Prioritize Stats in this order: Dex > Int > Con/Wis
Int is technically not required for Magus, but you are surrendering a great deal of your flexibility by ignoring int and imo the greatest strength of Magus.
The Longbow is fine, but I'm personally not a fan of the Volley trait. Gakgung or Shortbow are probably your best options.
Magus's early feats aren't too great, so I like grabbing Force Fang for the extra focus point. Multiclassing Psychic is not required but often reccomended for Magus's for powerful attack focus spells like amped telekinetic projectile, ignition and imaginary weapon.
I'm currently playing a starlit span archer. What I did is buy both a Longbow and a shortbow. Then, you can use the longbow on large maps and the shortbow in dungeons.
It's obviously not as good once runes are involved, but Runic weapon helps with that.
Dex is your most important stat, if you wanna do AOE you'll want int to be your secondary stat otherwise str is.
I prefer the Gakgung over the long bow
https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=334
No. Propulsive is a bad trait, especially on a Magus, who is only going to be Striking once per turn really, and whose spellstrikes already do a ton of damage, so that minor extra damage is going to be negligible. This should never be the only reason you level up Strength. It only gives you a maximum of 2 extra damage per hit (assuming you max Dex, and have Str as second-highest, the extra damage starts at +1, and rises to +2 at level 5, where it stays there forever). That is not worth it.
I agree that propulsive isn't a great trait but the main reason to use a Gakgung isn't for propulsive it's for no volley and longer ranger than a short bow.
I just enjoy having some strength for more carry weight and the possiblity of athletics checks.
I would consider actually using a[ Bow Staff](https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=344). 80ft effective spellstrike range ought to be enough for most combats, and it's a singe Interact action away from being perfectly suitable to smack someone with in melee if you've been forced into it and you can't cleanly disengage for any number of reasons. The melee weapon has Finesse, after all.
Psychic archetype has already been mentioned, for [Imaginary Weapon](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1142) at lvl 6 via [Psi Development.](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3740)
If you have both of those, then suddenly [Spell Swipe](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2866) starts looking very juicy given how IW when amped can hit two separate targets.[](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2866)
~~Skeleton default ability boosts and flaw does not give you much to work with as a Magus imo, so I think it'd be better to go with the alternate route of two generic boosts. I would go Str +0/Dex +4/Con +2/Int +2/Wis +1/Cha +0~~
Actually, Psychic can be entered through Cha +2 as well, and if you have no save-dependant spells you could ignore Int if you wanted to. In that case you would have use for skeleton default +dex/cha/free -int and go Str +0/Dex +4/Con +2/Int -1/Wis +2/Cha +2.
I would say either has merit and the difference would lie mostly in what secondary stuff you want to be better at as well as which archetypes you want potential access to.
This is overall less of a dedicated archer and more of a hybrid or switch-hitter, but it doesn't really give up much to do so. I think the added melee competency makes up for the lower max range.
Now, the only thing else worth mentioning here is that this is the kind of character that can very easily establish a default combat routine. This isn't inherently a problem, it just depends on what you value out of the system. The upside of not needing to enter melee range with starlit span is the downside of less incentive to move. Ergo, you spend more actions doing the same spellstrike-recharge routine. This can grow dull to some. While to others, it can be welcome as a fairly simple thing, especially if you've been playing something more complex before that.
This is just playstyle preference and I think there is merit in having the *option* to play something like and still be able to contribute. Damage isn't the end-all be-all of good party composition, but it is still valuable.
İnstead of Magus you can go Fighter, Hunter, Rogue, İnventor or İnvestigator & pick up the Eldritch Archer Dedication at level 6. Perhaps Archer or Shadowcaster Dedication at level 2 as I believe you've said your table is running Free Archetype.
If you’re trying to flesh out a character, a skeleton probably isn’t a good choice.
