One of the things I keep on seeing is that the Dervish Dancer feat gets a lot of mention around the Magus, but virtually none around other Classes. Why is this? I understand, Magus is one of the few classes that is both a front-line fighter, and spends a lot of time in light armor, but it seems like it would be a useful feat even for classes that get Medium armor, since Dex just gets so much mileage, compared to strength, and allows for more mobility, by providing as good or better AC for a Dervish Dancer in Light armor, vs a non-Dervish Dancer in Medium armor.
I get that it's not always optimal, since you need one hand free for the feat, which means you can't have a shield or wield two-handed, but I find it strange that it seemingly never even gets mentioned as an option, when talking about a non-magus.
My player has fighter with Dervish Dancer feat, currently plays in Kingmaker campaign and doing more than fine.
The trouble is that scimitars are one-handed weapon, so they're not eligible for Pirhana Strike. If you want damage to scale up with level well, you either need:
-Spells, like with a magus
-Sneak attack; or
-13 STR to pick up Power Attack (which makes a DEX-based character a little more MAD, especially if you're small-sized)
I've got a Dervish Dancing halfling ninja in PFS, and he's a lot of fun. He's bluff focused, so I picked up Improved Feint to get my sneak attacks off. It's a lot of fun, and I'm considering picking up Risky Striker at level 6 to get better damage (of course, I'd have to carry around potions of reduce person to use it against Medium opponents).
The feat has several drawbacks:
- You use a single onehanded weapon and can't do much meaningful with the other hand. No second weapon, no shield.
- As RDN said you can't use piranha strikes with it
- It only works with this one weapon and if you take it you have to sick with that one weapon for it to work
Why don't other classes take it that often despite the drawbacks?
- Most other classes are not that dependant on high crit range
- if they are thy can use twohanded weapons
- there is a whole archetype + prestige class about another weapon to use dex for damage: The aldori
The reason it is really common for magi and not for everyone else, si Magi MUST fight with one hand free for spells. Since they want to have a hand free and use light armor (at least until mid levels) making dex a primary stat and using dervish dance is very advantageous.
In every other case, fighting one handed is the least effective way to fight. 2handed weapons, 2 weapon fighting, archery and even sword and board are all far more effective.
The trouble is that scimitars are one-handed weapon, so they're not eligible for Pirhana Strike. If you want damage to scale up with level well, you either need:
-Spells, like with a magus
-Sneak attack; or
-13 STR to pick up Power Attack (which makes a DEX-based character a little more MAD, especially if you're small-sized)
You missed the trick I used.
I have an 8th level ranger in PFS that uses dervish dance. He has power attack with his 10 strength. Taking two handed style on a ranger gives access to power attack without the prerequisites.
Of course the problem I have is his dex bonus is going to outgrow his max dex bonus on his armor soon.
Still, he's built as a trapper/guide so he does the rogue-ey things but just fights better. Heck, I think I even got around to using his great cleave at least once.
Dervish dance is a good feat for a lot of characters, but works particularly well with a magus. The big problem many non martial classes have with it is that it only applies to scimitar's. Classes like rouge, or bard who want to take it have to spend an extra feat or play a half elf with the ancestral arms trait. While spending two feats to get it at 3rd level is not a big deal, spend three feats to get it at 5th level is not worth it.
One of my players is using a half elf archeologist bard with dervish dance and does quite well. Combined with Heroism, and Archeologist Luck his chance to hit matches the fighter. Even with Dervish Dance his damage is still not as high as the fighter but is still respectable. He does have a 13 strength so will be able to take power attack latter.
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I have a Dawnflower Dervish Bard 1/Rogue 4/Halfling Opportunist 5/Rogue ++ in PFS. At least, that's the plan. He's level 4 now, with 22 dex, which works perfectly with a mithral chain shirt, not to mention all those dex based rogue skills like acrobatics, stealth, disable device, and sleight of hand.
While most rogues have little or no strength bonus on top of their weapon's damage die, he's got a +8 for 11 rounds per day (+6 without the Battle Dance flavored Inspire Courage, which he can start as a move action), and he's still got the sneak attacks on top of that. He's one level behind the normal sneak attack progression, which will become two levels behind once he gets into the prestige class, but it still works out pretty nicely.
He's not the biggest damage dealer in the game, as no other melee classes will ever compare to a standard two handed weapon fighter/barbarian with high strength and power attack. But he's always useful in a fight, even when he can't get sneak attacks, and he's got plenty of skills to be useful outside of combat, too.
A build idea that I started working on recently is a dervish dancing monk. This is possible with a dip into cleric if your worship a deity whose favored weapon is the scimitar and then take the Crusader's Flurry feat. The silliest thing is that by RAW, you get to use dex damage for all attacks with dervish dance, and monks get great unarmed damage, so they can punch or use the scimitar. It also helps the monk be less MAD (though, you'd likely still want to pick up power attack).
You might be able to deal with some damage issues if you use crane style to get an extra attack through crane riposte. This works well with dervish dance since both require the user to have a hand free. A high dex build combined with those style feats and fighting defensively would definitely be hard to hit, so I would not worry to much about being in the front line.
My favorite way to get the crane style feats is through the Master of many styles, since they can get all of the feats by level 2 if you play a human and take first feat through your first level feats. If you move into fighter at level 3, you could use your 3rd level feat and bonus feat to become a dervish dancer in a single level. You would be par for course for most using the feat, but you would have the advantage of the crane style feats.