Warlock- The complete guide for dealing with the devil

By STR Ranger and Mathwei apNiall

*Before we begin- I’d like to thank Treantmonk for his own guides that inspired me to write this one. Note I have
copied his Guide style and borrowed some text to make this a style we are familiar with
Ultimate power: Why the Hexcrafter is the BEST magus!
Look at a typical Magus and what does it do well. It combines casting and fighting. That's cool. That's why you wanna
play it. But look at the spell list. Like 90% evocation right. There is a real lack of save or suck on that list. Plus Magi
get a lot less spells than a Wizard or Sorcerer and Magi burn through spell slots like crazy to keep up with a fighter's
damage. Using expendable resources to do it. ALSO at higher levels doing damage often isn't the best answer to
beating a foe. Spell resistance becomes a real problem. You saves top out at level 6 while the wizard keeps chugging to
level 9.
So WHY Hexcrafter over normal Magus? I'll tell you why.
1. Hexes are super frickin awesome. You now have unlimited use Supernatural Abilities (which DO NOT provoke
AOO's) While save DC's that target Fort or Will and with DC's that scale higher than your spells! The Magus list is
FULL of reflex blasts that can hit allies if you're not careful, where hexes don't hit buddies, target other saves and carry
save or lose effects.
2. Expanded Spell list. By becoming a Hexcrafter you just added every spell with the curse descriptor to your list.
FREE SPELLS, this includes ones to be published in future books. Plus you can auto spell combat with them AND a
lot of the curses are touch spells, so they work with spell strike.
3. Brand. Everyone knows spamming arcane mark is legal but a little cheesy. Brand on the other hand is a damaging
spell that is supposed to be used on enemies. Never feel shameful again.
4. Endurance. Every time you use a hex you saved a spell. This REALLY makes them last longer and let's you still have
something powerful to do when your spells are finally exhausted.
5. Versatility. More than most classes I have seen so far Hexcrafters can excel at many things. 3 dominant roles stick
out Defiler, Miss chance/Transformed Meleer, Uber blaster. A standard Magus doesn't really do the Defiler role very
well. It's usually best to focus on one aspect but a Hexcrafter doesn't suffer much if he wants all 3. I'll elaborate in the
builds section.
So now you know why you wanna be a Hexcrafter. Now let me show you how!
The Guide to the Guide: In this Guide we will be discussing a lot of options, because Hexcrafters have many choices.
Therefore, in order to provide my advice on these choices, I'll be Color-coating and rating them.
RED This is a choice I don't recommend – Because they suck.
ORANGE This option is good, but not great
GREEN I recommend this option
BLUE This is balls to the wall AWESOME!
Simple enough, like a movie review. So lets move into the Hexcrafter skills and abilities that will help you become a
total Bad ass Warlock.
CLASS POWERS:
Spell combat: One of your signature abilities. Take a -2 to your full attack and cast any spell in your arsenal. This
allows you to break action economy by casting a meaningful spell (eg haste, slow or some other game changer) while
still doing ok 1 handed full attack damage. For when you don't need a buff/control spell you can cast a touch spell,
getting a free touch attack and delivering via your blade thanks to your next power:
Spellstrike ***: The staple ability of Magi everywhere. Spellstrike let's you layer touch spells onto Standard actions,
whacking the bad dude with your scimitar instead of touching him. It can be combined with spell combat to make up
for your -2 to attack and piling on spell damage or conditions. So you can stab+Bestow Curse. Yay!
Arcane Pool****: One of your defining abilities. Let's you echant your weapon over and above it's enhancement bonus.
This ability should be called 'You have Full BAB whenever you want' . In addition to eliminating the fighter/cav/barb
attack advantage you can tailor a bunch of enchants on the fly. Fighting a White Dragon? Hello Flaming weapon.
Magus Arcana: Varies from good to awesome. Being able to pick from a list of pseudo magical powers is awesome but
some are stinkers. I'll list my best hexcrafter arcanas later.
Hex Magus/Hex Arcana : Seeing a lot of blue aren't we? You give up spell recall for this. Spell recall is good. This is
BETTER. Really, all spell recall does is let you burn your (limited) arcane pool to recall a spell. Pearls of power are
affordable by the time you get spell recall. In place you get a HEX and the ability to pick hexes in place of Magus
Arcana. (You can also use the Extra Arcana feat on the odd levels to pick another Hex Arcana). Hexes are awesome.
The DC is 10+1/2 your HD +Int. Effectively giving you powers which eventually will be equivalent to 9th level spells
(in terms of DC) and they can be used over and over. Once again a list will follow.
*Also of note- Hexes are normally a standard action so won't work with spell combat. But you can Hex+Move in
similar fashion to Spellstrike.
Spells: Remember your limited, mostly blast spell list? Well because you are a Hexcrafter and you are awesome you get
all Curse descriptor spells added to your list for free. With Brand, Ill Omen, Bestow Curse, Major Curse and Geas
being a few. All can be used with spell combat and the touch spells (BRAND, Bestow Curse) can be used with
Spellstrike. You also gain access to the arcana Accursed Strike which let's you use ANY curse with Spellstrike provided
you are willing to spend a feat on it.
Spell Recall: You lost this at 4th level but now you get it back. Casting a spontaneous spell is nice but considering you
should be using your arcane pool to either: Enchant your weapon or spam Arcane Accuracy, this is best used in an
emergency.