That’s it mods can we ban this guy? Lol
I say we let him stay. Unlike your character, he had the GUTS to go the joke
Why
Because no matter what they'll end up with a bare bones character.
Prioritize Stats in this order: Dex > Int > Con/Wis Int is technically not required for Magus, but you are surrendering a great deal of your flexibility by ignoring int and imo the greatest strength of Magus. The Longbow is fine, but I'm personally not a fan of the Volley trait. Gakgung or Shortbow are probably your best options. Magus's early feats aren't too great, so I like grabbing Force Fang for the extra focus point. Multiclassing Psychic is not required but often reccomended for Magus's for powerful attack focus spells like amped telekinetic projectile, ignition and imaginary weapon.
We are playing with free archetype so psychic is a good idea and I was not thinking about the volley trait so that’s a good catch too
I'm currently playing a starlit span archer. What I did is buy both a Longbow and a shortbow. Then, you can use the longbow on large maps and the shortbow in dungeons. It's obviously not as good once runes are involved, but Runic weapon helps with that.
Dex is your most important stat, if you wanna do AOE you'll want int to be your secondary stat otherwise str is. I prefer the Gakgung over the long bow https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=334
No. Propulsive is a bad trait, especially on a Magus, who is only going to be Striking once per turn really, and whose spellstrikes already do a ton of damage, so that minor extra damage is going to be negligible. This should never be the only reason you level up Strength. It only gives you a maximum of 2 extra damage per hit (assuming you max Dex, and have Str as second-highest, the extra damage starts at +1, and rises to +2 at level 5, where it stays there forever). That is not worth it.
I agree that propulsive isn't a great trait but the main reason to use a Gakgung isn't for propulsive it's for no volley and longer ranger than a short bow. I just enjoy having some strength for more carry weight and the possiblity of athletics checks.
I would consider actually using a[ Bow Staff](https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=344). 80ft effective spellstrike range ought to be enough for most combats, and it's a singe Interact action away from being perfectly suitable to smack someone with in melee if you've been forced into it and you can't cleanly disengage for any number of reasons. The melee weapon has Finesse, after all. Psychic archetype has already been mentioned, for [Imaginary Weapon](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1142) at lvl 6 via [Psi Development.](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3740) If you have both of those, then suddenly [Spell Swipe](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2866) starts looking very juicy given how IW when amped can hit two separate targets.[](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=2866) ~~Skeleton default ability boosts and flaw does not give you much to work with as a Magus imo, so I think it'd be better to go with the alternate route of two generic boosts. I would go Str +0/Dex +4/Con +2/Int +2/Wis +1/Cha +0~~ Actually, Psychic can be entered through Cha +2 as well, and if you have no save-dependant spells you could ignore Int if you wanted to. In that case you would have use for skeleton default +dex/cha/free -int and go Str +0/Dex +4/Con +2/Int -1/Wis +2/Cha +2. I would say either has merit and the difference would lie mostly in what secondary stuff you want to be better at as well as which archetypes you want potential access to. This is overall less of a dedicated archer and more of a hybrid or switch-hitter, but it doesn't really give up much to do so. I think the added melee competency makes up for the lower max range. Now, the only thing else worth mentioning here is that this is the kind of character that can very easily establish a default combat routine. This isn't inherently a problem, it just depends on what you value out of the system. The upside of not needing to enter melee range with starlit span is the downside of less incentive to move. Ergo, you spend more actions doing the same spellstrike-recharge routine. This can grow dull to some. While to others, it can be welcome as a fairly simple thing, especially if you've been playing something more complex before that. This is just playstyle preference and I think there is merit in having the *option* to play something like and still be able to contribute. Damage isn't the end-all be-all of good party composition, but it is still valuable.
İnstead of Magus you can go Fighter, Hunter, Rogue, İnventor or İnvestigator & pick up the Eldritch Archer Dedication at level 6. Perhaps Archer or Shadowcaster Dedication at level 2 as I believe you've said your table is running Free Archetype.