So I was kinda thinking about making a melee character that used the Dimensional feat chain to get to and clobber the squishies that think they are protected. Then jump away again.
Neat concept, but I'm getting hung up on the very first requirement. Abundant Step class feature or the ability to cast Dimension Door.
Monk 12, Magus 10, Summoner 7, ...
I don't really want a concept that only comes online in the last 1/3 of the campaign and Summoner isn't exactly a melee chassis.
Is there a better way to do this that I am forgetting?
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Flicking Step I think is intended to allow non-caster martial types access to the chain. But you can't take it until 9th level. There's also teleportation mastery which can be picked up as early as 4th level (based on the skill pre-req) but you'd only be able to use it once per day. Not sure useful it is having multiple feats, much less an entire build that hinges on a once per day ability. :/
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The fastest way to qualify is really cheeky, but can be done at 5th level. You qualify using the Teleportation Mastery feat. A Weapon Master Fighter 4 / Barbarian 1 (you can substitute any class with strong fortitude saves) can use their Fighter bonus feat on Advanced Weapon Training and use that to select an Item Mastery feat. This leaves your regular 5th level feat available for Dimensional Agility.
Other than that, 7th is the earliest it's possible to get Dimensional Agility, and even then most builds are waiting until 9th. The combination of high prerequisites and a long feat chain severely limits what kinds of builds can realistically go for the Dimensional Dervish approach. It comes so late that just stopping at Dimensional Agility and using Quickened Dimension Door is a much more appealing alternative, one that doesn't incur a tight range limit on you (although it does consume your swift action economy, which can be a big deal for some builds). If you had some way of getting Dimension Door as a SLA you could qualify earlier, but I don't believe anything other than the Item Mastery route is possible. The Shift power of the Teleportation subschool wizard is sometimes mentioned, but it's a supernatural ability that works like Dimension Door rather than a spell-like ability proper so it doesn't qualify you for the feat (it does benefit from the feat, however)
7th level is the earliest you can conventionally qualify. Summoner, Travel Domain Cleric, Witch, and Wizard can all qualify. The Summoner isn't conventionally a melee attacker, but he's a 3/4 BAB 6-level caster who doesn't care about spell DC's or require much in the way of feat investment so you can definitely build him that way if you want. Cleric is well-suited to pulling this off, although you'll need to invest even more feats to get around the limit on domain slots so you can cast ddoor more than once per day. Witch is the interesting one, since Strength patron Witches usually delay their entry into Eldritch Knight until after they have 8 levels of Witch to get their 4th level patron spell, which means you could take Dimensional Agility as your 7th level feat and start the feat chain early. For a Wizard, though, if you're aiming for EK then you really don't want to delay.
In terms of 9th level entry you have Eldritch Knight builds, Horizon Walkers, and Unchained Monks. Magus and other 6-level casters qualify at 11th level.
Flicking Step I think is intended to allow non-caster martial types access to the chain. But you can't take it until 9th level. There's also teleportation mastery which can be picked up as early as 4th level (based on the skill pre-req) but you'd only be able to use it once per day. Not sure useful it is having multiple feats, much less an entire build that hinges on a once per day ability. :/
Keep in mind that Teleportation Mastery is not a combat feat, and can't be taken as a Fighter bonus feat as a result. So although you can qualify at 4th you can't take it until 5th.
Flickering Step has the interesting property of allowing you to treat the Dimensional Agility feat chain as combat feats, but the fact that it takes up your 9th level feat slot and requires you to have Fighter levels to benefit from that means I can't see a good way of using that.
A single dip in Arcanist gives you Dimensional Slide, a 10' Teleport that can be done as part of your Movement and does not interfere with your round
Dimensional Slide does not meet the prerequisites for Dimensional Agility. It's definitely an alternative that comes online much earlier, but it wouldn't be quite the same either in terms of range or potential.
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Depending on how much retraining you can do, you can get everything online at level 8-9.
But you pretty much have to retrain all your base feats. Flickering Step for non-casters and non-monks, abundant step for (unchained) monks. Get either of those, retrain your 3rd, 5th, and 7th level feats to Dimensional Agility, Dimensional Assault, Dimensional Dervish. 9th/11th level feat can be Dimensional Savant.
I am offering an alternative that comes online much sooner than any other offered.
Except you aren't. Dimensional Agility requires "Ability to use the abundant step class feature or cast dimension door". Not only does Dimensional Slide not in any way reference Dimension Door, it's also a supernatural ability, thus you don't cast anything when using it. You simply don't qualify for the feats. Dito for the teleportation subschool's Shift ability, it's supernatural and not spell-like.
You can cast dimension door with a scroll or wand.