##I won't rate the other class abilities since my ratings are the same as Walter's. See Walter's guide to the Magus.##
SKILLS:
Climb: 1 rank and a decent Dex will do. You'll be flying for minutes per level before you have medium armor and
feather fall at will.
Swim: Your flight hex grants +8 racial to swim. 1 rank and your Strength is plenty.
Knowledge (any) ***: Knowledge's are all handy for Bad Guy identification. Especially foes resistant to elemental
damage. Pick up as many of these as you can. Start with Arcana, Planes, and then whatever takes your fancy.
Perception ****: Simply the most used skill in the game period. This skill helps when looking for loot and spot foes.
Early warning is important for a Magus. Get that blast in before the big stupid fighter charges in.
Ride: You Fly remember?
Fly: You should always be flying by level 5. Pulling off turns is important.
Stealth: A great skill but only a couple of ranks will do. Remember that being invisible adds +20 to your stealth check.
Both Vanish and Invisibility are on your list. If you take the Moonlight Stalker feat this is blue. Since you use
concealment all the time, you can stealth all the time.
Use Magic Device: Depends on whether or not you are taking a familiar/Improved Familiar. If you are, keep it maxed
and select an improved familiar with Hands and a good Cha. They can use wands for you. ILL OMEN anyone?
Favored Class Bonus: Always add HP to yourself. You focused on Int so have plenty of Skills and you live in Melee.
HP are at a premium.
Ability Scores:
I’d Prioritise INT>STR>CON>DEX>WIS>CHA for a weapon user build. Swap Dex and Str in a Dervish Dance (yuck)
or Hair hex build (yay!)
No matter your race, INT takes highest priority in a Hexcrafter (and IMHO) every Magus build. Why?
It affects Hex save DC's (which will outstrip your spells), It affects your spell DC's (which are lower than a wizards). It
also affects how many arcana points you have AND how much of a Bonus the Arcane Accuracy Arcana adds to your
full attacks. With Stat mods and a Headband an Int score of 30 should be your ultimate goal. Aim for a Starting INT of
17. More important for a Prehensile Hair build since the hair uses INT for Attack and Damage.
Next is STR for all the normal reasons.
Con for HP. You are a Melee char.
Dex. Not that important. You have access to Light armor and Obscuring Mist AND plenty of ranged spells right from
level 1. The problem becomes less of an issue as you level and once you get Medium Armor and Blur/Mirror Image, it's
gone completely.
Wis. Will saves suck. But you have a good will progression and a trait like Birthmark makes you better off than most
Melee chars. Wands of Protection from evil are cheap.
Cha. No matter your race, dump it to a 7. Seltiyel is an emo for good reason. You are not the party face. Though skill
points and a charm hex can fix it, better to let someone else do this. Unless you wanna focus solely on being an Uber
Blaster, in which case it should be a 10.
RACE:
When choosing Race you want something that is going to boost your your Int or Str. A movement score of 30 is nice.
But a Hexcrafter doesn't need to close to full attack every time. Simply getting within 30 feet and Hexing can be a great
