Graceful combatants who bring poise and precision to the battlefield, Battle Dancers favor elven weapons that allow them to use their dexterity while still striking with the force of a two-handed weapon. They are often trained from an early age by great Elven warriors.
Skills
A Battle Dancer does not gain Bluff, Intimidate, Perform, or Sleight of Hand as class skills. She instead gains Heal, Kn. History, Kn. Nature, and Linguistics as class skills.
Student of Battle (Ex)
All Battle Dancer abilities (such as Panache) that use her charisma modifier instead use her intelligence modifier. A Battle Dancer may use a finessable Elven weapon as if it was a light or one-handed piercing melee weapon for the purposes of all Swashbuckler abilities.
Poise (Ex)
At 2nd level, while she has at least 1 panache point, the Battle Dancer receives a +1 bonus to will saves. She receives an additional +1 bonus at 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter. This replaces charmed life.
Elven Finesse (Ex)
At 3rd level, while she has at least 1 panache point, the Battle Dancer may use her dexterity modifier instead of her strength modifier when wielding a finessable Elven weapon. This replaces Precise Strike.
Power Attack
At 4th level, the Battle Dancer receives Power Attack as a bonus feat even if she does not meet the prerequisites. This replaces the Swashbuckler bonus feats received at 4th and 12th level.
Elven Weapon Training (Ex)
At 5th level, a Battle Dancer gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with finessable Elven weapons. While wielding such a weapon, she gains the benefit of the Improved Critical feat. These attack and damage bonuses increase by 1 for every 4 levels beyond 5th level (to a maximum of +4 at 17th level). This ability replaces Swashbuckler Weapon Training.
Elven Weapon Mastery (Ex)
At 20th level, when a Battle Dancer threatens a critical hit with a finessable Elven weapon, that critical is automatically confirmed. Furthermore, the critical modifiers of such weapons increase by 1 (×2 becomes ×3, and so on). This ability replaces Swashbuckler Weapon Mastery.
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A few thoughts:
1) Yes, I know the Battle Dancer doesn't get proficiency in either of her signature weapons. This is as intended; it allows me to make it an Elf archetype without excluding other races from using it. Elves get the proficiency for free, while others would need to feat into it (IE get training from an Elf).
2) Poise is superior to Charmed Life like Steel Will is superior to Bravery.
3) For a finesse character that doesn't get Precise Strike, free Power Attack is absolutely worth two feats.
Is Elven Finesse for to hit and damage? It just says they use their dexterity...
I would play this.
While I agree that Power Attack for this archetype is worth more than a feat, I'd suggest adding a small benefit - not a feat's worth - that's gained at level 12. So, you're essentially trading two feats for Power Attack + a minor benefit, but hey, free Power Attack on a two-handed weapon DEX build.
I think I'll make this archetype available to my players for my homebrew game.
@Kryzbyn: Woops, yeah that's supposed to be dex-to-damage (you already get dex to hit, after all). Really wish you could edit old posts on this forum.
@Inlaa: Cool to see you like it so much, haha. I'm not really sure what I would do for a minor benefit. You have any suggestions?
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maybe adding a something that is worthwhile but not as strong as a feat, like the trait Elven Reflexes. it could be written like this...
"At 12th level, while she has at least 1 panache point, the Battle Dancer gain a +2 bonus on initiative checks."
you could also just give them piranha strike at 4th, but say it works with any light or one-handed piercing weapon, then have it upgrade to work like Power attack at 12th level
The small bonus to initiative sounds good. I'd also consider, say, a bonus to fighting defensively when wielding a weapon with the name 'elven' in it, or a bonus to CMD vs. Disarm when wielding your weapon, or maybe a form of Deflect Arrows that only works 1/round and only when you're fighting defensively with one of this class's favorite weapons. Perhaps you get a static bonus to a skill that fits an elven combat style, such as Acrobatics or Jump?
The initiative bonus is a nice idea, except the Swashbuckler already gets that at 3rd level.
This is an idea, though I worry it might be too much:
Graceful Blow (Ex): At 12th level, the Battle Dancer may spend 2 points of panache as a full-round action to strike a single, powerful blow against the enemy's weak point. Roll to hit and damage for each of the Battle Dancer's attacks as normal, but consider all hits to be a single attack for the purposes of damage resistance and other abilities.
This is basically Clustered Shots, which is a feat unto itself, but unlike Clustered Shots it costs a pretty hefty amount of resources. Also unlike Clustered Shots you're getting it without taking two other feats first.
Hmm... I think that's fair, though others may disagree with me. It IS nice, very nice, but you also don't get it until 12.
I'll let others chime in. It might be TOO much since, as you pointed out, you're already getting free Power Attack.
Actually, hey -- spell-like ability, maybe? Caster level = half your character level?
Ooh, that SLA is actually perfect. How about this for the finalized ability:
Tutor's Guidance (Sp): Your instructor in swordcraft taught you how to wield heavy blades with finesse and poise while still dealing powerful blows. At 4th level, you receive Power Attack as a bonus feat, even if you do not meet the prerequisites. Additionally, you may cast blade tutor's spirit as a spell-like ability once per day, and an additional time per day at 12th level. This replaces the bonus feats granted at 4th and 12th level.
Looks interesting...though I don't why something called Battle Dancer would not have the Perform skill?
Tutor's Guidance (Sp): Your instructor in swordcraft taught you how to wield heavy blades with finesse and poise while still dealing powerful blows. At 4th level, you receive Power Attack as a bonus feat, even if you do not meet the prerequisites. Additionally, you may cast blade tutor's spirit as a spell-like ability once per day, and an additional time per day at 12th level. This replaces the bonus feats granted at 4th and 12th level.
Doesn't say what your caster level is for this. That's my only complaint.
Looks interesting...though I don't why something called Battle Dancer would not have the Perform skill?
I thought of this earlier but wasn't sure how it'd work into the class. So... I didn't suggest it.
@John: ...Yeah, that was stupidity in my rush to swap Charisma skills out for Intelligence skills. REALLY wishing I could edit the OP.
@Inlaa: It's equal to your class level like any other SLA you get from your class. I probably should not be writing rules text at 2 AM without reading it over before posting.