Pathfinder Magus help!

[Nizhgareth]

Hello!
So, I wanna play a character who is Lawful Evil, and believes he is the rightful ruler of the world. He gained this idea from a magical sword which he had removed from a stone, a la King Arthur, but evil. He isn't a bad guy, but he is hell bent on his quest, and any who get in his way are cut down.

Specs: We're level 5, and I want to play a Bladebound Magus (the sort with an intelligent weapon.) Anybody have any ideas as to the best way to play this concept? Even if you think another class would work better, but I really love the idea of the Magus.

Thank you!

[Psyren]

You could ask your DM to tweak the alignment rules of the Black Blade to let you be one step apart from it. Make the Magus LN and the blade LE - thus, your Magus won't be a totally bad guy, at least initially. Then use the intelligent item rules (specifically, the Purpose and Dominance sections) to both spark and resolve personality conflicts between the two. Throughout their adventures, the blade will be trying to make the magus LE (or force him to do LE things when it gains Dominance.) And naturally, being LE means it's intolerant, so it would demand that you use no other weapon and even make you disdainful of your companions' weapons (if you aren't already.)

In general, going along with the blade's goal of becoming a monarch would keep it mostly satisfied, though it may prefer you to be more ruthless in given situations (e.g. executing an enemy rather than taking it prisoner.) If you go along with the Blade's desires too much, you'll slip to LE (which may or may not be desirable for your character) and truly believe that only you are fit to rule at any cost. Or your character might eventually come to realize the dangers of the blade and embark on a quest to rid yourself of it once and for all. The fun part is that none of these is really a "bad" ending, so you're free to choose whichever feels more natural to the character as you play.

This would sort of play out like the Alchemist's Master Chymist, where two distinct personalities have to work together, and frequently butt heads as a result. The only difference would be that instead of sharing a body, it's more of a partnership, save for the occasional bout of Dominance where one of you can steer the other by force.

[Alienist]

Sounds like a cool character concept.

As a 5th level Bladebound you start with a free +2 one-handed bladed weapon.

Don't spend all of your remaining wealth-by-level on leather armour though, because at 7th level you will get the ability to use medium armour and still cast spells.

Your weapon will auto-magically increase in power at a reasonable rate for your level. (Next increase is level 9, but a +2 weapon at level 8 is still respectable)

The difficult thing with Magus is picking out your Magus Arcanas, but with Bladebound you give up the third level one (and a small portion of Arcane Pool points), so you have a whole level to think about which one to get at level 6.

You have to pick a bonus feat for 5th level. Craft Magical Arms and Armour might at first blush be an obvious one, but your Black Blade will improve by itself, and it is unclear to me if you can add additional enchantments to it.
What with the Arcane Pool and other features you certainly don't need to add anything extra to it.

Combat Feats:
Unfortunately (or otherwise) Pathfinder is practically defined by its absolute boatload of combat related feats, so it is really a matter of personal taste. I did find this:

Arcane Strike (+2 to damage for the remainder of the round as a swift action)

Which might be of interest, but I cannot say if a 'free' +2 damage is worth blowing a feat on.

Metamagic Feats:
Intensified Spell

This one is interesting. You can take it at level 5, but it doesn't do anything for you till level 6. At levels 6-10 you can deal extra damage (over and above the limit of five dice) with your first level spells such as burning hands or shocking grasp by casting them as second level spells.

There don't seem to be any second level spells on the Magus spell list that have that same limitation, but you could use your Arcane pool to import them from the Wizard spell list, but I can't see any on that either.

So the next stop after that would be third level spells such as Fireball. From 11-15th levels you could get a bit more damage from them by casting them as 4ths instead of thirds.

[watchwood]

@Alienist - A Magus' enhancement bonus from Arcane Poll explicitly stacks with the weapon's natural enhancment bonus.

If you get decent starting stats, I also suggest taking the Kensai archetype. It costs you a bit of magic and some of your secondary abilities, but you'll gain a lot of nice perks from it, and it really helps flesh out the focus on the use of your sword.

