Post/Author/DateTime	Post
OrionNo9 12-13-06, 11:04 PM	I am been thinking about I am going to be playing in an up coming campaign. I would like to play a Warblade from ToB, but I am not sure if I have put together a good collection of feats to make this a strong build. The group I am playing in has outlawed PrC's, hence why I am not going into one. Well below is what I have so far: Stats: STR 18 DEX 12 CON 14 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 12 lvl Classfeatures Feats 1 Battle clarity (Reflex saves), Weapon aptitude Power Attack 2 Uncanny dodge 3 Battle ardor (critical confrimation) Improved Bull Rush 4 - 5 Bonus Feat (Blade Meditation) 6 Improved uncanny dodge Shock Trooper 7 Battle cunning (damage) 8 - 9 Bonus Feat (Unnerving Calm), Improved Sunder 10 - 11 Battle Skill (opposed checks) 12 - Combat Brute 13 Bonus Feat (Improved Initiative) 14 - 15 Battle Mastery (Attack of opportunity) Weapon Focus 16 - 17 Bonus Feat (Blind-Fight) 18 - Weapon Specilaztion 19 - 20 Stance Mastery Maneuvers Stances 1 Moment of Perfect Mind(Diam), Punishing Stance(Iron) Sapphire Nightmare Blade(Diam), Charging Minotaur(Stone) 2 Steel Wind (Iron) - 3 Emerald Razor (Diam) - 4 Steel Wind (Iron)/Wall of Blades (Iron) Absolute Steel Stance (Iron) 5 Iron Heart Surge (Iron) - 6 - 7 Ruby Nightmare Strike (Diam) - 8 Sapphire Nightmare Blade (Diam)/Lighting Recovery (Iron) - 9 Disrupting Blow (Diam) - 10 Hearing the Air (Diam) 11 Greater Insightful Strike (Diam) - 12 - 13 Finishing Move (Iron) - 14 - 15 Diamond Nightmare Blade (Diam) - 16 Supreme Blade Parry (Iron) 17 Strike of Perfect Clarity (Iron) - 18 - 19 Time Stands Still (Diam) - 20 - Well thats wast I got, any advice you can give me to improve on this will be appreciated.
wingedcoyote 12-14-06, 12:20 AM	You don't need all 20 levels of Warblade unless you really want Duel Stance -- you can skip up to 6 and still get level 9 maneuvers. A lot of people like strategically-placed dips into Swordsage and/or Crusader to pick up a few of their maneuvers and stances.
PhoenixInferno 12-14-06, 12:36 AM	If you've got Combat Brute, consider Shards of Granite to get bonuses to sunder attempts. And no Stormguard Warrior?
Zenzei 12-16-06, 05:17 AM	You might also want to broaden your maneuver selection a bit, do not limit your character to two disciplines only. Adding third discipline would be great because you can quite easily obtain the best maneuvers from each one. For example, you already got shock trooper & combat brute, adding Pouncing Charge maneuver (tiger claw lvl5) would be nice addition. Heedless charge + PA + pounce = great success :) Also consider dropping weapon focus and weapon specialization (they aren't worth it unless you got weapon mastery and even then it's debateable) for leap attack and "something" You must change your Absolute Steel stance for something else since you do not qualify for it at level 4 (third level stances require initiator level 5) Finally, since you are going for warblade20 think extra carefully your stance selection. To fully utilize Stance Mastery try to find some combination that has some good synergy for your build consept, preferably these stances should come from different disciplines so you can constantly have practically *free* +6 to hit via your dual martial discipline enchanted weapon.
