Dervishes and DR (3.5)

[iElf]

ok, I'm planning a dervish as my next character, and I'm not sure how to go about it. on the one hand I have a insane amount of attacks as a whirling TWF, on the other My DM likes using Undead and constructs with DR against us, so maybe a power attacking Dervish would be better...

so is the general opinion on TWF against power attack with the dervish?

[Dusk Eclipse]

In general DR however low it may be (5 is the lowest I can recall) kills the DPR of characters with many attacks per round as DR applies to every attack. The problem with using TWF and Power attack is that you are getting HUGE penalties to hit as you get -4/-4 if you are using one handed weapons (light weapons can't be Power attacked with) and you aren't getting more damage.

There is the Power Dancer option; but I have never used it so I don't know how good it would be.

The Power Dancer
Lawful: Monk (cobra strike) 2 / Fighter 2 / Ranger 2 / Dervish 10 / X 4
Chaotic: Barbarian 2 / Fighter 2 / Ardent 2 / Dervish 10 / X 4
Karmic strike is the way to go here. Don't even tumble while dancing. Allow your enemies to hit you, you hit them back and you use your dance bonus + deft opportunist to fuel power attack. End your dance near the party's cleric if you are low on HPs

Source: Dervish Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19870778/The_Dervish_Handbook)

And another option is "The Dancing Blade" build which uses the Revenant Blade's ability to treat a double scimitar as two handed weapon (enabling 2:1 power attack) in conjunction with a huge amount of attacks to plow through DR.

The Dancing Blade


Quote: "Death is a dance - you just have to know the steps."

The Dervish ends up being able to take a full attack action with a move, then lay out two retributive strikes for each attack an opponent makes on her. With Improved Trip, this can mean she dishes out 4 hits for every one attack of opportunity. Your Revenant feats (4 total with a Zaelshin Tu) should be Great Cleave, Improved Critical, Weapon Specialization, and Improved Trip.

DANCING BLADE - FIRST 5 LEVELS:

Ranger 1: Full ranks into Hide and Move Silently. Bladebearer of the Valenar (1st)

Ranger 2: Full ranks into Hide and Move Silently. Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranger 2)

Darksong Knight Fighter 1: All ranks into Perform - Dance. WP Focus - Valenar Double Scimitar (Fighter 1), Expeditious Dodge (3rd)

Darksong Knight Fighter 2: Mobility (Fighter 2)

Warblade 1: All ranks into Tumble. Grab Wolf Fang Strike, Emerald Razor, Mountain Hammer, Douse the Flames, and Battle Leader's Charge.

DANCING BLADE - SECOND 5 LEVELS:

Revenant Blade 1: Karmic Strike (6th). Hero of the Valaes Tairn (+5 to Diplomacy and Gather Info checks with Valenar elves), Ancestral Guidance 1 (Improved Critical, Weapon Specialization from a zaelshin tu).

Revenant Blade 2: Shadow of the Past (class level to Hide and Move Silently checks).

Revenant Blade 3: Ancestral Guidance 2 (Great Cleave).

Revenant Blade 4: Combat Expertise (9th). Giant Slayer (+4 to Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival, and damage against giants, speak and write Giant).

Revenant Blade 5: Ancestral Guidance 3 (Blind Fight), Legendary Force (both ends of double scimitar count as two-handed weapons).


DANCING BLADE - LAST 10 LEVELS:

Dervish 1: AC Bonus +1, Dervish Dance 1/day (full move + full attack, +1 to hit and damage, lasts for your ranks in perform), Movement Mastery (take 10 on Jump, Tumble, and Perform check)

Dervish 2: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (12th). Fast Movement (+5 ft.).

Dervish 3: Spring Attack. Dervish Dance 2/day (full move + full attack, +2 to hit and damage, lasts for your ranks in perform).

Dervish 4: Dance of Death (Cleave while in Dervish Dance).

Dervish 5: Dual Hit (15th). AC Bonus +2, Fast Movement (+10 ft.), Dervish Dance 3/day (full move + full attack, +3 to hit and damage, lasts for your ranks in perform).

Dervish 6: Improved Reaction (+2 initiative).

Dervish 7: Elaborate Parry (+4 AC when fighting defensively), Dervish Dance 4/day (full move + full attack, +4 to hit and damage, lasts for your ranks in perform).

Dervish 8: Combat Reflexes (18th), Fast Movement (+15 ft.).

Dervish 9: Tireless Dance (no longer fatigued after dance), AC Bonus +3, Dervish Dance 5/day (full move + full attack, +5 to hit and damage, lasts for your ranks in perform)

Dervish 10: A Thousand Cuts (double melee attacks for one round, once per day).

You can also swap out the 15th or 18th level feat in favor of Martial Study - Dancing Mongoose, which will add another 2 attacks per round to your dance. You can also use it in combination with A Thousand Cuts to get 18 attacks per round once per day.


DANCING BLADE STRATEGY:

Round 1: Activate your dance. Make your move up and slice away! Power Attack as necessary to add on loads of damage. Make sure you have Karmic Strike active. When your opponent attacks you, pay him back with two hits to his every one. Don't forget to add in Improved Trip if your opponent is reasonably small.

Round 2: Rinse and repeat till all your enemies are slain.

Source: Revenant Blade Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872270/The_Revenant_Blade_Handbook)

And finally there is always the equipment based solution, for dealing with DR there are two options that are particularly good, but it is quite pricey.

Metalline weapon property: +2 will change it's composition to deal with metal based DR after one hit, found in the MIC

Shadow Striking: + 3 Will automatically bypass any DR, yes even that one and will fade after 1d4 minutes after the combat. Found in the Tome of MAgic Shadow magic section.

Hope this helps you

[iElf]

Hope this helps you

thank you so much...the Dancing blade is exactly what I was looking for, especially since I am playing a Valenar elf...:smallbiggrin:

EDIT: could you maybe also give me source books the classes are found in? I've not heard of those classes before

[Dusk Eclipse]

Just take into account that the Darksong fighter sub levels are from Faerun (Champions of Valor IIRC) and some DM's might not want to mix settings.

Edit:

Ranger PHB
Darksong Fighter Substitution levels Champions of Valor (they might be in the Web Enhancement but I am not sure)
Warblade: Tome of Battle and Web (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060802a&page=2)
Revenant Blade: Player's Guide to Eberron.

[kulosle]

If you know you are going to be fighting undead, constructs, elementals, or arcane casters there is always the swift hunter dervish. Extra damage on those to whom usually give you the most trouble. Also acrobatic strike is a feat from PH2 it gives you a +6 on your next attack after you tumble past someone, this should be all your attacks. Also there is a skill trick (once per round is kinda lame but still worth it) that makes an opponent flat footed against you if you have tumble past them. there is also 4 bloodstorm blade 1 master thrower, play something small and everything larger is a touch attack with your thrown melee weapons.

[Urpriest]

My sig has a link to a nice Power Dancer build. At least, the judges at Iron Chef Optimization Challenge thought so. :smallredface::smallsmile: