8

I was hoping yall could answer a specific question related to my character. Unfortunately, I don't have the reputation points to link more than 2 of my abilities. Apologies!

I play a level 9 Magus with a single Mythic Tier and as I gain more attacks through my BAB progression and with abilities like Speed for my weapon and the Sudden Attack Mythic ability - I start to lose focus with how the Spell Combat and Spellstrike work together in concert during a full attack round and it's creating friction between myself and the GM.

To make things simple, the following scenario (and I'll repeat it a couple times) involves my magus being directly adjacent to a foe.

Currently my BAB is +6/1, so each round I get two melee attacks with my scimitar. If I enhance my scimitar with Speed (via Arcane Pool with the Speed enhancement) , it breaks down to +6/1/6 as I get the additional attack at my highest attack bonus. If I use a Mythic pool point (using Sudden Attack), I can then perform an additional attack, suddenly using a swift action, at my highest BAB. Giving me a total of 4 standard attacks of +6/1/6/6 (if I've read things correctly.)

Now using Spell Combat I must apply a -2 to all my melee attacks (including my Spellstrike) if I'm casting a spell in my off hand (Vampiric Touch) and attacking with my scimitar.

So let's say I'm directly adjacent to my foe; can I (using Spell Combat) attack first w/ Vampiric Touch in my OFF-hand, then attack using Spellstrike with my MAIN hand cast Shocking Grasp through the scimitar at +6 (-2) (plus mods, etc) and then the rest of my melee attacks at +1 (-2), then +6 (-2) (hasted), then as a swift action activating my Mythic pool Sudden Attack +6 (-2)? This would be a total of 2 touch spells and 4 melee attacks in a Full-Round Action.

My GM seems to think I'm limited to a single spell per round. What do you think? I really appreciate your consideration and help with this complicated class question!

sowhatdoyoudo
  • 83
  • 1
  • 3
  • 1
    What ability and combination of actions is allowing you to cast two spells in one round? – SevenSidedDie Jul 23 '14 at 18:16
  • Spellstrike and Spell Combat http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus#TOC-Spell-Combat-Ex- One ability allows me to cast a spell in my off hand and make all of my melee attacks at a -2. The other ability (spell strike) allows me to cast a spell through my weapon as a free action. – sowhatdoyoudo Jul 23 '14 at 18:36
  • It states the following under the Spellstrike heading on the Magus page. "If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks." – sowhatdoyoudo Jul 23 '14 at 18:42
  • As a sidenote (just to make sure you haven't missed it): You can't activate your arcane pool and and sudden attack in the same round as both are swift actions. – Louis Huppenbauer Jul 25 '14 at 07:04
  • 1
    I would like to point out that speed gives you the extra attack like 6/6/1, not 6/1/6. You ALWAYS take your attacks from highest to lowest. – Fering Nov 06 '15 at 00:07

1 Answers1

11

Your GM is correct. Spellstrike doesn't give you a free cast, what it allows you to do is turn your melee touch attack from casting a spell into a normal attack, allowing you to deal your weapon damage in addition to the spell.

At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell.

Spellstrike Description on d20pfsrd.

So assuming I've got all my rules straight (someone please double check me on this) you would get a total of 5 melee attacks (4, 4, -1, 4, 4) plus one spell touch affect if at least one of those melee attacks hit. You use spell combat to cast a melee touch attack spell, which spellstrike turns into melee attack at highest BAB. You get your normal attacks, and your attacks from Speed and Sudden Attack. Since missing doesn't cost you your touch attack charge, you can keep trying to deliver your spell with each attack.

As Louis Huppenbauer pointed out, both using the Arcane Pool and Sudden Attack are swift actions, so making 5 melee attacks relies upon you having applied Speed in a previous round (it has a duration of 1 minute).

Community
  • 1
Barret
  • 2,099
  • 20
  • 32