Fighter Dervish of Dawn and Reach Weapons

[Majestic8705]

Hey all,

So I'm getting back into Pathfinder hopefully this Sunday and I'm strongly considering rolling up a reach weapon fighter (fauchard, stats are still tbd). While skimming through the various archetypes, I stumbled upon the Dervish of Dawn fighter archetype.

Obviously, as a reach weapon fighter I am going to be doing the '5 ft step' dance, so I'm looking for some ways to minimize the problems posed by difficult terrain. This of course leads to Nimble Moves as a feat, acquiring all these extra feats which meh. Can do because lotta feats to burn, but would rather save 'em if I can. Enter the Dervish of Dawn.

Specifically, I have two questions about this archetype, and I do apologize if they've been answered already. First, the srd entry begins with this:

SRD (emphasis added by me) wrote:

No enemy is as feared as the dervishes of dawn. While dervishes can be clerics, paladins, or rangers, zealous fighters join their ranks as well. These spinning warriors prefer light or no armor and wield scimitars with devastating consequences, moving swiftly over the treacherous desert sands to attack with lightning-fast strikes.

They maneuver quickly among their enemies, relying on their speed and their skill to see them through the battle.

Which implies the Dervish of Dawn must use light armor, and a scimitar. However, nothing about the actual archetype mechanics prohibit using other armors or weaponry -- they still get fighter weapon and armor proficiencies, and none of their abilities say 'while wearing/wielding' on them.

Basically, the point I'm getting to is this: must a Dervish of Dawn wield only a scimitar? Or can they wield any weapon they choose?

As a follow-up, I'm also curious about the ability below:

SRD wrote:

Desert Stride (Ex)

At 7th level, a dervish can move through 10 feet of difficult terrain each round as if it were normal terrain. This benefit stacks with the benefits provided by the Acrobatic Steps and Nimble Moves feats.

This ability replaces Armor Training 2.

As I read it, if a character can move through 10 feet of difficult terrain each round as if it were normal terrain, it follows that the character could treat 5 feet's worth of difficult terrain as normal terrain and then 5 foot step into it, right?

[Claxon]

Strangely, the archetype only replaces armor training so yes you could wear heavy armor and wield something other than a scimitar.

Do keep in mind that you will have reduced speed in anything other than light or mithral medium armor.

As for the 5ft step part, yes. You can treat up to 10ft per round as normal instead of difficult terrain. I see no reason why you couldn't do that to make a 5ft step (assuming you haven't otherwise moved in the round which would preclude you from making a 5ft step).

[Nefreet]

Majestic8705 wrote:

the Dervish of Dawn fighter archetype

FWIW, the real name of that archetype is the Dawnflower Dervish.

d20pfsrd doesn't have the rights to reprint Paizo's intellectual property, so they've had to change the names and text of anything that wasn't open content. Often times this means entire rules fall through the cracks.

In this case, after skimming them both, you seem to be in luck. Only their names changed. But I'd be cautious using d20pfsrd going forward. A lot of their content conflicts with the real thing.