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Dervish Class

From

Juan Marcano

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$1.00

Wherever you go, you turn heads, and wherever you dance, you draw crowds. Your skill with your blades and mastery over your body are unmatched, drawing opportunity and danger to you in equal measure. The controlling movements of the Steel Gale, the mesmerizing motions of the Enchanting Zephyr, and the fearsome techniques of the Raging Tempest bring a unique blend of martial prowess and performance art to your tabletop.

This class contains:

Three archetypes. The Steel Gale, which specializes in controlling an area through the use of reach weapons, the Enchanting Zephyr, which specializes in distracting and frightening foes, and the Raging Tempest, which specializes in tearing through enemies in a cyclone of blades.

New mechanics. Dervishes use momentum in their performances and in battle, which they use to quicken the pace of their dance and perform feats of martial prowess.

March 3rd, 2016 - Dervish v1.3

General:

Formatting update.

The Dervish is inspired by my wife's desire to play a charisma-based martial class in 5th edition that wasn't also a magic user.

Feedback is welcome and appreciated. Happy gaming!

Liked what you saw here? Check out my other works below!

Classes:

Swordmage

Warden

Archetypes:

Fighter - Warlord

Swordmage - Aegis of Ensnarement

Races:

Race Compendium - Vol. 1

Race Compendium - Vol. 2

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Reviews (1)

Discussions (7)

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Dimitriy B July 21, 2021 11:23 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Good day. I finished reading this class and it looks very intriguing. I would like to use it in my next game. I don't quite understand the mechanics of the Exotic Style, namely, does it add damage from Cha when attacking with decorative weapons like Hexblade skills? Or will it only increase the attack?

Ian W April 15, 2020 7:55 am UTC

PURCHASER

Hi,

I love the concept of this class and I am looking forward to using a variation of it in my campaign. However, I had some critiques that I wanted to discuss, because in some ways the class is underpowered, but in others, it is game-breaking, especially in the hands of power gamers. I will make a point to not give too much context to the features since this is a paid product.

TL;DR: Charisma is supposed to be the main stat, but you could literally dump it, take a race with medium armor proficiency, and lose almost nothing. Momentum points are too hard to gain in combat. Gathering Storm is too good and outcompetes everything. There are too few viable defensive abilities, there is no realistic response to ranged attacks, and this class lacks features that recharge on a short or long rest,

Skills: In my opinion, this class is starved for skill proficiencies. It needs Acrobatics to break grapple or any foe can stop it in its tracks until very late game, and it wants the skill...See more

Ian W April 15, 2020 7:55 am UTC

PURCHASER

No Uncanny Dodge
It would make a lot of sense for Dervish to have this Rogue ability. Monks get a similar ability to dodge as a bonus action for 1 ki point. Maybe a reaction that costs 1 momentum point and does the same thing as Uncanny Dodge. However, if Shielding Flourish were reworked, this would be less needed. Monks get Stunning Strike at this level, so a feature that uses momentum points and the Charisma ability score would be good here.

Blade Mastery
Perfectly fine.

No Evasion
Dervish should absolutely have this. Monk, Rogue, and a Ranger subclass all get this. Dancers are frail and agile melee combatants like Monk and Rogue. Not taking half damage from a Fireball is huge.

Shielding Flourish
This is too expensive and too restrictive in the current version of Dervish. It is also the Dervish’s only response to being hard countered by ranged attacks, and it simply doesn’t cut it. As written, you will never get to use it because your tiny pool...See more

Cary F July 30, 2019 6:28 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Dear Juan Marcano,

I am the head of an up and coming YouTube series called Aventurers Wanted on the Dungeoneer's Guild channel (link below). We will be play testing yours and many other homebrew classes during our interconnected One-shots Campaign, scheduled to be released in about a month and a half. These one shots are interspersed once a month along with our main quest campaign called Isla Sombra.

We have paid the asking price for your product, and we will be shouting out to you as a content creator. We would appreciate your help in spreading the word about our series so people can watch how your class operates and plays by itself and in tandum with other party members.

Thank you so much!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWcanytlw_YG_tLqVnaJ88A

Cary F September 03, 2019 5:30 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Watch the Dervish in action here: https://youtu.be/HsM6Br9ehQI

Shredder . September 23, 2017 12:02 am UTC

PURCHASER

does exotic style let you use charisma for the damage modifier or is it just for the attack modifier and does the bonus attack from the pole arm master feat add momentum?

