Spell and Steel: Hallos’ Guide to the Magus

Color Coding
I’ll be using color coding to give my thoughts on options at a glance.

[*] Generally bad.

[**] Underwhelming or situational.
[***] Useful, but there could be something better.
[****] Good! You’ll usually be happy taking one of these options
[*****] Fantastic! Best in slot or must take.

To do:
- Take a look at book of the dead and it’s options
- Dive into guns and gears
- Delve further into Dark Archive

Introduction
The Magus is Pathfinder 2e’s take on the “gish” or a character that makes use of
both weapons and spells in tandem. It is capable of incredible amounts of burst damage,
but is gated by severe limitations that it must work around to be effective. When playing a
magus you’re going to be more keenly aware of your action economy than a great many
other classes. Where some classes sometimes struggle to find a use for their third action,
you will be looking to find ways to acquire a fourth. This guide exists to help newer players
find the ways to bring all of this together into something effective and fun to play.

The Magus at a Glance

Hit Points [**] The magus has 8 hit points per level, which puts you at the Rogue, Cleric,
Druid and Oracle in terms of durability.

Initial Proficiencies [***] The magus is proficient in all martial weapons and medium
armor. Weapon proficiencies scale up to expert and master at levels 5 and 13 respectively.
Armor proficiencies scale up at levels 11 and 17. This is in line with most other martial
classes when it comes to offensive capability. What’s interesting is that you get your
defensive proficiencies two whole levels earlier than most other martial classes, and on
level with the fighter and ranger.

Spellcasting [***] Magus’ first massive source of gating. The magus is an arcane-based
prepared caster with a spellbook. Unlike a full caster who gets three casts of all of his spell
slots, you’re going to be stuck with 2 casts each of your two highest level spells. This
means aside from cantrips you have four spell slots to work with per day for most of your
adventuring career. This is later slightly alleviated by studious spells at 7th level.

Spellcasting Proficiency [**] Trained in arcane spellcasting, expert at level 9, master at

level 17. You’re going to be outclassed at full spellcasting by full casters. This means that
you should usually avoid casting spells that require saving throws, or using spell attack
rolls outside of spellstrike.

Saving throws: [***] Expert in Fortitude, Trained in reflex, Expert in will. You become
Expert in reflex saves at level 3, Master in will saves at level 9, and Master in fortitude at
15th level.

Perception [*] Starts at Trained. You get Expert Perception at level 9.

Skills [**] Arcana and 2+int. Same as a Wizard.

Skill Feats and Increases Same progression as everyone else. We’ll go over a few
notables later.

Class feats This’ll be a whole section later.

Spellstrike [****] The whole reason you’re playing this class. You get to make a strike at
your highest bonus and attach a spell to it. You’re extremely limited in terms of spells that
you can use, but this is still a way to do some frankly disgusting burst damage to somebody.
Spellstrike requires an action to recharge after use, so you can expect to use this every
other turn in most combat scenarios. You can also recharge your spellstrike by using your
focus spells, which is a major boon.

Arcane Cascade [**] A special stance that the magus gains access to. You first must cast a
spell, then use an action to enter this stance. You gain a very negligible amount of bonus
damage (1 base, 2 with weapon specialization, 3 with greater weapon specialization). The
real boons of this are based on your subclass. Certain feats can improve your arcane
cascade as well. We’ll go over them as they come up. Arcane cascade’s damage changes
depending on what school of spell you casted when you entered the stance, or the
elemental damage type of the spell if you cast something that deals damage. Use this to
your advantage to get the most out of your damage. The damage types are as follows
Abjuration or Evocation: Force
Conjuration or Transmutation: As weapon or Unarmed
Divination, Enchantment, Illusion: Mental
Necromancy: Negative
Any Damaging Spell: Same type of damage as the damaging spell.

Hybrid Study (Subclasses!) This requires a whole section to go over.

Studious Spells [****] The heavens have opened and mana has fallen from them. You
gain two more spell slots that can only exclusively be used for specific utility spells. The
list is relatively restrictive, but is modified by the subclass you chose with hybrid study.
This becomes pure gold once you hit 11th level and the slots go from 2nd level to 3rd and
you can prepare haste in them.

Double Spellstrike [*****] At 19th level one of the gates holding you back finally comes
crashing down in somewhat spectacular fashion. Any spell you cast with spellstrike can
be cast again once.

Subclasses

At the time of writing the magus has five subclasses.

Inexorable Iron [***] Do you like bashing people over the head with large chunks of
metal? Do you like being durable? Inexorable iron is the subclass for you! You are almost
always going to want to take a multiclass archetype with this one, for one specific reason
we’ll get to in a bit. This is one of the two subclasses of magi that can wield reach weapons,
and with enlarge on your studious spells list, you can make a rather nasty size-stacking
build and make attacks of opportunity and deliver Spellstrikes from quite a ways away!

Arcane Cascade Bonus [***] Half your Level in temporary hp at the beginning of your
cascade and the start of every turn. It isn’t much but any durability upgrade you can get is
worth it since you’re going to be trading blows with people in melee.

Focus spell [***] Make a melee attack and if it hits, creatures within a 15ft cone take 2(+1
per heightening) sonic damage with a basic fortitude save. Creatures that critically fail fall
prone. Pretty bad honestly. The main thing saving this is that you can move, attack with
this and enter Arcane Cascade all in a single turn. Sometimes, if you’re particularly lucky,
the poor unfortunate ends up on the floor too!