option when you can't close.
Half Elf: The ability bonus can be put in INT, and low light vision is good for Scouting. The skill focus feat is nice for
stealth or perception (if you put it in perception that will stack with the racial +2 bonus). But I would swap that for Dual
Minded to pump your will save. The elven immunities are decent as well. The multiclass bonus may be helpful too
depending on your build. Alternatively the APG weapon Prof feature is nice to get either a Katana rather than the
Scimitar all other Magai use. Blue because you can get Moonlight Stalker with this race.
Half Orc: The ability bonus can be put in Str or Int, and Darkvision is very helpful (better than low light in dungeons
when scouting). Again this race can take Moonlight Stalker. If you do choose Half Orc, swap out ferocity for 90ft
Darkvision and trade normal Darkvision for human skilled trait.
Elf: The best Magus race reguardless of Archetype. BAR NONE!! We just love the Dex and INT bonus and Con
penalty sucks, since we like melee. +2 vs SR rocks (since most evocations allow SR), +2 vs Enchantment is awesome
cause a dominated Magus can kill his party. Immune to sleep and Paralysis is sweet. Trade your elven weapon
familiarity for the Arcane Focus racial power (+2 to cast defensively) for more awesome. Low light vision allows
Moonlight Stalker and +2 to Perception is great for spotting bad guys and finding loot. The pure win is the new favored
class option for 1 arcana every 6 levels. That's a free Hex, Major Hex and GRAND Hex (via taking Hex Arcana as your
arcana selection) and well worth sacrificing 20hp for. If you plan on fighting in the Dark a lot you can trade out low
light vision for Darkvision.
Tiefling: I wasn't going to mention exotic races, but Tiefling is DAMN good and would be the best choice if the ELF
could get 3 bonus arcana. Here is a race with +2 to Int/Dex and a penalty to a score we don't care about. Plus you can
have a tail to hold a wand or rod for you (saves taking hair hex). The alternate favored pool point favored bonus is
sweet too.
Human: I bet this is the first review you have read where humans weren't blue. Why? Because besides the extra feat
which IS pretty great, the race offers less than the elf, half elf and half orc. No special vision means no moonlight
stalker. The feat is a wash vs the elf's +2 vs SR and humans get no free bonus to saves. An extra skill point doesn't
mean much either since any other race should get 4-6skills per level anyway.
EDIT: The favored class option for Humans can add up to 5 points to your Arcane Pool which can change the rating for this race
based on your specific build.
Dwarf**: The Bonus to WIS and CON is great for saving on a Point Buy, we don’t care about CHA. +2 vs spell saves
rocks, if you pump the Steel Soul feat and Glory of Old Trait, your dwarf has a +5 racial bonus to saves vs spells. That
makes them a decent race for any class in my book but I HATE failing saves.
EDIT: The favored class option for Dwarf does allow you to use the 1/day Arcana an additional time per day but this is still not
enough to make the dwarf a worthwhile Magus.

