Jesauce
Villager
Wanted to get some opinions and clarifications on this from people, since there seems to be a few things off.
Here is the archetype
I'm looking into making one because it looks fun, and who hasn't wanted to play a card-slinging badass? A few things jumped out at me, though. Deadly Dealer is nice, since you get the bonus just by having at least 1 APP, so it doesn't use up your swift action every round. One of the things that gets me though, is Spell Combat. Since the archetype does not have a specific spell combat entry, you're left with the standard version.
At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks.
It specifically calls out melee attacks. Arcane Pool Focus and Harrowed Spellstrike both specify ranged--and only ranged--for use with those abilities. I'm confused as to whether this was an oversight, or if it means that spell combat cannot be used in conjunction with ranged attacks. For a variant that eschews entirely the melee versions of some of his key abilities, it seems odd that spell combat would be left untouched.
With a few feats, and the Arcane Deed (Precise Strike) Arcana, I think it looks like it could be a lot of fun. But losing proper access to what is essentially the iconic Magus ability seems like a deal-breaker to me.
Other question would be, as your cards are treated as darts, are they considered ammunition for the purposes of drawing or would Quick Draw still be required?
I've wanted to play a ranged-focus magus for a long time (Myrmidarch never did it for me) so I was rather giddy after finding this, so any insight/information/opinions would be welcome.
Here is the archetype
I'm looking into making one because it looks fun, and who hasn't wanted to play a card-slinging badass? A few things jumped out at me, though. Deadly Dealer is nice, since you get the bonus just by having at least 1 APP, so it doesn't use up your swift action every round. One of the things that gets me though, is Spell Combat. Since the archetype does not have a specific spell combat entry, you're left with the standard version.
At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty). If he casts this spell defensively, he can decide to take an additional penalty on his attack rolls, up to his Intelligence bonus, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on his concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. A magus can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attacks first, but if he has more than one attack, he cannot cast the spell between weapon attacks.
It specifically calls out melee attacks. Arcane Pool Focus and Harrowed Spellstrike both specify ranged--and only ranged--for use with those abilities. I'm confused as to whether this was an oversight, or if it means that spell combat cannot be used in conjunction with ranged attacks. For a variant that eschews entirely the melee versions of some of his key abilities, it seems odd that spell combat would be left untouched.
With a few feats, and the Arcane Deed (Precise Strike) Arcana, I think it looks like it could be a lot of fun. But losing proper access to what is essentially the iconic Magus ability seems like a deal-breaker to me.
Other question would be, as your cards are treated as darts, are they considered ammunition for the purposes of drawing or would Quick Draw still be required?
I've wanted to play a ranged-focus magus for a long time (Myrmidarch never did it for me) so I was rather giddy after finding this, so any insight/information/opinions would be welcome.