Studious Spells [****] (enlarge [****], earthbind [***], Dimensional anchor[**])

Inexorable iron’s studious spells are almost entirely carried by enlarge, but enlarge is a
fantastic buff spell, so that’s a fair trade. Earthbind is pretty good utility at higher levels,
but dimensional anchor is probably better cast by a full caster due to the need for
counteract checks.

Special Feats These are feats only available to magi with the inexorable iron study

Devastating Spellstrike (4th) [*] kind of meh honestly. It’s a direct upgrade to normal
spellstrike, but you’re going to be doing like 3-5 damage with this. You’re better off taking
steady spellcasting, since it’s in the same feat slot.

Sustaining Steel (10th) [*] or [*****] with multiclass spellcasting archetype

depending on whether or not you’ve got a spellcasting archetype this is either trash or the
best thing you could possibly be doing with your 10th level feat slot. Each time you
expend a spell that is in a spell slot you gain 2x that spell’s level in hp and end any
persistent negative damage you’re suffering. If you’re a normal magus you’ve got 6 spell
slots, and you’re not going to be able to make much use out of this. But if you have a
spellcasting archetype you could have double that, and be gaining a good chunk of hit
points every fight. If you cast multiple spells in a turn (say true strike and shocking grasp)
you can use this to gain hp each time.

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Laughing Shadow [****] Have you ever wanted to play Nightcrawler from x-men? This
subclass lets you do that. You combine teleport spam with invisibility options and as a
cherry top you get to do more damage with your arcane cascade. It’s pretty great!

Arcane Cascade Bonus [******] +5 bonus to your movement speed, +10 if you are
unarmored. If you have a free hand and are attacking a flat-footed opponent you more
than double the damage you would be doing with Arcane Cascade normally! (3 damage at
level 1, 5 with weapon specialization, 7 with greater weapon specialization). Note: the
bonus to movement speed doesn’t stack with longstrider, prepare your spells accordingly.

Focus Spell [******] Teleport half your speed and make a strike for free. The action
economy implications for this are absolutely bonkers. As a simple example: you can use
this, activate your Arcane Cascade, and then move the hell away from whatever you just
hit in the face!

Studious Spells [***] (Mirror Image [***], Shift Blame [**], Dimensional Door [****])

Unique Feats

Distracting Spellstrike (4th) [**] Make a free feint attempt right before you spellstrike.
Unfortunately, you really can’t have the charisma invested to make this fantastic. If Paizo
ever prints a way to use your INT to feint, this becomes quite a bit better. As is, you’re
going to have to sacrifice something important to make this good.
Dimensional Disappearance (10th) [****] This is pure memes. Instead of striking with
dimensional assault you can go invisible. Useful for getting the hell out of a sticky
situation. You do become hidden briefly when you use this, which means that if you do
choose to attack, your target is flat footed!
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Sparkling Targe [***] This is the subclass you want to take if you just want to be
incredibly hard to kill. You get shield block for free and your arcane cascade allows you to
apply your shield bonus to saving throws vs magical effects. The big issue here is the
action economy of having to raise a shield and use your spells, so there’s going to be a lot
of times where you’re not going to have your shield up as a magus. Ultimately this
subclass is probably going to play closer to a fighter with buff spells that occasionally
spellstrikes rather than seeking to spellstrike every other turn like most other melee
magi.

Arcane Cascade Bonus [***] Your raised shield now gives you a bonus to saves, you can
block basically anything with your shield now, and your arcane cascade bonus gets added
to your shield’s hardness.

Focus spell [****] Strike and raise a shield all for the low price of a single action. Like all
focus spells you can use this to enter Arcane Cascade.

Studious Spells [****] (Resist energy [****], Warding Aggression [***], Stoneskin [*****])

Unique Feats

Emergency Targe (4th) [***] if you haven’t raised your shield yet and you fail a save or
get hit, you can immediately do so, and if the circumstance bonus is enough to negate the
hit or pass the save, you do!

Dazzling Block (10th) [***] Your shield block now debuffs enemies!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starlit Span [****] You get to spellstrike with ranged weapons. This single handedly
solves a lot of the Magus’s action economy problems by just not having to move!
Theoretically, you can spellstrike every single turn with this. It’s absolutely disgusting.

Arcane Cascade Bonus [*] None, but you don’t care one bit.

Focus Spell [**] Make a ranged attack, ignoring concealment and reducing cover by 1
step, if the attack hits, you strip away the target’s cover until the next turn. Like all focus
spells you can use this as a 1 action method of entering Arcane Cascade.

Studious Spells [****] (Darkvision [**], Wind Wall [****], Freedom of movement
[******])

Unique Feats

Starlit Eyes (4th) [***] Makes it easier to target concealed or hidden creatures, and you
can use your focus spell on hidden creatures without having to make a flat check at all.

Meteoric Spellstrike (10th) [***] when you use a non-cantrip, non-focus spell to
spellstrike, each creature in a line between you and the target (excluding you and the
target, of course) take damage equal to double the spell’s level. Determine the damage
type the same way you would with arcane cascade. Pretty decent, but not overwhelming.

Twisting Tree [****] There’s nothing quite like hitting people with sticks. A twisting tree
magus has a lot of options for combat maneuvers, and can change his staff from a 2
handed reach weapon to a 1 handed agile weapon at will. Super fun, and a massive flavor
win if you want to multiclass with druid.
Arcane Cascade Bonus [***] Transform your staff more or less at will. This doesn’t give
you any durability increases, but it does mean that you have a lot of options for how you
fight and what you do with your attacks.
Focus Spell [**] Hit two separate people with your stick, applying multiple attack
penalties normally. It only costs 1 action to do, and is great for hitting trash mobs. If
you’re in Arcane Cascade, you can start with a two-handed attack and swap to a 1-handed
attack for an effective +1 to hit.

