Scarves Galore!

[JadeBlades]

One of the builds I've wanted to try for the longest time is a sort of Scarf-Dancer. After seeing the Dancing Scarves and Bladed Scarves, I thought it would be really nifty to combine the two into a character whose offense and defense fully revolves around comfortable and fashionable neckwear.

I've done a bit of digging to figure out how it would work, and the results I've found are... less than ideal

-Dancing Scarves are light armor that have no check penalty or max bonus, but they only provide their +2 ac if you move at least 10 ft every turn.

-Bladed Scarves are an exotic two handed weapon with Trip and Disarm, that are able to utilize Weapon Finesse

One would assume that, based on these factors, the best idea would be to make a dexterous character who moves quickly and attacks from reach, but there's just one problem. The Bladed Scarf does not have reach.
This means that we need to get into threat range of enemies, limiting our movement to a 5ft step, which means we get no AC from our armor. In order to fix this, we need to make our 5ft step a 10ft step. We could use Lunge and stand behind the frontline, but then we still get no AC when making a full-attack.

The one thing I have found that can achieve this is Outslug Sprint, which requires Outslug Style, Lunge, Outslug Weave, Combat Expertise, and Weapon focus. With all of that, we can gain an extra 5ft on our 5ft step and maintain our AC, as well as a very nice +2 dodge bonus from the style among other benefits.

Problem with that, Outslug style requires you to use punching weapons, from the Close Weapons fighter group. If we want to do this with the scarves, we need to modify them with the Versatile Design modification. No big deal, that's only 500 gp. But wait! Modifying an exotic weapon takes it to a level of complexity above exotic, making it unuseable! In order to wield the scarves, we now need either Weapon Adept or Modified Weapon Proficiency!

That brings us to the following list of feats, in order.

-Weapon Finesse
-Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bladed Scarf)
-Weapon Focus (Bladed Scarf)
-Combat Expertise
-Lunge
-Outslug Style
-Outslug Weave
-Outslug Sprint
and finally
-Modified Weapon Proficiency

All that just to be able to use the weapon and armor at the most basic level...
AND WE DON'T EVEN HAVE SLASHING GRACE because the scarf is a two handed weapon! So it's all that for just a d6! It would take a character without bonus feats until level Seventeen just to be able to do this, and we havent even begun to invest in the tripping, feinting, and disarming that the weapon and armor are meant to be used for.

There must be some better way to use these! Does anyone know any other way to make these two items work together?

[avr]

A bladed scarf is honestly not a good weapon. If you're going to use it - look up the kapenia dancer magus archetype. It's not great but it lets you use the bladed scarf as a one-handed weapon, and gives you access to some arcana to use it better. Varisian dancing scarves have no arcane spell failure chance which works with the kapenia dancers' loss of the standard magus ability to cast spells in light armor ignoring ASF. It's a weak archetype, losing more than it gives - but it does help you use the bladed scarf.

[Scavion]

Step 1: Close your Pathfinder book.
Step 2: Embrace Spheres of Might.
Step 3: Enjoy life.

[MrCharisma]

This wouldn't fit the mechanics of a scarf, but it's flavoured as a scarf (or similar item of clothing) ...

MORTAL USHER wrote:

Morrigna Wrappings (Su): At 7th level, a mortal usher gains the ability to designate any cloak, scarf, robe, or shirt in his possession as his wrappings, granting it unique powers in addition to any abilities or enchantments it may already have. The wrappings grant the mortal usher a natural armor bonus equal to half his class level as long as it is in his possession, and they can be used as a magic whip that can be wielded even if the mortal usher’s hands are full. When used as a whip, the wrappings gain an enhancement bonus equal to the mortal usher’s class level. These bonuses can be added to the whip to increase its enhancement bonus to a maximum of +5 (minimum +1), or they can be used to add any of the following weapon properties: brilliant energy, disruption (this supersedes the normal requirement that a disruption weapon must be a bludgeoning weapon), flaming, flaming burst, frost, holy, icy burst, shock, shocking burst, unholy, or vorpal. Adding these properties reduces the enhancement bonus granted by this ability by an amount equal to the property’s cost. The mortal usher can change how these properties and enhancements are assigned, or designate a new item as his wrappings, after an 8-hour rest.

It wouldn't come online until level 13 at the earliest, and would require at least 2 feats (for Whip Mastery) to really be good, but ut's something to consider.

Mechanically it works as a whip though.

[VoodistMonk]

Pretty sure I did this correctly, and these archetypes do, in fact, stack. You need to be an Elf...