Shredder . September 23, 2017 4:44 am UTC

PURCHASER

also at level 3 all the archetypes grant advantage on a charisma skill, then at level six the enchanting zephyr and the raging tempest grant proficiency or double proficiency on the same charisma skill but the steel gale grants acrobatics proficiency instead of the charisma skill it gives advantage to. Why is that?

January 18, 2017 2:45 am UTC

PURCHASER

Juan M in a game that is about too start we are mixing a lot of custom rule sets, particularly your dervish and the craftsman rules by Michael Holik. Would you let a dervish in a game you are DMing start the game with an exotic slashing weapon like a Great Scimitar that is Finess Versitile 1d8/1d10? Would you say that the dervish is proficient with these exotic slashing weapons or would it take a feat to make it proficient, with them?

Juan M January 18, 2017 5:25 am UTC

CREATOR

I'd be wary about a weapon that is strictly better than the longsword (finesse on top of versatile 1d8/1d10), which strikes me as a little overpowered if you use the PHB weapons as a baseline for expected damage/versatility.

That said, its entirely up to your DM. If he/she is comfortable with that weapon in their game, I'd say it fits with the Dervish's flavor for proficiency unless it requires the exotic weapon feat as a balancing act for being strictly better than a longsword.

Darren P February 09, 2016 8:31 pm UTC

PURCHASER

This is great. Enter new favourite dervish Vistani in the Eberron setting. Characters loved the character at first sight - even before he went through their enemies like a dose of salts (but with class and style).

Cameron R January 19, 2016 2:13 am UTC

PURCHASER

This is one of the best new classes I've seen on here, and I'm currently building an NPC encounter with a dervish. However, I think the class is a touch OP to let my players use it. I have a few suggestions
Exotic style: Should be "you may add Cha mod", it's not really logical that dex and str cannot affect damage
Performance Art: Cut it entirely, a good DM would just let a bard or dervish do this, but because a bard doesn't have this it's weird that the dervish does.
Veteran Dervish: Resistance to slashing is a lot, I'd change it to unaffected by rough terrain
Innate Inertia: +2 initiative is a lot, I'd cut that and the saving throws and give advantage against grapple
Disarming flourish: Really powerful, even if at a high cost. How about 2 momentum to reduce an enemy crit to a normal hit?
Blade Mastery: Increased crit range is too mch given how many attacks a high level dervish can do. How about can overcome slashing resistance?
Stiff wind: AC bonus = momentum/2...See more

Juan M January 19, 2016 2:22 pm UTC

CREATOR

Hey Cameron, thank you for the feedback! I'm definitely going to tweak a few things based off your commentary here. I'd like to address some of the points so that you know my thoughts are.

Exotic Style: I agree that Strength and Dexterity should logically dictate accuracy, but the idea here is more driven by flavor and what should be the primary attribute for the class than anything else. The fighting style is meant to be foreign to most creatures as the dervish spins rapidly and shifts their momentum to steer the flow of battle and constantly keep their opponent off balance. I imagine the player character wearing a sly smile while they dominate their foe in combat with little more than a bladed weapon or two and some loose-fitting performance attire. From a mechanical standpoint, I am concerned that the player may feel obligated to split their statistics between STR or DEX depending on their weapon choice, CHA, and CON if they want to go a more front-line fighter route. That could potentially...See more

Cameron R January 19, 2016 10:36 pm UTC

PURCHASER

I get where you're coming from story wise, and mechanically I think it's a really great way to allow a player to use 2 handed weapons without having to sink a bunch of points into strength. I think any good dervish player would definitely max cha, then do dex and con so it's more of a logic thing: even if they're not dancing a dervish still should be able to just heave a greatsword at someone's head with strength. In your character descriptions you mentioned decorative weapons several times, which was a fun detail. I think this is a place where you could make that integral to the class. A dervish could spend a short rest decorating a slashing weapon, with an additional cost of the weapon, and then that weapon uses cha instead of str or dex. Then it's not just the dervish's fighting style that's foreign: the enemy literally doesn't even recognize the weapon, and if they ever got their hands on it they wouldn't be able to use it. But the decoration weakens the weapons in other ways, so they no longer work with str...See more

Juan M January 19, 2016 11:50 pm UTC

CREATOR

I really dig that idea. Also, be on the lookout for a Courtly Graces as the new 4th level feature. I should have some time to update the class tonight.

Again, I really appreciate the feedback and thanks for taking the time to do so!