Studious Spells [**] (Magic Mouth [*], Slow [**], Blink [**])

Unique Feats:

Student of the Staff (4th) [****] this is pretty sweet. You get critical specialization effects
with your staff, your staff in both forms gains the deadly d6 trait, and finally you can put
property runes on magical staves and use them as your primary weapon. All super good,
even if you are taking a multiclass archetype. If you are multiclassing, take this at 6th
level if you’re a twisting tree magus. Of special note here is the staff of divination, which is
almost a mandatory magic item for a twisting tree magus with this feat.

Lunging Spellstrike (10th) [*****] You can now deliver your non-cantrip, non-focus
spellstrikes from upwards of 5x the spell’s level, max 45 feet. Take this, it’s funny and
you’ll find a ton of use for it.

Class Feats

Arcane Fists (1st) [***] Your fists do 1d6 damage and count as magical. At 5th level, you
get the critical specialization effects for unarmed attacks

Familiar (1st) [**] You get a familiar. Your actions are already restricted enough. Don’t do
this to yourself.

Magus’s Analysis (1st) [***] make a recall knowledge check, with a +1 if you successfully
hit your opponent with a strike. If you succeed, refresh your spellstrike. You can’t do this
to the same creature more than once per day, but it’s still a wonderful (if slightly risky)
method of condensing actions. It’s a good take for Human Magi with natural ambition.

Raise a tome (1st) [*] Use a book instead of a shield to get a +2 circumstance bonus to AC.
You can use shield block, but the book is much weaker than an actual shield. Get a shield
instead. If you do take this NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER use your spellbook.

Enhanced Familiar (2nd) [***] if you have a familiar, you get even more utility out of it.

Expansive Spellstrike (2nd) [****] The only reason this isn’t best in slot here is that
multiclass archetypes and the sentinel dedication exist. This vastly opens up the options
of spells you can spellstrike with.

Force Fang(2nd) [****] Scaling melee magic missile that refreshes your spellstrike and
only costs 1 action.

Spell Parry (2nd) [**] If you have an open hand, you gain a +1 bonus to AC and to saving
throws against spells that target you. You have the shield cantrip available to you. The
bonus to saving throws is nice, and it’s a good way to use a third action if you don’t need to
move. It’s only useful to Laughing Shadow, Starlit Span, and Twisting Tree magi, however.

Spirit Sheath (2nd) [***] turn a pocket into an extradimensional space that holds your
weapon. It’s very hard to detect, which means you can more easily smuggle weapons in
where they shouldn’t be.

Steady Spellcasting (4th) [**] This is going to come up very rarely, since you have to be
crit by the attack of opportunity in question, so this will come up very rarely.

Striker’s Scroll (4th) [***] You can affix a scroll to your weapon like a talisman and use it
to spellstrike. This is pretty useful for magi with lots of downtime and a bit of extra cash
lying around.
Attack of Opportunity (6th) [****] to [*****]Attacks of Opportunity are rare and
incredibly useful. This is purple for Inexorable Iron magi that can combine it with enlarge
and a reach weapon.

Cascade Countermeasure (6th) [**] Spend a focus point to gain resistance 5 to spell
damage. You have to be in Arcane Cascade to use this, but this is pretty good against
opposing mages.

Knowledge is Power (6th) [***] if you critically succeeded a recall knowledge check, you
get +1 to your next hit against the creature, +1 to your AC vs the creature's next attack, and
+1 to all saving throws against the creature’s next effect. You get to share this information
and the bonuses with your entire party.

Shielded tome (6th) [*] Prerequisites: raise a tome. NEXT. - Okay, that might be a bit rude.
Ultimately what shielded tome allows you to do is combine a shield and your book. While this is very
cool flavorfully, you are spending two feats to do essentially nothing.

Capture magic (8th) [**] after passing a saving throw against a spell, spend a reaction to
enter Arcane Cascade. If you’re already in Arcane Cascade, it does more damage next
turn. It’s super great if you can get the reaction to enter arcane cascade but if you win
initiative or don’t get hit by a spell turn 1, you’re going to be entering arcane cascade turn 1
anyhow.

Fused Staff (8th) [*] fuse a staff and your primary weapon. As long as the staff is fused,
you can use it to spellstrike, but only to spellstrike. This does give you a cast of a decent
damage spell, but it’s a pretty expensive method of doing so.

Runic Impression (8th) [***] Give a property rune to your weapon, this only costs an
action. It’s a focus spell and you gain an extra focus point. Note that if you’ve already
maxed out your property runes on your weapon, this suppresses one of them. Still useful
in situations where you need something specific for an enemy’s weakness, but it’s
something to keep in mind.
Spell Swipe (8th) [****] Spend three actions to hit two adjacent creatures with a
spellstrike. This counts as two attacks, but you make both attacks at your highest bonus. If
your spell can hit multiple targets, they both are affected!You really need to be under the
effects of haste to make the most use out of this, but it’s incredibly powerful.

Standby Spell (8th) [****] You don’t need to prepare a specific spell to cast it. You can
now load up on buffs and then swap them out for shocking grasp on the fly!

Cascading ray (10th) [**] after you hit somebody with a spellstrike you can fire a ray
from the creature you hit to somebody else, it does 1d4 damage per spell level with
cantrips and 1d8 per spell level with non-cantrips. Not a terrible way to deal damage if
you have the actions, but typically it’s a bit better to use the action on a focus spell or to
refresh your spellstrike.

