This is a level 8 Fighter with Dervish Dance & Crane Style. I'm interested in your opinions, critiques, or suggestions.
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Male Hobgoblin Fighter (Free Hand Fighter) 8
NG Medium Humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.
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Defense
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AC 28, touch 21, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +6 Dex, +1 natural, +1 deflection, +4 dodge)
hp 92 (8d10+40)
Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +4
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +2 Scimitar +14/+9 (1d6+15/15-20/x2)
Unarmed strike +12/+7 (1d3+8/x2)
Ranged +1 Darkwood Composite longbow (Str +1) +15/+10 (1d8+2/x3)
Special Attacks singleton +1
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Statistics
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Str 13, Dex 22, Con 18, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 7
Base Atk +8; CMB +9 (+11 Disarming); CMD 30 (32 vs. Disarm)
Feats Crane Riposte, Crane Style, Crane Wing, Dervish Dance, Dodge, Improved Critical (Scimitar), Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack -3/+6, Weapon Finesse
Skills Bluff -2 (+0 to feint or create a diversion to hide), Climb +6, Perform (dance) +0, Ride +10, Stealth +21, Survival +4, Swim +6; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
Languages Common, Goblin
SQ deceptive strike +2, elusive +2
Combat Gear Oil of bless weapon, Potion of cure light wounds, Potion of cure moderate wounds, Potion of invisibility, Potion of protection from evil, Potion of remove fear, Potion of remove paralysis, Potion of restoration, lesser, Quick runner's shirt (1/day); Other Gear +2 Mithral Chain shirt, +1 Darkwood Composite longbow (Str +1), +2 Scimitar, Amulet of natural armor +1, Belt of incredible dexterity +2, Cloak of resistance +2, Elixir of hiding, Feather step slippers, Ioun torch, Ring of protection +1, 230 GP
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Special Abilities
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Crane Riposte When you deflect an attack, you may make an attack of opportunity
Crane Style Penalty when fighting defensively reduced to -2 and dodge bonus increases by 1.
Crane Wing May deflect one attack per round while fighting defensively or using total defense
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Deceptive Strike +2 (Ex) +2 to Disarm CMB/CMD, Bluff checks to feint or create a diversion to hide.
Dervish Dance Use Dex modifier instead of Str modifier with scimitar
Elusive +2 (Ex) +2 Dodge AC
Feather step slippers Ignore difficult terrain as though affected by feather step.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Quick runner's shirt (1/day) As swift action, take an extra move action to move on your turn.
Singleton +1 (Ex) +1 to hit and damage when wielding a one-handed melee weapon.
Seems like a good build for me, bu you should carry at least 1 backup scimitar. Dervish Dance makes you even more dependent of a single weapon, so you don't want to have only one.
Also, make your main Scimitar a Silversheen one. It costs only 400gp more and not only it gets to bypass DR, but it's also completely immune to all rusting effects.
You don't want a Rust Monsters to kill your character's effectiveness, right?
And a blundgeoning weapon would be nice too. You never know when you'll find somthing with DR 10/blundgeoning. I recomend a cestus... It's Finesseable and you can "wield" it and still have a free hand.
Unless you are dead set on a Hobgoblin, I think the Tengu Swordmaster archetype for a rogue might be more viable.
I made a Hobgoblin Fighter, and you suggested a Tengu Rogue. Those are very different characters! Why do you suggest it? Do you have a build in mind?
Seems like a good build for me, bu you should carry at least 1 backup scimitar. Dervish Dance makes you even more dependent of a single weapon, so you don't want to have only one.
Excellent suggestion! I'll add at least a masterwork scimitar to the gear.
Also, make your main Scimitar a Silversheen one. It costs only 400gp more and not only it gets to bypass DR, but it's also completely immune to all rusting effects.
You don't want a Rust Monsters to kill your character's effectiveness, right?
I had no idea that silversheen was a weapon property as well as an alchemical substance. That's a great suggestion!
And a blundgeoning weapon would be nice too. You never know when you'll find somthing with DR 10/blundgeoning. I recomend a cestus... It's Finesseable and you can "wield" it and still have a free hand.
I have Improved Unarmed Combat for bludgeoning/finesse damage. Since a cestus does piercing as well, and can be easily enchanted to +1, it does seem like a pretty good backup weapon.
I had no idea that silversheen was a weapon property as well as an alchemical substance. That's a great suggestion!
Yeah, you can make weapon out of it, like Cold Iron, Adamantine, etc... They're really cep too (+400gp is basically free beyond 2nd level). I love this stuff. I tend to have nearly all of my weapon made of it because... Why the hell not? Immunity to rust may never come in play, but if does, chances are it'll save your life!
