help with my sword saint

[RGB Knight]

so i am playing through my first campaign and chose sword saint, i wanted to do a dex build with a rapier and it was going ok kinda weak by was making it through the story. i am now lvl 10 and i cant hit anyone(turn based mode is what im playing on) i only hit like 10% of the time. i have a free respec and want to make it better so i cant do something. i have 20 dex 16 con 20 int and everything else is 10 i do have weapon focus at mythic lvl for the rapier. any ideas on how i can improve my chances to land my hits?

[.//slayer]

Could you perhaps post the list of feats that you have taken? Other than the mythic weapon focus.

[RGB Knight]

all my feats are: simple weapon proficiency, combat casting, spell pen, weapon finesse, piranha strike, weapon focus, fencing grace and weapon specialization.

[canuck250]

You are not adding much hit chance with those feats and then removing hit chance with piranha strike; turn it off when facing high ac enemies.

At level 7, get outflank on all of your melee fighters, this is too valuable to skip or avoid imo.

From there, it comes down to party buffing, you want at least 1 divine and 1 arcane caster for buffing. Arcane is mostly for haste but have some other nice things, divine has many buffs that help melee combat. Stuff like crusader's edge or even bless really help along with the animal stat boosting buffs.

I will also add this suggestion, going 2 handed str instead of dex. i won't go too much into this if you like/want to stay as a dex caster magus but bringing it up for ideas. With this build, you skip combat casting all together and just go full bonk mode. Due to not needing dex to combat or spell pen feats, really helps you boost your melee combat ability.

[RGB Knight]

I really like the idea of combat spell casting, would it work better with a one hand str weapon over dex?

[.//slayer]

To add to the above, try to include such arcane buffs as (Greater) Heroism, Cat's Grace, (Greater) Magic Weapon, and especially Greater Invisibility, if you have it. The latter will let you ignore the target's Dex bonus to armour in many cases, so it's worth saving for particularly challenging fights. It will make a lot of difference.

[canuck250]

Originally posted by RGB Knight:

I really like the idea of combat spell casting, would it work better with a one hand str weapon over dex?

Dex was better for 1 hand due to higher AC in melee but we have lunge now so you can easily be 2nd row safely hitting away. 2 handing gives you a damage boost (along with the op gravesinger 2hand axe) so that is why it is preferred but since you like casting, you make up for that. If you went arcane rider then you really do not need ac or lunge and use your pet's instead. Since both spell casting and melee takes up a lot of feats, being able to cut some are good.

[Deo]

Sword Saint has tools to hit. First big tool is Arcane Accuracy, which allowing you to add Int to Attack.

Second is Prescient Attack (you get it at 6). Opponent denied his DEX bonus until the end of the magus’s next turn.

Considering spell combat - since you are casting spells, they are affected by enemy's Spell Resistance. And most of the times, you need Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration and Mythic Spell Penetration to even land a spell before level 15. That's why Spell Combat is bad on Sword Saint - you literally will not have spare Feats for it.

[RGB Knight]

Well this is some good information, thank you for all your guys help. I am definitely reworking a few of my characters in my party

[hilburnashua]

The other have things pretty well covered although I will suggest one or two things.

You generally want to try to buff before you get in fights with their self-buffs and their offensive spells are just bad in WotR with the increased HP of opponents. Because of this I wouldn't actually recommend combat casting, take outflank in it's place as others have suggested.

As I remember it, their ability to enhance their weapon stacks with the enchantment bonus of the weapon, up to +5. I always liked having that ability that extends the duration of the weapon enhancement to minutes per level because of this and you can eventually add Bane which is very nice.

At 11th level makes sure you take greater weapon focus and take mythic weapon focus. That will increase the bonus by +2. If you are having a hard time hitting don't use pirahana strike even if you took the mythic for it.

Also, don't try to spell combat. Not only is it pretty ineffective due to the damage on your spells being low and enemy elemental resistances and spell resistance being high, it will cause you to take the -2 penalty to attack. Just not worth that penalty.

If you know an animal aspect spell you might want to consider taking Master Shapeshifter mythic feat. +4 to all your physical stats while under the effects of a polymorph is very nice. Or change your race to Kitsune and fight in human form since that counts as being under a polymorph effect for Master Shapeshifter. And Kitsune get a Dex and Int bonus. Since your going Dex build you might also want to consider keeping buffed with Reduce Person since that will give you an additional +2 to hit for what basically becomes -1 damage. A very worthwhile trade. The others have covered heroism/greater heroism, greater invisibility but I didn't see mention of Prayer or Bless. If you have some decent points into UMD considering buying scrolls of Divine Favor or Divine Power, those are luck bonuses and will stack with most things other then Prayer.

If you were going to respec you might want to consider taking 1 level of rogue at first level. That will give you a few more skill points, access to UMD skill, weapon finesse for free, and 1d6 sneak attack dice. It will mean a slightly lower BAB though since rogues don't get a BAB bonus at lvl 1. If you really like the Divine Favor/Divine Power spells consider taking 1 rank in Loremasteer when you have access to lvl 4 spells and take one or the other. If you do take a rank in rogue, make sure you take another rank at some point for the Evasion ability.

[smellibear]

Okay so you can ignore everyone telling you to do something fancy like take dips into other classes or going strength build. If you wanted to min max I have a feeling you'd be reading guides for it. Magus is my default/fave class so I've run sword saint and I love it (i prefer estoc but rapier is good and has lots of powerful options). That said, I do not remember what all feats I picked, I just know that I had no problem hitting enemies between my feats, my mtyhics, and my magus pool. Stick with the one handers and understand how spellcasting works with a magus. It's fun! Pairing it with magus points makes for very big damage

Did you really take simple weapon proficiency or are you just listing every feat your char came with?

[pete3great]

I think no one has asked you the most important question: What difficulty are you playing on?

[Yannir]

Originally posted by pete3great:

I think no one has asked you the most important question: What difficulty are you playing on?

If he has a respec available, it's normal or below. He already answered the question without anyone asking. Respec is not available on any higher difficulties.

As for the OP, try to use the resources that you have. Magus Arcana and the spells. Don't equip too many damage spells. You're supposed to be using your spells in support of your melee abilities, mostly in the form of buffs. Which is even more relevant for a SS as opposed to another type of Magus. If you wanted to blast, you should've rolled a full spellcaster.

[Uzkin]

IMO, sword saints should not use spell combat / spellstrike. They should use a big 2-hander, preferably with a nice crit range, and go full STR. They should use spells only for pre-buffing, and rely on their arcane weapon and magus arcana enhancements in combat, instead.

[pete3great]

Originally posted by Yannir:

If he has a respec available, it's normal or below. He already answered the question without anyone asking. Respec is not available on any higher difficulties.

I'm about to blow your mind: You can turn respec on and off at will. You don't even need Toybox! You can do it right in the options menu!

[smellibear]

Originally posted by Uzkin:

IMO, sword saints should not use spell combat / spellstrike. They should use a big 2-hander, preferably with a nice crit range, and go full STR. They should use spells only for pre-buffing, and rely on their arcane weapon and magus arcana enhancements in combat, instead.

IMO you're wrong and you picked the wrong class if you want to play str based char with a 2hander and only wielding self buffs. Play a paladin or something

If you want to be fun and awesome with the class as designed, understand spell strike and how to use it. Critting someone with lots of elemental damage on top of your spell is fun! It's why someone picks this class to play