Magus Arcane Spell Chance Faliure

[Burn_Boy]

I've got an 8th level Magus who recently lost his Breastplate. Long story, boring ending. In the party's latest loot table though there is a set of +1 Full Plate. I can't use this with no spell failure until level 13 and since we play with slow XP progression that could be a while.

What I want to know is, if I wear Full Plate, will it incur the spell chance failure if I use spells through things like Spellstrike? I don't cast spells normally so I'm not worried about not getting off that Fireball or anything.

Also, what is your thought on someone in Full Plate buffing himself with things like Invisibility or Mirror Image in the armor? If it's before the fight one could make the argument that he can concentrate and not have to worry about spell failure chance.

 

[Dingo333]

Any spells even spell strike will have the complication of the spell failure in the heavy armor till 13th level.

The only problem I can fore see with buffing then putting the armor on, or buffing before battle, Invisibility will make it so people can not see you to help with the armor (can not put full plate on yourself). Also, these spells have a limited duration (and invisibility ends on your first attack) so you have some guess work on when to put them up.

There was a magic item in the APG, Folding Plate. It was +1 full plate that folded up into an amulet. Might wanna see if you could get the suit you have adjusted into that as then you could armor -> amulet, cast, amulet -> armor and not have to worry about spell failure

 

[paradox42]

By the RAW, Spellstrike says nothing about how the spell is cast- it just says that Touch spells can be delivered through a weapon. The rules reasoning behind why the Arcane Spell Failure Chance exists is, armor restricts movement, so the Somatic component can be flubbed. Nothing says this only happens in combat, so it can happen just as easily outside combat as in it.

My advice, if you do keep the armor, would be: be sure you take the Still Spell Metamagic feat and/or Still Magic Arcana ASAP and use them to the hilt. Combine this with relying on as many spells as possible that don't have a Somatic component in the first place (though of course, not many such exist).

Another possibility worth considering: since full plate includes a breastplate as part of the suit, see if you can get the armor recrafted so as to be just a breastplate- and keep the same enchantment.