You shouldn't. You should just be aware that the class has horrific prerequisites, isn't very user-friendly, and takes a long time to mature. You can make a dervish work, but generally speaking you'd be better off looking into alternatives.
Basically, the dervish is a way to move around and still keep attacking. However, you can do the same sort of thing with the advanced Spring Attack feats from the PHB2. (It can get expensive to do this with a two-weapon fighter, though.) You can also do the same sort of thing from lower levels using the Tome of Battle, since it doesn't rely on full attacks to actually contribute to battle effectively. A handful of its moves - particularly those in the Desert Wind school, which fits your theme quite well - basically amount to Dervish Dance on their own, except they're usable on a per-encounter basis with a recharge rather than a per-day basis with no recharge. (Example: Desert Tempest, which lets you move your speed and make an attack against any enemy you move past.)
It's sort of like wanting to make a samurai-type character, and latching on to the Complete Warrior Samurai or the Sword and Fist Master Samurai instead of using, say, a Diamond Mind / Iron Heart / White Raven warblade (which is essentially the same thing as a samurai thematically, but lacking a mechanical handicap). Do not get caught up in the name of a class - you can be a mobile, desert-themed, scimitar-wielding whirling dervish without levels in the Dervish class.
These are NOT all my creations! The lead authors are identified as follows: [TS] Tempest Stormwind, [AR] Andarious Rosethorn, [RT] Radical Taoist, [SN] Sionnis, [DH] DisposableHero_, [SH] Seishi.
[TS] The Pinball Brothers: Large And In Charge (Melee, Lockdown, Charge, Juggling) [TS] Ashardalon Reborn: I Will Swallow Your Soul (Melee, Fear, Negative Levels, AoE, Theme) [AR] "A"-Game Paladin: Play That Funky Music, Knight Boy! (Team Support, Melee, Theme, Single-Class) [RT] Uncanny Trapsmith: Get in, make it look like an accident, get out. (Skillmonkey, Stealth/Scout/Infiltration, Unorthodox Methods, Theme) [AR] Wizsassin: *Everything* is permitted. (Spellcaster, Support, Sneak Attack, Utility) [TS] Phantom Rush: General Gish Gouda. (Gish, Theme, Setting-Specific(Eberron), Early-Entry PrC) [TS] Storm Knight: Another kind of gish. (Melee/"Gish", Theme, Setting-Specific(Eberron), Unorthodox Methods) [TS] Inevitable Nightmare: The weapon you only have to fire once. (Melee, "Unorthodox" Methods (no charging), Reliability) [AR] Captain Constitution: The number one threat to America. (Melee, TOUGHTOUGHTOUGH, Defense, Theme) [AR] Nuker: I casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down! (Spellcaster, damage, blasting, damage) [TS] Dread Lord of the Dead: Let the Reaping Begin! (NPC-only, Variable (combat/casting/leadership), Iconic Villain, Theme) [AR] Heavy Crusader: No Rest. No Mercy. No Matter What. (Melee, Damage (No charging), Variable, Theme). [TS] Gun Fu: It's bullet time (Ranged, THEORETICAL, Twin weapons, Theme) [RT] Face First: We should talk. (Psionic, social, mind-control, info-management) [SN] Chaingun Porcupine: Never Enuff Dakka. (Ranged, Skirmishing, Spike Damage, Incarnum) [RT] Always On Edge: The Mortal Draw deals death. (Melee, Generalist, Dungeoneering, Stunt) [AR] Feral Druid: Real feral taste. Zero druid calories. (Melee, offense, damage, murder) [RT] Rusty!: Man's Best Friend (Sentry, Support, Backup, Rearguard) [RT] The T3 (Tashalatora Triple Threat): My Kung Fu is More Powerful (Hybrid, Flex-Function, Melee, Caster) [RT] The #1 Snoipah: Boom. 