Does finnean becomes a touch weapon in act 4?

[Matt [Reckless Boi]]

I'm asking because I was going to invest in the magus arcana Dimensional Strike, but if finnean becomes available that would be a wasted level up.

[Tsukada]

Dimension Strike, or Accurate Strike, just makes your next touch attack(melee or ranged) ignore armor and natural armor (including shields) for touch AC.

[Matt [Reckless Boi]]

Originally posted by Alyssa:

Dimension Strike, or Accurate Strike, just makes your next touch attack(melee or ranged) ignore armor and natural armor (including shields) for touch AC.

Wouldn't that be the same as having finnean as a weapon?

[Purodiusa]

Not exactly, there's a bit of a distinction to make. He gains the quality of Brilliant Energy. Brilliant Energy weapons bypass material objects - so this means armor and shields. But it also means golems and some undead. It's generally worth it as there isn't a ton of golems and undead in the game, but be aware of that limitation when it does arise and carry a backup weapon.

[Herr Glaube]

He never becomes a touch weapon, but he gains the Brilliant Energy bonus in Act 3, provided you trigger the random encounter. There's no upgrade in Act 4.

[Matt [Reckless Boi]]

Originally posted by Herr Glaube:

He never becomes a touch weapon, but he gains the Brilliant Energy bonus in Act 3, provided you trigger the random encounter. There's no upgrade in Act 4.

Thanks went for enduring blade since brilliant energy is a thing.

[Aradon]

Just to clarify- the things Brilliant Weapon bypasses are mostly (entirely?) the same as the things that touch AC bypasses, so you'll get little, if any benefit from dimension strike while using Finnean. It'll be good for those times where you're facing armored undead and you have to switch to another weapon, but probably not work worrying about. You'd be better off in most cases using your pool to add your int to your attack roll instead.