Dancer(Bard)

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==CoffeeMUD Classes==
Bard        Cleric        Commoner        Druid        Fighter        Mage        Thief

===CoffeeMUD Bard Classes===
Bard        Charlatan        Dancer        Jester        Minstrel

===Dancer===
Description:	The Dancer is the graceful master of dance, who entertains and leads others in the joyous and powerful maneuvers of his craft. Like the Bard, the Dancer is a highly desired group member for his "group affecting" skills, which include the magical dances in which he specializes. How to play: Due to his weak fighting skill, the Dancer will likely look to groups for his primary advancement, much like the other bards. Dancers also gain a select set of powerful fighter skills to prove the worth of their diligence in maintaining his body. This makes them valuable group members, even without their powerfully enhancing dances.
Primary Stat:	Charisma
Qualifications:	Charisma 9+, Strength 9+
Practices:	5 +[(Wisdom/6)+1 per lvl]. Note: The first number is the number gained at 1st level. Subsequent levels gain the Wisdom/X+Y number.
Trains:	3 +1 per level. Note: The first number is the number gained at 1st level. Subsequent levels gain the number preceding the "per level".
Hit Points:	20 +[(Con/3)+(2d6) /lvl].
Mana:	100 +[(Int/6)+(1d2)/lvl].
Movement:	100 +[8X(Str/18) /lvl].
Attack:	+(Cha/18) per level.
Damage:	+1 damage per 10 level(s).
Maximum Stat Values:	Strength (22), Charisma (22), Others (18)
Bonuses:	Receives defensive bonus for high dexterity. Receives group bonus combat experience when in an intelligent group, and more for a group of players. Receives exploration and pub-finding experience based on danger level.
Weapons:	Must use swords, daggers, natural, or ranged weapons.
Armor:	Must wear cloth, vegetation, or paper based armor.
Limitations:
Starting Equipment:	a short sword
Races:	Aarakocran Drow Elf Githyanki Half Elf Halfling Human Merfolk
Level	Class Skills (Skills in parenthesis must be trained for at a trainer or by another player.)
1	Write    Can-Can    Recall    Stop    Befriend    Sword Specialization    (Hand to hand combat)    (Ranged Weapon Specialization)    (Play Instrument)    (Bandaging)    (Swim)    (Smoke Rings)    (Caravan Building)    (Foraging)    (Herbology)    (Floristry)    (Fishing)    (Gem Digging)    (Drilling)    (Hunting)    (Shearing)
2	Foxtrot    (Lore)    (Cooking)    (Wood Chopping)    (Butchering)    (Lacquering)    (Dyeing)    (Embroidering)    (Engraving)
3	Fire Building    Kick    Tarantella    (Climb)    (Blacksmithing)    (Carpentry)    (Leather Working)    (Tailoring)
4	Waltz    (Appraise)    (Searching)    (Distilling)    (Mining)    (Sculpting)    (Pottery)    (Tanning)    (Costuming)    (Weaving)
5	Salsa    Grass    (Dodge)    (Glass Blowing)    (Scrimshawing)    (Armorsmithing)    (Weaponsmithing)    (Paper Making)    (Food Prep)    (Fletching)    (Cobbling)    (Baking)    (Painting)
6	Clog Dance    (Find Home)    (Shepherding)
7	Capoeira    (Distract)    (Meat Curing)
8	Tap    Swing    (AutoSwim)    (AutoCrawl)
9	Basse    (Disarm)
10	Tango    Body Flip    (Breakout)    (Smelting)    (Construction)    (Siegecrafting)    (Boatwrighting)    (Locksmithing)    (Speculating)    (Farming)    (Jewel Making)    (Wainwrighting)    (Masonry)    (Taxidermy)    (Shrooming)
11	Polka    (Spring Attack)
12	Rags Sharqi    Manipuri    (Find Ship)    (Gardening)
13	Cotillon    (Trip)
14	Ballet    (Two Weapon Fighting)
15	Jitterbug    (Tumble)    (Composting)    (Irrigation)    (Landscaping)    (Excavation)
16	Butoh
17	Courante    (Second Attack)
18	Musette    (AutoClimb)    (Food Preserving)
19	Endurance    Swords    (Cartwheel)
20	Flamenco    (Branding)
21	Jingledress    (Roll With Blows)
22	Morris
23	Butterfly    (Blind Fighting)
24	Macabre
25	War    (Circle Trip)
26
27
28
29	(Master Floristry)    (Master Herbology)    (Master Mycology)
30	Square
31
32
33
34
35

How to Play

The Dancer is the most delicate sub-class of the Bard, but may also be the most deadly. They are able to use their powerful legs and glamour to tantalize or terrorize their enemies. Most of a Dancers direct damage will come from their weapons. They are proficient in the sword, dagger, and ranged weapons, but can also use hand-to-hand combat if desired. Since they are limited to only light armor, avoiding direct damage should also be a priority.

Early in your adventuring career you'll want to take advantage of the exploration and pub-finding experience. Traveling to new areas, fully exploring areas, and finding pubs, can give a great head start on leveling. It's also a great way to find new dance partners. Just be wary of aggressive monsters and dangerous zones!