'Eadshot. (Caster, Theme, Spike, Trapscout) [AR] Dreamblade: Rest in Pieces. (Melee, Damage, Single-Class, Combo/Momentum) [AR] Evasion Tank: “When fighting angry blind men, is best to stay out of the way.” (Melee, Tank, Unorthodox Methods (attack negation), Theme) [DH] Psycarnum Warrior: ↑↑↓↓←→←→BA Start (Melee, Tank, Psionics, Incarnum, 1337 h4x) [AR] Heavy Weapons Elf: WHO TOUCHED MY BOW? (Ranged, Cohort, Damage, Unorthodox Methods (ranged ToB)) [RT] Gnowhere Gnome: A little man who wasn't there (Caster, Stealth, Single-Class, Elusive) [AR] Uberflank: I got your back. (Melee, support, stunt, teamwork) [TS] Flip the Bird: Everyday I'm shuffling (Ranged, harrier, unorthodox methods (ranged ToB / off-turn movement), support) [DH] Eat Sleep Gank: Real Ultimate Power (Stealth, Assassination, Spike, Magic Versatility) [AR] Slash and Burn: Mind, Body, Blade, Flame / Aspects of a greater whole / which delivers death. (Melee, Theme (flex-style), Damage, Stunt) [RT] Edge of the Light: Cut, Fade to Black (Melee, Defense/Offense, Momentum, Tactical) [RT] Quiet Murder: Cut throats, not corners. (Melee, Stealth, Harrier, Tactical) [TS] Wand Overdrive: Say Hello to my little friends. (Caster, support/artillery/variable, wand specialist) [RT] God Hand: What did the five fingers say to the face? (Melee/Gish, Unarmed, SAD, Theme) [AR] Zero Buff Time Gish: Try to keep up! (Gish, Speed, Movement, Opportunity) [TS] Robo Tackle: I Am Iron Man. (Melee, setting-specific (Eberron), positioning, theme, stunt)
For a quick stub of a build on Swordsage 20, which will easily act as an "Evil Two Weapon Using Dervish"
Feats are the pinnacle thing here I'll assume non-bonus feat race for starters, you can see how to fix that if you want bonus feats for race or flaws. Spoiler:Show
1 Shadow Blade (Dex to Damage, ToB), Weapon Focus (all Shadow Hand Weapons, given free for level 1 Swordsage) 3 Weapon Finesse 6 Two Weapon Fighting 9 Combat Reflexes 12 Adaptive Style 15 Extra Readied Maneuver 18 Gloom Razor
Use Gloves of the Balanced hand to get Improved Two Weapon Fighting and don't worry at all about Greater, it's not worth it.
You're a Dex based fighter that needs no real Str bonus (10 Str is fine), Con is your next most important stat, followed by Wis (you can add that to damage too).
You've got access to maneuvers like Pouncing Charge (Read here, pounce), Time Stands Still (1000 Cuts, only better, because you can do it once per encounter), Inferno Blade (+3d6+20 fire damage on all attacks for a round), Raging Mongoose (1 extra attack with main and one extra attack with offhand weapon). Desert Tempest simulated Dervish Dance pretty well perfectly and has no feat requirements just some maneuver progression that you'd be doing anyway as this style Dervish (It's available by level 11).
Of course you don't have all of this at one but as a level 20 snap shot you're considerably more powerful than a Dervish. Even at 1 because you don't need to sink feats into being a Dervish later you've got Dex to Damage AND Str to damage which is amazing, as well as a maneuver (Wolf Fang Strike) that lets you fake Two Weapon Fighting and is a standard action to use.
Did you notice how Andarious' build DID get TWF? It just came online a bit later - because TWF alone is hard to work with, especially at level 1. In its place, his build would use Wolf Fang Strike, which lets you move and attack with both weapons at a lower penalty.
If you want it online sooner, switch when you get TWF relative to Shadow Blade. You'll dish out next to no damage at low levels without using your strikes, though.