No you can't - activating either isn't casting a spell, you're activating a magic item. "A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. (...) All that’s left to do is perform the finishing parts of the spellcasting (the final gestures, words, and so on)." CRB pg. 458 - that's not actually casting. "Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it’s even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken." CRB pg. 458
The scroll description especially goes on and on about how you're "activating a scroll", and how doing so provokes "as casting a spell does", which would not be worded that way if you actually were casting a spell.
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You can cast dimension door with a scroll or wand.No you can't - activating either isn't casting a spell, you're activating a magic item. "A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. (...) All that’s left to do is perform the finishing parts of the spellcasting (the final gestures, words, and so on)." CRB pg. 458 - that's not actually casting. "Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it’s even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken." CRB pg. 458
The scroll description especially goes on and on about how you're "activating a scroll", and how doing so provokes "as casting a spell does", which would not be worded that way if you actually were casting a spell.
Hmm - so use magic device skill does not even help here.
I have offered a martial build that uses tactical teleporting to gain battlefield advantage.
That wasn't what the Op asked for, though. To do what the OP wants ("melee character that used the Dimensional feat chain to get to and clobber the squishies that think they are protected. Then jump away again.") you need Dimensional Dervish.
Your "alternative" doesn't fulfill the OP's request, and is thus no alternative at all.
If "this" meansget to and clobber the squishies that think they are protected. Then jump away again.then "this" is exactly what my build does!
How does your build "jump away again"?
How does your build "jump away again"?By using Dimensional Slide again the next round.
You realize your post was wasted because this was literally the only thing I asked, right?
I'm pretty sure the OP was talking about teleporting away in the same round, because if you aren't worried about staying a round in melee range to the enemies, you probably don't need to teleport away the second round anyway.
Not that a teleporation range of 10 ft. (or a few more if you want to waste more levels into a 1/2 BAB class on a melee character) works to "clobber the squishies that think they are protected."
You can do some really crazy stuff with this by level 9.
Go slayer for 6 levels and then horizon walker for 3. Take astral plane for your terrain dominance. This gives you DDoor 3+wis mod times a day as an SLA. Take dimensional agility or you 9th level feat and then retrain to get the other feats in the chain so that you can flank with yourself.
Depending on how much retraining you can do, you can get everything online at level 8-9.
But you pretty much have to retrain all your base feats. Flickering Step for non-casters and non-monks, abundant step for (unchained) monks. Get either of those, retrain your 3rd, 5th, and 7th level feats to Dimensional Agility, Dimensional Assault, Dimensional Dervish. 9th/11th level feat can be Dimensional Savant.
I must admit, I never considered retraining all my earlier feats to get all those at level 9. That would allow me to use one of the other almost methods at lower levels and get rid of them at level 9. It would be expensive, but might just be worth it. I will have to consider.
So I was kinda thinking about making a melee character that used the Dimensional feat chain to get to and clobber the squishies that think they are protected. Then jump away again.
Neat concept, but I'm getting hung up on the very first requirement. Abundant Step class feature or the ability to cast Dimension Door.
Monk 12, Magus 10, Summoner 7, ...
I don't really want a concept that only comes online in the last 1/3 of the campaign and Summoner isn't exactly a melee chassis.
Is there a better way to do this that I am forgetting?
I don't know about "better," but:
1) A bard can learn dimension door at 10th level. Arcane duelists and magicians also gain the Arcane Bond feature at 5th level (magicians can choose either a familiar or a weapon), allowing them to craft/upgrade their bonded weapon without needing the Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat. Plus, bards get heroism as a 2nd-level spell to boost their combat ability. Being able to self-heal (with wands, at least) helps a bit, as well. Burst damage isn't as high as a magus using Spellstrike, though.
2) As mentioned, synthesist summoner is a melee chassis. You lose a bit by only having a single set of actions (as opposed to having both the character's and the eidolon's), but are much tougher and can more easily boost both caster/skill and combat ability scores.
3) Eldritch knight was mentioned. One possible route is inspired blade swashbuckler 1 (take Fencing Grace at 1st level)/blade adept arcanist 6 (take the Spell Strike magus arcana as your exploit at arcanist 5 and the feat Extra Arcanist Exploit (Eldritch Blade) at arcanist 6)/eldritch knight. One benefit of eldritch knight is the bonus combat feats can be used for other feat choices displaced by the Dimensional Agility/Dimensional Assault/Dimensional Dervish feat chain.
TL;DR: If you want a purely martial version, go with the Teleportation Mastery route mentioned by Dasrak above. If you want a combat-capable character that can cast dimension door multiple times per day at the earliest level possible, then go with a synthesist summoner. If you are OK with waiting a bit more (10th/11th level) to qualify, then bard, magus, or eldritch knight might work.
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The nice thing about full-BAB martials is you usually only NEED power attack for damage output. The rest of your feats are supplementary unless you have other specific tactics in mind. Though in your case your specific tactic is to use DimDervish, so retraining pretty much everything except power attack isn’t really a bad thing.