Is the Dervish overpowered?

[BadMojo]

I looked and didn’t see one but I have been known to be wrong a lot (mostly with spelling though ). Basically Shorten Grip is from dragon compendium, and takes care not being able to attack adjacent foes. At a -2 penalty… but that’s a -2 penalty that I would gladly take.

See my post above...the feat in question is "Versatile Unarmed Strike". It basically lets you change the damage type of your unarmed strike as a swift action. So, you could do slashing damage one round, piercing the next, etc. This is in PHBII.

 

[Deset Gled]

2 - Defensive
5 - Combat Expertise

While fighting defensively and using full Combat Expertise (and flurrying, I expect), his to-hit bonus should be teh suck. How does he manage to hit anything?

 

[Benimoto]

The ability is tied to 1/ 2 ranks in tumble, fighter types wont have many ranks in tumble, unless they are human and take that feat that makes one skill a class skill.

If the character's been any class that makes tumble a class skill, then the max ranks remain at 3+level, even if the character later takes levels in a class that doesn't tumble. That means that with fighter levels the character will have to spend 2 skill points/level to keep the skill at maximum rank, but that's not a big hindrance. Fighters usually don't have much to spend their skill points on, unless they're riders or something.

Of course, if the character has stats higher than the 25-point buy baseline, then he might have so many skill points that he can afford to sink 2 skill points into tumble every level, and still keep up a bunch of other skills.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Given a number of significant if's, the Scout-Dervish can make a shockingly efficient mook killing machine. But I do not see that as a balance problem.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

BadMojo, I found the feat. I must have missed your other post. Its pritty nifty. Although i dont know what is better to take, shorten grip or versital strike. I think shorten grip might be better but less dm's are going to allow it (although mine is allowing it at the moment) but if you get disarmed then you cant dervish dance. However with versital strike, it doesent matter if you get disarmed and has cool flavor but less damage overall.

 

[zoroaster100]

The character whose class choices promted me to start this thread started out as a barbarian, but wanted to control his rages by entering into a monastery for training. He became lawful and became an ex-barbarian, losing access to his rage ability. His armor class is high because he has a ring of protection +2, AC bonus from his monk class, a high Dex, and other party members carry wands of mage armor and usually use them on him. I keep track of wealth levels and his is correct for his level.

 

[HeavyG]

While fighting defensively and using full Combat Expertise (and flurrying, I expect), his to-hit bonus should be teh suck. How does he manage to hit anything?

Indeed. And his weapon is defending, too. So it's a character that must attack to get his good AC and sucks at attacking. Not what I'd call overpowered.

 

[shilsen]

Indeed. And his weapon is defending, too. So it's a character that must attack to get his good AC and sucks at attacking. Not what I'd call overpowered.

True. What would really mess this PC up is an enemy focused on disarming, or even a decent melee combatant who attempts to disarm. With all the negatives to attack rolls that he's taking, plus the fact that he's using a one-handed weapon, a fighter-type even 5-6 levels lower will have a very easy time disarming him.

 

[Henry]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't a dervish just keep doing circles around his intended target, 5' at a time? Most opponents will NOT have combat reflexes, so that's just 1 op-attack that round, to the dervish's 6 or 8.

 

[Dross Swordra]

No, you are not wrong. Most opponents will not even get one AoO, because any dervish worth his salt will be successfully tumbling the whole time. Despite this fact, this ability is no different than removing the movement aspect and just giving a bonus to hit and damage for the listed duration.
The movement require just makes the dervish plan his points of attack a bit more carefully. All told, its not really more powerful than a whole lot of other prcs from the Complete _ books.

-Dross