Dervish

The Quintessential Barbarian
Author Robert Schwalb
Series Quintessential Series
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2003

Wandering through the endless wastes of the desert are the dervishes, a breed of specialized holy warriors. Reputed to have witnessed the face of the great god of the desert, they are on the cusp of madness. In a sense, dervish warriors develop two states of being. The first is the contemplative reflection on their role in the greater scheme of things. The second is when the spirit of the desert, the personified force of nature, inhuman, seizes their soul and they become raging machines of death both beautiful and terrible to behold. When in this state, the dervish becomes a whir of dancing maneuvers, chants, whirls and shouts. Unsettling to say the least, dervishes present a terrifying foe for the uninitiated.

Dervish Non-Player Characters can usually be located enroute to an important holy site. As most are pilgrims dedicated to a deity who overlooks the fickle desert, these sites are almost always located in the heart of the shifting sands. Few willingly encounter these mad warriors, preferring instead to avoid them and their holy lands.

Hit Die: d12

Requirements

To qualify to become a dervish, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Base Attack Bonus: +6 or higher
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks, Perform 4 ranks
Feats: Dodge, Combat Expertise, Spring Attack
Special: Rage, Uncanny Dodge ability (cannot be flanked)

Class Skills

The dervish’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dexterity), Bluff (Charisma), Intimidate (Charisma), Jump (Strength), Knowledge (religion) (Intelligence), Perform (Charisma) and Tumble (Dexterity).

Skill points at each level: 3 + Intelligence modifier.

The Dervish
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1	+1	+0	+2	+0	Holy Fervour
2	+2	+0	+3	+0	Dedicated litany
3	+3	+1	+3	+1	Unsettling steps
4	+4	+1	+4	+1	As the wind
5	+5	+1	+4	+1	Scream of the desert

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the dervish prestige class.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The dervish is proficient in all simple and martial weapons, but gains no new armour proficiency. Note that armour check penalties for armour heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket and Tumble.

Holy Fervour (Ex): Whenever the dervish flies into a rage he grows stronger and more agile, focusing his religious possession into deadly combat skills. He temporarily gains +2 to Strength and +2 to Dexterity in addition to the normal benefits and penalties derived from entering into a barbarian rage. Like a raging barbarian, a dervish in the throes of Holy Fervour may not use skills or abilities requiring patience or Concentration. This ability conforms to the rules governing the barbarian’s rage ability.

Distracting Litany (Sp): Whenever the dervish enters into the Holy Fervour, he begins to chant and mutter. Once per rage, the dervish can speak of the conundrums of the cosmos as though channeling the voices of the gods themselves. Those capable of hearing the dervish who are within 30 feet must make a Will save against a DC 10 + the character’s Charisma modifier + dervish class level. The number of dervishes present further modifies the DC. For every additional raging dervish using this ability, the DC is increased by 1 to a maximum of 10. All targets within the area of affect failing their saving throws are shaken for 2d10 rounds, suffering a -2 morale penalty on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls and saving throws. Individuals who are immune to fear or mind-affecting spells or effects are immune to distracting litany.

Unsettling Steps (Ex): At 3rd level, the dervish has achieved such a degree of mastery over his ability to rage he may now use Combat Expertise and the Total Defence action while raging.

As the Wind (Ex): At 4th level, the dervish gains Whirlwind Attack as a bonus feat even if he does not have the necessary prerequisite feats.

Scream of the Desert (Sp): When in the Holy Fervour, the dervish may once per day, release an ear-splitting shriek having several detrimental affects to all those within the area of effect. Every living creature within a 60-foot radius must make a Will save against a DC 10 + the dervish’s improved Constitution modifier + his dervish class level. Failure indicates the target suffers 5d6 points of sonic damage, becomes deafened for 1d6 rounds and is considered cowering for 1 round. Deafened targets suffer a -4 penalty to Initiative checks and have a 20% chance of spell failure when casting spells with verbal components. Listen checks are impossible. Cowering targets lose their Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) and foes gain a +2 bonus to hit them. A successful saving throw means the target takes half damage and is deafened for one round only.