Bladebound-Bladed Scarf Dancer-Spell Dancer

1. Cantrips/Spells
1. Canny Defense
1. Arcane Pool
1. SpellCombat
1. Spell Dance +10/+2
1(class): Weapon Focus Bladed Scarf
1(level): Weapon Finesse

2. Spellstrike

3. Black Blade +1 (Pool: 1)
... Black Blade Strike +1
... Teleparhy
... Unbreakable
3(class): Alertness
3(level): Combat Reflexes

4. Spell Recall

5. Arcane Movement
5. Black Blade +2 (Pool: 2)
... Energy Attunement
5. Spell Dance +20/+4
... Blur, Fly, or Haste
5(level): Slashing Grace

6. Magus Arcana
... Elasticity

7. Dance of Avoidance +2
7. Knowledge Pool
7(level): Extra Arcane Pool

8. Improved SpellCombat

9. Black Blade +3 (Pool: 3)
... Teleport Blade
9. Magus Arcana
... Curse
9. Spell Dance +30/+6
... Dimension Door
9(level): Dimenaional Agility

10. Fighter Training

11. Improved Spell Recall
11(class): Weapon Specialization
11(level): Dimensional Assault

12. Magus Arcana
... Spirit Step

13. Black Blade +4 (Pool: 4)
... Transfer Arcana
13. Dance of Avoidance +4
13. Spell Dance +40/+8
... Freedom of Movement
13(level): Dimensional Dervish

14 . Greater SpellCombat

15. Magus Arcana
...
15(level): Dimensional Savant

16. Counterstrike

17. Black Blade +5 (Pool: 5)
... Spell Defense
17. Spell Dance +50/+10
17(class): Greater Weapon Focus
17(level):

18. Magus Arcana
...

19. Black Blade +5
... Life Drinker
19. Greater Spell Access
19(level):

20. True Magus

[avr]

I don't think bladebound and spell dancer stack RAW, they both screw with arcane pool. It's the sort of thing a GM might choose to allow anyway though.

[VoodistMonk]

No, you're right. They both alter/replace the same thing... It's something I put together a while ago, and clearly needs to be redone or undone entirely.

Or not, and just use it as an NPC. NPC's often die before they have a chance to showcase every ability they possess, so chances are no one would ever even notice... regardless of their familiarity with the Maguc class, and its various archetypes. As a GM, I would allow a player to stack them, so I don't have too much of a problem with it either way.

There is a good chance I seen that they technically could not stack, and said screw it... did it anyways. Lol. I have several builds at different levels of completion really trying to make the bladed scarf cool. Bending some rules to make a Magus using an intelligent bladed scarf and Dimensional Savant sounds exactly like something I might willing do.

[Kurald Galain]

The straightforward approach is to go pure Bladebound Magus, ignore Kapenia Dancer, and wield a colored whip that looks like a scarf. That's not really a stretch, now is it?

Instead of Canny Defense, either spell blend for Mage Armor or just wear armor already. Instead of Spirit Fingers, use the Pilfering Hand spell, which is on your list. Instead of Elasticity, well you already have reach. Kapenia Curse and Spirit Step are pretty bad so ignore them.

Ta dah!

[TxSam88]

Theres a good scarf dancer NPC in the Carrion Crown AP. Vampire Radvir Giovanni, He has a reach weapon and lunge, with whirlwind attack, sneak attack damage and a conductive weapon. add in gang up and he can attack the everyone within 10, with sneak attack damage, plus energy drain, and trip attack. plus has 10 AOO's for when they try to stand up.

[kingspikearcher]

The Dancing Scarves could potentially stack with Lightning Stance to make a character who is hard to hit when moving, but the only real advantage they have over leather armour is that they don't look like armour. Here is a suggestion for a very different take on the scarf dancer concept that came from that thought.

This build requires making Acrobatics checks to move through an opponent's square, so I'd recommend Human or Half-Elf to grab Skill Focus. (Your regular 1st level Feat is needed to be proficient with the Bladed Scarf). Take the Crowd Dodger combat trait. For your class, take the Stalker Vigilante.

At level 2 take Close The Gap. This allows you to move 20 ft without provoking as long as you end up adjacent to a foe you didn't start next to. As long as you are fighting multiple foes you should be able to flit between them and keep your Dancing Scarves working.
At level 4 take Up Close And Personal. This allows you to make an attack as a swift action when you attempt to pass through an opponent's square. The attack benefits from Hidden Strike – and if the Acrobatics check succeeds, you get D8s for the strike dice. In either case it is only a Move and a Swift, so you can attack again as a Standard Action. Succeed at the check and you end up 10 feet away from your starting position on the other side of them. This allows you to 'dance' with a single foe, tearing them to shreds with each pass.
At level 6 take Leave An Opening. If you both succeed at the Acrobatics check and hit with your hidden strike, your target will now provoke an attack of opportunity at the start of their own turn. So you can't make full attacks without spoiling your AC, but you can potentially attack 3 times in a turn with full BAB for each.
At level 8 you take Lethal Grace. This gives Weapon Finesse (or a different combat feat if you already have it) and provides a damage bonus equal to half your Vigilante level whenever you use it.

