[PF] Magus Build

[watchwood]

I'll be playing in a pathfinder campaign soon, and I've decided to play a Magus. I'm still working on the details of when to do with the build, though. Right now I'm looking at a strength/int based build, though I suppose I could go elf and do the dervish dance thing as well. Here's what I've got so far:

Human

Rolled Stats: 17, 12, 10, 11, 12, 14

Prime Skills: Spellcraft, UMD

1 Feat (Power Attack), Feat (Step up)
2
3 Feat (Following Step), Arcana
4
5 Feat (Craft Wonderous), Feat (Craft Weapons/Armour)
6 Arcana
7 Feat (Intensified Spell)
8
9 Feat (Lunge), Arcana
10
11 Feat (Improved Crit: Scimitar), Feat (Monkey Lunge)
12 Arcana
13 Feat (Critical Focus)
14
15 Feat (Bleeding Critical), Arcana
16
17 Feat, Feat
18 Arcana
19 Feat
20

maybe feats to pick up later?
Blind Fight
Craft Rings (cheap goodies from rungs)
Craft Wands (Cheap consumables)

Arcanas?
Arcane Accuracy (Int to hit for a turn)
Distruptive (Mage Hunting)
Enduring Blade (Good for rapid assaults)
Ghost Blade (versatility)
Spellbreaker (Even better Mage Hunting)
Wand Wielder (will be handy for long days of fighting)
Shield Caster (Bonus AC, though I may just use a wand of Shield instead)

Lunge, Monkey Lunge, Step up, and Following Step will pretty much let me dominate ranged and casting types with AoOs.

I'm considering the crafting feats because the half price items effectively doubles my WBL for the cost of a couple of feats - it's not a bad perk when Pathfinder crafting doesn't have XP costs. (And I honestly just think it's cool)

Starting level 1 and normal WBL. Pretty much all of the details are still up in the air, so I'm open to any suggestions that you guys might have.

[Keneth]

Avoid Bleeding Critical, it's bad. Go for Blinding Critical if you're into critical feats. Avoid Monkey Lunge too, you'll want to be carrying heavy armor since you're not dexterity based. You can't take Power Attack at 1st level because you don't have +1 BAB. Step up is cool if you expect to see a lot of casters/ranged attackers but following step is kinda pointless, also note that it uses up your immediate action and that means you can't use a swift action on your following turn which you're gonna want to as a magus.

That's it for now, I'll give it another look once I get home.

[Pilo]

First: Power attack and Step Up require +1 Bab. At level 1 magus has only +0 Bab, so you can't take them at level 1.

Second: As you will lake a lot of the spells needed to craft the magic items, I think you can drop them (the cost of the scrolls you may use with UMD to have them will be too high : 1 scroll per day of crafting).

Third: Magus are almost MAD (You need Str, Int, Con and maybe Dex).
Your roll is kind of SAD. But if I were you, I'll put 17 in str, 12 in dex, 12 in con, 14 in int, 10 in wis and 11 in cha. Then put the first level point in str and the 2 following in int. You'll be a weak one but depending of the optimisation level of your group, it may be enough.

It seems your build is based on scimtar critical range but if you can change, go half-elf and take the racial trait Ancestral Arms instead of Adaptability. So you can pick Bastard sword to switch one-handed and two-handed fighting so you can cast and hit or hit.
You will do 1d10+1.5 str instead of 2d6+2 str 1/4 of the time. and with enlarge person it become 2d8+1.5str every time vs 2d8+2 str 1/4 and 1d8+str 3/4 time, according every of your critics are confirmed (and we know they won't).

[jaybird]

Go Half-Elf and pick up that Arcana that lets you spend one Arcane Pool point to do d8/level sonic damage Fort to half on a hit.

[Keneth]

Firstly, ignore that ^. You'll have too few arcane pool points as it is, you don't want to be wasting them on tiny amounts of damage when you could be using them to recall spells or using arcane accuracy.

Scimitar can also be wielded in two hands but if you're gonna go exotic, I would skip bastard sword and go for falcata. Slightly less damage but hits harder on criticals than a bastard sword.

Crafting is nice but make sure you'll have the time to do it in your campaign as well as if there's any other casters around. As a magus you're gonna want to invest your feats into combat abilities, but if you're the only caster, then crafting feats can be good.

You probably won't need Blind-Fight, but you're gonna want to take Weapon Focus and Arcane Strike at least to increase your attack and damage.

Ignore Shield Caster, you're gonna have shield up the whole time probably (buy a wand). Take Bane Blade (more useful than Ghost Blade) and Accurate Strike (better than Arcane Accuracy but more expensive) when you can.

Invest skills points into Fly, you'll be using it a lot unless all your adventures happen in a 7-foot-high dungeon. Also throw points into Perception, it's not a class skill, but you'll want to notice things generally (like angry orcs coming at you). Climb, Ride, and Swim each deserve a skill point if you can afford it, at least until you can cast fly.

Other than that, you can take a look at Walter's Guide (https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1DB6sOfbAzFmKVPgcyLWipTVqvWFjfDSv6v_YiGQb5Y w&pli=1) and the thread (http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz40tc&page=19?UM-Walters-Guide-to-the-Magus) that goes along with it.

[jaybird]

:smalleek: Didn't see how few Arcana points Magus gets, you're right.

EDIT: I thought it was Magus level+Int mod for some reason, not half-level + Int mod.