Gnome/Halfling*: Small Size, Small Weapons, low speed and no stat boost to anything we care about. NO.
Feats:
Well you'll see in the next section why you won't be taking many general feats.
Big Game Hunter****: This feat is Awesome for a level 9 feat. Check the Bestiary, the majority of foes CR9 or above
are large or Bigger. This is basically Wpn Fcs and Wpn Spl for any weapon you wield regardless of type.
Weapon Fcs/Spl/Gtr: If you have a weakness it's being a Melee combatant with 3/4 attack bonus and -2 for spell
combat. People think 4feats for +2 to hit and +4 damage with one weapon is good. Well it's your best option for
HUMANS. If you are a race with low light or dark vision the Moonlight Stalker chain is better.
Blindfight, Combat Expertise, Moonlight Stalker: This grants you way more bang for your buck. Dungeons are dark,
fighting at night and spell combat with Obscuring Mist or Blur mean you can turn on a +2 to hit and damage with any
weapon whenever you like. Plus you deal with Enemy miss chance a lot better. You can pump your AC when you want
to AND this is 3 feats instead of 4.
Improved Critical *: This doesn’t stack with keen weapon enchant which you can do whenever you enhance your
weapon. Save the feat and skip this one.
Critical Focus/Other crit feats: You would think these were good BUT, you can replicate stuff like blinding critical with
a regular old Spellstrike whenever you want (Blindness/Deafness, Bestow Curse etc)
Extra Arcana: By far your best use of a feat slot. Many arcanas and Hexes (gained via Hex Arcana) are heaps more
powerful/versatile than feats. My favorite picks are listed below.
Intensify Spell: The magical lineage/Shocking Grasp trick is well known. Use it. Live it. Love it.
Heighten/Preferred Spell: Doesn't always make it into my builds can considering how much you spam shocking grasp,
being able to spontaneously cast and apply metamagic feats to it is great.
Dervish Dance/Weapon Finesse : I can't stand dervish dance builds. You are blowing 2 feats to make Dex a Primary
Stat in a class that by mid levels can wear Mithral full plate and has some of the best miss chance spells already on it's
list. For the same 2 slots you could have taken Extra Arcana for something like Slumber and Flight thereby saving tons
of slots for ages of flight time and a Scaling reusable sleep affect with no Hit Die cap.
Empower Spell: Blue for any Magus and MEGA BLUE for the uber blaster. Spell damage is not subject to DR/- and
keeps your DPR up there with those BSF's.
Maximize Spell:Sounds good but not worth the level adjustment on a class with only 6 spell levels. Goes green if you
take it at 17, adding it for free with Spell Perfection.
Spell Perfection: Wonderful Feat that let's you spontaneously add 1 metamagic feat for free, up to 9th level. Think
Quicken, Maximize and Dazing.
Dazing Spell: The cost is heavy. But adding rounds of Daze to a REFLEX spell is awesome battle control. Especially
good if you took either Magical Lineage or Wayang Spell hunter to Fireball. Cast a Dazing Fireball in a 5th level slot.
Power Attack: Usually blue in a Melee based class. This is only good, rather than brilliant because Magi will spell
combat 1 handed, but Spellstrike 2 handed. Gets even better if your focus on the Monstrous Physique spells to get more
attacks. The CALIKANG with 6 arms is the pinnacle form.
Rime Spell: Lesser known than the intensify+SG+Magical Lineage trick. This is just as awesome. Take Rime
Spell+Frostbite+Wayang Spell hunter. and do 1d6+your cl in non-leathal damage AND auto entangle. This gets better
as you get more attacks.
ARCANA SELECTION: (I won't do them all since walterGM covered the lot in his guide and I agree for the most
part.)
Arcane Accuracy: Add your Int mod to your attack rolls for a whole round. By far the best Arcana that adds to your hit.
By prioritizing INT and with a Headband and various Into boosting items your looking at adding +3 when you select it
and +9 or +10 by level 20. None of the other 'To Hit' arcanas add this much bonus for one measly arcana point. Only
use it when you full attack.
Bane Weapon: Not available till 15, bane offers a big payoff for an +1 enchant and is often skipped over for adventurers
because it only affects one type of creature. For the Magus it's brilliant because you pick the type on the fly when you
swift action enchant your weapon.
Familiar: Magi in general and Hexcrafters are great because they can break action economy via spell combat. Familiars
let you do it even more. At early levels the Raven is a keen eyed scout that can talk. You can effectively make 2 checks
per round. One for you, one for your familiar (they use YOUR skill ranks remember?) so your 8 Int little buddy
actually knows quite a bit. Spring a feat on Improved Familiar later and get a Dust Mephit or Nosoi to use wands for
you while you fight, either buffs for you or Debuffs on enemies (Did I mention Ill Omen yet?)
Wand Wielder: Not bad. But not awesome. Having a wand gets you tons of spell combat rounds without burning spells.
But wands are expensive, have a poorer CL than your spells and you can't two hand Spellstrike with a wand in your
offhand. Why isn't your familiar using the wand again?
Hasted Assault: Now this is usually a bad option For Magi since Haste is a class spell and it’s more effective to cast that
and just use Improved Spell Recall to recover it. Hexcrafters however don’t get ISR and it costs 3 points every time to
recover haste making this Arcana a worthwhile investment.
Hex Arcana: This is your bread and butter. Hexes are what give the Hexcrafter their versatility and power.They make it
the best Archetype because you get power in areas you normally suck at (Buff/Debuff) by giving up little (Improved
Spell Recall and 1 arcana)
Rodwielder: Blue for the Blaster who relies on Meta-magic effects to save on higher level slots. Not worth giving up
the ability to Two Handed Spellstrike for the Debuffer or Transmogrifist.

