Viability of the Dervish PrC

[roguerouge]

I have an urban ranger in a Paizo adventure path. Should I go for the dervish prestige class? How effective in combat is that prestige class? Or would it be better to simply go straight through with urban ranger levels?

 

[jaelis]

I've found dervish to be quite nice. You could flavor it in an urban way too, with more of a dualist take.

(Not so easy to get into from ranger though, is it?)

 

[Sitara]

You could also go for the increadibly powerful (aka:broken) tempest from masters of the wild.

 

[moritheil]

I know someone who plays duskblade/dervish in epic. He's done quite well, though how much of that is his tactical prowess and how much is the build engine is uncertain.

 

[Victim]

You could also go for the increadibly powerful (aka:broken) tempest from masters of the wild.

Yeah, because using unupdated 3.0 PrCs in a 3.5 game is totally a good idea. Besides, I don't recall the tempest as being all that great.

The Dervish class is really good, but a single class ranger will trouble qualifying. Also, the Dervish really shines when you good sources of per attack damage bonus. Since Dervishes can move whilst full attacking, Scout can effective.

The new Tempest class in CAdv is also pretty good, and it only has 5 levels (and the level 5 benefit can easily be skipped IIRC) so it can be combined with other TWF classes.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Dervish is an amazing PrC. I recently finished the class on top of a basic fighter build. I can out damage and out tank any melee class in our party. In fact the other frontline/tank rebuilt her character as a Crusader to get back on a level with me.

I'll try to remember to list some of the high points if my character sheet when I get home.

High AC, little wasted damage output due to mobility, Initiative... yeah, I go first. It's a fun, fun class.

 

[Darklone]

The Dervish class is really good, but a single class ranger will trouble qualifying. Also, the Dervish really shines when you good sources of per attack damage bonus. Since Dervishes can move whilst full attacking, Scout can effective.

The new Tempest class in CAdv is also pretty good, and it only has 5 levels (and the level 5 benefit can easily be skipped IIRC) so it can be combined with other TWF classes.

I'd vote for Scout3/RangerX with Swift Hunter. Perhaps take one or two more Scout levels for bonus feats and Evasion. Improved Skirmish will let you do devastating damage, but the build is feat starved and can hardly afford all the necessary TWF feats... so Power Attack and a twohanded weapon is a better idea.

Tempest plus dervish and TWF plus scout/ranger would be awesome, but how would you get IIRC more than 10 feats?

 

[roguerouge]

As a human fourth level urban ranger with a drawback and Champion of the Wild, I'll have the following feats and abilities:

Drawback: Shaky (-2 with ranged)
Feat in return: Improved Unarmed Combat (a character-background thing, plus some use in grapples)

Human: Weapon Focus: Exotic Two-handed Weapons
First level: Improved Toughness
Class Ability: Combat Style: TWF
Third level: TW Defense (house ruled to go up in shield bonus as I go up in TWF)
Champion Feat: Expertise

Feats to get: Dodge (6th), Mobility (9th)
Feats I'd otherwise get: Extra Favored Enemy (6th) and Improved Favored Enemy (Champion: 8th)

Which path is better, for this character, in a Pazio (Dungeon-era) adventure path?

 

[Slaved]

Is there a feat that gives extra Dervish Dances each day? That seems like a must!

 

[jaelis]

Which path is better, for this character, in a Pazio (Dungeon-era) adventure path?

I think it's really up to you. Unless you're asking specifically about the type of encounters you can expect from that campaign? I can't help with that.

But... if you do go dervish, give a little thought into a level or two of monk. Gets you your IUS for free (and ups the damage), you can take Imp Grapple, you get nice bonuses to saves, and perform (dance) is a class skill. (Second level gives you combat reflexes and evasion, also quite nice.)