anomalousman 12-23-06, 11:26 PM	I'd disagree with the multiclassing, but not much. I'd also disagree with Stormguard warrior, you've got a better option in power attack/shock trooper. However, that means you've got a charge build here. Get Leap Attack (feat) and Pounce (TC maneuver), and the Leading The Charge stance. Also, I don't like Strike of Perfect Clarity. +100 damage, but only one attack? Why not full attack for more? Similar argument with diamond nightmare blade. Sure you can get 4x damage, but with 4 attacks from a full attack, you can do more with most other maneuvers. Here is my warblade maneuver list. Indented ones are swapped out later. 1: Moment of Perfect Mind (DM1, conc->Will) 1: Sapphire Nightmare Blade (DM1, Conc vs AC, FF+1d6), 1: Leading The Attack (WR1, attack for +4 for allies), 2: Steel Wind (IH1, free attack diff foe), 3: Wall of Blades (IH2, attack roll=AC), 4: SNB -> Rabid Wolf Strike (TC2,+4/+2d6 -4AC), 5: White Raven Tactics (WR3 1WR,free round ally), 6: LtA -> Soaring Raptor Strike (TC3 1TC,Jump AC for +4/+6d6 vs larger), 7: Lightning Recovery (IH4 2IH,+2 reroll attack), 8: SW -> Action Before Thought (DM2,conc->Reflex save), 9: Pouncing Charge (TC5 2TC, pounce), 10: RWS -> Dancing Mongoose (TC5 2TC,extra attack same opp), 11: Moment of Alacrity (DM6 2DM, Init+20), 12: ABT -> Manticore Parry (IH6 2IH, attack>enemy's to redirect armed melee attack), 13: Hamstring Attack (TC7 3TC,+1d8 Dex dam, -10'), 14: LR -> Disrupting Blow (DM5 2DM, will save or no action), 15: Lightning throw (IH8 2IH,30' line melee attack+12d6, Ref1/2), 15: (feat) Shadow Blink (SH7, 50' swift DD), 16: SRS -> Diamond defense (DM8,count,lvl->saves), 17: Time Stands Still (DM9 4DM,2full attacks), 18: MoPM -> Raging Mongoose (TC8 3TC,Greater flurry), 19: Feral Death Blow (TC9 4TC,jump>AC for FF killing blow (Fort for +20d6)), 20: DM -> Mountain Tombstone Strike (SD9, +2d6Con dam), Stances: 1: Punishing Stance (IH1, +1d6 -2AC), 4: Leading the Charge (WR1, +lvl charges), 10:Tactics of the Wolf (WR3 1WR,flank for +lvl/2 dam), 16:Supreme Blade Parry(IH8 3IH, DR 5/-) 7 readied: Raging Mongoose (TC8 3TC,Greater flurry) Diamond defense (DM8,count,lvl->saves) Moment of Alacrity (DM6 2DM, Init+20) Feral Death Blow (TC9 4TC,jump>AC for FF killing blow (Fort for +20d6)) Time Stands Still (DM9 4DM,2full attacks) Lightning throw (IH8 2IH,30' line melee attack+12d6, Ref1/2) Pouncing Charge (TC5 2TC, pounce) Most importantly, you're not using your swap-ups. Every even class level you should be pulling your maneuvers up to higher levels.
AzraelNoir 12-27-06, 12:58 AM	The only reason you should have 20 full levels of warblade is if you are planning to use its double boost to do something like rageing mongoose, inferno blade, time stands still. Otherwise you would do better to multiclass and end up with more maneuvers.
ksbsnowowl 12-27-06, 10:52 AM	The only reason you should have 20 full levels of warblade is if you are planning to use its double boost to do something like rageing mongoose, inferno blade, time stands still.Dual Boost is the 20th level ability of Swordsages. Warblades have dual stance.
AzraelNoir 12-28-06, 01:46 AM	Oh yes...so it is. Oh well...
Edea 12-28-06, 02:08 AM	As anomalousman has indicated in his table, definitely add Tiger Claw maneuvers to your list; the synergy between Tiger Claw and Diamond Mind is significant, which is interesting considering they apparently embody opposing schools of thought on the battlefield. One example of minor synergy with dual stance is Press the Advantage and Wolf Pack Tactics; for every successful attack, you can move an extra 10 feet, I believe, (at the very least you can do that once per round).
DavidWL 12-28-06, 04:27 AM	You don't need all 20 levels of Warblade unless you really want Duel Stance -- you can skip up to 6 and still get level 9 maneuvers. A lot of people like strategically-placed dips into Swordsage and/or Crusader to pick up a few of their maneuvers and stances. I agree ... for example, Fighter 2/Warblade 18 will get you some of the feat nastiness much earlier (~6 levels earlier), while not hurting your initiating very much at all. Better yet, Fighter 2/Warblade 17/Crusader 1.
BrazilRascal 12-28-06, 09:51 AM	I myself like pure warblade. Dual Stance later on is quite nifty, especially if your weapon has two Discipline enchantments that basically give you a net +7 (at least) to hit and make your power attacks te nightmares of Tarrasques across the multiverse. I suggest getting your maneuvers from 3 disciplines. More than that and the Pre-Reqs start getting annoying. As for the high-level strikes, I also like them a lot. You can't -always- do a full attack, and doing your best power Attack +100 damage is likely enough to make your foes think twice. Against high-AC enemies, it's better to rely on one solid blow that can connect and do truckloads of damage than lots of iterative attacs, half of which might miss. Make a brief list of high-level maenuvers with NO pre-requisites, even from other disciplines, to acquire via Martial Study. The Shadow Hand Teleports are a great example of this. Fade across the battlefield, appear next an unwary caster, and turn him into a fine red spray.
Edea 12-28-06, 11:36 PM	Not that it's particularly useful, but if you do go strictly Warblade 20, Mountain Tombstone Strike (SD 9th) has 0 prerequisites, so it fits into a 9th level new manevuer learned/replaced slot fairly easily. It's a nice way to severely injure living creatures, especially with the warblade's recovery mechanic.