Character optimization

[VenomTongue]

So I am building a recurring villain for a 3.5 campaign. He will be a level 7 elf magus (like from Pathfinder) and I don't know what feats or arcana to give him.
At first I plan on having him fight the PCs and escape and a few levels later (like 13) he'll show back up with an arcanist/Bone Oracle/ Theurge Necromancer.

Now what I want is some optimitation ideas so the fights are memorable and not easy.

[CharonsHelper]

There are a lot of ways to build a magus.

As an elf, you could build him as a kensai dex build, especially if you want him to be survivable.

Get Dervish Dance to get dex-to-damage. Cast Mage Armor and get both dex & int to AC.

Don't go with a Shocking Grasp build if you don't want to have a good shot of killing the PCs. You could go for a frostbite build which can exhaust the PCs, and if you want recurring, give him several spells for escape.

The big thing - don't force him to be a recurring villain. Play him defensive, but if the PCs kill him, he should stay dead.

[Flickerdart]

At first I plan on having him fight the PCs and escape
Rule 1 of DMing: The things you plan will not come to pass.

Any memorable encounter is bigger than just one dude. It needs a combination of factors:

The backdrop
How did the PCs get to the encounter? Did they just sort of show up? Was it a painful slog through a dungeon? Were they pressed for time, injured? Or has the villain ambushed them just when they thought they were safe? Lean towards extremes - either the PCs paid dearly for the right to battle this foe, or he has brought the fight to them at the most unexpected and inconvenient time. Anything in the middle is for random encounters, not boss fights.

The stakes
A great battle should always have something on the line beyond just survival. Is the villain holding something the party wants? Is taking him down just part of the job, or is it personally cathartic for the party to finally catch up to the man that's been ruining their plans and wipe the floor with him? Revenge swings both ways though, and maybe the BBEG has an axe to grind as well.

The setting
"Featureless plain" is not a boss-grade arena. Come up with sections at different elevations, flowing water, howling winds, spiked pits, rubble, unstable piles of skulls, lava, poison gas along the floor. Pull out some of those weird molds from the DMG that grow when exposed to fire. Allow the PCs to manipulate the environment.

The minions
An encounter against a solitary boss is just rocket tag. Can we kill him using our action economy advantage before he kills us? This is anti-climactic. Instead, open the encounter with a few mooks between the PCs and their goal. Hell, don't even have the big bad visible until a round or two in, when he comes to see what the commotion is all about and sees his minions butchered. It helps if this is a quirky miniboss squad you've established ahead of time, and they've been the ones harassing the PCs personally.

The escape
"We were fighting this guy but then he left" is a lame way to end a cool battle. Remember how you should give the PCs a reason to fight that's not just "because it's there"? If nothing else, his escape won't ring hollow because they accomplished that objective when they drove him off. Or maybe they capture him and hand him over to the king, and he bribed the king's guards to escape. Or maybe he's a lich, and killing him doesn't stop him. Maybe he has to leave behind some magic items (wildshaping into a bird causes his too-big shield and sword to fall to the ground) or other valuables (big fat piles of gold he didn't have time to steal).

After all this stuff, you can have the villain be a 1st level commoner, and the vignette would still be an interesting one.

[VenomTongue]

Oh yeah. I know. DMs plan and God laughs.
I also understand that setting the scene, having a clear motivation, etc makes villains either great or terrible.

I hadn't really considered the Kensai build. It just seemed so... squishy. I'll give it a re-read. But tell me more about this frostbite build.

I was thinking of going hexcrafter. But it might be more fun to play than to use as an NPC.

[CharonsHelper]

I hadn't really considered the Kensai build. It just seemed so... squishy. I'll give it a re-read. But tell me more about this frostbite build.

Kensai get their INT to AC, so they actually have the highest AC of all magus past the first level or two.

20 pt buy -

Str: 8
Dex: 19 (21)
Con: 12
Int: 18 (20)
Wis: 11
Cha: 7

AC: 26 (with mage armor)

Attack: +12 1d6+6 (18-20)

Gear: +1 ring/+1 amulet/+2 dex belt/+2 int headband/+1 scimitar/+1 cloak

Feats: Weapon Focus/Weapon Finesse/Dervish Dance/whatever

.
.

As to Frostbite - it's just a nice 1st level spell. At 7th level it'll add 1d6+7 points of nonlethal cold damage to the next 7 hits and makes the target fatigued. (my bad - it can't make them exhausted) The fatigue is nice for getting away, since if you're fatigued you can't run or charge.

