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Rationale for the Dervish?

Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:58 am
by Janus
What's the deal with this discipline? I assume it was inspired by these guys, but their ability don't really jive with the concept.

First, savage? I suppose it could be argued, but Monk (arguably a cross-cultural equivalent) is common; I'd think they'd ought to be the same.

I could be convinced of Mojo Bag. Dual wield makes sense - some of the ritual dances involve two swords - but Throw Dagger and Dagger Pin seem a bit shoehorned-in to me. I'm not the most learned guy about the dervishes, but I've never heard of them throwing daggers. It seems completely unrelated.

Can anyone chime in on this?

Re: Rationale for the Dervish?

Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:42 pm
by Ark
that's funny I feel the mojo bag is the main thing out of place on the discipline.

dervish, battle dancer, whatever, is a slight trope (you can look up RPG dervish, its in D&D somewhat and a few other games) the idea is:
-many blades
-speed
-not well armored
-*sometimes spiritual and monk like (that's where I think the mojo bag comes in at.)

dervish as the ability to both duel wield and throw various knives, so blades are covered. and as both of its throwing abilities are reloads it can do this as an offense or defensive action. dervish is probably one of the only disciplines in FH that can kite effectively. and those skills make it very much an opportunistic fighting style, a reaver.

speed, we don't really have speed calls at FH, they have been substituted with slows (achieves about the same effect) but the root on the pin effectively makes you far faster then your target, and as I stated can be used to catch up to or pounce on a fleeing or caught out opponent, as well as to stop someone from chasing you. very versatile and good amount of uptime.

not well armored, well their in light armor so eh, I would personally restrict them to medium but mojo bag will probably get you stuck in light armor anyway because spells are restricted.

in the end there is actually quite a bit I like about the dervish discipline, but the negatives just make it not worth it.

personal changes
-common or savage
-medium armor
-throw dagger balanced to have a "slow" attached (perhaps removal of the vorpal)
-dual wield is fine
-mojo bag replaced with critical strike (like Avayana) or another damage steroid that fits
-dagger pin is fine

the inclusion of a charge up damage attack fits great because of the fact that it wont conflict with the reload effect on the throw dagger and dagger pin. the slow helps catching people out and combines with your pin to give you great kiting potential and makes the base throw dagger actually useful. the increase to medium armor and loss of the mojo bag help secure the dervish's position as a fast skirmisher rather then the unknown limbo it is currently in.

ideal paths under that change:
-warrior, the drop to medium is worth the great offensive and utility of dervish, and while you wont be the main fighter or tank you will be un rivaled at catching out lone or fleeing opponents.
-sage, is inherently tanky enough and makes great use of battlefield utility effects to help the rest of the group while not putting itself in the same position as dedicated fighters.
-rogue, can go either way depending on if its a critical strike or another damage steroid from dervish, it its a critical strike then having a wasted 2nd level skill and loosing the benefits of a more defense oriented discipline might be worth the trade of being the ultimate skirmisher. however if its not a critical strike then doubling up on damage steroids as well as the loss of a 2nd level skill are just not worth it.

<3 love theoretical debate.