Dervish Problems

[Magic Myrmidon]

Heya. So... I have a dervish. Absolutely love playing him. Good times. But he seems to be running into some problems, now that he's getting up there in level. Mainly two. See, his main source of damage is intelligence, thanks to swashbuckler 3. So obviously, he's severely gimped against things that are crit immune. Even more so if they have DR, since he uses two weapons, and a lot of attacks. He is also grappled pretty often now. So I was looking for ways to get freedom of movement, or just some way to avoid grapples.

So... tl;dr...

1) Some way to apply insightful strike to crit-immune things.
2) Some way to get past general DR since he uses two scimitars and a lot of attacks.
3) Some way to avoid grapples, either through freedom of movement, or some other thing.

[Morbis Meh]

1. Wands of Gravestrike/Golem strike if you have use magical device as a class skill.

2. Transformation weapon enhancement (after a weapon has hit an enemy that has DR the weapon will attune itself to overcome the DR of that specific type [MiC])

3. There is a ring of FoM I believe... but it costs an arm and a leg.

[kulosle]

Usually the solution to dervishes problems is the swift hunter, but it seems to be a little late for that. Another solution is a bard. If there is a bard in you party, or you take leadership to get a cohort, you can have them be an IC optimization build with Dragon Fire Inspiration to add a lot of d6s to your attacks. thus doing more damage because you have lots of attacks and if the bard takes draconic heritage then it can be force damage. Or power attack to do extra damage. If you find you don't hit enough then take Acrobatic Strike to get a +6 on all your attacks, if your tumbling, which you should be. The best way to not get grappled is to get your AC up, which dervishes usually have a good amount of.

[Essence_of_War]

Well...if you're TWF, I assume you have a high dex?

If so, if you want to go THROUGH the DR, you could try one or more of the following methods:

1) Double Scimitar + Power Attack - against things with DR, instead of going for your max # of attacks, use one end of the double scimitar and fight THF with power attack to increase your damage.

2) Do you qualify for Champion of Corellon? If so, a 2-level dip gets you Dex to damage with a small set of melee weapons, I believe one of them is the scimitar. If you have any fighter levels to help get into Dervish, I think you should meet all of the pre-reqs.

3) Revenant Blade - relies on some specific Eberron stuff, but is effectively option 1) but you still get all of your attacks. Consider.

4) Is your DM willing to allow the scimitar to be Shadow Hand weapon? If so, a swordsage dip can get you dex to damage whenever you're in a Shadow Hand stance (spoiler: this will be 'always').

To avoid grapples:

1) One of my all-time favorite feats, Close Quarters Fighting (CWarrior). It gives you an AoO anytime someone tries to grapple you. Yes, even if they have improved grab or improved grapple. The amt of damage you do is adding to your grapple check to oppose the grapple. Very handy.

2) Anklet of translocation - now I'm grappled, now I'm elsewhere.

3) Ring of FoM - pricey, but solves the problem adequately.

4) The swordsage dip from above can net you the Shadow Hand teleport maneuvers. This line of maneuvers allows you to teleport as a std/move/swift action respectively, they can get you out of grapples.

5) Totemist - two level dip can allow you to bind Blink Shirt, you get move action teleportation all day. No one will be grappling you for very long.

6) Psychic Warrior - two level dip + mantled warrior (freedom) lets you get dimension hop. Similar to the totemist solution.

1) or 2) are probs the most efficient, 3) works, but is very expensive. I like 4 because it could potentially solve two of your separate problems, 5) and 6) are probably not that useful.

[Keld Denar]

Close Quarters Fighting has one critical flaw. Most of the big grabby things are...big. Big enough that they probably have more reach than you. If you don't threaten someone, you can't claim an AoO against them. If you don't get the AoO, you don't get the bonus on your opposed grapple check.

It's dumb, and easily house ruled, but if your DM is a stickler for the rules, there it is.

[Darrin]

1) Some way to apply insightful strike to crit-immune things.


I... got bupkis. All the usual methods for getting around this assume you're trying to do sneak attack damage, but you're not doing that, so I'm not sure how to get around that. Even if you add sneak attack to your build, by a strict reading of RAW, anything that gives you sneak attack damage on crit-immune creatures still wouldn't apply to Insightful Strike. A Greater Demolition Crystal would work, but that's pretty darned expensive, and the you have to pay double for TWF.

Adding Scout 3/Ranger 1 would let you add Swift Hunter, which does let you do skirmish damage against favored enemies that are normally immune to skirmish, but I'm not sure if Insightful Strike would be included. Best to talk this over with the DM and maybe come up with something homebrew or a custom magic item.



2) Some way to get past general DR since he uses two scimitars and a lot of attacks.


Two Lesser Crystals of Acid Assault + wand chambers (100 GP, Dungeonscape) + wands:
Instant of Power (Forge of War)
Blades of Fire (Spell Compendium)
Burning Sword (Spell Compendium)
Sonic Weapon (Spell Compendium)
Frost Weapon (Frostburn)

If you have two feats to spare, consider Shape Soulmeld: Crystal Helm and Open Least Chakra: Crown. This gives all your melee attacks the [force] descriptor, which means they count as energy damage and bypass all DR.



3) Some way to avoid grapples, either through freedom of movement, or some other thing.

Stock up on swift-action teleport items:
Chronocharm of the Horizon Walker (500 GP, MIC)
Anklets of Translocation (1400 GP, MIC)
Panic Button, Escaping (750 GP, Complete Scoundrel)

Save up for a buckler with the Freedom property (+5 enhancement, MIC), which is just a bit cheaper than buying the ring: 36315 GP vs. 40000 GP.

[utherphoenyx]

btw did you know an escape artist check can replace your grapple mod? and FoM is good but for crit immune i would recomend burst weapons and if you are using scimatars you cant use insiteful strike only on weapons that can be used with weapon finesse

[Magic Myrmidon]

Awesome, thanks everyone. Transmuting sounds great, although it'll be awhile before I get it, since they're already keen, and money and access to items or enchantments is kinda restricted. I'll try to get some of those items mentioned, though.

I'm really liking close quarters fighting, but I'm pretty dang feat-starved. Even with human, I'm hurting for more of them.

Also, thankfully, Dervish makes scimitars count as light weapons, which makes them finessable, which makes them count for insightful strike.

Thanks again, everyone.

[docnessuno]

To bypass DR i suggest Transmuting (+2, MiC45) or shadowstriking (+3, here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060303a&page=7)). Shadowstiking being the best option, since it works right from the first strike.

[Curmudgeon]

1. Wands of Gravestrike/Golem strike if you have use magical device as a class skill.
It pays to read the details:
This spell applies only to sneak attack damage. It gives you no ability to affect undead with critical hits, nor does it confer any special ability to overcome the damage reduction or other defenses of undead creatures.
Targets immune to sneak attacks or critical hits are immune to the swashbuckler’s insightful strike. So no dice with any of these wands; Insightful Strike stays disabled.