PF - Myrmidarch (Magus) ranged spellstrike and Dye arrows

[Red Bear]

the Magus archetype Myrmidarch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus/archetypes/paizo---magus-archetypes/myrmidarch) has an ability called Ranged spellstrike. There is a type of arrow called dye arrow (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/ammunition/ammunition-bow-arrow-dye)

Do you think a Myrmidarch can use this dye arrow with spellstrike and therefore use the target touch AC instead of the regular AC?
Would you allow it?

[watchwood]

It would certainly appear that way. I'd probably allow it, as long as the player actually tracked his ammo usage. (Since Dye arrows are more expensive then regular ones, yet don't deal any of their own damage)

[Psyren]

Sure - but given that you can only deliver ranged touch spells via ranged spellstrike, doing this gains you basically nothing. You may as well just cast the spell normally and leave the bow out of it altogether.

[Red Bear]

It would certainly appear that way. I'd probably allow it, as long as the player actually tracked his ammo usage. (Since Dye arrows are more expensive then regular ones, yet don't deal any of their own damage)
I didn't consider the additional cost, thank you for noticing it.


Sure - but given that you can only deliver ranged touch spells via ranged spellstrike, doing this gains you basically nothing. You may as well just cast the spell normally and leave the bow out of it altogether.
there are several bonuses that can apply when using the bow (arcane pool and/or weapon enhancement bonus, feats like weapon focus and/or arcane strike etc.)

[Psyren]

1) By RAW, Arcane Strike and dye arrows won't work, because dye arrows do no damage no matter how many damage bonuses you pile on. Ditto the enhancement bonus on the bow itself. You'll have a better chance of hitting, sure, but it's a touch attack anyway so the bonus is hardly needed. The point of Myrmidarch is to use regular arrows that do damage, and you can then add in your bonuses from Fighter Training to get a better chance to hit.

2) You can apply Weapon Focus and similar to-hit feats to rays just as easily.

3) For these tiny bonuses - some of which cost you WBL - you're giving up Spell Recall, a far superior ability, not to mention a whopping 3 arcana. It's really not worth it, this archetype is pretty bad.