How to Play a Dancer

Dancer Guide

The Dancer is the newest Mage Hand Press class and one of the most compelling to play at the table! If its unique constellation of Dancing and D4 weapons leaves you dizzy, this guide should help!

Dervish D4s

Unlike practically every other Martial class in the game, the Dancer focuses on weapons that deal 1d4 or 1d6 damage on a hit, transforming those damage dice to 2d4 (about 1d8) instead! Your go-to weapons will be Daggers, Darts, Shortswords, and Scimitars, principally to use the Vex and Nick mastery properties. Though your Unarmed Strikes also benefit from the improved damage, you won’t benefit from Weapon Mastery using them so you’re usually better off using a weapon.

Attack Everyone All the Time

You not only get Extra Attack like every other martial class, you also get a special Three-Target Extra Attack starting at level 5, granting you even more attacks if each attack targets a different creature. This expands to four and later five attacks on the same turn if you’re fighting enough enemies! In these circumstances, send out a spray of thrown Darts or Daggers to hit as many targets as possible.

Your highest damage comes from Two-Weapon Fighting. In an ideal turn, you can attack up to five separate enemies or a single enemy three times (once using your Nick attack), each dealing 2d4 + Dex damage! No single hit will turn an enemy to paste, but the cumulative effect should whittle your foes away in no time.

Hard to Pin Down; Harder to Hit

Perhaps surprisingly, it might be best to think about the Dancer as a tank class. Two major features make you incredibly hard to hit: Nimble Start and Graceful Dodge. 

Nimble Start

Nimble Start simply means that attacks have Disadvantage against you on the first round of combat. This protects you from the most damaging turns of combat, before you and your allies have dropped your enemies. Lots of Dancer features (always with the word “Start” in the feature name) apply only on the first round of combat, so stay vigilant during that round and maybe mark these features with a star on your character sheet to remember!

Dances and Dance Styles

You have a limited number of Dances, much like a Barbarian’s Rage. Activate your Dance whenever possible to protect yourself in combat and gain additional mobility options. Don’t save your Dances for a rainy day! 

You gain two benefits whenever you Dance: you gain one Dance Style option and Graceful Dodge. You always gain Graceful Dodge, no matter what Dance Style you choose. Your Dance Styles serve to improve your ranged attacks, help you move around the battlefield, or deincentivize others from attacking you. By contrast, Graceful Dodge is only about protecting you.

Every time you’re hit by an attack while Graceful Dodge is active, roll your Dance Die (which starts at a d4) and add it to your AC against that attack. If your AC exceeds the attack roll, boom! The attack misses. This feature is as powerful as a Barbarian’s Resistance to damage and will get you out of a lot of tight spots.

Roleplaying a Dancer

You are a master of movement, a beautiful blur that sprays flurries of Daggers before an enemy even realizes they’re in danger. Consider where you learned to dance and what it means in your culture. Are you self-taught or did you attend something like an academy? What kind of real-world dances do your styles resemble, if any?

Here are some personality traits, bonds, ideals, and flaws hand-picked for the Dancer class.

Dancer Personality Traits

d8	Personality Trait
1	I burst into song at a moment’s notice.
2	I literally can’t hold still for sixty seconds.
3	The technical craft of dance is deadly serious. I practice like a drill sergeant.
4	I’m always grooving to a tune nobody else can hear.
5	My costume is a work in progress that has taken me most of my life to put together. I’m still not finished.
6	I’m obsessed with a single color or pattern, like teal or paisley.
7	I will join any shanty, bar tune, folk dance, or conga line at a moment’s notice.
8	I collect jewelry and accessories like a magpie.

What do you want?

These are your “bonds”—they help you determine the answers or solutions you will tend to choose if possible. Roll on the following table, or choose one of the options:

Dancer Bonds

d6	Bond
1	I am going to be remembered until this world stops spinning.
2	The Seven Sacred Steps have been lost to time, and I must re-discover them.
3	I must protect my legacy as a tenth-generation performer.
4	I seek to reunite my mystical Dagger, Northwind, with its sister blade.
5	The troupe that taught me is two Silver Pieces from financial ruin.
6	Someone stole my cat, Jiji, and I will kill anyone in my way to get him back.

Why do you want it?

These are your “ideals”, the guiding principles for your choices learned from years on the job, and tend to reflect your alignment. Roll on the following table, or choose one of the options:

Dancer Ideals

d6	Ideal
1	History. Song and story carry lessons from the past; we ignore them at our own peril.
2	Fitness. My stretching and exercise routine is critical – I never miss a morning routine.
3	Harmony. If enough of us work together, we can solve anything.
4	Self-Expression. The greatest gift I can give the world is my authentic inner voice.
5	Exploration. What’s the point of being a travelling performer if you don’t see the world?
6	Ambition. Other people are stepping stones on my way to better places.

What gets in your way?

These are your “flaws”, or the reasons you might make choices that hold you back or keep you from your goals. Roll on the following table, or choose one of the options:

Dancer Flaws

d6	Flaw
1	If I’m not the center of attention, I scream.
2	Any minute now people will figure out I’m a fraud.
3	I’m not open to criticism, constructive or otherwise.
4	I’m not a party animal. I’m a rampagaging party elephant.
5	I can’t keep a secret to save my life.
6	That cursed artifact? I’m gonna touch it.