#battle dancer

[amalthea-felsblood]

Marian ∘ "Face me if you wish."

[thecreaturecodex]

Dalya

“Rider” © Cindy Avellno, accessed at her ArtStation here

[And Monster Girl Summer is officially a Go! Part of my goal with Monster Girl Summer is to reflect on the games I’ve run in the past. And to sort of mentally catalog how many of the PCs started out monstrous, or became monstrous over the course of play. Like Dalya here. Dalya was originally a human, but ended up reincarnated as a gnoll. And was in the half of the party that survived their fight with Karzoug, as opposed to being wiped out in round 1. Time stop + reverse gravity + prismatic sphere, don’tcha know.

I ran Rise of the Runelords in 3.5. Dalya was originally built using the battle dancer class from Dragon Compendium. So making her a brawler was a easy choice for the conversion.]

Dalya CR 18 CG Humanoid (gnoll) This tall, lean hyena headed woman has her hair done up in a dyed fringe, and tattoos are visible beneath her fur. She wears leather armor and carries a buckler and spear.

Born to an exiled Shoanti father and a Varisian merchant mother, Dalya was used to living on the road. But she didn’t expect it to turn out the way it did. Visiting the Swallowtail Festival in Sandpoint, she was caught up in a goblin raid, which rapidly turned into investigating the growing power of the Sihedron cult and, eventually, opposing the forces of Karzoug. Underneath Thistletop, Dalya was slain by the barghest Malfeshnekor, but her allies were able to fight the beast back long enough to recover her body. Possibly as a side effect of being slain by one of Lamashtu’s chosen, Dalya was returned to life as a gnoll when brought back through a reincarnate spell. And Dalya couldn’t have been happier with her new body.

Dalya’s adventures continued from there, and she proudly brags that she’s never lost a fist fight with a giant. She was instrumental to killing Karzoug and preventing Varisia from being overrun by an army of lamiae and other monsters. But Dalya is not one to rest on her laurels, and she is in no way retired. Her current mission is to help a few packs of non-evil gnolls to settle in the Storval Plateau without causing too much conflict with the Shoanti quahs living there already. Her allies in this mission include a quartet of advanced crocuttals and Krojun Eats-What-He-Kills, a powerful warrior of the Sun Clan, himself reincarnated into a monstrous form (a bugbear) following a fatality in combat.

Dalya    CR 18 XP 153,600 CG Medium humanoid (gnoll, human) Reincarnated gnoll brawler (battle dancer) 18 Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +18 Defense AC 33, touch 20, flat-footed 26 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural, +6 armor, +6 shield, +3 deflection) hp 200 (18d10+90 plus 7) Fort +20, Ref +21, Will +13; +2 vs. fear, despair Resist fire 30 Defensive Abilities dancing dodge (9/day), hopeful Offense Speed 35 ft. Melee +4 evil outsider bane unarmed strike +34/+29/+24/+19 (2d8+16), +4 evil outsider bane bite +32 (1d6+5) or +4 evil outsider bane unarmed strike +32/+32/+27/+27/+22/+22/+17 (2d8+16), +4 evil outsider bane bite +32 (1d6+5)  or +2 returning distance spear +30/+25/+20/+15 (1d8+17/x3), +4 evil outsider bane bite +32 (1d6+5) Ranged +2 distance returning spear +26 (1d8+17/x3) Special Attacks awesome blow, brawler’s flurry, brawler’s strike (magic, cold iron, silver, chaotic, good, adamantine), martial flexibility (12/day, 3 feats as swift action or 1 as immediate), rolling flurry, sparring partners (3/day) Statistics Str 30, Dex 22, Con 21, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 16 Base Atk +18; CMB +28 (+36 trip, +35 grapple, +30 bull rush, +29 disarm); CMD 48 (56 vs. trip, 55 vs. grapple, 50 vs. bull rush, 49 vs. disarm) Feats Acrobatic Steps (B), Combat Expertise (B), Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Fleet (B), Improved Grapple (B), Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike (B), Iron Will, Mobility, Monkey Moves, Monkey Style, Nimble Moves (B), Power Attack, Snapping Bite, Vicious Stomp (B) Skills Acrobatics +27, Climb +16, Intimidate +17, Linguistics +0, Perception +18, Perform (dance) +11, Ride +12, Sense Motive +12, Swim +16 Languages Common, Gnoll, Shoanti SQ close weapon mastery, dancer’s cunning, legendary, maneuver training (trip +4, grapple +3, bull rush +2, disarm +1), martial training, reincarnated Gear manual of gainful exercise +4 (expended), tome of leadership and influence +2 (expended), amulet of mighty fists +5 (+4 evil outsider bane), belt of physical perfection +4, +4 brawling leather armor, +5 buckler, +2 returning distance spear, winged boots, pliant gloves, cloak of resistance +4, ring of major fire resistance, ring of protection +3, potion of cure serious wounds (x3), potion of haste (x3), 500 gp worth of mundane jewelry, 36 pp. Special Abilities Dancer’s Cunning (Ex) A battle dancer can treat her Charisma score as her Intelligence score for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites of combat feats. In addition, she can attempt a Perform (dance) check instead of a Bluff check to feint in combat, and her unarmed strikes are considered to have the performance weapon special quality. Dancing Dodge (Ex) When an opponent attempts a melee attack against Dalya, she can expend one use of an attack of opportunity as an immediate action to move 5 feet, granting the battle dancer a +3 dodge bonus to AC against the triggering attack. The attack is still resolved normally, even if the battle dancer’s movement takes her out of the triggering attack’s reach. This movement is not a 5-foot step and provokes attacks of opportunity from creatures other than the one that triggered this ability, though the battle dancer can attempt an Acrobatics check to avoid provoking the attacks. Dalya can use this ability nine times per day. She can use this ability only while wearing light armor or no armor, and while carrying no heavier than a light load. Hopeful (Ex) Packmaster gnolls gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against fear effects and emotion effects such as despair, grief or boredom. They do not gain this bonus against rage effects, or other types of emotion effects, such as an unnatural lust or overwhelming presence spell (GM’s discretion). Legendary Dalya’s statistics are built using 25 point buy, and she has the gear of an 18th level PC. This increases her CR by +1. Reincarnated (Ex) Dalya was born human, but transformed into a gnoll due to a reincarnate spell. She has the bonus feat of a human, and bonus skill ranks for levels 1-4. She does not have the racial Hit Dice, or mental ability bonuses, of a gnoll. Rolling Flurry (Ex) When a battle dancer uses her brawler’s flurry, she must move 5 feet before each melee attack or combat maneuver. If she is unable to move 5 feet, she can’t attempt any further attacks or combat maneuvers. She can’t exceed her maximum speed. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity if the brawler would be able to take a 5-foot step normally; if she would be unable to (for instance, if she were in difficult terrain), the movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal unless she succeeds at the appropriate Acrobatics checks. While using this ability, she can still take her normal 5-foot step before or after making her attacks. Sparring Partners (Ex) When Dalya gains a flanking bonus on an attack while using her rolling flurry ability, the ally providing the flank gains a flanking bonus on its next attack against that opponent, even if the battle dancer moves out of a flanking position. If either the opponent or the ally moves more than 5 feet before the ally’s attack, the flanking bonus is lost. This ability works only if the ally is on the opposite side of an opponent during the battle dancer’s attack, not if a flanking bonus is gained in some other way, such as through Gang Up. Dalya can use this ability three times per day.