This same problem is present on the dervish, particularly the whirling dervish versions (TWF-focused; the alternative is the Power Dancer, which tends to use a falchion). The dervish gets a lot of attacks, but none of them do particularly good damage. The usual rule is to NOT use TWF unless you have a source of bonus damage on each attack. That's why, if you read the Dervish Handbook I linked above, a lot of the whirling dervishes dipped Swashbuckler for three levels - so your scimitars deal Int+Str damage on each hit. In Andarious' build, we instead use Shadow Blade, giving you Dex+Str damage, so you don't drift too far away from your core ability scores.
These are NOT all my creations! The lead authors are identified as follows: [TS] Tempest Stormwind, [AR] Andarious Rosethorn, [RT] Radical Taoist, [SN] Sionnis, [DH] DisposableHero_, [SH] Seishi.
[TS] The Pinball Brothers: Large And In Charge (Melee, Lockdown, Charge, Juggling) [TS] Ashardalon Reborn: I Will Swallow Your Soul (Melee, Fear, Negative Levels, AoE, Theme) [AR] "A"-Game Paladin: Play That Funky Music, Knight Boy! (Team Support, Melee, Theme, Single-Class) [RT] Uncanny Trapsmith: Get in, make it look like an accident, get out. (Skillmonkey, Stealth/Scout/Infiltration, Unorthodox Methods, Theme) [AR] Wizsassin: *Everything* is permitted. (Spellcaster, Support, Sneak Attack, Utility) [TS] Phantom Rush: General Gish Gouda. (Gish, Theme, Setting-Specific(Eberron), Early-Entry PrC) [TS] Storm Knight: Another kind of gish. (Melee/"Gish", Theme, Setting-Specific(Eberron), Unorthodox Methods) [TS] Inevitable Nightmare: The weapon you only have to fire once. (Melee, "Unorthodox" Methods (no charging), Reliability) [AR] Captain Constitution: The number one threat to America. (Melee, TOUGHTOUGHTOUGH, Defense, Theme) [AR] Nuker: I casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down! (Spellcaster, damage, blasting, damage) [TS] Dread Lord of the Dead: Let the Reaping Begin! (NPC-only, Variable (combat/casting/leadership), Iconic Villain, Theme) [AR] Heavy Crusader: No Rest. No Mercy. No Matter What. (Melee, Damage (No charging), Variable, Theme). [TS] Gun Fu: It's bullet time (Ranged, THEORETICAL, Twin weapons, Theme) [RT] Face First: We should talk. (Psionic, social, mind-control, info-management) [SN] Chaingun Porcupine: Never Enuff Dakka. (Ranged, Skirmishing, Spike Damage, Incarnum) [RT] Always On Edge: The Mortal Draw deals death. (Melee, Generalist, Dungeoneering, Stunt) [AR] Feral Druid: Real feral taste. Zero druid calories. (Melee, offense, damage, murder) [RT] Rusty!: Man's Best Friend (Sentry, Support, Backup, Rearguard) [RT] The T3 (Tashalatora Triple Threat): My Kung Fu is More Powerful (Hybrid, Flex-Function, Melee, Caster) [RT] The #1 Snoipah: Boom. 'Eadshot. (Caster, Theme, Spike, Trapscout) [AR] Dreamblade: Rest in Pieces. (Melee, Damage, Single-Class, Combo/Momentum) [AR] Evasion Tank: “When fighting angry blind men, is best to stay out of the way.” (Melee, Tank, Unorthodox Methods (attack negation), Theme) [DH] Psycarnum Warrior: ↑↑↓↓←→←→BA Start (Melee, Tank, Psionics, Incarnum, 1337 h4x) [AR] Heavy Weapons Elf: WHO TOUCHED MY BOW? (Ranged, Cohort, Damage, Unorthodox Methods (ranged ToB)) [RT] Gnowhere Gnome: A little man who wasn't there (Caster, Stealth, Single-Class, Elusive) [AR] Uberflank: I got your back. (Melee, support, stunt, teamwork) [TS] Flip the Bird: Everyday I'm shuffling (Ranged, harrier, unorthodox methods (ranged ToB / off-turn movement), support) [DH] Eat Sleep Gank: Real Ultimate Power (Stealth, Assassination, Spike, Magic Versatility) [AR] Slash and Burn: Mind, Body, Blade, Flame / Aspects of a greater whole / which delivers death. (Melee, Theme (flex-style), Damage, Stunt) [RT] Edge of the Light: Cut, Fade to Black (Melee, Defense/Offense, Momentum, Tactical) [RT] Quiet Murder: Cut throats, not corners. (Melee, Stealth, Harrier, Tactical) [TS] Wand Overdrive: Say Hello to my little friends. (Caster, support/artillery/variable, wand specialist) [RT] God Hand: What did the five fingers say to the face? (Melee/Gish, Unarmed, SAD, Theme) [AR] Zero Buff Time Gish: Try to keep up! (Gish, Speed, Movement, Opportunity) [TS] Robo Tackle: I Am Iron Man. (Melee, setting-specific (Eberron), positioning, theme, stunt)
I'm still wondering why we're not suggesting something like Ranger2/Swordsage4/Revenant Blade 5/"Warrior"1/Swordsage+8?
