bladebound magus help

[geekintheground]

what are good feats, traits and arcanas for a bloodbound magus? i think i want to focus on melee using spellstrike and the dervish dance feat, but its my 1st pathfinder game so nothing is set in stone. i have played a little 3.5 but not much, and have been interested in trying pathfinder for a while. any advice is useful.

assume no 3.5 allowed. thanks for your help :)

[Thrair]

I'm relatively new to the Magus, myself. But I've been recently taught by this forum of a lot of the tricks to the class.

One: Shocking Grasp is your bread and butter for Spellstrike. +3 on attack rolls if they have metal on them, no saving throw.

2: Intensified Spell metamagic (not Intensify Spell). Increases the levelcap on damage dice by 5. So instead of capping out at 5d6, it caps out at 10d6. Doubles the damage. All for just a +1 to spell level.

3: Magical Lineage trait, reduces the total level adjustment of a spell after metamagic by 1. So that Intensified is free. Level one spellslot for 10d6.


Now: Spell Perfection is gonna be a good goal for you. It takes 3 Metamagic feats and 15 ranks in spellcraft. But it doubles any feat bonuses to the spell like spell penetration. It also lets you add any one Metamagic to the chosen spell for free when you cast it. This is on top of the ones the spell is Prepared with.

My suggestion? Pick up Quicken Spell and Elemental Spell. The first allows you to cast any of your Shocking Grasp slots as a swift action. Combine it with Spellstrike and you also get a free melee attack at your full BAB (+3 if they're wearing metal).

The second allows you to swap the damage type on Shocking Grasp on the fly if you run into something immune to Electricity.

A nice Combo with all this if you're next to an enemy?

Spell Combat with Shocking Grasp. You get a full-attack on the target, followed or preceded by a free attack attached to Intensified Shocking Grasp. Then you can Spell Perfection another cast of Intensified Shocking Grasp with Quicken. Additional free melee attack with another 10d6.


As far as equipment: Celestial Armor. You're using Dervish Dance, so you'll have good Dex. Celestial Armor is +3 Mithril Chainmail (+9 Armor bonus) with a +8 Max Dex. It's your best armor. And fairly cheap. Only around 20k gold.

[geekintheground]

wow, thanks!
any suggestions for race?

[Thrair]

*EDIT* Didn't see your response while I was typing this:

Race for a magus with a Dervish Dancer build comes down to either Human or Elf, generally. Humans get the bonus feat, Elves get a bonus to both Dex and Int. Plus an extra bonus on overcoming Spell Resistance.
Tiefling is another good pick. Int and Dex bonus without losing 2 Con.

He's a pair of moderately optimized builds I'd use for a Bladebound Magus. Mind you, I get distracted by shiny stuff all the time and usually don't play optimized characters.

Magus (Bladebound) 20
Human

Racial: Weapon Finesse
1: Toughness
3: Dervish Dance
5: Arcane Strike
Magus 5: Step Up
7: Intensified Spell
9: Spell Penetration
11: Destructive Dispel
Magus 11: Elemental Spell
13: Quicken Spell
15: Spell Perfection (Shocking Grasp)
17: Following Step
Magus 17: Step Up and Strike
19: Spell Penetration, Greater

Magus Arcana
6: Empowered Magic
9: Ghost Blade
12: Maximized Magic
15: Quickened Magic
18: Spell-Blending (Permanency/Calcific Touch)

Traits (If allowed):
-Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp)
-Reactionary

-Or-

Magus (Bladebound) 20
Elf (w/ Arcane Focus Alternate Racial, if possible)

1: Weapon Finesse
3: Dervish Dance
5: Arcane Strike
Magus 5: Lunge
7: Intensified Spell
9: Toughness
11: Destructive Dispel
Magus 11: Elemental Spell
13: Quicken Spell
15: Spell Perfection (Shocking Grasp)
17: Spell Penetration
Magus 17: Improved Initiative
19: Spell Penetration, Greater

Magus Arcana
6: Empowered Magic
9: Ghost Blade
12: Maximized Magic
15: Quickened Magic
18: Spell-Blending (Permanency/Calcific Touch)

Those are just example builds. I'm sure others could make even stronger ones.

Traits (If allowed):
-Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp)
-Reactionary

[geekintheground]

hey man, thanks! those look fine to me, and are great as a starting point for customization based on RP.