Rapid Recharge (10th) [***] recharge your spellstrike for free once a day. Really handy in
a pinch for when something absolutely has to die and you don’t have a third action.

Conflux Focus (12th) [*****] Get 2 focus points per short rest instead of 1.

Magic Sense (12th) [**] Constant 1st level detect magic, that becomes a 3rd level detect
magic whenever you seek.

Overwhelming Spellstrike (12th) [****] just bypass upwards of 12 points of energy

resistance that an enemy might have. Pure gold

Arcane Shroud (14th) [*****] Arcane shroud now gets a buff spell added to it. These last
their normal duration or until the end of your next turn, whichever is longer. Using
Arcane Shroud again ends any spells previously acquired with this. When you cast a spell
from a spell slot or use a spellstrike with a spell slot, you can spend an action to enter
Arcane Shroud with an extra effect! It doesn’t say if the spells are automatically
heightened to the level of the slot you spent or not, which is a bit of a bummer. If they are,
then this transcends purple and just becomes mandatory, if not, then the buffs are still
incredibly strong. The real winners here are Abjuration, Enchantment, Illusion and
Transmutation.
- Abjuration: Stoneskin
- Conjuration: Blink
- Divination: See Invisibility
- Enchantment: Heroism!!!
- Evocation: Fire Shield
- Illusion: Invisibility (Ends after an attack as normal)
- Necromancy: False Life
- Transmutation: Fleet Step.

Hasted Assault (14th)[**] You get a lesser version of haste as a focus spell. The main thing
holding this back is that you can use this only to make strike actions. The big reason you
like haste so much is the extra movement, so that you can move, refresh your spellstrike
and then use your spellstrike. If your GM rules that you can make spellstrikes with this
extra action, this focus spell becomes purple.

Preternatural Parry (14th) [**] +2 ac is pretty good, but it requires spell parry, and is
only useful for laughing shadow and twisting tree magi.

Dispelling Spellstrike (16th) [***] Dispel magic after a spellstrike for an extra action. At
this point you’re probably able to afford the extra action, but the counteract check is going
to be a bit difficult for you.

Resounding Cascade (16th) [****] Your Arcane Cascade now gives it’s base damage out
as a 5ft aura to your teammates!

Conflux Wellspring (18th) [****] You now recharge all three of your focus points in a
short rest. Requires conflux focus.
Versatile Spellstrike (18th) [***] one of your spell slots becomes a flex slot that you can
use on any spell you can spellstrike. You get to pick the strike as you spellstrike, but it’s 2
levels lower than it should be. Useful, but not necessary.

Supreme Spellstrike (20th) [*****] Permanent quickening for striking or recharging

spellstrike

Whirlwind Spell (20th) [****] hit every person you can reach with a flurry of
spellstrikes. Get yourself a forceful weapon and go to town!

Spells [W.I.P]

There’s two schools of thought with magus when it comes to using your spell slots.
Buff and Strike and Nova.
- Buff and Strike [****] magi use their limited spell slots on buffs that last at least
all fight, and boost your durability.
- Nova [***] magi use their spell slots in quick succession to bring a large amount of
pain to a single target.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, as you can prepare both buff spells and damage
spells. I generally prefer keeping one damage spell prepared, alongside at least one cast of
true strike to make sure that I get the most effectiveness out of that damage spell. In my
own play I’ve found that you do good enough damage with your cantrips that you don’t
really need to use all of your spell slots spell striking to do relevant damage in fights. With
that said, let’s go over all of your damage options, as well as a few really neat spells that
work well with your class! We’ll be going over the good stuff out of the core book,
advanced player’s guide and secrets of magic, as well as a few notable common spells
from other sources.

Cantrips (Spellstrike-able)
Acid Splash [**] at level 1 this does 1d6+1 acid damage, and 1 persistent acid damage on a
crit. This scales incredibly poorly over the course of your career. Other options are just
going to be better for you.

Gouging Claw [*****] The gold standard for pure damage. Base damage: 1d6+INT, double
damage and 1d4 persistent bleed damage on a crit. Each time you get a new level of spells
this damage (and the bleed damage!) goes up by 1d6 and 1d4 respectively. You’re going to
want to prepare this every day, and use it every fight unless you have a reason to do
otherwise.

Produce Flame [***] Base damage: 1d4+INT, double damage and 1d4 persistent fire
damage on a crit. Each time you get a new level of spells the damage and persistent
damage go up by 1d4. This would’ve been your go-to if Gouging Claw hadn’t been printed.
It’s still nice for damage variety though, as you can use it to exploit fire-weak enemies, or
get more damage off vs enemies that are resistant to both piercing or slashing damage.
The new flaming star spellheart makes this even better, to the point that it competes with
and sometimes even outperforms gouging claw.

Ray of Frost [***] Base damage 1d4+INT, does double damage and inflicts a -1o
movement speed penalty on a crit. Each time you get access to new spell levels the
damage increases by 1d4. A good mix of potential utility and damage, and good for
abusing enemy elemental weaknesses.

Tanglefoot [**] This is an odd one. Instead of doing damage, this gives a -10 penalty to
movement speed for a round on a success, or the immobilized condition and a -10 penalty
on a crit. Only lasts for a round at level 1, but get’s a whole lot better once you get access to
4th level spells, at which point it lasts for a whole minute! The creature can attempt to
escape by making an acrobatics check against your spell DC though, so keep that in mind.

