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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteelDraco" data-source="post: 5902022" data-attributes="member: 359">My Strength-based magus still uses Power Attack regularly. Cleave isn't really worth it, but Cleaving Finish (the 3.0/3.5 Cleave, it shows up again in Ultimate Combat) is worthwhile if you're going to be enlarged regularly - and you probably should be, if you're Strength-based. Might be worth it to take Cleave so that you qualify for Cleaving Finish.I like the bastard sword as a magus weapon - it allows you to switch between one-handed and two-handed weapon efficiently if you've got the Exotic Weapon proficiency. It's certainly not necessary - you can get a good benefit from using a long sword or some other 19-20 critical threat weapon. The damage increase when you're enlarged from 1d10 to 2d8 is pretty nice, a jump from 5.5 to 9 average roll. My GM ruled that I can switch from one-handed to two-handed grip once per round as a free action, so I have to decide if I want to pass up casting for a round for the two-handed grip. If I'm conserving spells or already have a spell ready to go off in my blade, it's nice. It's hard to pass up Intensify Spell at 7th level for Shocking Grasp. I certainly didn't, and use it all the time.Arcane Accuracy (and Accurate Strike later on) help alleviate the attack bonus problem that you have as a magus. They're worthwhile arcana, especially for a Strength-based magus who will want to Power Attack. A high Strength helps too, and you can drop enhancement bonus into your weapon to increase your attack roll further. Don't forget about that as an option; my 10th level magus can bump his sword to +5 if he feels worried about hitting, and spend 2 points from his arcane pool to perform all his attacks for the round as touch attacks. Pretty nasty. Also keep in mind that Shocking Grasp will give you a bonus to your attack roll if your opponent is wearing metal armor.I like Spell Storing for a magus's primary weapon. I throw Vampiric Touch in there daily, so that I can steal a few hit points from an enemy if I get hurt. With Spell Recall, it's fairly trivial to be able to recall some spell to put in there every day. Triggering it's a free action, so you can even do that in a turn you've already done a full spell combat attack routine, and it triggers only if you hit. You can also throw an Intensified shocking grasp in your weapon if you really want to be sure somebody's dead.</blockquote>

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