That would give Str+Dex+two-handed Power Attack with both ends of a double scimitar.
EDIT: Forgot that Revenant Blade does not dovetail with Shadow Blade. So my suggestion would instead be Ranger2/Barb1/Warblade2/Revenant Blade5/Warblade +10 or something similar (Eternal Blade for the last 10 levels, perhaps?)
"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." -Condoleezza Rice
"My fellow Americans... I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Reagan
This user has been brought to you by the letters "O-R-C" and the numbers "2, 3, 4, and 6"
Resident Pithed-Off Dragon Poon Slayer of the House of Trolls
I'm not NOT suggesting it, I just like initial concept suggestion to be KISS rather than the whole nine yards. Swordsage 20 gets Dual Boost as well which I failed to mention. That's 3 times a day you can use Raging Mongoose and Inferno Blade in the same round, basically pasting nearly any foe if you lead in with Pouncing Charge or worse yet Time Stands Still.
If you're asking why Draco's uses Ranger, here's why.
1) You get the basic Two-Weapon Fighting feat for free at level 2, even if your Dexterity isn't high enough. (Since you can get Improved Two-Weapon Fighting from a pair of gloves in the MIC, and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting will almost never hit, generally speaking you can actually stop here - and this lets you build a TWFer that's purely dedicated to Strength if you want. And if you DO want to go further in the TWF tree, then it's still a bonus feat, and that helps ease the load a lot.)
2) Ranger gets all the right skills needed to enter Revenant Blade, which was the whole point of Draco's build because Revenent Blade really is that awesome, but has somewhat tricky skill and feat requirements to get in (you need a bonus feat from somewhere to qualify by level 5, and you need 5 ranks in a number of stealth skills; Ranger gives you both of these.) (Generally speaking, some combination of ranger, fighter, barbarian, and warblade gives you the best lead-up to Eternal Blade. You want warblade for Sudden Leap and Blood in the Water, you want Barbarian for Pounce (Complete Champion), you want fighter to ease the feat burden a bit, and you want ranger for the skills and to help out with the feats, and rarely for Endurance (not on its own, but as a prerequisite to Steadfast Determination, which adds your Constitution modifier to your Will save. Between this and the TWF/gloves approach above, you can actually make a Str/Con focused TWFer if you want and still have all your bases covered.) Which balance of these classes you want in just 5 levels, and their timing, is generally up to the player; it usually works best to start out with ranger though, since you want that for the skills and those are quadrupled at 1st.)
These are NOT all my creations! The lead authors are identified as follows: [TS] Tempest Stormwind, [AR] Andarious Rosethorn, [RT] Radical Taoist, [SN] Sionnis, [DH] DisposableHero_, [SH] Seishi.
