Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DyloniusFunk 07-08-07, 12:53 AM	At my FLGS we started a new store game. It's the DM's first attempt to try a high level game and he's running Expedition To The Demonweb Pits. So i figure since i got some cash now from my summer job i would buy a new book and play and that way i could help support the store at the same time. I was looking over his books at his booth at Port Con, a small anime./gaming con that's held every June here in Maine and i got interested in Nine Swords. My last game i playted a dwarf fighter but ti didn't last very long and before that i played a cleric in an Eberron game so i thought i would try something different and not core. I was originally going to go with a Healing Build Cleric combining DMM- Healing Domain, Augment Healing, Extra Turning and a bunch of other stuff. Well the store was out of Complete Divine so i went with Nine Swords at the advice of my DM. Well the issues here is that i didn't have time to make my charact6er ahead of time because i thought there was more time in his previous game. So i end up making my character at the sotre and even when the game is going on i'm, still not 100% complete. So anyway i end up with a 10th level HUman Crusader. I think i got the gists of how the system works but i have a few things that are bugging me. 1.The book says my max Maneuver level is 5th. I know i have 9 Known Maneuvers, but there's no chart saying how many Maneuvers of each level i know. So could i pick 9 5th level maneuvers? I have 2 from each levle right now except 4th which has one. 2. I know my Crusader has three Disciplens, but I'm confused if those are like magic schools. Do i have to focus on one or can i pick manuvers from all three. Right now my character is focuseing on Stone Dragon and Devoted Sun (think thats what is) and only has one White Raven maneuver. Those are really the only specific things i can think off. But i'm also looking for advice on how to play this character. I am totally new tot his syetma nd from what i can tell it's essentially a system where fighter types can perform feats that are similar to magic but done in melee. For example in the first session we fought a bunch of large ( not Large just big, might have been ogres) undead. I used my Divine Surge maneuver, which does an extra 8d8 of damage on top of normal melee damage to take out one of the ogres. From reading the thread about weither or not TOB was to "anime" i got interested since i happen to be an anime fan. But i want to really role play this guy to, so if anyone has suggestions for that i would appreciate. I didn't even have time to come up with a name sadly i spent most of the session trying to learn the new system. I think i'm gonna make him a follower of Heironius and make his goal to be to find the guy who united the Nine Swords, the stuff talked about at the front of the book. In any case I'm rambling so i'll stop here. But i thank you in advance for any ideas, suggestions, thoughts you might have that might make me a better Nine Swords using player and a better, toughter, better role played PC:D
Radijs 07-08-07, 07:09 AM	1 You will need to pick maneuvers from diffrent levels as if your chracter progressed through all preceding levels. At 4th level and certain levels after that you can trade maneuvers known as well as learning new ones. 2. You are restricted to the disciplines of your class. You cannot pick maneuvers of a discipline that you do not have access to. As for how you advance. Well CON STR and CHA are important stats for your character. I personally consider STR and CON to be equally important to a crusader since the majority of your extra damage comes from the maneuvers you use. ToB is very easy to use as in its hard to screw anything up. Just pick the maneuvers that you like and all will be well.
Neutronium_Dragon 07-08-07, 07:37 AM	For a 9th level crusader, if you followed the "trade-up" process at each level when it was available, you would have two 1st, two 2nd, two 3rd, two 4th, and one 5th level maneuver as the maximum. You could have a lower level maneuver in place of a higher level one though; if you'd rather have three 3rd and one 4th, that's doable. You can choose maneuvers from any discipline available to you. You're not limited to just one. In practice a crusader only gains enough maneuvers to go deeply into one or two disciplines, but he's not prevented from splashing maneuvers into all three of the crusader disciplines. One thing to pay attention to is the initiation action required for each maneuver. Many/most maneuvers are initiated as a standard action, so you can't combine them with a Full Attack or some maneuver-like PHB feats (such as Spring Attack) which require a standard action of their own. So when you use Divine Surge, you get only the one attack that round (unless you use a Boost which grants you an additional one), but that one attack is obviously much better than a normal attack.
