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  1. - Top - End - #181
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    It applies to one natural attack per round, and it sickens. Also, Scaleheart is now +Str/+Con/-Wis. It admittedly is pretty nice, but is very same-y now.

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

    What a bummer. I really liked Int/Str Scalehearts.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    At least PFS allows them to choose which set they want; seeing how all the fluff portrays them as ruthless yet intimidating schemers rather than brutish thugs, GMs might let you choose as well. I should note that Ru-Shi have been fixed for their proper +Str/+Int/-Dex; they aren't ideal, but its fairly easy to overcome their weaknesses.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Kurald Galain View Post
    Oh yeah, conductive weapon + Hexcrafter is a nice combo. Note that fell magic doesn't work in spell combat.
    Oh no? That's a shame.

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    Or just go for the debuff stack of Frostbite + Rime Spell + Enforcer feat + Menacing weapon.
    Ooh I like this one. This path would work equally as well. Basically I'm aiming for a sort of "Dark Knight" type magus. She'll look sort of like this in the end. xD

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  5. - Top - End - #185
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Great guide!

    I have a question though. Would it be viable to play a Hexcrafter Magus with the aforementioned dip in Vivisectionist Alchemist? Normally, I'd probably just play a full Magus but I like the flavor the Alchemist adds to this particular character. I've been surfing the web for the last couple of days trying to look up the interaction between the Alchemist and Magus, but this is the only guide I've seen that even mentions the option.

    How should I go about making such a character? Would I have to drop Hexcrafter and choose something else? How should I prioritize my ability scores?

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

    I'm a little surprised that there's no mention of Android: +2 Int and Dex, -2 Cha, lowlight and Darkvision, gets -4 sense motive for a boatload of +4 resistances, and a few immunities., and once per day add 3+(HD) to a d20 roll as an immediate action.
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  7. - Top - End - #187
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Quote Originally Posted by MuchasGracias View Post
    Great guide!

    I have a question though. Would it be viable to play a Hexcrafter Magus with the aforementioned dip in Vivisectionist Alchemist? Normally, I'd probably just play a full Magus but I like the flavor the Alchemist adds to this particular character. I've been surfing the web for the last couple of days trying to look up the interaction between the Alchemist and Magus, but this is the only guide I've seen that even mentions the option.

    How should I go about making such a character? Would I have to drop Hexcrafter and choose something else? How should I prioritize my ability scores?
    Thank you

    Yes, that is a good combination, including the hexcrafter part. Do you plan on using a mutagen? I'd suggest prioritizing strength (to take advantage of your newfound sneak attack ability), and make sure you have enough intelligence so that even under a mutagen, you can still cast your highest level of spells. Then go for a two-level dip in alchemist so you can take discoveries, and spend some feats on extra discovery. The best parts of the hexcrafter are probably its bonus spells and the Flight hex.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sayt View Post
    I'm a little surprised that there's no mention of Android: +2 Int and Dex, -2 Cha, lowlight and Darkvision, gets -4 sense motive for a boatload of +4 resistances, and a few immunities., and once per day add 3+(HD) to a d20 roll as an immediate action.
    There are so many dex/int races that I didn't see a point in listing all of them; plus this one is from a book that (to my knowledge) is only rarely allowed for PC races.
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  8. - Top - End - #188
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Ahh, fair enough, I guess.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Quote Originally Posted by Kurald Galain View Post
    Thank you

    Yes, that is a good combination, including the hexcrafter part. Do you plan on using a mutagen? I'd suggest prioritizing strength (to take advantage of your newfound sneak attack ability), and make sure you have enough intelligence so that even under a mutagen, you can still cast your highest level of spells. Then go for a two-level dip in alchemist so you can take discoveries, and spend some feats on extra discovery. The best parts of the hexcrafter are probably its bonus spells and the Flight hex.
    Or he could just play a Dex magus, use mutagen for Dex and NOT take a hit to Int. It's easy to play a Dex magus even without Kensai archetype.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by dude123nice View Post
    Or he could just play a Dex magus, use mutagen for Dex and NOT take a hit to Int. It's easy to play a Dex magus even without Kensai archetype.
    I don't think Kensai really favors Str or Dex, it depends on the weapon you pick up. I suppose you can get into Slashing Grace or Fencing Grace at 1st level but that's really the only difference compared to regular Magus.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Quote Originally Posted by Cieyrin View Post
    I don't think Kensai really favors Str or Dex, it depends on the weapon you pick up. I suppose you can get into Slashing Grace or Fencing Grace at 1st level but that's really the only difference compared to regular Magus.
    Canny Defense doesn't work with anything heavier than light armor.
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  12. - Top - End - #192
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Quote Originally Posted by Cieyrin View Post
    I don't think Kensai really favors Str or Dex, it depends on the weapon you pick up. I suppose you can get into Slashing Grace or Fencing Grace at 1st level but that's really the only difference compared to regular Magus.
    Indeed. However, note that Slashing Grace was errata'ed to no longer work with spell combat.