THE HEXES:
Check out Hubble Bubble: The Guide to witches. for the full list. I will merely highlight the best ones for a Magus.
Also, note Hexes are usually a standard action so are not compatible with spell combat. Depending on the scenario
though a Move+Hex can be better than a Move+Spellstrike.
Sometimes a Cackle+Spellstrike is better than spell combat. Imagine moving to close and evil eyeing a foe (-4 to
saves). Next round cackle+Spellstrike with Bestow Curse. Like it?
Slumber: Probably the single most used Hex in the game. Completely take out mooks and BBEG's and Coupe de Grais
to save HEAPS of spell slots and fights. It's a scaling DC save or lose with No HD limit.
Flight: Feather Fall at will. Levitate 1/day and Flight 1/min per level at level 5? Hell yes. Magai can't even cast 3rd
level spells yet. Once you have it you should be airborne every combat.
Evil Eye: Impose a big negative to either AC/Saves for min 1round and can be prolonged with cackle. Your a 3/4BAB
class and spell saves are crucial to you. Forget Spell Focus and Take this instead. It helps you allies too.
Cackle: If you have a heavy hitter or a Full Wizard in your party it can be worth keeping Evil Eye going with a
Move+Spellstrike rather than full attacking to guarantee your Raging Brutality Barb buddy or Specialist Caster can get
their thing on.
Prehensile Hair: I don't like the standard action to activate but this is a reach attack using your best ability score on a
class that is wedded to one handed weapons. It is effectively an extra 'hand' that can hold a wand (so can a familiar
though). Would be green but for the fact it can also get you out of trouble when tied up. When was the last time the
enemy shaved your head/eyebrows when you were captured? The gravy is it's a PRIMARY NATURAL ATTACK so all
your iterative attacks are at FULL BAB.
Ice Tomb: Like Slumber but vs Fort. Nuff said. This is better than Feeblemind on a enemy caster.
Minor/Major Healing: Not necessarily a power move but your allies will love the free healing and besides Infernal
Healing this is the only access a Hexcrafter has.
Summon Spirit: You get 1 grand hex at 18 and this is hands down the best one. Summon as many 18 hd Wizard or
Sorceror ghosts as you have levels and have them cast 8th and 9th level spells for you.