Telekinetic Projectile [***] Base damage: 1d6+INT, double damage on a crit. The damage
increases by 1d6 as you gain spell levels. If you want to make the most use out of this, grab
some knives or bricks and dump them out of your bag turn 1, that way you’ll always have
garbage to throw at your opponents!
Cantrips (Buff)
Shield [***] What’s notable here is that shield is one of the few repeatable ways to enter
Arcane Cascade off of a single action. This gets even better for Sparkling Targe magi, who
can use it as a backup once their shield breaks.

Level 1 (Spellstrike)
Admonishing Ray [***] 2d6 nonlethal bludgeoning damage that increases by 2d6 each
time you heighten it to a higher spell slot. If you ever need to take somebody alive, this is a
good way of making sure they go down, but don’t die.

Hydraulic Push [****] 3d6 base bludgeoning damage and knocks the target back 5 feet,
on a crit it does 6d6 damage and knocks the target back 10 feet. Scales by 2d6 damage with
each spell level. Pretty good mix of utility and damage. Since the critical effect isn’t
explicitly double damage the scaling damage won’t crit like you would expect it to
however. Most people do just play this as critically striking normally, but it’s worth
clearing with your GM.

Ray of Enfeeblement [**] The odd spellstrike spell that actually doesn’t do damage.
When you hit the target they have to make a fort save or be enfeebled 2 on a failure,
enfeebled 1 on a success, or enfeebled 3 on a critical failure. If you manage to crit them,
their saving throw is treated as 1 degree worse. This lasts for a minute. Enfeebling
certainly isn’t the worst thing you could do to a creature, and enfeebled 3 is crippling for
things that crit fail. The bad part here is multiple points of failure. You could miss, or you
could hit and the target then goes on to critically succeed their saving throw. This doesn’t
heighten, which means that you’re wasting potentially level 3 and level 4 slots over your
career on this. HOWEVER if you have the wizard or witch dedication, this isn't bad to
prepare at all, since you actually have level 1 spell slots!

Shocking Grasp [*****] The platinum standard in spell damage. If you hit you do a whole
2d12 electricity damage, that gets doubled on a crit! But wait there’s more! You do 1d4
persistent electricity damage against people wearing metal armor. This even heightens
well! Every spell level increases the damage by 1d12 and the persistent damage by 1. If
you’re going to nova somebody, this is the spell you’re going to do it with. Note: There is
some discussion as to whether or not this gives +1 to hit when used as a spellstrike against
people wearing metal armor. I lean towards yes, but until it’s FAQ’d you’ll want to bring
up this interaction to your GM and get a ruling for your table.

Snowball [***] Another mix of offense and utility. 2d4 cold damage and the target takes a
-5 status penalty to it’s speeds for a round, on a crit it does double damage and the penalty
increases to -10. Heightening increases the damage by 2d4 each level, so it’ll still be doing
relevant damage your entire career!

Level 1 (Other Notables)

Endure [*] Absolute trash until you get Arcane Shroud at 14th level. Once you get Arcane
Shroud at 14th level, it becomes a 1-action method of acquiring heroism out of tradition,
and thus is worth consideration.

Longstrider [****] +10 status bonust to movement speed for an hour, or for 8 hours if
prepared in a 2nd level spell slot. Extra movement is always nice, especially for you. This
is yet another reason to get a spellcasting archetype, so that you can just leave this in a
2nd level spell slot for your entire career and forget about it.

Magic Weapon [***] This is the best thing you can do with a spell slot up until 4th level
when you get a +1 striking weapon. Once you do get that, it becomes worthless.

Thicket of Knives [***] remember how I was bemoaning Distracting Spellstrike before?
This is your ticket to making it work. You gain a +2 status bonus to deception to feint, and
can attempt to feint even if you’re untrained. This lasts for a minute and stacks with
magical items. It cannot be heightened.

True Strike [*****] One of the primary reasons you’re playing this class. Being able to
roll twice and take the better result and ignore any circumstance penalties or flat checks
required to hit your target is well and truly worth an action. This is also the reason you’re
so Haste dependent, since you really want to be able to move, cast True Strike and hit
somebody with a spellstrike all in a single turn. This doesn’t heighten, but you can
prepare it in your studious spells slot. This might honestly be so good that you want to
take the wizard dedication just to get more casts of this.

Level 2 (Spellstrikes)

Acid Arrow [***] decent damage, and a constant source of acidic damage. Still outclassed
by shocking grasp, and it’s got weird heightening scaling. The main draw here is using
this against acid weak enemies, at which point the acid chews straight through them. A
good situational spell for fights like those, and if you have forewarning about an acid
weak monster this can really wreck it’s day.

Telekinetic Maneuver [***] Stick a disarm, shove or trip attempt as a rider to your attack
roll! This does not heighten.

Level 2 (Buffs)
There’s a ton of options here, so to save time we’ll just go over the ones you really want
every combat.

Blur [***] enemies now have to make a dc5 flat check to hit you at all. Great to have in
general. This doesn’t heighten though, and can’t be prepared in studious spell slots, so
keep that in mind.

Enlarge [****] (str magi only) for strength magi this is pure gas. You get +2 damage, and
can make your attacks from further away. This stacks with a reach weapon, meaning that
you can make hits from ridiculous distances away if you build for it. Perfect for dodging
monsters with attacks of opportunity, and pairs really nicely with your own attack of
opportunity! Inexorable Iron magi can prepare this in their studious spell slots starting at
7th level. This does give you clumsy 1, so keep that in mind.

