I am making a Dervish Dancer and Im confused about battle Dance

[Marrius]

So I am making a lv.2 Bard Dervish Dancer and I am confused about whether or not you loose bardic performance in lei of battle dance the books and sources I've seen don't specifically say it replaces it but that seems to be the intent

[darth_borehd]

This is my favorite bard archetype.
Yes, battle dance replaces bardic performance.

You are right in that it needs a line at the end making that clear, but it essentially makes bardic performances only benefit the dervish.

[Chess Pwn]

but currently many people interpret that you have both options available.

[GinoA]

I've been interpreting it to mean you can perform in either mode. Battle dance has better (double?) bonuses but only affects you.

[Abraham Z.]

I can't find the exact link at the moment but here's a quote from James Jacobs that I wrote down for my own Dervish Dancer:
"In any case, the battle dance ability makes it so that the inspire courage, inspire greatness, and inspire heroics bardic performances are altered. A dawnflower dervish using these three specific applications of bardic performance only augments herself, not her allies (although she does gain twice the normal bonus of course). All of her other bardic performances work normally."

In other words: a dervish dancer does NOT have the ability to do a regular inspire courage for the entire party, only the augmented inspire (aka battle dance) for yourself. On the other hand, you can use, say, countersong and benefit your entire party.

[GinoA]

Your quote was enough for me to find this.

:-(

[Chess Pwn]

So that's the Dawnflower dervish. Which is different from the Dervish Dancer archetype. Dawnflower says it alters the bardic performance. Dancer doesn't. Now if they were to errata it it'd probably say it does. But lots of people still interpret that you have both.

[Abraham Z.]

Oops, you are quite right. I was speaking about the Dawnflower Dervish archetype, which also gets battle dance, and the Dervish Dance feat for free at level 1 (my character is a Magus 9/Dawnflower Dervish 1 for exactly that purpose). Interestingly, it doesn't look like the version of Battle Dance that the Dervish Dancer archetype gets provides double the benefits the way that the Dawnflower Dervish archetype's version of battle dance does, nor the free Dervish Dance feat.

[Diego Rossi]

"Dervish dancers gain the inspire courage, inspire greatness, and inspire heroics bardic performance types as battle dances, but these only provide benefit to the dervish dancer himself."

So those abilities are modified and work on the DD only. No wiggle room out of that.

"Rain of Blows (Su): At 6th level, a dervish dancer can use his battle dance to speed up his attacks. When making a full attack action, he may make one extra attack with any weapon he is holding, as though under the effects of a haste spell. He also gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls and a +1 dodge bonus to AC and on Reflex saves. At 9th level, and every three bard levels thereafter, these bonuses increase by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 18th level. These bonuses do not stack with the haste spell. This ability replaces suggestion and mass suggestion."

"Razor's Kiss (Su): At 8th level, a dervish dancer can use his battle dance to improve his weapons' critical range. All attacks he makes with manufactured weapons are treated as though he had the Improved Critical feat. Natural weapons and spells are not affected. This ability replaces dirge of doom."

"Dance of Fury (Su): At 12th level, a dervish dancer can attack more than once as he moves while performing a battle dance. He can combine a full-attack action with a single move, taking the attacks at any point during his movement, but must move at least 5 feet between each attack. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. This ability replaces soothing performance."

"Leaf on the Wind (Su): At 14th level, a dervish dancer can use his battle dance to evade attacks with unearthly grace and to shake off the effects of his wounds. Unlike other battle dances, leaf on the wind requires a standard action each round to start or maintain the performance. Each round it is maintained, including the first, the dervish dancer gains a +6 dodge bonus to Armor Class and on Reflex saves. If wounded, he heals 1 hit point of damage per bard level. This ability replaces frightening performance."

"Battle Fury (Su): At 20th level, the dervish dancer can unleash a whirlwind of blows while performing a battle dance. As a full-round action, he can take a single move action and unleash a single attack at his highest bonus against each target within his reach during any point of his move, up to a maximum number of attacks equal to the dervish dancer's character level. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal, and replaces deadly performance."

Bardic Performance - Dervish Dancer perform
Countersong (Su)
Distraction (Su)
Fascinate (Su)
Inspire Courage (Su) - target the DD only
Inspire Competence (Su)
Suggestion (Sp) - replaced by Rain of Blows (Su)
Dirge of Doom (Su) - replaced by Razor's Kiss (Su)
Inspire Greatness (Su) - target the DD only
Soothing Performance (Su) - replaced by Leaf on the Wind (Su)
Frightening Tune (Sp) - replaced by Leaf on the Wind (Su)
Inspire Heroics (Su) - target the DD only
Mass Suggestion (Sp) - replaced by Rain of Blows (Su)
Deadly Performance (Su) - replaced by Battle Fury (Su)

So, even with the most permissive reading you get bardic performance and can perform only:
Countersong (Su)
Distraction (Su)
Fascinate (Su)
Inspire Competence (Su)

I would say that all the DD uses of perform are subject to:
"This works like bardic performance, except the dervish dancer only affects himself, and does not need to be able to see or hear his own performance. "
so all those abilities (with the exception of countersong used on the bard only) don't work as they need to target another creature, but a lenient GM can read that differently.