full attack (or flurry of blows, if you have it).

[Kurald Galain]

That looks like it should work, good find. Requires level 16 and a swift action; the feats are not a problem by that level. Pummeling Bully can add yet more attacks.

[Brandenfascher]

I just want to run this by any experts here to make sure I'm not accounting too much into something interesting I'm seeing concerning the Iron-Ring Striker archtype. Here's my theory:

"I believe I've found that a simple optimized build with access to 5th level spells can easily reach 32d8 damage dice on unarmed melee attacks by about level 15, and that a heavily optimized build with access to 6th level spells can reach 48d8 damage dice by about level 16 with really high INT or level 17 with at minimum 16 INT. I assume Monk's Robes will increase unarmed dice progression by 5 levels without needing a level in monk/brawler, but requiring a 1 level dip in either class shouldn't change anything except bumping the heavily optimized build's 6 level spell access by a level. This is also assuming that high level dice progression of the amount of dice to increase follows the following observed exponential pattern (+2, +2, +4, +4, +8, +8, +16, +16... etc) with specific exceptions when coming from a Tiny->Small->Medium size progression (2d6->2d8->2d10) as I see in the Enlarge Person weapon damage size conversion chart on the d20pfsrd.

For the simple optimized build, all it takes is any small race, doesn't matter which; we'll take a Halfling for example. A halfling at level 15 has access to at least 2 level 5 spell slots, and with Monk's Robe, reaches the 2d8 unarmed damage cap. As a standard action, he can use Empower Combat to sacrifice one of the level 5 spells to give himself unarmed strike damage up to Colossal (12d8). The dice progressions are expanded as such Small->Medium->Large->Huge->Gargantuan->Colossal: 2d8->2d10->4d8->6d8->8d8->12d8. These are effective damage increases, not actual increases, so they should stack with actual size increases.

A magus can cast Monstrous Physique 3 as a 5th level spell, and can do it as part of spell combat; using the other 5th level spell slot for that spell, he can give himself any Huge Monstrous Humanoid creature that can make unarmed attacks. That's three actual size increases to add, going from Small->Medium->Large->Huge: 12d8->16d8->24d8->32d8.

For the heavily optimized build, the best race I can determine to use in terms of action economy would be a Kitsune with Fox Shape and Swift Kitsune Shapechanger feats. This allows the kitsune to become tiny, and to grow back to medium as a swift action, and then perform spell combat. At tiny size, the Kitsune must use a standard action with a 6th level spell for Empower Combat to achieve Colossal damage (12d8): Tiny->Small->Medium->Large->Huge->Gargantuan->Colossal: 2d6->2d8->2d10->4d8->6d8->8d8->12d8.

While the spell cost for Empower Combat is more expensive, the progression from tiny to Colossal is one actual size step larger. With Swift Kitsune Shapechanger, the kitsune can swift from tiny back to medium, increasing actual damage dice by 2 steps, then with/without spell combat, can cast Monstrous Physique 3 (medium to huge). Essentially, the actual size damage dice progression on top of effective damage dice: Tiny->Small->Medium->Large->Huge: 12d8->16d8->24d8->32d8->48d8. Just like the simple optimized build, this damage comes online by round 2, but is achieved at later levels."

So... Does all of this seem sound, or do I have holes in my theory?

[rypt]

So... Does all of this seem sound, or do I have holes in my theory?

I'm afraid there are holes. Empower Combat has no effect on your unarmed strike damage. It only grants you (a) size modifiers to your CMB and CMD (Fine –8, Diminutive –4, Tiny –2, Small –1, Medium +0, Large +1, Huge +2, Gargantuan +4, Colossal +8); (b) a size bonus to strength; and (c) allows you to affect larger creatures with bull rush and the like.

[Brandenfascher]

I'm afraid there are holes. Empower Combat has no effect on your unarmed strike damage. It only grants you (a) size modifiers to your CMB and CMD (Fine –8, Diminutive –4, Tiny –2, Small –1, Medium +0, Large +1, Huge +2, Gargantuan +4, Colossal +8); (b) a size bonus to strength; and (c) allows you to affect larger creatures with bull rush and the like.

Ah, there's the rub. Definitely a crater sized hole. I wonder how I overlooked that one. Thanks!

[Brandenfascher]

In spite of my misunderstanding, now that I think about this in the combat maneuver angle, it's possible the Empower Combat ability can pull off some really interesting size based combat maneuver abilities on more enemies than most.

As long as the table's GM allows feats to be taken when the player can at least meet them reliably with temporary abilities (such as flying feats with spells or magic items that grant fly), feats like Awesome Blow, Awesome Throw, Gluttonous Gobbler, and Ogre Crush (the last two needing Racial Heritage [ogre]) appear to take more advantage of the Empower Combat's statement that the effective size increases affect "which creatures he can affect with combat maneuvers", meaning the iron-ring striker can affect many more creatures with those feat's abilities (as long as he transforms to large or larger size through spells or otherwise to meet feat prerequisites). This can also lead to some hilarious situations, like a normally Medium and fully empowered iron-striker turned Huge, swallowing whole a Colossal creature with the Gluttonous Gobbler feat.

[Kurald Galain]

In spite of my misunderstanding, now that I think about this in the combat maneuver angle, it's possible the Empower Combat ability can pull off some really interesting size based combat maneuver abilities on more enemies than most.

Yes, that should work; but the issue here is action economy. Empower Combat, Awesome Blow / Throw, Gobbler, and grab each require a standard action and cannot be used in spell combat.

So for a Magus, it's probably easier to achieve these effects with the Rock Whip or Battering Blast spell.