[xyliaxart]

Goblin girl! Her name is Tamber. She died, rip.

[dailycharacteroption]

Battle Dancer (Brawler Archetype)

 Many martial arts styles resemble dances in their grace and poise. In fact, some, like capoeira, were in fact specifically designed to resemble dancing as a way to disguise their training and practice under the watchful gaze of oppressors.

In other styles, the martial arts are honed into a dance-like art form to demonstrate the user’s mastery over their own body.

Regardless of the specific style, however, there do exist those martial artists who fight with dancing styles, becoming a blur of motion that moves between foes with ease. That being said, this archetype is heavily based on capoeira, even coming from the former Cheliax colony of Sargava in the Mwangi Expanse before it fell and became modern Vidrian.

We’ve covered similar archetypes before, but those are mostly associated with bards or the occasional skald. Today’s archetype favors the martial arts side of things over performance and magic.

 As their style is as much performance as it is a combat style, these battle dancers use the instinctive passionate movements of their bodies to master various combat techniques.

The acrobatic style that these brawlers use leaves them in constant motion when attacking rapidly, flipping and kicking foes. As such, with every attack during a flurry, they move a little, which often leaves them dancing between foes or moving in circles around a single one. This does mean they can more effectively spread their attacks around, but also could leave them out of position if they do not plot their course carefully.

These acrobatics also aid them in defense, letting them flip and roll away from foes as needed.

Later on, they even master the ability to distract foes with their attacks, allowing them to provide the advantages of flanking even if they only exist across from an ally for a second before moving on, assuming the enemy and ally remain roughly in the same place, of course.

Positioning is the name of the game with this archetype, and they essentially have the ability to spread multiple attacks among foes while constantly moving into a more favorable position. Because of this, methinks your feats should revolve around combat maneuvers to better control the battlefield, using martial flexibility to pick up the slack in various ways when needed.

 Given that this style has such links to oppressed people, it only makes sense that even among those who are not trained in the style, it remains an iconic part of their culture. If your game uses such lore, consider how members of that culture will react to masters of the style, or those from outside the culture who have learned it.

  A century ago, the Shukah people defeated the white dragon Veeloc who had enslaved them, surprising him with martial arts they had disguised as their ceremonial dances to honor him. Now, Veeloc has returned as a ravener, hungering for their souls, rather than their supplication.

 Hidden away in enclaves in the Shadow Plane, the fetchlings live ever watchful for their velstrac tormentors. In preparation for being discovered, their martial arts styles are acrobatic and dance-like, making sure that any kayal that falls to velstrac corruption can be found out due to their masochistic tendencies showing in their style.

 The dancers of the White Circle preserve an ancient fighting style said to have once freed humanity from some terrible foe long ago. However, none now remember what that foe was in the first place, or how it helped. When White Circle dancers start going missing, it almost goes unnoticed until one contacts the party for help, only to be found dead a day later.

[oitscomic]

What started as a simple experiment to see what my current D&D character, Belphi, would be like if I’d made different class decisions has taken on a life of its own and become a character I now plan on playing in an upcoming campaign: Nefari Blackflame!

A young Tiefling who left home in search of fortune and glory, but found out achieving those things is much harder than expected and has been making ends meet as a waitress/dancing girl in a crummy tavern. A Swords Bard / Swashbuckler Rogue multiclass, she’s eager to latch onto the first adventuring party she can find to get her out of this crappy gig she’s stuck in!

[aaami]

MARYDITH***

ah yes, my dreams have come true

[aaami]

Meredith is my fav winemom

thank god meredith and mary exist in different universes. otherwise they’d need to fight each other over that title.

[itsstellarose]

By Matthew Ellis