Endure Elements [****] One of the best defensive buffs you can give yourself in a lot of
situations, and it lasts for a long time, which is incredibly valuable.
Invisibility [****] This is a pretty massive utility spell at lower levels, and quickly
becomes one of your best combo offensive/defensive options once you get access to 4th
level spells.

Mirror Image [***] This one is a casualty of the change from 1e to 2e. In a lot of situations
this used to be your method of not getting hit at high levels, because monster attacks just
didn’t care about your AC after a certain point. Nowadays however it’s gone down to
simply being nice to have.

False Life [***] A good fire and forget buff, 9 hp isn’t that much at low levels, but it does
heighten well.

Flame Wisp [**] you get 3 wisps of fire that add more low scaling fire damage to your
attacks, using fire spells refreshes the number of wisps. If you’re in a campaign where you
face a lot of fire weak enemies, this is a good way of getting multiple procs of their
weakness a turn, and combines beautifully with produce flame.

Level 3 (Spellstrike)

Magnetic Acceleration [***] Help! I only cast Shocking Gasp and my DM's gotten tired of
it and given all of his enemies electricity resistance! The base damage is pretty good at
3d6 bludgeoning and 3d6 piercing damage, it isn’t going to do anywhere near as much as
shocking grasp, but it is going to bypass a lot more resistances. If your GM rules that
hydraulic push crits normally instead of the strange way it scales with spell slots as
written, then this loses a lot of its luster.

Level 3 Buffs and Utility

Blazing Dive [***] a neat repositioning tool that allows you to do fire damage with your
arcane cascade and does a bit of damage alongside it. Bonus points for having cool fluff.

Ghostly Weapon [***] An incredibly situational buff that you’re going to be happy you
have in your spellbook
Haste [****] Finally! The extra move action breaks down one of the primary chains that
bind you to the mortal realm. Gets even more disgusting at 7th level spells when you can
give it to your friends. Once you hit 11th level, you can prepare haste in your studious spell
slots. If your combats tend to be shorter than 4 turns however, it may be better to use the
spell slot on a different buff spell as needed. I cannot stress this enough, haste
effectively doubles your damage while keeping you mobile in drawn out combats. Once
you hit level 14 Arcane Shroud tacks on fleet step to this since it’s a transmutation
spell.

Time Jump [***] 2 actions that must be used to leap, stand up, step or stride, all for the
price of 1 action and a level 3 spell slot, oh and none of this provokes Aoo’s. A fantastic
repositioning tool!

Level 4 (Spellstrike)

Chromatic Ray [**] For one glorious level this competes with shocking grasp. The bad part
is that it only has a 1-4 chance of spiking, and as soon as you get 5th level spells it becomes
obsolete as shocking grasp out damages it again on average. Once it heightens to 6th level
it becomes a meme spell, as it gets even more random.

Level 4 (Buff and utility)

Countless eyes [***] Are you tired of being flanked? Are you just sick of creatures trying
to stealth behind you? Fear no more, for countless eyes is here! You can’t be flanked, and
when you seek, you seek in a 30ft burst instead of a 15ft cone.

Dimension door [***] When you absolutely have to get somewhere far away fast.

Draw the Lightning [**] There’s a certain level of drama to this spell that I appreciate. You
hold your weapon aloft and shout to the heavens, the target takes 3d12 electricity damage
and gets a basic reflex save. If you’re out during a storm this does another 2d12 electricity
damage The real kicker is that you do another 1d12 electricity damage with all of your
melee attacks! At 8th level this does 4d12 more damage, and you do another 1d12
electricity damage. For some reason, the enemy needs to be above you though, which is
very strange and limits the spell quite a bit.

Fly [***] go up to that dragon and hit it with your sword! A good mobility option that
lasts a short while. Gets even better at 7th level.

Freedom of Movement [*****] Incredibly useful. Almost a must prepare if your GM likes
to use immobilization effects on you

Stoneskin [****] Scaling damage resistance vs most physical attacks!

Level 5 (buff and utility)

Black Tentacles [****] One of the iconic battlefield control spells. Your spell attack rolls
aren’t going to be as high as others, but being able to cordon off a 20ft burst with a zone of
screw that is still very good

Blink Charge [***] What if dimension door was shorter range and allowed you to hit
somebody with the same action you used to cast it? The answer is pretty good! If you crit
on the attack, you get to shunt the target 5 feet away from its current position. If you crit
fail your attack you take 1d8 force damage. You can heighten this to 7th and 9th level, each
time you do so, the range increases by 60ft and you do a bit more damage.

Flowing Strike [***] Similar to blink charge, but more focused on battlefield control, rather
than just moving you up the battlefield. It’s a 3 action spell. You stride up to 50ft, and can
make a melee attack at any point during that stride. If you hit, you do 2d10 bludgeoning
damage and push the target 10ft in any direction. If your gm rules that any direction
includes up, you can knock creatures prone with this.

Level 6 (Spellstrike)
Disintegrate [***] This does a boatload of damage, but allows a saving throw. You’re
going to want to use this as your burst spell against anything with a bad fort save, and if
you do use it, make sure to combo it with true strike to try and crit.

Level 6 (Buff and Utility)

Dragon Form [****] Turn into a MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON. At 8th level you get to
become a huge dragon. The buffs are fantastic, but secondary to the cool factor of this one.

Daemon Form [***] get a good chunk of buffs and a good melee attack. Gives weakness to
good though, so keep that in mind. Dragon form is probably better in form and function.