    ...not that I would recommend a kensai at level one, though.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sacrieur View Post
    Canny Defense doesn't work with anything heavier than light armor.
    Kensai aren't proficient in armor at all. However, a strength-based Kensai could simply use his defensive buff spells to compensate for his lower armor class. Also, using a wand or Spell Blending to get Mage Armor is a decent trick.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    A weird thing is sticking VMC Fighter to a Kensai.
    Armor Training will allow you to use armor without being proficient, but the new advanced weapon training options will now be availlable for a kensai, too.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Florian View Post
    A weird thing is sticking VMC Fighter to a Kensai.
    Armor Training will allow you to use armor without being proficient, but the new advanced weapon training options will now be availlable for a kensai, too.
    Wearing armor gives the kensai arcane spell failure; VMC fighter doesn't mitigate that.

    See, canny defense isn't there to give the kensai better defenses than an ordinary Magus; rather, it is there to compensate for the fact that he can't wear armor. It's probably better to cover your defenses with Mirror Image and Displacement spells.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    To prevent a missunderstanding:
    I did not say that Armor Mastery will prevent ASF. For that, special materials and enhancements will do the job. I'm just mentioning that it is possible for a Kensai to wear armour without having any proficiency in it, up to a certain grade.
    Assuming WBL without restrictions, that can be insofar important, as you can stick more enhancements on a higher AC than is usually possible with pure spells or bracers of armour.
    (Starting with the humble and thematically fitting Silken Ceremonial)

    Naturally, you're right in that pure miss chance spells will work just fine and are more reliable when you can't get AC high enough to raise that beyond a certain percentage.

    That was actually not my main point of enphasis, though, that was getting hands on Weapon Training to access Advanced Weapon Training, as that can really give the Kensai another nice boost, as unlike your regular Fighter, you're stuck to a certain signature weapon and can freely focus on that.

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

    Apologies if this has been mentioned, but how would you use spell perfection to Quicken Disintegrate. As a 6th level spell quicken would bring it above level 9. Magical Lineage is probably used on Shocking grasp, so what would you use to bring down that cost by one?
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Quote Originally Posted by dascarletm View Post
    Apologies if this has been mentioned, but how would you use spell perfection to Quicken Disintegrate. As a 6th level spell quicken would bring it above level 9. Magical Lineage is probably used on Shocking grasp, so what would you use to bring down that cost by one?
    Quicken Magic Arcana?

    If 1/day is not the enough and you knew that you gonna reach those levels and use that tactic, it's your fault not to have picked wayang spell hunter/mahical lineage for disintegrate.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Florian View Post
    Quicken Magic Arcana?

    If 1/day is not the enough and you knew that you gonna reach those levels and use that tactic, it's your fault not to have picked wayang spell hunter/mahical lineage for disintegrate.
    I'm only trying to see if there was something I missed for the tactic that was mentioned in the handbook. That tactic was pairing spell perfection with disintegrate. I'm wondering if we assume we chose magical lineage (Disintegrate) or if there was something else that allowed this combo.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Quote Originally Posted by dascarletm View Post
    I'm only trying to see if there was something I missed for the tactic that was mentioned in the handbook. That tactic was pairing spell perfection with disintegrate. I'm wondering if we assume we chose magical lineage (Disintegrate) or if there was something else that allowed this combo.
    Well, it's a tactic for a "finished" build, with all the pros and cons.
    Me, I don't play beyond lvl 15/16 as that is my endgame, but if you plan to play until 20, you may actually think about such things, as that Disintegrate tactic may hold true for 25% of your game then.
    Actually, you could chose both traits at the start, Magical Lineage and Wayang Spellhunter, as they are compatible (Magic, Regional), one for Shocking Grasp, the other for Disintegrate.
    You could also pick VMC Sorcerer or Wizard (Arcane, Universalist) to pick up Metamagic reduction from there, but that's a bit overkill then.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Kurald Galain View Post
    Indeed. However, note that Slashing Grace was errata'ed to no longer work with spell combat.

