Dancing Demon - TWF Bard?!

[Kalenz]

You may think im crazy talking about twf with bard,
but check out that build! We will use the dervish
dancer archetype:
20 pt buy: 10 str, 16+2 dex, con 14, int 10, wis 10, cha 14 (human)

Feats:
(1) Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
(3) Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Wakizashi)
(5) Weapon Focus (Wakizashi)
(7) Arcane Strike
(9) Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
(11) Improved Critical
(13) Critical Focus
(15) Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
(17) Sickening Critical

so, whats special about that build? Simple, with this
archetype you can dish out enough bonuses to hit and dmg
to make twf worth it! But thats not the main part, otherwise
we could just as well use dawnflower dervish for the x2 bonus
on dances. This build gets really cool on level 12 onwards,
where you can start to move and full attack at the same turn!
One of the weakness of twf is being dependant of staying in the
front of the bad guys, doing and receiving full attacks. If you
move, your build loses its effectiveness. Dervish Dancers fixes
that out! Now, lets take a look at the offense of a level 12
bard, with +2 agile wakizashis, 20 dex and rain of blows:

18/18/18/13/13 - 1d6+10

Its not that big compared to a fighter, but when youre
doing five attacks even when moving, it starts to get
really awesome, huh? And if you want to increase power
even higher, look at how that would be with the dance
of hundred cuts spell:

22/22/22/17/17 - 1d6+14

Not to mention that you will be critting on a 15-20
range for double damage! Yay!

Just to make clear, this build only starts to really shine
on level 12+, before that, even buffed its just a twf fighter
withouth bonus feats, so dont risk it unless you know your
campaign will go on mid levels! But then, when it get there,
full attacking even when moving for all those hits will be
priceless!

So, what you think about the "dancing demon" twf bard? Thoughts
and comments? ^.^

[Blackfell]

Seems pretty solid to me, though I admit I'm pretty new to pathfinder and am not the best judge of such things :)

I love that the idea of the 3.5 "Dervish" prestige wasn't left behind by pathfinder. Full move + Full attack (in a very flexible way then pounce) is just awesome.

[Nicos]

Kalenz wrote:

lets take a look at the offense of a level 12
bard, with +2 agile wakizashis, 20 dex and rain of blows:

18/18/18/13/13 - 1d6+10

Its not that big compared to a fighter, but when youre
doing five attacks even when moving, it starts to get
really awesome, huh? And if you want to increase power
even higher, look at how that would be with the dance
of hundred cuts spell:

22/22/22/17/17 - 1d6+14

It is a good idea, lets see how it compare to a similar twf fighter.

Mobile fighter 12

10 str, dex 22 (16+2 Lvl+4 item), con 14, int 10, wis 14, cha 10

1. WF (kukri), Weapon finese, TWF
2. Piranha strike
3. Iron will
4. WS (kukri)
5. Lunge
6. I TWF
7. I. Iron will
8. Improved critical (kukri)
9. Critical focus
10. GWF (Kukri)
11. sickening critical
12. GWS (Kukri)
13. Stagegering critical
14. Critical mastery
15. G TWF
16. Dazing assault
17. Stunning critical

the attacks afther moving at level 12 would be more or less

+12(BAB)+2(Weapon)+2(Weapon training)+2 (gloves of dueling)+6 (dex)+2 (WF)-2 (TWF)

= +24/+19/+19/+15 (1d4+16 15-20/x2)

or

+20/+15/+15/+10 (1d4+24 15-20/x2

in a full attack with boots of speed it would be

+25/+25/+25/+20/+20/+15 (1d4+16 15-20/x2)

or

+21/+21/+21/+16/+16/+11 (1d4+24 15-20/x2)

So it seems the fighter is better full attacking (no surprise here)but the bard is better when moving.

[Widjit]

How do you all come up with these things?! lol That's a good bit of building there.

[Blackfell]

knowledge of the system combined with an idea that you want to expand upon. At least, thats how I usually start with a concept.

I find the average damage figures interesting. Sure, the fighter comes out ahead, but the bard has other options like high ranks in skills and his spells to help pick up the slack a bit.