Demon Form [***] get a good chunk of buffs and a good melee attack. Gives weakness to
cold iron and good though, so keep that in mind. Dragon form is probably better in form
and function

Devil Form [***] get a good chunk of buffs and a good melee attack. Gives weakness to
good though, so keep that in mind. Dragon form is probably better in form and function.
Probably the best one out of all of the lower planar forms due to the innate fire and
physical resistances.

Level 7 (Buff and Utility)

Contingency [*****] There’s a million ways to use this, all of them are great. The simplest
one is applying a defensive buff when you’re the target of a spell, or dimension dooring 20
feet away if you’re the target of a melee attack.

Frigid Flurry [***] this is a neat spell, you do 9d6 cold damage and 9d6 slashing damage
to all enemies in a line, then you move to the end of the spell’s effect. It’s a neat combo of
mobility and damage that also completely ignores your allies!

True Target [****] higher level true strike that also gives your allies a free cast of itself.

Level 8 (Spellstrike)
Polar Ray [****] 10d8 cold damage and drained 2. With no save. This actually outpaces
shocking grasp if you count in the drained damage. Bonus points if you follow it up with
disintegrate next turn.

Disappearance [****] Invisibility, but more!

Level 9 (Buff and Utility)
Foresight [****] this is a fantastic spell, the reaction is incredible!

Archetypes

This section is also under construction, but your two best options are Wizard
[*****] and Witch [****]. Wizard synergizes perfectly with magus, giving you a ton of
spell slots to cast your low level arcane spells with, and gives you a reason to take all the
random utility spells that the arcane list has. The witch gives you int-scaling access to
other spell lists, meaning wonderful things like heroism are now just on the table. You’re
going to have to spend double the money though, since you have to maintain a witch’s
familiar and a spellbook, which can get pricey at later levels. One final mention is the
Sentinel [***], which gives you access to full plate for the low price of a single feat.

Wizard [*****] This is a fantastic way to just get more spell slots. You already have a
spellbook, so you don’t have to spend twice the gold to gain access to your old spells. This
opens up a lot of utility options that you wouldn’t have the resources for otherwise.

Witch [****] The other really fantastic option for the magus! You do have to maintain a
spellbook as well as a Witch’s familiar, which can get very expensive as the levels go up.
However, you gain a lot of flexibility, as you can gain access to INT scaling occult, divine
or primal spells. The Occult spell list in particular does a lot for you, due to its many
fantastic buffing options.

Sentinel: [*****] Ultimately, you’re here for one, possibly two feats, but man that one feat
is gooooood. You trade out a lot of longevity for the ability to ignore DEX. This cleans up
your ability allocation by an incredulous amount. This particular dedication does lose
some of its capital if you’re playing with free archetype due to how frontloaded it is.

Cleric [****] So you’re not actually here for the spellcasting. You’re here for Fire Ray. Fire
ray does roughly the same amount of damage as shocking grasp with the nice rider of
persistent fire damage on a crit. This does rather handily increase your damage
capabilities in an adventuring day with multiple encounters. It’s a very solid choice for
humans to take with the multitalented 9th level feat, and even more fantastic for half-elves
since they don’t necessarily need to hit the ability score prerequisites.

Psychic [*****] While you don’t get as many spells as a witch or wizard multiclass, you do
get access to some incredibly powerful unique cantrips that can be amped using your
focus points. Some which can do some nightmarish damage. Here are a few standouts
that you can get simply by dipping into the dedication, as well as the conscious mind that
they’re connected to. There is some secret tech as well: If you’re particularly enamored
with one conscious mind’s unique cantrip and waiting to wait until much later in the
game to get it (like tangible dream’s imaginary weapon) you can use advanced breakthrough at
level 12 to pick up the level 6 feat parallel breakthrough.

Oscillating wave: as a note with this particular conscious mind - you’ll have to choose
whether the cantrip you gain from this deals either cold or fire damage, and you’ll have to
choose the other option the next time you cast it, which could be a bit of a pain if you’re
fighting something that’s resistant to either. On the other hand, it’s one of the only ways
that you can change the damage type of a cantrip.
- Produce flame: Produce flame can be amped to do 1d10 damage per spell level, or
importantly - d12’s in melee. It also does a negligible amount of splash damage that
you personally are immune to, keep that in mind. This is usually about ~6.5
damage less than a shocking grasp, but it doesn’t consume one of your highest
level spell slots, which are a more valuable resource.
- Ray of Frost: Amping ray of frost changes the damage to Xd4+Int to xd10, putting
its damage into contention with the other options. The real draw here is that you
gain temporary hit points equal to half the damage you do, in addition to ray of
frost’s very nice critical effect.
The Tangible Dream: No fancy effects with this one to keep in mind, just a fantastic
unique cantrip. Note: this will cost you two feats instead of simply dipping into the
dedication, but this one is more than worth it.
- Imaginary Weapon: xd8+int damage. On rate that’s better than gouging claw. You
do forgo gouging claw’s critical effect, which is definitely something to keep in
mind. The amped effect starts out lackluster - you can hit two people with your
effect, which doesn’t work with spellstrike without spell swipe. And if that were it it
wouldn’t be particularly exciting. However: each time this spell gains a level, the amp
gains 2d8 bonus damage. At level 9 this starts to outpace shocking grasp! All for the low
cost of 1 focus point as well, which is particularly nice.

Ability Scores

The Magus requires several ability scores to succeed, making them one of the more MAD
classes in the game. You’re closer to a martial class than a mage and your ability scores
should reflect that. Which ability scores you should emphasize depends on your build.

Melee (STR based)

STR [****] this is your primary damage ability and governs how well you hit, and how
hard you hit. You want at least a 16 at level 1, and you want to be improving this at any
opportunity you can.