[TS] The Pinball Brothers: Large And In Charge (Melee, Lockdown, Charge, Juggling) [TS] Ashardalon Reborn: I Will Swallow Your Soul (Melee, Fear, Negative Levels, AoE, Theme) [AR] "A"-Game Paladin: Play That Funky Music, Knight Boy! (Team Support, Melee, Theme, Single-Class) [RT] Uncanny Trapsmith: Get in, make it look like an accident, get out. (Skillmonkey, Stealth/Scout/Infiltration, Unorthodox Methods, Theme) [AR] Wizsassin: *Everything* is permitted. (Spellcaster, Support, Sneak Attack, Utility) [TS] Phantom Rush: General Gish Gouda. (Gish, Theme, Setting-Specific(Eberron), Early-Entry PrC) [TS] Storm Knight: Another kind of gish. (Melee/"Gish", Theme, Setting-Specific(Eberron), Unorthodox Methods) [TS] Inevitable Nightmare: The weapon you only have to fire once. (Melee, "Unorthodox" Methods (no charging), Reliability) [AR] Captain Constitution: The number one threat to America. (Melee, TOUGHTOUGHTOUGH, Defense, Theme) [AR] Nuker: I casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down! (Spellcaster, damage, blasting, damage) [TS] Dread Lord of the Dead: Let the Reaping Begin! (NPC-only, Variable (combat/casting/leadership), Iconic Villain, Theme) [AR] Heavy Crusader: No Rest. No Mercy. No Matter What. (Melee, Damage (No charging), Variable, Theme). [TS] Gun Fu: It's bullet time (Ranged, THEORETICAL, Twin weapons, Theme) [RT] Face First: We should talk. (Psionic, social, mind-control, info-management) [SN] Chaingun Porcupine: Never Enuff Dakka. (Ranged, Skirmishing, Spike Damage, Incarnum) [RT] Always On Edge: The Mortal Draw deals death. (Melee, Generalist, Dungeoneering, Stunt) [AR] Feral Druid: Real feral taste. Zero druid calories. (Melee, offense, damage, murder) [RT] Rusty!: Man's Best Friend (Sentry, Support, Backup, Rearguard) [RT] The T3 (Tashalatora Triple Threat): My Kung Fu is More Powerful (Hybrid, Flex-Function, Melee, Caster) [RT] The #1 Snoipah: Boom. 'Eadshot. (Caster, Theme, Spike, Trapscout) [AR] Dreamblade: Rest in Pieces. (Melee, Damage, Single-Class, Combo/Momentum) [AR] Evasion Tank: “When fighting angry blind men, is best to stay out of the way.” (Melee, Tank, Unorthodox Methods (attack negation), Theme) [DH] Psycarnum Warrior: ↑↑↓↓←→←→BA Start (Melee, Tank, Psionics, Incarnum, 1337 h4x) [AR] Heavy Weapons Elf: WHO TOUCHED MY BOW? (Ranged, Cohort, Damage, Unorthodox Methods (ranged ToB)) [RT] Gnowhere Gnome: A little man who wasn't there (Caster, Stealth, Single-Class, Elusive) [AR] Uberflank: I got your back. (Melee, support, stunt, teamwork) [TS] Flip the Bird: Everyday I'm shuffling (Ranged, harrier, unorthodox methods (ranged ToB / off-turn movement), support) [DH] Eat Sleep Gank: Real Ultimate Power (Stealth, Assassination, Spike, Magic Versatility) [AR] Slash and Burn: Mind, Body, Blade, Flame / Aspects of a greater whole / which delivers death. (Melee, Theme (flex-style), Damage, Stunt) [RT] Edge of the Light: Cut, Fade to Black (Melee, Defense/Offense, Momentum, Tactical) [RT] Quiet Murder: Cut throats, not corners. (Melee, Stealth, Harrier, Tactical) [TS] Wand Overdrive: Say Hello to my little friends. (Caster, support/artillery/variable, wand specialist) [RT] God Hand: What did the five fingers say to the face? (Melee/Gish, Unarmed, SAD, Theme) [AR] Zero Buff Time Gish: Try to keep up! (Gish, Speed, Movement, Opportunity) [TS] Robo Tackle: I Am Iron Man. (Melee, setting-specific (Eberron), positioning, theme, stunt)
