Requirements

Skills: Hide 5 ranks, Perform (dance) 10 ranks, Pick Pocket 5 ranks.

Summary

The cloaked dancer dances into the hearts and minds of her audience, beguiling those around her with boundless charm and careful dance moves, leaving her victims in a state of ecstasy even as she kills them.

Bards most often and most easily become cloaked dancers, although a substantial number of rogues and some monks also enter the prestige class. Ninjas and spellthieves occasionally travel the path of the cloaked dancer, although they have difficulty qualifying unless they multiclass, usually with a few levels of bard.

Role: Utility DPS

Characteristics: Mislead and disorient foes with dance before striking

Source: Complete Scoundrel

Game Rule Information

The Cloaked Dancer has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Dexterity for your sure striking and charisma to power up your dances to absurd levels.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d6

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Cloaked Dancer's class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Pick Pocket (Dex), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis) Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), Use Rope (Dex)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Cloaked Dancer.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Cloaked Dancer is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Spellcasting: At each even-numbered level, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a cloaked dancer, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Enchanting DanceSu: Once per day per cloaked dancer level, you can use your dance to produce supernatural effects on those who observe you. Each ability requires both a minimum cloaked dancer level and a minimum number of ranks in the Perform (dance) skill to qualify; if you do not have the required number of ranks, you do not gain the enchanting dance ability until you acquire them. This ability can be used only if you are wearing light armor or no armor and carrying no more than a light load. Enchanting dance is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting ability.

Starting an enchanting dance effect is a standard action. You must concentrate each round to maintain the dance; no dance can be maintained for more rounds than your cloaked dancer level + your Con modifier (minimum 1 round).

The save DC for your enchanting dance effects is 10 + your cloaked dancer level + your Cha modifier. A creature can’t be affected again by your enchanting dance effect for 24 hours whether or not it succeeds on the saving throw.

Beguiling Dance: A cloaked dancer with 10 or more ranks in Perform (dance) can use her enchanting dance to distract her enemies. Whenever you start or maintain a beguiling dance, all enemies within 30 feet who can see you must succeed on a Will save or be dazed for 1 round. Creatures that fail this save also have their attitude improved by one step for as long as you maintain the dance (see Influencing NPC Attitudes, PH 74). This attitude adjustment does not prevent any subsequent attitude changes. For example, an enemy that becomes indifferent toward you as a result of this effect still turns hostile if you then attack it.

Wearying Dance: A 3rd-level cloaked dancer with 12 or more ranks in Perform (dance) can use her enchanting dance to tire her enemies. Whenever you start or maintain a wearying dance, all enemies within 30 feet who can see you must succeed on a Will save or be fatigued for as long as you maintain the dance. Creatures failing this save that are already fatigued become exhausted.

Frightful Dance: A 5th-level cloaked dancer with 14 or more ranks in Perform (dance) can use her enchanting dance to scare her enemies. Whenever you start or maintain a frightful dance, all enemies within 30 feet who can see you must succeed on a Will save or be shaken for as long as you maintain the dance. Creatures failing this save that are already shaken become frightened, and those that are already frightened become panicked.

Surprise StrikeEx: Beginning at 2nd level, you can make a particularly effective attack against creatures distracted by your dance. As a full-round action, you can maintain your enchanting dance and make a melee attack with a light weapon, dealing an extra 1d6 points of damage. At 4th level, the extra damage you deal increases to 2d6.

The extra damage from the surprise strike ability stacks with the extra damage from sneak attack whenever both would apply to the same target.

A target under the effect of your enchanting dance is considered flat-footed against the attack. Any creature that is not vulnerable to extra damage from sneak attacks is immune to this effect.

This ability counts as sudden strike for the purpose of meeting prerequisites or using ambush feat

Table 1-1: Cloaked Dancer Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per day
1st	+0	+0	+2	+0	Enchanting dance (beguiling dance)	—
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+0	Surprise strike +1d6	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+1	Enchanting dance (wearying dance)	—
4th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Surprise strike +2d6	+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Enchanting dance (frightful dance)	—

Adaptation

Cloaked dancers are most appropriate for campaigns that focus on urban adventures and social encounters. In campaigns involving large combats, exploration, or dungeon delving, they are as out of place as songbirds on the battlefield. Against intelligent humanoid enemies they can hold their own in any campaign, though, with abilities resembling those of enchanters and bards. If your campaign’s main antagonists are creatures immune to enchantments or mind-affecting abilities, such as undead, you might need to adjust the enchanting dance to affect such beings. Consider changing the entry requirements to include ranks in the Knowledge skill appropriate to that type of creature.