DEX [**] governs some of your AC and reflex saves. If you’re not taking the sentinel
dedication, put this at 12 and ignore it for now. If you plan on taking the sentinel
dedication you can purchase full plate and completely ignore your DEX, leaving it at 10.

CON [***] Governs your HP and Fortitude saves. Since you’re going to be the thick of it,
and are likely to have a large target on your back

INT [***] despite being your primary spell casting ability, if you’re focusing on buff spells
and spellstrikes like shocking grasp, you don’t actually need that much of it. You want a 14
at level 1, and you want to invest in it to keep your arcana checks up, but you could very
easily get this up to 18 at level 10 and leave it. A good deal of cantrips have scaling int
damage, so it’s a good idea to not completely neglect this.

WIS [**] governs your will save, a ton of recall knowledge skills, your perception score
(and thus most of your initiative rolls) as well as survival. If you have any extra points left
over, invest in this.

CHA [*] this is the stat you ignore. You’re not the face and you do not have the action
economy to use Intimidate.

Potential Arrays
Human Martial disciple (str focused): Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14 wis 10, cha 10
- This particular array wants to multiclass into wizard at level 2, rather than take the
sentinel dedication.
Dwarven Root Worker (Balanced): Str 16, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 16, wis 14, cha 8
- This particular magus wants to take the sentinel dedication. You lose out on a bit of
attack and damage, and you’re a little easier to hit, but your will saves are a whole
lot better and your cantrips do a bit more damage in exchange.

Dex Based Melee

STR [*] Once this stops being your primary attack stat it becomes a whole lot less
attractive to put points in. You still get a damage boost out of it though, and you require a
floor of 10 some just to ignore armor check penalties on leather armor.

DEX [****] Now this governs your attack rolls too! Max this out. You’ll probably blow past
your armor’s dex cap incredibly quickly. This is okay.

CON [***] since you’re still in melee you want this for HP and fortitude saves.

INT [****] Since you’re not going to be focusing on strength, this will be your primary
damage stat.
WIS [**] Don’t neglect this, but don’t over invest in it either.

CHA [*] your dump stat

Potential Arrays
Android Martial Disciple (Dex focused): Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 12, cha 8
- As a note for the later ancestries section, Androids have a fantastic ability array for
dex based magi.
Human Criminal (Balanced) Str 10 Dex 16, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 10
- Your Ac is going to suffer a bit with this one, but you’ll hit leather armor’s dex cap
at level 5.

Dex Based Ranged

STR [**] While certainly not your primary damage ability, composite bows make this
potentially a meaningful investment.

DEX [****] As always, you want to have your attack stat as high as possible

CON [**] You certainly don’t want to neglect this, because fort saves can be career-ending.
However, you’re not going to be right up in the thick of it either.

INT [***] Important for cantrip damage and spell DCs at all levels

WIS [**] Don’t neglect your saves

CHA [*] Do neglect your social skills

Potential Arrays
Elf Root Worker (Dex Focused) Str 12 Dex 18 Con 10 Int 16 wis 12 cha 10
 - Pick up a composite bow and level up your strength. You’re much squishier than
your melee counterparts, so remember to let the tanky members of your party take
hits for you.
Human Martial Disciple Str 12 Dex 18 Con 12 int 14 Wis 12 cha 10
- More or less the same array, but with human adjustments. You’ll do less damage,
but be able to take more hits over the course of your career.

Ancestries

This section is VERY W.I.P. I’ll go over some notable options and what archetypes of magi
they’re good for.

Human [****] Two free ability boosts of your choice, potentially a free general or class
feat at level 1, and really good racial feats.

Half-Orc [****] human, but trading out your 1st level feat for low light vision and more
durability options.

Elf [***] More or less a perfect array for ranged Magi. Ancient Elves also get a free
multiclass dedication without having to meet it’s prerequisites at first level. Pick Wizard
or Witch and laugh all the way to the bank. The low hit points and constitution penalty do
sting though, so keep that in mind.

Dwarf [***] When you absolutely, positively have to be the tankiest man in the room. Bonuses
to two of your most important saves, and racial feats that make you even tankier, on top
of good racial hit points.

Action Economy
This used to be under Haste, but it felt a bit odd in the middle of spell evaluation. Below is
what an optimal “Rotation” would look like, for the first few turns of a hypothetical
combat
Before Haste - Buff routine
Turn 1: Cast a buff spell, enter Arcane Cascade,
Turn 1a:.Move, cast a focus spell, enter Arcane Cascade.
Turn 2: Move, Spellstrike.
Turn 3: Either Move, refresh Spellstrike, make a normal strike or Refresh spellstrike,
Spellstrike.
Turn 4: Rinse and Repeat, alternating turns 2 and 3 as needed.

Before Haste - No buff routine

Turn 1: Move, Spellstrike.
Turn 2a: Cast a focus Spell (Refreshing your spellstrike), move, enter cascade
Turn2b: (if still in melee) Cast a focus spell or refresh your spellstrike, spellstrike
Turn 3a: Move / Move, Spellstrike
Turn 3b: Move, Attack, Refresh spellstrike
Turn4+: Alternate between turn 1 and turn 3.

With Haste - Buff routine

Turn 1: Cast Haste, enter Arcane cascade
Turn 2: Move, cast True Strike, Spellstrike, or if you’re already in melee, cast true strike,
Spellstrike, Move away.
Turn 3: Move, Refresh spellstrike, Spellstrike
Turn 4+ Rinse and repeat turn 3 ad nauseum.