3.5 Dervish in Pathfinder

[Belvaleth]

So my group recently decided to pick up a bunch of Pathfinder books and give it a try. I've played Pathfinder only once before.

Before we decided to make the next campaign PF, I planned on playing a Dervish. My DM cut me some slack and is allowing me to port the 3.5 Dervish over to PF, but everything else is strictly PF, which ruins my plan of Swashbuckler/Fighter entry into Dervish. I've read through the PF Fighter guides, but I'm wondering how throwing the 3.5 Dervish in would change things.

We will be starting at level 1, but should be getting through the first 4/5 levels decently quickly. The party consists of a Monk and a Sorcerer right now. Sorc is going a mix of control and blasting, and I'm not sure what the Monk is doing.

I am allowed to use any first party content on the PF SRD. I am interested in the battle performance feats, and would like to keep my charisma decently high as I will most likely be the party face. I really don't know PF very well so any assistance would be much appreciated.

[StreamOfTheSky]

The PF tumble DCs make the 3E Dervish's dance suicidal.

If you want to use a slashing weapon and move around attacking things, I suggest playing a magus and using the Bladed Dash spell with spell combat.  Use the "Dervish Dance" feat and fight with a scimitar.

If you don't care so much about the moving and attacking thing, I'd suggest playing a Dawnflower Dervish Bard.  It's charismatic (bard) and gets the DD feat for free at level 1 and doubled self-only inspire courage to keep track with the full BAB classes.

[Power]

A Dawnflower Dervish Bard actually outpaces full-BAB using Inspire Courage.

There is also the Dervish Dancer Bard which is more focused on moving around while attacking, but it doesn't pack the raw power of a Dawnflower Dervish.

[Belvaleth]

Thanks for the input. It looks like the exact of character I was looking to play this time just isn't feasible in PF. However, the Dervish of Dawn seems interesting. I guess it's time to read up on PF bards.

[Power]

Just a quick note, but the Dawnflower Dervish does not start with Weapon Finesse, so keep that in mind if you're considering any melee weapons other than a scimitar. Also, if you're going Dawnflower Dervish, you should pick up the Arcane Strike feat. Bards have full caster levels so this feat will give you some damage at the cost of a swift action. The best race for your Dawnflower Dervish is probably going to be Human because you're going to want those feats. In addition, the Human Favored Class Bonus is huge for a Bard's spell selection. FCB: Add one spell known from the bard spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the bard can cast.

If you're looking to be ridiculous, you could take advantage of Dervish Dance by equipping a Buckler in the same hand as your sword. This way you're not carrying a shield in your offhand.

[StreamOfTheSky]

A Dawnflower Dervish / Dervish of Dawn (it's the same thing, btw; due to copyright issues d20pfsrd had to rename some things) does not need weapon finesse as long as you "stick to the plan" and just use a scimitar for melee.

Dervish Dance feat specifically gives dex to attack and damage with scimitars.  It just *usually* requires weapon finesse first, making the attack part redundant.

Human is a good race due to the extra spells known favored class bonus, and the usual bennies of bonus feat and skill points.  Azata-blooded Aasimar gives the dex/cha you want w/ no penalties and has a favored class bonus of quicker advancing performance (pick inspire courage, of course) and is also great.

For feats, you might not want to bother with Arcane Strike at all.  If you go by the assumption +1 to hit is worth +2 damage, Arcane Strike is inferior to Weapon Focus (hardly a great feat in its own right) until level 5 and isn't better till level TEN.  And it takes a swift to activate, which could get annoying.  Beating DR /magic is nice and all, but really shouldn't be much of an issue until you actually get a +1 scimitar.

You have a required "free hand" that can't have a weapon or shield, so use it for something.  Currently, there are 2 valid options.
1. Take the Flagbearer feat to give a minor buff to yourself and allies.  It's nice because it's only 1 feat.
2. Go for Crane Wing.  This requires Dodge, Imp. Unarmed Strike, and Crane Style, and BAB +5 and obviously is a hefty investment.  For it, though, you get +1 dodge AC and can take -2 to hit for +4 AC and deflect one melee hit per round, pretty nice.  Later on, you can get Crane Riposte for a free attack when deflecting a hit 1/round.

For other feats, I really like the combo of Enforcer + the Blade of Mercy trait.  You now intimidate on every attack, basically.  If getting Dodge for Crane Wing, Osyluth Guile is also pretty nice later on.
At 11th level, you want Discordant Voice for your feat.  It's a no-brainer.
Eldritch Heritage is also a good feat for a charisma-based caster.  Arcane bloodline gives you a familiar and is the best choice.  If starting at higher levels, Improved Eldritch Heritage (Marid bloodline) - requires level 11 or higher - gives you an unlimited use per day supernatural (ie, no SR) 60 ft line that deals untyped damage and blinds, with the blinding negated by REFLEX!  The bloodline is worthless before then, but Water's Fury makes it all worth it and is a great ranged option for a class lacking in ranged offense.

I would not wear a buckler on your sword arm.  You'll take a -1 to hit and lose the AC bonus each round you attack anyway.  Hardly seems worth it just to get more AC before your 1st turn in combat and on rounds you cast spells...