DyloniusFunk 07-09-07, 12:49 AM	Thanks for the replies. Here is the list of manuvers i picked 1st: Crusdaer's Strike -Devo Leading The Attack-White 2nd: Foe Hammer-Devo Stone Vise-Stone 3rd:Bone Crusher:-Stone Revitalizing Strike-Devo 4th Divine Strike-Devo 5th Elder Mountain Hammer-Stone Radiant Charge-Devo Stances Tactics Of The Wolf-White Martial Spirit=Devo GIant's Stance-Stone So it looks like i gotta add a 4th level maneuver and get rid of one of my 5th level ones. I'll post my entire character later on i gotta get to bed now. But i will say that i came up with part of a back story. My character is a crusader of the church of Herionius who for some reason ( dream or vision i'm thinking) believes he must find the legendary man who united the NIne Swords which is in the beginning of the book. I figured since we're heading to Sigil, it would be a good palce to look for someone who has apparently disappeared from the face of the earth. My only problem is figurieng out how to make that goal coincide with being a Crusader of Heironius. Would Herionius give me a vision to lead me to this goal or am i being seduced by another power? From the fluff in the book the crusader arm of the churhc is fairly peaceful with the main church though some other churches are in conflict with thier crusader branches for various reasons.
Dherki 07-09-07, 08:21 AM	I would definitely try to get White Raven Tactics as one of my 3d level manouvers (actually, I would concentrate on Devoted Spirit and White Raven myself). Also, do you know what the rest of the group will be playing?
Toloran 07-09-07, 12:23 PM	Some quick advice to make your life easier: Crusaders are a bit different from the other ToB classes in that their maneuvers are randomly granted. Unfortunately a simple die roll doesn't always work so here is a good method of randomly deturmining which maneuvers you have: Write them all on index cards (their name along with a brief of how they work) and then shuffle them. When you need to find out which maneuvers you have available, just pull one out at random.
DyloniusFunk 07-11-07, 05:26 PM	:bump: Sorry to bump this but my game is tomorrow so if anyone has any more suggestions on how to play this character i would be grateful. I did redo my manuvers so i have 2 from levels 1-4 and 1 from level 5. I took White Raven Strike for my second level 4 and got rid of Radiant Charge at level 5. Everything else is the same as my previous list so i think thats a goodw ell rounded list of options. But what i really need to know is how do i play a crusader. I plan to play him as a bit stoic, not really a talker but a man of action. He's lawful good and is a follower of Heironius, but not a spellcaster. I like the idea of him adventuring to find Reshar, the uniter of the Nine Swords. I was thinking that he ahd a dream or a vision that divinations couldn't explain but that told him to search for this man and that to find him was my destiny. My trouble is how would that benefite the Crusader arm of the church of Heironius or Herironius himsel ffor that matter. I guess if i were a Warblade or Swordsage i could justify it but while it seems like a cool idea it dosen't seem like something that a crusader would do. But if anyone ahs ways i could make my backstory work with my character or ideas for other reasons for adventuring i would love to hear them. We're doing Expedition To The Demonweb Pits and it looks like we're heading to Sigil which would be a good place to start looking for someone who seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.
MagickHobo 07-11-07, 08:35 PM	Yeah, I'd agree that a Crusader would be the stoic, speak softly carry a big stick type, especially a religious one. In my opinion, besides their lack of off-field healing, they fit the whole paladin archetype (some say better than the actual paladin!) pretty well, so you could use that. The part of that archetype they fit best is the whole "to get to them (innocents/friends etc) you're gonna have to go through ME!" self-sacrificing protector guy. Maybe, when he's off the battlefield he can joke around a little, but in a fight he's all buisness, no silly puns or dancin' around type stuff. Also, you said you were gonna post your whole character... Oh, and: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hi7OxZDX768