He could also use Keen Edge before the battle to up his scimitar's crit to 15-20 which could potentially multiply Frostbite.

To help him get away he could cast Expeditious Retreat with Spell Combat the last round he stays in melee before booking it. Maybe a Web in the passage behind him.

[VenomTongue]

Oh if I am going Kensai I am going Elven Courtblade or Katana.

I was just going with a keen Elven thin blade. Any other ideas?
Earlier in the campaign I misruled (or house-ruled if you prefer) that non-humans get proficiencies with any weapon with their species in it.
Like if you are an elf wizard you can use an elven courtblade for free. Gnomes- gnomish hooked daggers, etc.
Very few people actually took me up on it.
But the wizard did, and so I had a level 4 wizard adventuring with with an Elven Courtblade, an Elvin thinblade, and a longbow.
If he had any base attack bonus he'd have been pretty dangerous.

[Calthropstu]

I have seen a 7th level magus pop out 180 damage in a single shot (improved critical, falchion, shocking grasp cast through weapon, 1d8 + 36 * 3 + 7d8 * 2 + a bunch of extra crit damage)

Don't do that to your players.

Have someone bigger and badder than the players consider this guy a valuable asset. A brother, close friend, personal confident... maybe having some vital information that simply must be had or a mission the must be accomplished who is willing to resurrect the guy if need be.

This way, even if he doesn't escape he can come back at them. Though, if your party goes to the extreme of animating his corpse, that might be off the table.

[CharonsHelper]

I have seen a 7th level magus pop out 180 damage in a single shot (improved critical, falchion, shocking grasp cast through weapon, 1d8 + 36 * 3 + 7d8 * 2 + a bunch of extra crit damage)

How was the shocking grasp d8s? (and a falchion is 2d4)

Though I agree - he shouldn't do a shocking grasp build. (as I mentioned above)

[CharonsHelper]

Oh if I am going Kensai I am going Elven Courtblade or Katana.

I was just going with a keen Elven thin blade. Any other ideas?
Earlier in the campaign I misruled (or house-ruled if you prefer) that non-humans get proficiencies with any weapon with their species in it.
Like if you are an elf wizard you can use an elven courtblade for free. Gnomes- gnomish hooked daggers, etc.
Very few people actually took me up on it.
But the wizard did, and so I had a level 4 wizard adventuring with with an Elven Courtblade, an Elvin thinblade, and a longbow.
If he had any base attack bonus he'd have been pretty dangerous.

Elves do get some weapon proficiencies for free (longbow among them) but they just get Elven weapons to count as martial weapons instead of exotic. (same for gnomes & gnome hook hammers/ half-orcs & orc double-axe etc.)

Courtblades are very bad for magus because they are two-handed, and the magus needs a hand free for Spell Combat.

Katana isn't terrible, but it costs a feat, and unlike a scimitar there is no way to get Dex to Damage with a feat for it.

[Calthropstu]

How was the shocking grasp d8s? (and a falchion is 2d4)

Though I agree - he shouldn't do a shocking grasp build. (as I mentioned above)

man where the hell is my brain lately? I have been getting a lot of stuff mixed up with rules lately, and I am usually spot on.

d6, not d8. 2d4, not d8. 19-20 *3 crits.

[VenomTongue]

EWP Katana would free for a kensai.
But I am not doing it. I previously thought that kensai magi got only light armor but sadly they don't even get that.
I think that I'll do my worst, which given my lack of experience won't be that terrible.

I think I'll have my bad guy steal a powerful talisman. A Talisman of the Sphere and from there who knows what could happen.

[CharonsHelper]

I previously thought that kensai magi got only light armor but sadly they don't even get that.


All magus only get light armor until higher levels. Kensai can't wear armor, but they get Mage Armor as a spell and INT to AC. So - for the build above between the two they got +9 AC (and no max Dex bonus) while a normal magus would have about +5 with a +1 mithril chain shirt. (without mithril it would lower the max dex bonus)

So - the build is 4 AC higher than a normal magus would be with less gear (though burning a single level 1 spell).

[VenomTongue]

Mage Armor is not on the Magus list.

[CharonsHelper]

Mage Armor is not on the Magus list.

You're right - my bad. I don't know what I was thinking. >.< (I've been thinking of a melee sorcerer/DD build recently, and I think I got my wires crossed on melee arcanes.)

Still - it's not very hard to get access to Mage Armor through a wand or potion.

[VenomTongue]

And down the line bracers arent that much.

[VenomTongue]

So kensai. But I still don't know what feats or acana to choose.