    ...not that I would recommend a kensai at level one, though.


    Kensai aren't proficient in armor at all. However, a strength-based Kensai could simply use his defensive buff spells to compensate for his lower armor class. Also, using a wand or Spell Blending to get Mage Armor is a decent trick.
    Mage Armor, as you mentioned, or bracers of armor, or one of the armors, like haramaki, with no armor check penalty, spell failure chance or max Dex limit, focus on Dex and Int and you end up with a prety high AC, most of which applies even against touch attacks. And you can still use Dervish Dance or Fencing Grace. Seriously, these things are pretty common knowledge. Also, if you take a one level dip into Alchemist, you can uses the mutagen that boosts Dex and penalizes Wis, not Int.
    Last edited by dude123nice; 2015-11-20 at 03:41 PM.

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

    Great guide btw. Coming from 4e optimization, I am new to PF, so this guide has been very helpful.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kurald Galain View Post
    Indeed. However, note that Slashing Grace was errata'ed to no longer work with spell combat.

    ...not that I would recommend a kensai at level one, though.
    Doesn't Fencing Grace still work though? This would seem to make a human Dex-magus kensai very strong at level 1, as they can get Weapon Focus, Weapon Finesse, AND Fencing Grace. So it seems at levels 1-2, Kensai is actually the strongest magus? +1 to hit / +static damage all day is easily worth a spell slot...?

    Not a fan of kensai from levels 3-8, though. At level 4, they really suffer from losing both an extra spell and spell recall.

    Kensai aren't proficient in armor at all. However, a strength-based Kensai could simply use his defensive buff spells to compensate for his lower armor class. Also, using a wand or Spell Blending to get Mage Armor is a decent trick.
    Blending at level 6 seems good to me. They pick up Mage Armor, and now their AC is superior to the non-Kensai magus and can get quite tanky if both Dex and Int can be boosted enough (not to mention giant initiative from both stats).

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Cazzeo View Post
    Great guide btw. Coming from 4e optimization, I am new to PF, so this guide has been very helpful.
    Doesn't Fencing Grace still work though? This would seem to make a human Dex-magus kensai very strong at level 1, as they can get Weapon Focus, Weapon Finesse, AND Fencing Grace. So it seems at levels 1-2, Kensai is actually the strongest magus? +1 to hit / +static damage all day is easily worth a spell slot...?
    I wouldn't say so, as having three spells per day instead of two is actually more of a big deal than getting +1 to hit. Weapon Focus is just not a very good feat, after all. Also, consider that a strength Magus already has the same +static to damage without spending any feats.

    If you want to be a gish, then diminished spellcasting hurts at low to moderate levels (as does having to reserve a slot for Mage Armor). If you want to be a melee striker without caring about the gish part, then arguably swashbuckler and barbarian are better at it than the kensai.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    I think a dex magus kensai with a focus in Int could do fairly well; yeah, you can't wear armor, but you at least have your intelligence to your AC right from the start, along with your dex. Also if you have high intelligence, the diminished spellcasting doesn't hurt as much.

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

    You don't get intelligence to AC, not entirely anyhow, since it is capped by your level. This isn't really a problem a few levels in, but is a huge difference at level 1.

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

    Wonderful guide, just love it, just one remark on Fate's Favored, for halfling, it is a racial bonus not a luck bonus, so the trait does not apply.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Yondu View Post
    Wonderful guide, just love it, just one remark on Fate's Favored, for halfling, it is a racial bonus not a luck bonus, so the trait does not apply.
    Adaptable Luck is one of their alternative racial options, and that one is a luck bonus.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Quote Originally Posted by Kurald Galain View Post
    Adaptable Luck is one of their alternative racial options, and that one is a luck bonus.
    Oups, Sorry, Not remembering this alternate trait for Halflings...

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

    Added the Weapon Master's Handbook. Well, since that's a book more for pure warriors than for gishes, there's not a lot of Magus material in that book. But anyway.
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    Default Re: Myrrh, Frankincense, and Steel: Kurald Galain's Guide to the Magus

    Can you explain how you are using a katana with your Dex-build example? You can't use Weapon Finesse without taking a dip in Swashbuckler for Swashbuckler's Finesse, and the Katana requires Exotic Weapon Proficiency to use one handed (which is necessary for it to be used with Spell Combat). You also can't get Dex to damage on it without the Agile property, because Slashing Grace no longer works with Spell Combat.

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

    Thanks for pointing that out. I wrote that build before the Slashing Grace nerf and overlooked this when updating the guide.
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