Level 7 feat choice advice sought...

[aglondier]

Looking for a little advice here. My dwarf fighter(foehammer) 4/magus(deep marshal) 2 is about to hit level 7.

I am considering taking Leadership, with a warpriest cohort (forgepriest), with my followers making up the start of my mercenary company.

Can anyone suggest a better/more flavourful option?

[Beni-Kujaku]

Looking for a little advice here. My dwarf fighter(foehammer) 4/magus(deep marshal) 2 is about to hit level 7.

I am considering taking Leadership, with a warpriest cohort (forgepriest), with my followers making up the start of my mercenary company.

Can anyone suggest a better/more flavourful option?

Well, what do you already have? Maybe we can help building on it.

Do you only consider Pathfinder feats or 3.5 as well?

Leadership may be good, but that feat is a rabbit hole of brokenness, and you should consider it with your DM, and maybe even with your party, beforehand.

[Seward]

If your party is small, or has gaps in capability leadership can be really helpful. Otherwise it can be kind of distracting, the same way a poorly played druid with an animal companion that attacks 3-5 times a round can slow things down.

As for other options, without knowing your current feat choices it is hard to give advice. Clearly you are a martial character moving into being a gish of some kind, so your cohort choice seems complementary. But we do need to know what you took at L1, 3 and 5 to know what there is to build on. Your attribute distribution is also needed, as it would be stupid to suggest power attack if you are strength 12, or whatever.

[aglondier]

More information...

Our party consists of:
Duri Thundercask (me), dwarf fighter 4/magus 2
Yvae Dawnfound, changeling paladin (sarenrae) 6
Carlander the Black, elf sorceror (black dragon) 6
Kyras, halfelf druid 6, and his wolf companion Kinnah
Mahzai, shoanti human shaman 6
Ezee, goblin shadowthief 6
the Marquis Rarytham Kythwithill, gnome wizard (enchanter) 6


Duri started out as a Fighter (foehammer) focussing on the Dwarven Longhammer.
Feats: Weapon Focus (dwarven longhammer), Power Attack, Furious Focus, Two-Handed Power Strike (3.0, 2x str bonus with 2hand weapon), Weapon Specialisation (dwarven longhammer).
Then found an ancient dwarven tome holding the secrets of Magus (deep marshal).
Feats: Intuitive Spellcaster (+4 to caster level)

Negotiation with my DM allowed Duri to cast while weilding his dwarven longhammer. (doing 2d6+15 damage with reach)

[Seward]

Well it seems like you have laying the smackdown in melee covered pretty well. Reach weapon, decent attack mods and damage and magus will let you mix spellcasting in with your full attack if I remember it correctly, both as a weird kind of TWF thing with off-hand spellcasting, and a channeling type attack through your weapon which as a 2h weapon guy will be more likely to be your thing.

You also got a caster level bump so you won't be behind in that arena in terms of effects, although as a gish you will be not having highest tier spells.

Your party is way too big to make leadership appealing, and you have two full arcane casters so you don't need to focus your arcane on anything but combat effects that help you be a better warrior, they've got arcane utility covered.

One thing to look at is "Extra Traits". You picked your traits assuming a fighter type build and you might find some value in traits designed to support your new magus casting. There is stuff out there that boosts caster level, makes metamagic easier, or lets you work in some extra minor effects that fit whatever flavor got you the arcane casting. If nothing else if you have a skill you want that isn't a class skill, traits can fix that.

The way magus works, you have a spellbook and prepare spells, so you will want to focus on getting the kind of L1-2 spells into your book that give you things you want to do. Look over the options carefully, you may find a new role for your character you would enjoy, and it might be worth a spell slot and maybe a pearl of power1 or two to cast a key spell extra times. For combat spells, focus on things that activate with a swift action or can be cast well ahead of combat. Your role is to hit things very hard with your hammer in combat and your spells should support that. Don't forget to buy a few scrolls of anything you might use occasionally but not as a regular thing. Good candidates for random utility scrolls on your list are Clarion Call, Monkey Fish, Obscuring Mist (has saved more lives than any other L1 spell, ever), Silent Image, and Unseen Servant . Enlarge Person is still faster using a potion. Infernal Healing is great on a wand. It's almost the duty of anybody who can cast glitterdust to have a scroll of it, in case they're the one that goes next after the annoying invisible guy is pinpointed.

The other magus class feature to look at is the arcane pool. There are several feats that expand on what it can do or give it more points to work with, and since you aren't single-class you may benefit from this more than a normal magus might (a single class magus often goes into the dimensional agility tree, for similar reasons to why a 3.5 duskblade gets dimension hop when he gets quick casting. teleport+full attack is just lovely, but this isn't a choice you'd be able to make till well into the teens). Things like extra arcane pool are boring but effective for the same reason a barbarian dip takes extra rage or a bard dip takes extra music.

Some things you may want down the road, if not at L7.

Preferred Spell (Shocking Grasp)+metamagic to make it stronger - generally intensified spell, although some like energy substitution or empower. Make sure it makes sense with your spell slots, it's a pretty big investment in feats to go down this road)

Lunge (you have reach. More is sometimes better, although the Longarm spell is another option but Lunge has better action economy than a 1 minute/lvl buff)

Combat reflexes (even if your dex is as low as 12, getting an AOO before you can even act is pretty nice when you wander around in front of the party with a reach weapon. It is obviously more attractive with more dex)

Arcane strike - if you expect to not have much use for a swift action. It's stacking damage that's easy to apply and scales with your caster level.

[Endarire]

My first thought was Leadership, but seriously consider what weaknesses and strengths your team and you have.

Remember, Minsc from Baldur's Gate is really Minsc and Boo!

[Epic Legand]

Your party is big, and already has a druid with an animal. So a minimum of 8 things gotta act before you cycle again. If I was a fellow player, I would be unhappy if that cycle went to 1:9.

Fun sounding party with a range of classes, and zero overlap on race. So you dont need more diversity, you need focus. What role do you see for yourself in the party?