Grappling vs. Dervish Dancer bard archetype

[Feegle]

If you grapple a Dervish Dancer, does his dancing stop? Can he start it up again as a move action without breaking the grapple?

[Pol Mordreth]

As long as a dervish dancer isn't prevented from taking a free action, his dance doesn't stop.

[Michael Sayre]

"Grappled: A grappled creature is restrained by a creature, trap, or effect. Grappled creatures cannot move and take a –4 penalty to Dexterity. A grappled creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, except those made to grapple or escape a grapple. In addition, grappled creatures can take no action that requires two hands to perform. A grappled character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler's CMB + spell level), or lose the spell. Grappled creatures cannot make attacks of opportunity."

" Like a bard, a dervish dancer’s performance ends immediately if he is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action each round."

So, grappled is not listed as a condition that ends the performance, but Grappled does say that a creature affected by the condition cannot move. I'd probably require them to make the concentration check required for activating a spell-like ability each round that they're grappled as a middle ground resolution, but I'm not 100% sure what the RAW are actually dictating here.

[Abeloec Wyndstrider]

No according to Ultimate Combat there are a very specific lists of things that end the dervish dancers dance. As grappled isn't one of these things, the bard can continue to perform while grappled. As my boss just said, he can still do the jig bear-hugged and lifted off the ground.

PRD wrote:

Starting a battle dance is a move action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. Changing a battle dance from one effect to another requires the dervish dancer to stop the previous performance and start the new one as a move action. Like a bard, a dervish dancer's performance ends immediately if he is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action each round. A dervish dancer cannot perform more than one battle dance at a time. At 10th level, a dervish dancer can start a battle dance as a swift action instead of a move action.

PRD wrote:

Grappled: A grappled creature is restrained by a creature, trap, or effect. Grappled creatures cannot move and take a –4 penalty to Dexterity. A grappled creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, except those made to grapple or escape a grapple. In addition, grappled creatures can take no action that requires two hands to perform. A grappled character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler's CMB + spell level), or lose the spell. Grappled creatures cannot make attacks of opportunity.

[Abeloec Wyndstrider]

Ssalarn wrote:

"Grappled: A grappled creature is restrained by a creature, trap, or effect. Grappled creatures cannot move and take a –4 penalty to Dexterity. A grappled creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, except those made to grapple or escape a grapple. In addition, grappled creatures can take no action that requires two hands to perform. A grappled character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler's CMB + spell level), or lose the spell. Grappled creatures cannot make attacks of opportunity."

" Like a bard, a dervish dancer’s performance ends immediately if he is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action each round."

So, grappled is not listed as a condition that ends the performance, but Grappled does say that a creature affected by the condition cannot move. I'd probably require them to make the concentration check required for activating a spell-like ability each round that they're grappled as a middle ground resolution, but I'm not 100% sure what the RAW are actually dictating here.

Have to disagree, if you would require a concentration check for that, then you would need them to make one every time they did anything else while maintaining a performance (ie. casting a spell, ranged or melee attack, etc.) No where in the description of the dervish dancer archetype does it say he must move around to dance, so the bolded part doesn't really apply.

[Pol Mordreth]

Well, these are SU abilities not spell like abilities. And, 'Cannot Move' refers to leaving the square. Nowhere in Battle Dance does it require that you move any distance to use the ability (unlike some of the abilities for Mobile Fighter, for example).

[Jiggy]

@Ssalarn: "Cannot move" from the grapple rules just means "cannot try to leave that space". This is evidenced by the fact that a grappled creature could even full-attack the grappler, which obviously requires "moving".

[Feegle]

This question is specifically for a PFS game, so I need RAW here. While something like Concentration might make sense, it won't fly.

Thanks for the answers.

[Paladin of Baha-who?]

RAW is that grappling has no effect on that ability, as it does not confer the dead, paralyzed, stunned, or unconscious condition, and does not prevent taking a free action.