if anyone needs help with making a character.

making characters and role play concepts is a pass-time of mine. so if anyone needs help making a character to play feel free to PM me.

So for those who don't know, I am currently on a mission to learn how to build different classes and races of characters. This being said, I am in need of advice in the following classes:

Magnus, Druid and Samurai.

oooo magus is a fun class, i personally hate it at low levels. it has a very diverse spectrum to play with, you can be a heavy caster, a heavy melee and an awesome ranger. so how would you like to play it? i personally think the ranged magus is by far the best followed closely by hexcrafter (basically a witch in medium armor, that hits like a truck).

as for samurai i haven't really looked into non mounted cavalier builds but i kknow you could do something sweet there.

and druids omg >< they are so awesome in pathfinder

For magi, i personally think your first two feats should be Combat Casting and Uncanny Concentration, and you should have the trait that gives you a +2 to concentration checks.

i have to disagree with combat casting, only because it becomes useless after level 7. it would be more effective to take weapon finesse dump strength and max dex then use spells to max ac for the first few levels. then 3rd-4th level you can afford either +2 rapier/scimitar (+1 generic and +agile weapon enchant) or 3rd level for dervish dance you will do a chunk of damage. also a common piece of advice that i dont like is using arcane strike STAY AWAY FROM THAT FEAT!

but that's for optimization not RP

well since i have to stay up until 6 am any way may as well post this magus build:
stats: PFS legal standard point buy (20)
str 7 -4 yeah a -2 to str sounds worse then it is.
dex 16 10 +2 human for me
con 14 5
int 16 10
wiz 13 3
cha 7 -4
add in racials for which ever race you choose

how to play a magus:
contrary to the perceived notion of how a magus looks like you should play them... you dont really want to use spell combat as your main attack in conjunction with a level 1 damage spell. now at level 10 you wont ever fail a concentration check, literally, so you can go nuts with it. At level 1 though, you need to be using your spell slots for shield so you dont get killed with your 8 hit points + modifiers.

feats: **(human)arcane strike ONLY IN PFS! because using this as a magus in a 1-20 game will ruin your ability to use critical strike which you get at level 12 (1)WEAPON FINESSE!!!!(3)dervish dance(5)maximized spellstrike(b) quickdraw(7)intensified spell, maxed and empowered 10d6 shocking grasp anyone?(9)persistent spell (11)destructive disspell (b)quicken if you want to or selective is also a good choice, and disruptive is my favorite because of the ability to shut casters down for a turn.

magus arcana:
(3)i like wand wielder, but you will get more use out of arcane accuracy(6)empowered magic<-one hit kill: maximized, empowered, 10d6 shocking grasp as a 4th level spell using presistant spell and intensified spell meta magic feats, not to mention that if you mix this with spell strike you will have a 15-20 crit range with a spell thats already dealing 60+50% of 10d6, weapon damage+modifiers and they have to save 2 times or take full damage. pretty crazy huh?(9)hasted assult<--free haste??? awesome(12)critical strike



and there you have it a quick magus that i threw together in 30 minutes.

this is the feat DERVISH DANCE
Prerequisites: Dexterity 13, Weapon Finesse, Perform (dance) 2 ranks, proficient with scimitar.

Benefit: When wielding a scimitar with one hand, you can use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on melee attack and damage rolls. You treat the scimitar as a one-handed piercing weapon for all feats and class abilities that require such a weapon (such as a duelist’s precise strike ability). The scimitar must be for a creature of your size. You cannot use this feat if you are carrying a weapon or shield in your off hand.

the only problem see with you build is that if you try to cast in combat, you lose the spell due to failing the concentration check.
Because the fact that the skill concentration was removed is the dumbest thing paizo has ever done in my opinion.

