Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Doodle 09-23-04, 08:09 PM	Hi there.... Working on a character concept of a Barbarian that was kicked out of his tribe due to him being "unlucky". Eventually he made it to the City and had to steal to earn his keep. One day he tried to steal from a caravan of wandering gypsies and was caught. The gypsies took pity on him and adopted him. The men taught him to fight, and he adapted their style to what he learned as a youth to create his own dance of death. So.... I put together a build, but in order to get the feats and no XP penalty I needed I ended up with this: Hexblade 1 - Bastard Sword Proficiency, Weapon Focus Bastard Sword Fighter 1 - Combat Expertise Hexblade 2 - Dodge, Cha. to spell saves Rogue 1 - Sneak atk 1d6 Rogue 2 - Evasion Fighter 2 - Power Attack, Mobility Hexblade 3 - Mettle Rogue 3 - Sneak Atk, 2d6 Exotic Weapon Master 1 - Combat Reflexes, Uncanny Blow Dervish 1 Dervish 2 Dervish 3 - Karmic Strike Dervish 4 Dervish 5 Dervish 6 - Elusive Target Dervish 7 Dervish 8 Dervish 9 - Improved toughness Dervish 10 That gets me to level 19. The above is the "power" level I would like, especially because we usually start our campaigns at level 9. However, I really wanted barbarian in the mix and the closest I could come was: Barbarian 1 - Dodge, Weapon Focus Glaive, Fast Mvmt, Rage Barbarian 2 Hexblade 1 - Mobility, Hexblade 2 - Cha. to spell saves Rogue 1 - Sneak atk 1d6 Rogue 2 - Combat Expertise, Evasion Hexblade 3 - Mettle Rogue 3 - Sneak atk 2d6 Dervish 1 - Power Attack Dervish 2 Dervish 3 Dervish 4 - Combat Reflexes Dervish 5 Dervish 6 Dervish 7 - Karmic Strike Dervish 8 Dervish 9 Dervish 10 - Elusive Target That gets me to level 18. I ended up choosing focus in a reach weapon for a little more excitement in the dance, but I lost the extra damage from uncanny blow. Any suggestion on how to keep barb, hexblade, and rogue in the build but end up more like build #1 i.e. the extra damage from uncanny blow and getting into Karmic strike a little earlier? Thanks
Spellbinded 09-23-04, 09:20 PM	I would stay away from Barbarian if I were you, if I was going for Dervish. You can't use the Dervish Dance and a Barbarian's Rage at the same time, says under the Dervish entry.
Doodle 09-23-04, 09:47 PM	I would stay away from Barbarian if I were you, if I was going for Dervish. You can't use the Dervish Dance and a Barbarian's Rage at the same time, says under the Dervish entry. Yeah.... BUT... The extra 10 ft of movement and 12 hits at 1st level is really worth it for a 1 lvl dip... especially if using a reach weapon. So I want... Barb 1, Hexblade 3, Rogue 2 (maybe 3?), Exotic Weapon Master 1, all before I get in to Dervish.
Norad 09-23-04, 09:51 PM	Barbarian variant from UA gives up Rage progression for Ranger Fighting style stuff, might be worth looking into for what you are trying to do. But you can try this also: Swashbuckler 3/Ranger 2/Dervish 7/Disciple of Dispater 8 Now those Scimitars are threatening crits on a 9-20 with Improved Critical.
Doodle 09-23-04, 10:07 PM	Thanks for the UA idea.... haven't bought the book yet... I'm not interested in a 2 weapon fighting dervish... hence the bastard sword and uncanny blow or the glaive. Bastard sword will probably outdamage a 2wf dervish anyway.
Norad 09-24-04, 12:36 AM	Thanks for the UA idea.... haven't bought the book yet... I'm not interested in a 2 weapon fighting dervish... hence the bastard sword and uncanny blow or the glaive. Bastard sword will probably outdamage a 2wf dervish anyway. OMG, such a classic case of looking at pictures and failing to read, I just assumed the Dervish had to use TWF, wow, that opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, thanks! *slaps forehead* Yeah, screw TWF, whip out the Falchion and go to town. My revised build would probably be something like this: Swashbuckler 3/Fighter 2/Dervish 7/Disciple of Dispater 8 Or: Swashbuckler 3/Hexblade 2/Dervish 7/Disciple of Dispater 8 Or: Swashbuckler 3/Hexblade 3/Samurai 1/Paladin of Tyranny 2/Dervish 10/Exotic Weapons Master 1 Falchion will get you the 9-20 threat range also, and no need for EWP, but you can always squeeze a level of Exotic Weapons Master in there if you want, which makes the Bastard Sword a nice option. If you go the DoD route then it's all about the Falchion, though. I still don't think you want to waste your time with Barbarian though.