Finally, read Walter's guide to the Magus. I don't agree with everything he says on the class, but for the most part it's a very good reference material.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1DB6sOfbAzFmKVPgcyLWipTVqvWFjfDSv6v_YiGQb5Y w

[Alienist]

@Alienist - A Magus' enhancement bonus from Arcane Poll explicitly stacks with the weapon's natural enhancment bonus.


Ah! You're quite right. Excuse me while I adjust the original post to remove misinformation.

[Darth Grall]

Hello!
So, I wanna play a character who is Lawful Evil, and believes he is the rightful ruler of the world. He gained this idea from a magical sword which he had removed from a stone, a la King Arthur, but evil. He isn't a bad guy, but he is hell bent on his quest, and any who get in his way are cut down.

Specs: We're level 5, and I want to play a Bladebound Magus (the sort with an intelligent weapon.) Anybody have any ideas as to the best way to play this concept? Even if you think another class would work better, but I really love the idea of the Magus.

Thank you!


You could ask your DM to tweak the alignment rules of the Black Blade to let you be one step apart from it. Make the Magus LN and the blade LE - thus, your Magus won't be a totally bad guy, at least initially. Then use the intelligent item rules (specifically, the Purpose and Dominance sections) to both spark and resolve personality conflicts between the two. Throughout their adventures, the blade will be trying to make the magus LE (or force him to do LE things when it gains Dominance.) And naturally, being LE means it's intolerant, so it would demand that you use no other weapon and even make you disdainful of your companions' weapons (if you aren't already.)

In general, going along with the blade's goal of becoming a monarch would keep it mostly satisfied, though it may prefer you to be more ruthless in given situations (e.g. executing an enemy rather than taking it prisoner.) If you go along with the Blade's desires too much, you'll slip to LE (which may or may not be desirable for your character) and truly believe that only you are fit to rule at any cost. Or your character might eventually come to realize the dangers of the blade and embark on a quest to rid yourself of it once and for all. The fun part is that none of these is really a "bad" ending, so you're free to choose whichever feels more natural to the character as you play.

This would sort of play out like the Alchemist's Master Chymist, where two distinct personalities have to work together, and frequently butt heads as a result. The only difference would be that instead of sharing a body, it's more of a partnership, save for the occasional bout of Dominance where one of you can steer the other by force.Omg, you two have just described the ultimate BBEG of my current campaign(being played by my brother) as he's slowly corrupted by his sword(for exactly the same reasons). Only difference is he's a half-drow(using the ARG alternate traits for half-elfs) (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/core-races/half-elf) & he's also using the Kensai Archetype (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus/archetypes/paizo---magus-archetypes/kensai)in addition to a Blackblade :smallannoyed:

Well I guess I have rather specific input for you then; Subterfuge is your best ally. For example, my wanna-be-ruler has created his own enemy to rally behind, using the existing legend of an evil god-like being returning to their plane as a means to slowly get party members behind him. He conquests from nation to nation planting evidence as they go to further re-inforce his point that they need to "establish order" in each country. So far no one's caught on, save for the Wizard who's only getting a little suspicious but doesn't really care since all he wants is arcane power.

Point is, be honest about your goal if you can, since otherwise the other players may interfere seeing you as a villian(especially if you're playing LN/LE in a good party). Put a machiavellian spin on things if it helps, and come up with some very good evidence to support your arguement.

[Hiro Protagonest]

You could ask your DM to tweak the alignment rules of the Black Blade to let you be one step apart from it. Make the Magus LN and the blade LE - thus, your Magus won't be a totally bad guy, at least initially.

OR you could do the opposite. Make the blade LN. Total knight-type, and chivalrous to a fault, but puts honor and duty above mercy and compassion. Still, when it's not totally inconvenient, will always try to convince the Magus to help those in need.

(I am totally ripping off Caliburn right now :smalltongue:)