you don't auto fail. its a dc 15 +2x spell level using your caster level + casting modifier for the dc. like i said you shouldn't be using your spells to deal damage in melee at low levels. once you hit level 5 you should be hitting at a +16 then subtracting from that to add to your concentration check, so at level 5 you should be getting 2 attacks at a +11 with a concentration modifier of 5+5+4 meaning you succeed on a roll of 3+.(concentration check) at level 4-5 you can start using your spells for damage if you choose to.


but just keep in mind that a magus dosent have many spell per day so having an invisibility may be more valuable then a shocking grasp


something i wanted to add last night but forgot:

at second level you want to cast arcane mark as your spell strike spell. it basically says "get a free attack" every round by beating a dc 15 concentration check. but then again you should have a 22 ac in combat so maybe taking the AOO isn't a bad idea.

@steve: i am wondering how at 5th level, with no concentration feats, you are getting 5+5+4 to your concentration checks? all you would be adding to your concentration checks would be caster level (+5) and int mod (+3 in the case of the character you put up) and if you want to take a -3 penalty on all your attacks made that round, you can gain another +3 from spellstrike. That adds up to +11, and the dc of 17 is for first level spells only, so that will get more difficult.

And if you aren't going to use the cool magus abilities to cast spells in combat, then why not just multiclass wizard and fighter and then prestige into Eldrich Knight? That way you get the bonus feat and bab from fighter, the spell list and number of spells per day from a wizard, and you can get feats that require you to have levels of fighter later on.

i didnt add any traits or magic items to the character, which may be where the confusion is coming from. i was merely stating that those figures are possibilities. going by WBL, i have no clue if pathfinder adheres to that chart or not, for a 5th level is 10.5k

with that head int and belt dex is available for purchase and you can still get your scimitar enchanted +1

any way a 4 int grants a combined +8 when using spell combat then+2 for concentration trait and the CL5=15 as i stated... 2 times now your second level spell slots should be invisibility/utility while using 5d6 shocking grasp as your main kill spell.

Quote :

And if you aren't going to use the cool magus abilities to cast spells in combat, then why not just multiclass wizard and fighter and then prestige into Eldrich Knight? That way you get the bonus feat and bab from fighter, the spell list and number of spells per day from a wizard, and you can get feats that require you to have levels of fighter later on.

you do use the cool magus abilities, at second level using arcane mark (a spell that has no limit to uses per day). if you risk a 1st level spell without using feats like combat casting you will cry yourself to sleep when you fail the casting. and then will kick yourself in the head when you realize how many feats you wasted for a 1d6 at level1. then when you realize that by taking arcane strike (PFS only) and weapon finesse your to hit at level 1 is just as good as a fighter with a 4 strength. then at 3rd you hit for 1d6+6x2 every round which is better then a TWF fighter.

if you do go the eldritch knight build, like i am with my archer, you will realize that they cap at a 9 bab, which is exactly the same as the magus. then you have to spend feats to counter your ASF if you decided to wear armor, which the magus gets for free basically.

also an eldritch knight cant cast a spell and swing 2 times until level 11 using quicken spell.

Kensei is the perfect archetype to use if you're going melee heavy. You cast fewer spells, but you get Uncanny Dodge so your AC is higher. At Lvl2 My base AC is 18, then Shield bumps to 22.

LancePark wrote:

Kensei is the perfect archetype to use if you're going melee heavy. You cast fewer spells, but you get Uncanny Dodge so your AC is higher. At Lvl2 My base AC is 18, then Shield bumps to 22.

how did you get your base ac to 18 as a kensei at level 2? i think i was able to get a 16

my issue with the kensai is that as a gm, if i disarm/sunder you... thats all she wrote. without the weapon you chose as your proficient weapon you lose you canny defense, which mean your ac is 10+dex since you cant wear armor. you also lose every other class feature that makes a kensai good, so make sure you have a backup and a weapon cord on your character.

I took Armor Proficiency as one of my 1st level feats.

LancePark wrote:

I took Armor Proficiency as one of my 1st level feats.

wearing a chain shirt? it should be base 20 with an 18 dex/14 int minimum. what are your stats?