None of this requires any Feats past level 1 so you can build however you like in that area. Your scarf collection provides bonuses to Feint, Disarm and Trip so a manoeuvrer based selection is certainly possible. Taking Improved Unarmed Strike, Enforcer, Weapon Focus, Dazzling Display and Shatter Defences would allow you to use your Attack action to deliver a non-lethal kick (which will benefit from Lethal Grace) that can see your foe Shaken for the rest of the fight. Shatter Defences then keeps them flat-footed after your next hit, allowing your (reduced) hidden strike damage to apply to your standard and opportunity attacks as well as the swift one. It is quite a Feat hog though and won't come online until level 11. You can drop this to level 10 if you spend your 10th level Talent on Rogue Talent and take Combat Trick.

The fact that all of this can be accomplished whilst appearing unarmed and unarmoured is a very good thematic fit for the Vigilante. You will also get Social Talents along the way that will allow you to develop and benefit from your character's status as a performer or secret agent.
I would also note that the Empyreal Lord Arshea is a constantly wandering divine being whose symbol is a figure wrapped in coloured scarves. Arshea worship could add further depth and motivation to the character and would open up the Celestial Obedience Feat. A conditional +4 to all Charisma-based skill checks is a decent return on a single Feat, to say nothing of the spell-like abilities you get at higher levels.

[Today is a good day to... halp]

Another way of gaining proficiency with Bladed Scarves [and Starknives, for matter] without having to spend an exotic weapon prof. feat is to take the Varisian Tattoo trait... but you'd have to be human to take that trait. ;)

[Izray05]

JadeBlades wrote:

One of the builds I've wanted to try for the longest time is a sort of Scarf-Dancer. After seeing the Dancing Scarves and Bladed Scarves, I thought it would be really nifty to combine the two into a character whose offense and defense fully revolves around comfortable and fashionable neckwear.

I've done a bit of digging to figure out how it would work, and the results I've found are... less than ideal

-Dancing Scarves are light armor that have no check penalty or max bonus, but they only provide their +2 ac if you move at least 10 ft every turn.

-Bladed Scarves are an exotic two handed weapon with Trip and Disarm, that are able to utilize Weapon Finesse

One would assume that, based on these factors, the best idea would be to make a dexterous character who moves quickly and attacks from reach, but there's just one problem. The Bladed Scarf does not have reach.
This means that we need to get into threat range of enemies, limiting our movement to a 5ft step, which means we get no AC from our armor. In order to fix this, we need to make our 5ft step a 10ft step. We could use Lunge and stand behind the frontline, but then we still get no AC when making a full-attack.

The one thing I have found that can achieve this is Outslug Sprint, which requires Outslug Style, Lunge, Outslug Weave, Combat Expertise, and Weapon focus. With all of that, we can gain an extra 5ft on our 5ft step and maintain our AC, as well as a very nice +2 dodge bonus from the style among other benefits.

Problem with that, Outslug style requires you to use punching weapons, from the Close Weapons fighter group. If we want to do this with the scarves, we need to modify them with the Versatile Design modification. No big deal, that's only 500 gp. But wait! Modifying an exotic weapon takes it to a level of complexity above exotic, making it unuseable! In order to wield the scarves, we now need either Weapon Adept or Modified Weapon Proficiency!

That brings us to the following list of feats, in order.

-Weapon Finesse...

You can take the Azata style instead of the outslug style. This style gives you a +1 dodge bonus to ac when you move 15 ft. As well, with Azata mischief, you can make trips on people who miss their aoo on you from moving within a threatened square as a swift action. The Azata sprint feat also adds 10 ft of movement while also being able to ignore 10 ft of difficult terrain. There's also a 3.5 class called the Wu Jen if you want iron scarf and entangling scarf as spells. I found a magic item too called a wanderer's scarf which is a bladed scarf that gives you the effects of hide from undead and also deals and extra 1d6 positive energy dmg against undead.

[Mightypion]

If I was a GM and a player wants to use bladed scarfs, I would rule that chain mastery and dance of chain feats work on bladed scarfs.
It is a straight downgrade compared to using a spiked chain.

If you are also using feat tax rules such as EITR (free weapon finesse), that can be "ready" by level 1 if you are human, using varisian tatoo trait.

Build (needs EITR), as well as the houserule that spiked chain feats work for bladed scarfs:

Lilly the Human Abberrant Urban Bloodrager
Trait: Varisian Tatoo
Level 1 Feats: Chain mastery, Dance of chains
Level 3 Feat: Combat reflexes
Level 5 feat: Dodge + Mobility (its one feat in EITR)
Level 6 Bloodline feat: Deft maneuvers
Level 7 feat: Spring attack
Level 9 Feat: Whirlwind attack
Level 9 Bonus feat: IMproved initiative

Cool tricks:
--Use the ioun stone to convert fatgiue into sickened
--Pick up the bladed dash spell from bard, which you can because urban bloodrager. Ragecycle and cast bladed dash from it, its a bossfight thing, but you can kind of move as long as you have level 2 spells once you get greater bloodrage.

[Azothath]

sometimes when you get stylistic there is a price, and that price here is effectiveness with weapons and armor and a few hits in the feat dept. So basically it's good for colorful NPCs. Might as well be a harrow user (as armor and weapons aren't a wizard's specialty).