THE 3 STYGIAN WITCHES: (builds section)

The Blaster: Less Melee effective than the other 2 options, this guy until level 8 Really emphasizes Massive Damage
off Shocking grasps and then later, turning Fireball into a Much harder hitting blast with Daze layered in for Battle
Control. Now when you pick this kind of Hexcrafter you need to pick two spells to specialize in with your traits. One
for Immediate Results (Shocking Grasp) and One for long term (Fireball). Sadly the only great scaling damage spell
that is not Fireball at 3rd level is Lightning Bolt and It's area sucks.
The with a 20pt buy the best I can think of is Human
STR 16 DEX 10 CON 12 WIS 10 INT 17 CHA 11
Note: A single level dip in Crossblooded (Orc/Draconic) is needed to REALLY up your damage. Getting +2 damage on
any Electric Spell and +1 damage per die off all your other damaging spells. Plus it gives human's Darkvision and
access to Combat Exp/Blindfight/Moonlight Stalker which I preferred over the Wpn Fcs tree.
Traits: Magical Lineage (Fireball), Wayang Spellhunter (Shocking Grasp)

1Magus1 Spell Combat Spell Focus: Evoc, Spell specialisation (Shocking Grasp for levels 1-7, then swap to Fireball
at 8-12, Dragon's Breath at 12-14 and Cone of Cold up to 20)
2 Magus2 Spellstrike
3 Sorcerer1 Crossblooded Orc/Blue Dragon, Tattoo Familiar (Raven), Varisian Tattoo, Intensify Spell
4 Magus3 Arcana- Arcane Accuracy
5 Magus4 Hex- Slumber, Heighten Spell
6 Magus5 Preferred Spell (Shocking Grasp)
7 Magus6 Hex Arcana- Flight Hex, Empower Spell
8 Magus7 Medium Armor
9 Magus8 Elemental Spell
10 Magus9 Hex Arcana-Evil Eye
11 Magus10 Spell Penetration
12 Magus11 Selective Spell
13 Magus12 Hex Arcana- Ice Tomb, Quicken Spell
14 Magus 13 Heavy Armor
15 Magus 14 Spell Perfection (Fireball)
16 Magus 15 Bane Blade
17 Magus 16 Counterstrike Dazing Spell
18 Magus 17 Weapon Focus
19 Magus 18 Hex Arcana- Summon Spirit, Gtr Spell Penetration
20 Magus 19 Gtr Spell Access
Why it's good? Spontaneous Intensified Shocking Grasps from 1st level slots (10d6+20 ave55)
or Spontaneous Empowered Intensified Shocking Grasps with 3rd level slots (Ave 82.5)
Spell Perfectioned Dazing Elemental Empowered Fireballs for a 5th level Slot (82.5 in a Blast radius, 5th level spell
DC, 3 rounds of Daze) or Intensified Elemental Empowered Fireballs (15d6+30 ave123.75 damage to everybody in the
blast)
Besides being a Awesome Blaster/God Puncher you still have the 2 most important Save or Lose Hexes for those time
evocation is not needed.
The bad: Not nearly as capable in Melee as the Debuffer or the Transmorgifist warrior. No power attack for damage
and not really many to hit buff feats. Don't get me wrong. He still decent. With Arcane Accuracy he can get up to +10
to Hit with Int Items and Tomes. Damage comes from the Mega Shocking Grasps.
The Defiler: This debuff build is focused on piling on negative effects and rendering every target as harmless and easy
to kill as possible. This is a Melee effective option that is fully developed by 6th level with everything after that making
it more destructive.
The with a 20pt buy the best I can think of is Human
STR 13 DEX 14 CON 14 WIS 10 INT 18 CHA 7
Note: A 2 level dip in White Haired Witch is needed to REALLY up the Debuffs and action Economy on this build.
Traits: Magical Lineage (Frostbite), Wayang Spellhunter (Frigid Touch)

1 (Witch 1) (White Haired Witch archetype) Feats: Rime Spell, Scribe Scroll
● (King Crab familiar, Strength or Wisdom Patron)
2 (Magus 1) Spell Combat, Arcane Pool
3 (Magus 2) Spellstrike Feat: Combat Reflexes
4 (Magus 3) Arcana- Arcane Accuracy
5 (Magus 4) Hex Arcana- Prehensile Hair Feat: Extra Arcana (Flight)
6 (Witch 2) - Grab
7 (Magus 5) Feat: Cornugon Smash Bonus Feat: (Power Attack)
8 (Magus 6) Arcana: Sleep Hex
9 (Magus 7) Medium Armor, Knowledge Pool Feat: Lunge
10 (Magus8) Improved spell combat
11 (Magus9) Arcana: Hasted Assault Feat: Elemental Spell (Acid or Cold)
12 (Magus10) Fighter Training
13 (Magus11) Spell Recall Bonus Feat: Sickening Spell
14 (Magus12) Hex Arcana: Ice Tomb
15 (Magus 13) Heavy Armor

