So the concept is an elegantly, graceful, "dance" of combat. A character who looks at combat as more artistic than brutal. A melee combatant who dances as if a battle is a form of entertainment or show, instead of a brutal fight for survival. (think of black widow from avenger's, legolas from hobbit 2, yoda from attack of clones, ect)
I'm planning on:
Elf for flavor (I know human is a better optimized choice for ALMOST everything)
PFS... so 20 point buy
This is for FUN, and not worried about complete optimization, but want a viable contributing party member
I started with straight fighter, with a few skill points in a perform. That expanded to bard (I've never played a bard before). This went to Dervish Dancer, then to dawnflower dervish.
So....
Can you please explain what class/archetypes fit this best? Why is dawnflower or dancer "better" than the other. Should the class be straight or have a dip (multi-class)?
Thank you in advance for your suggestions
If you want showy, flashy and entertaining, Dawnflower Dervish Bard. Dawnflower Dervish over Dervish Dancer because while both versions of Performance only affect you, the Dawnflower Dervish doubles the bonuses. Depending on your GMs interpretation of Dervish Dance, there is something a bit tricky you can do, that I feel also fits the flashy, showy side of this, and I've seen in action at my own weekly game. Levels in Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger, using a one handed firearm. Go the TWF route, put the firearm on a weapon cord and fire and drop before continuing to attack with the scimitar. While attacking with the scimitar, your other hand is free, and therefore you should benefit still from Dervish Dance. The amounts you want of either class really are up to you, as you get the Cha to damage ability from Gunslinger at 1st, though if your game goes high enough you really want to get to 10 levels of Bard eventually for swift action Battle Dance.
Comparing dervish dancer and dawnflower dervish:
Dancer gets:
Fleet - which increases land speed while battle dancing
Rain of Blows - free haste spell on full attacks while battle dancing
Dance of Furry - attack multiple enemies within land speed range
Razor's Kiss - free improved crit feat on any weapon vs picking 1 specific weapon per feat, without using a actual feat
but loses:
Versatile performance - allows skill checks with perform bonus
Various Bardic performances
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Dawnflower gets:
Double bonuses to self during battle dancing
Dervish Dance feat
Meditative whirl - free quicken heal
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Does the dawnflower double bonus outweigh the dancer's extras?
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Does the dawnflower double bonus outweigh the dancer's extras?
Yes, because only Fleet, Dance of Fury, and Battle Fury stack with any of the rest. The rest are all separate kinds of dance, like separate bardic performances, and thus don't stack without specific spell investments at very high levels, and even then probably only two of them. It's in the wording ("Can use his battle dance" means it's a new kind of dance "While performing a battle dance" enhances all of them).
Doubled bonuses and Dex to damage from 1st level is just flat-out better for most characters most of the time (especially since all the abilities that do stack come at 11th level or later).
I personally like Dervish Dancer over Dawnflower Dervish simply because there's nothing tying the Dervish Dancer to the scimitar, or even to finesse.