Dancers excel at being behind the scenes by keeping the party buffed with their dances. However, if you can't find a group of real people, you can use the BEFRIEND skill to entice mobs that wander, and are the same race as you, to join your dancing troupe. The number of backup dancers you can amass with this skill is based on your CHARISMA. Using your allies as decoys, you can focus on high kicking your foes into an early grave. You can also use this skill to get gear without having to fight for it. If your new friend is using something you like, order them to remove it and give it to you. You can always drop them from the group later with the NOFOLLOW command.

As a fledgling Dancer you will have access to the CAN-CAN which will give you and your group an extra automatic KICK every round of combat, but be careful because this will use up MOVE quickly. If you or your party are fighting unarmed, the CAPOEIRA dance might be useful, but when access to dances are limited it might be safer to keep GRASS active most of the time. Later, use COURANTE to increase the number of attacks, or WAR to increase the damage of your party greatly, at the cost of MANA. Conversely, use the BUTOH dance to restore the parties MANA quickly, allowing casters to barrage your foes with spells, and JINGLEDRESS to keep the party healthy.

Besides dances, Dancers can also learn a variety of very important skills. LORE can give you detailed information about any item, weapon, or armor you find while exploring. Armed with this knowledge, you can find equipment that will maximize you and your allies combat skills. BODY FLIP can be used to immobilize enemies, ROLL WITH BLOWS to avoid damage, or CARTWHEEL and SPRING ATTACK to jump to the back of the conga line, letting your allies take the brunt of the damage. But if combat isn't going your way, try the MANIPURI dance to halt combat and potentially save lives. Remember, dances are area effects and might start fights you and your group aren't prepared for. Keep a close eye on the number of the enemies in the room, and use DANCE STOP to halt your current dance before walking into the unknown.

Dancers make fantastic party members, with skills to improve both attack and defense. Just keep in mind, dancing may be good for your soul, but at times can be harsh on your soles.

Multi-Classing Options and Effectiveness

Dancer, like many of the bard classes, absolutely shines when multiclassing, and provides many unique options to do so. The first thing to keep in mind when multiclassing with Dancer is that Dances, Songs, and Playing instruments do not stop each other, so you can have one of each type going all at once. This means that a common route that people choose when multiclassing is to go 30 levels of Dancer, 30 Minstrel, and 30 Bard in order to get the full breadth of each type. While this is certainly a powerful option, it has its downsides. As it is a triple 30 split, it limits your ability to get expertises, that combined with certain songs, dances, and instruments being more powerful than others makes stopping somewhere before level 30 in each of the classes a consideration for many players. That being said, if you appreciate having a skill for nearly any situation, it is something you might look at.

The next thing one has to remember when attempting to multiclass Dancer, and any bard for that matter, is which levels each class gets critical skills. Minstrel gets Guitars at level 6, which means that you can grab a large source of damage for very little level investment. Bard gets the song "Mana" at level 16 and "Quickness" at 17, which are both great things to pick up, Mana to help sustain party members' abilities and Quickness for extra damage or actions. Charlatan gets Hide at level 3 and Mark at level 4, which can provide a large burst of damage at the beginning of tough battles, and Charlatan also gets Magic Missile at level 12, which can provide consistent damage at lower levels, and Cure Light Wounds at level 18 to help keep yourself and your group in the fight. Jester doesn't have too much in the way of extremely powerful skills (as-of time of writing this), but does have some low-investment skills that are definitely worth considering. Just for gaining 1 level in Jester, a character obtains both Clumsiness (which is a song that the base Bard class gets at level 6) and Juggle (which is a great option to add just a small bit of extra damage). Past that, however, I'm afraid you'd have to understand the Jester class a little more than I do to know which levels one might wish to stop at.

All-in-all, these are all great levels to stop at before going into Dancer, or to compliment the skills one obtains as Dancer, but a good question to ask yourself at this point would be, "Why Dancer?". Other bard classes get all sorts of powerful high-level skills that allow all sorts of options that Dancer does not, and while Dancer does have things that those classes in turn don't have, one might be tempted to say that those options are simply better than Dancer provides. I won't argue for or against this, as ultimately the usefulness of each class is mostly dependent on what a player wants from it, but I will make a case to choose Dancer even if you feel like the class' skills aren't as useful or powerful.

Dancer is one of two classes in the game that gains armored defence passively based on their Dexterity when they level up. I cannot overstate how powerful this is. If a player decides to max out their Dexterity, perhaps even increase their maximum and place a few buffs on themselves to increase it further, they can end up with far more Armored Defence by the time they hit max level than any other bard class by far. This can make them go from a relatively fragile class that relies on companions to fight head-on to a class that can perhaps even go toe-to-toe with fighters. That combined with the powerful effects they can get from their dances and the fact that they also obtain a few Fighter abilities themselves makes them a strong option to flex the power of Bards at max level. At lower levels, the ability to use multiple song types while being able to slowly gain armor still makes it a decent option. For all you bards out there looking for a decent option to complete your build and help put out reliable damage while staying decently healthy, Dancer's a good pick.

Notes

• If you wish to use the DANCE social, then proceed the command with the forced-social command (comma) like ,DANCE.