Why it's good:

At 7th level a prepared Defiler can inflict Grappled, Staggered, Fatigued, Entangled, Prone and Shaken onto a target
with a single standard action. If he decides to make a full action he can also add Blind to that target.
The bad:
It’s a dedicated melee build with lower HP’s than any other and has delayed getting access to Heavy armor until 15th
level.
How it works:
This build hinges around using your Hair natural attack for ALL your attack actions. As your only natural attack it is
always at Full Bab and does 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus on damage rolls. Since you use your Intelligence bonus in
place of strength every time you boost your Int you boost your melee to-hit and damage. Taking two levels of Witch
grants three important benefits.
1. An always on Natural attack that can never be sundered, disarmed or stolen.
2. A superior Grab ability that naturally doesn’t make you grappled while you are grappling (everyone else has to take
a -20 on each grapple check to get this)
3. A Constrict ability that is based off your Intelligence and works with Power Attack.
Now this is a de-buff build so our go to spells are Frostbite (rimed) and Frigid Touch mixed with Power Attack and
Cornugon Smash all channeled through 4 different combat maneuvers (Grab, Trip, Sunder & Disarm).
Note: All combat maneuvers are attack rolls, anything that is activated by a successful hit are activated by a
successful combat maneuver as well.
Combat begins by activating your Prehensile Hair and using your arcane pool to get the +attack on it as high as you can
and moving into position to respond to any AoO provoking action. At your first chance Spellstrike a Rimed Frostbite
and attempt a combat maneuver (trip is best) on a target 10’ away (try to always power attack this if you can).
(This will be at full Bab + Int Bonus +Arcane pool Bonus -Power attack Penalty vs. targets CMD)

If successful this will trip the target, and inflict the Fatigued, Prone and Entangled condition as well as 1D6+your
Magus level non-lethal damage.
(Prone is -4 to attacks and CMD, Fatigue is -2 to Dex and Str for another -2 to attacks and CMD, Entangled is another -2 to
attacks and -4 to Dex for another -2 to attacks and a concentration check to cast spells. Total = -6 to Dex, -2 to Str for a -4 to
attacks, -8 CMD, -3 to AC)

This also triggers your Grab ability so now as a swift action make a Grapple check against their CMD -8. If you
succeed then move them to any square adjacent to you (automatic action) and inflict Constrict Damage against the
target. (1D4 + 1.5xInt modifier + Power attack Bonus). This will also activate your Cornugon Smash Feat so also make
an Intimidate check now to demoralize them to inflict the Shaken Condition.
(Adding the Grapple condition reduces Dex by an additional -4, Attack rolls and Combat Maneuvers by 2, and adds another
concentration check to cast, Shaken reduces attacks, saves, skill checks and ability checks by 2 more. Total = -10 to Dex, -2 to Str,
-10 to attacks, -2 to saves, skill checks and ability checks and requires 2 Concentration checks to cast a spell)

All of this is done with a single standard action. If you decide to use Spell combat all of the above will happen with the
addition at the end to cast an additional spell (which will end the charges from Frostbite), we usually use a Frigid touch
spell to inflict 4D6 damage and the staggered condition (it is recommended to either use a Metamagic on this, either
Rime, Sickened or Empower).

All together the target should be Prone, Fatigued, Entangled, Grappled, Shaken, Staggered and Flanked. At higher
levels you can add Sickened and Blind as well.
A Defiler should invest in an Amulet of Mighty Fist (not needed but truly worth it) and keep either a Blindness, Rimed
Frigid Touch or Bestow Curse in it at all times with Blindness being the most effective.

