So I've had an Ifrit boon for quite some time and I could never figure out what to do with it. Well last night over dinner, it hit me: a dervish dancing paladin of Sarenrae!!! Now I already have a paladin for PFS, but my 5 Int tiefling damage sponge is as far from an Ifrit dervish dancer as outside rely possible (see what I did there?).
Then I ran into the problem of wanting to get perform as a class skill. If I need to put 2 ranks in it to take Dervish Dance, I may as well keep putting ranks in it to use for day job checks and character flavor. Maybe she was an "exotic" dancer before hearing the call of the Dawnflower.
Ideally, I'd like to accomplish this without multi-classing. I find multi-classing, other than PrCs to be messy and usually counterintuitive. However, I'm having trouble finding a trait that adds perform as a class skill. Is there one?
Also, I'll post the level 1 stat block and you can critique hat if you like, although I think it's pretty solid as far as any level 1 character can be.
dervish paladin:
Ifrit Character
Ifrit paladin (oath of vengeance) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 126; Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 60)
LG Medium outsider (native)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception -1
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Defense
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AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 10 (1d10)
Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee rapier +5 (1d6/18-20)
Special Attacks smite evil
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +4)
At will—detect evil
Ifrit Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +4)
1/day—burning hands (DC 14)
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 16
Base Atk +1; CMB +1; CMD 15
Feats Weapon Finesse
Traits dangerously curious, flame of the dawnflower
Skills Diplomacy +7, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perform (dance) +4, Spellcraft +6, Use Magic Device +8
Languages Common, Ignan
SQ aura of good, wildfire heart
Other Gear studded leather, rapier, backpack, masterwork, grappling hook, silk rope (50 ft.), 44 gp
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Special Abilities
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Aura of Good (Ex) The paladin has an Aura of Good with power equal to her class level.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Detect Evil (At will) (Sp) You can use detect evil at will (as the spell).
Flame of the Dawnflower +2 damage with a scimitar on a critical hit.
Smite Evil (1/day) (Su) +3 to hit, +1 to damage, +3 deflection bonus to AC when used.
Wildfire Heart +4 racial bonus on initiative
Lastly, any help coming up with a good name for this character is greatly appreciated.
Honestly, you've got 14 Int and 16 Cha; strictly speaking, is the +3 to Perform really something you're going to build around without Versatile Performance?
so I really like this build. The one thing I think that you probably should not forget about is that with 14 int on a paladin you can grab Unsanctioned Knowledge as a feat which is really good for a Paladin.
Day job rolls are overrated. You get an absolute pittance of change until higher levels where the amount you get is barely even a drop in the bucket for your comparative WBL. I don't understand why you'd want to waste your skill points and possible feats/traits to build around a sub par skill like perform. Just use the two points to take dervish dancer, pay your skill tax, and move on without wasting any more skill points.
Good point, Altus. I will certainly consider that.
And Greentea, it's not always about min-maxing, sometimes it's about flavor. I have enough overpowered characters, one that's slightly less powerful is fine.
LessPop, where does Versatile Performance come into play?
And Greentea, it's not always about min-maxing, sometimes it's about flavor. I have enough overpowered characters, one that's slightly less powerful is fine.
If that's true, then don't bother to make it a class skill. Not having the +3 won't be the minimum, you just won't get the maximum value you can possibly get.
Versatile performance makes perform viable for more than just day job rolls. Two levels of bard gives you it, and makes dance usable for fly and acrobatics, two very useful skills.
EDIT: One level of Dawnflower Dervish bard ALSO will give you Dervish Dancer as a bonus feat. I know you don't like multiclassing, but Dawnflower Dervish 2/Paladin X really fits the flavor of an ex-dancer nicely, and Dawnflower Dervishes are specifically bards dedicated TO Sarenae! You get perform as a class skill, versatile performance that lets you use dancing for more than just day job checks (You can, as my party members described me doing when I played a bard, "Patrick Schwayze your way around the battle field"), and all the paladin goodies to come.
Maybe she was an "exotic" dancer before hearing the call of the Dawnflower.
...
Lastly, any help coming up with a good name for this character is greatly appreciated.
Common Stripper Names:
Any name based off of a car, such as, but not limited to "Lexus", "Mercedes", "Porche", etc.
Any name based off of a precious or semi-precious stone, including, but not limited to "Diamond", "Jade", "Saphire", etc.
Any name based off of a major city, like "Paris", "Milan", "Dallas" or the like (especially if said city is the place of conception). You can use Golarion cities for extra flavor!
From the first website I found when googling "common stripper names" (and thus probably automatically off my "name my future daughter" list):
*=Precious Stone (told ya so)
Crystal*
Tiffany
Amber*
Brandy
Lola
Angel
Ginger
Candy
Charity
Anastasia
Cherry
Kitty
Jade*
Destiny
Devon (Ha! Gonna have to tell my buddy his name is a popular stripper name)
Chastity
Raven
Scarlett
Bambi
Star
Paris
Diamond*
Skye
Trinity
Tawny
Layla
Lexie...
I'm getting lazy. I don't want to copy them all. I think you get the point.
Thank you Benchak, I had started looking at the social traits but hadn't gotten down to the Ts yet.
As for the name, I like the stripper name concept. Since she's an Ifrit, I think I'll go with Cinnamon Spice. That totally sounds like a stripper name to me.
Now, level 3 feat will be Dervish Dance. Level 5 will probably be either Arcane Strike (earned via racial SLA) or Unsanctioned Know,edge, with the other coming at 7. Anybody got any good recommendations for spells to pick up from Unsanctioned Know,edge? Level 3 is the tough decision to make with [ihaste[/i], heroism, and good hope all available. The 4th level spell doesn't matter since the character's career will end at level 12.