I have Improved Unarmed Combat for bludgeoning/finesse damage. Since a cestus does piercing as well, and can be easily enchanted to +1, it does seem like a pretty good backup weapon.
Ah, I see... I missed the IUS in your statblock. Well, cestus are cheaper to enchant, can be made of different materials (such as silversheen ^^), have better crit range and base damage die, can deal piercing damage, can' be disarmed and they save you a feat.
It's like IUS... But better! Much, much better!
Oh, and buy a couple weapon cords to make it so it's even harder to disarm you! We, actually they just make it easier for ou o retrieve a disarmed weapon, but that's basically the same....
I have an absolutely amazing Dervish of Dawn build if you're interested...
Short version is an Aasimar Dervish of Dawn devotee of Sarenrae (I'm building her for the upcoming Wrath of the Righteous AP) with a two level dip of MoMS for the Crane Style feats. The Aasimar's favored class option is used to accelerate Inspire Courage, giving the character +8 attack and damage by 14th level (12 + 2 level Monk dip). Moreover at later levels you can get +8 AC and saves using Inspire Heroics, allowing you to pull off tricks like this.
Lots of skills, lots of spellcasting ability and as much punch as any Fighter I've ever played...
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Unless you are dead set on a Hobgoblin, I think the Tengu Swordmaster archetype for a rogue might be more viable.I made a Hobgoblin Fighter, and you suggested a Tengu Rogue. Those are very different characters! Why do you suggest it? Do you have a build in mind?
If you look into what a Swordmaster archetype is you would see that it is actually very close to what you made. You get extra Monk Combat Style feats as you level up. Since seem to like the Crane Style, this would give you a Dervish swordfighter w/sneak attack.
If you look into what a Swordmaster archetype is you would see that it is actually very close to what you made. You get extra Monk Combat Style feats as you level up. Since seem to like the Crane Style, this would give you a Dervish swordfighter w/sneak attack.Unless you are dead set on a Hobgoblin, I think the Tengu Swordmaster archetype for a rogue might be more viable.I made a Hobgoblin Fighter, and you suggested a Tengu Rogue. Those are very different characters! Why do you suggest it? Do you have a build in mind?
Unfortunately, the Swordmaster 'Trance' doesn't actually give you any Style feats meaning that you don't have the pre-requisites for the later iterations of a particular style... you don't get Crane Style, you get the benefits of Crane Style while under the trance, and there is no mechanism for gaining Crane Wing or Crane Riposte which is the entire point of getting Crane Style in the first place.
The idea of Dervish Dance to enhance a Rogue is a good one, and Swordmaster isn't a bad archetype, but I don't think it does what the OP is trying to do.
I've been looking at dervish dancer builds, too, and there is a lot of versatility there. So far, these are my favorites:
Lore Warden fighters with a 2 level-dip into Monk, Master of Many Styles:
Defensive focus:
Halfling with Crane Style, Crane Wing, and Snapping Turtle Style. Main stats Dex and Wisdom.
At 5th level, pick up Cautious Fighter and fight defensively all the time. With 3 ranks in Acrobatics, you end with +7 AC for only -2 to attack. Later on, for party-boosting help, you can pick up Blundering Defense to add +3 AC (luck) to all adjacent allies, or you can grab something like Antagonize to force the bad guys to attack you. You can also dip back into Monk for the extra movement, since you only have 20' to start with.
Offensive focus:
Elf with Kirin Style, Kirin Strike, and Snapping Turtle Style, main stats Dex and Int.
Pump your Int instead of your wisdom and just wear light armor. With Kirin Strike you get to add your Int bonus on damage as a swift action after an attack. Pick up Breadth of Knowledge and/or Dilletante to pump all your knowledge skills through roof with just a few ranks in each one. You can stay in Lore Warden till level 7 to get the "know the enemy" class feature or switch into Duelist as soon as you hit BAB 6.
You can also swap out Snapping Turtle Style for just about anything else, but it's nice to have that shield bonus, since your hand is already empty.
Fighter, Dawnflower Dervish/Mobile Fighter with 3 level dip into Monk/Master of many styles
Mobility focus:
Tengu with Janni Style, Dragon Style, main stats Dex and Wisdom
Take the third level of Monk to get your increased movement. If you don't take the 4th Monk level for Ki pool, take the Janni Rush feat, also. Other feats to pick up are Dodge and Mobility, and Weapon focus/specialization to boost your damage.
(I just started playing with this last night, so there's room for improvement.)