With this build raising your Int as high as you can is paramount since it powers ALL of your combat ability (attacks,
damage, CMB, etc) followed by either your Dex (for more AoO’s, Dex and reflex saves) or Con (to absorb all the
damage that will be thrown your way the first time you use this trick). Keep your Intimidate as high as you can (class
skill from your Witch dip), and get as many +hit bonuses as possible to make sure you can always succeed on your
Combat Maneuvers.
If you would like to do more damage while doing this, always remember releasing a target from a grapple is a free
action and the spell from spell combat can go after all your normal attacks. So after the steps above release the target
and do a normal attack with the hair triggering everything again for more damage THEN do the spell combat for the
Frigid touch spell for a third touch attack (this requires you to have pre-cast the Frostbite in a previous round).
The Melee Transmorgifist
This Hexcrafter is more orientated on Melee damage via using Magic to pounce and the Monstrous Physique spells to
gain extra attacks. He is basically a Jack of All trades as far as Debuffing and Battle control goes a
Here is an Example with a BLADEBOUND HEXCRAFTER. If you don't want blade bound, get a familiar..Elf is best
race for racial arcanas

Trait: Magical Lineage (Frostbite), Wayang Spell hunter (shocking grasp)

1- Arcane pool, cantrips, spell combat, Rime Spell
2- Spellstrike
3- Arcana: Familiar (either raven or pterosaur),Blindfight
4- Hex Magus: Slumber
5- Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise, Extra Arcana- Flight
6- Hex Arcana: Misfortune, Racial: Hex Arcana- Arcane Accuracy
7-Knowledge Pool, Medium Armor, Moonlight Stalker
8-Improved Spell Combat
9-Hex Arcana-Evil Eye, Improved Familiar (Fairie Dragon)
10-Fighter Training
11-Power Attack, Spell Recall, Intensify Spell
12- Hex Arcana- Ice Tomb, Racial: Hex Arcana- Retribution or major healing
13- Extra Arcana: Devoted Blade
14
15- Arcana- Bane Blade, Craft Rod or Cackle if you have lots of cash
16
17-Quicken Spell, Spell Perfection:Shocking Grasp
18- Hex Arcana- Summon Spirit, Racial: Lifegiver
19- Maximize Spell
20
How it Plays:
At real low levels Shocking Grasp is Still better, but once you get Monstrous Physique spells and multiple natural
attacks, Frostbite, it's aweome.
You pre shift into a Form with multiple natural attacks. Say a Gargoyle for example
Now Close and Use Frostbite. You x/touches per level. So if say you had 2 Sword attacks + Claws+Gore.
You could full attack with your scimitar and combine it with your natural attacks. (This means they are secondary Nat
attacks or BAB-5), pop a swift action on Arcane accuracy.
Now you have 2 scimitar swings +claw+gore. If your INT is High enough they have a good hit chance. Each attack
does normal damage + 1d6 cold + CL in non-lethal. And Entangled for Rime Spell.
That is.enough non lethal to knock most things out in a round.
Simple trick but a good one.
The pinnacle form is the 6 armed CALIKANG.
Why it's my preferred build:
This is my favorite build Because it's specialty is VERSATILITY.

● The talking Raven has Skill Focus: Perception and you can have 2 chars making perception checks each
round or a pterosaur gives +2 to initiative
● It gets MOONLIGHT STALKER for stealthy a$$ kicking. Just pop any concealment spell and it's on.
● It flies at level 5. And at will feather fall and Levitation.
● Evil Eye+Ill omen Familiar= MASSIVE DEBUFF.
● Slumber and Ice Tomb are just awesome. Hexes that have DC's better than your spells and never run out.
● Use wands of Infernal Healing outside combat. Works out better than CLW
● Can do BOTH the Intensified SG trick and Rime Frostbite trick. Both Career long and Awesome uses of a 1st
level slot.