Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 karmme Apr 04, 2009 19:24:57	Race: Goliath (LA buy off) Class: Warblade 9 or Warblade 8/Crusader 1 Stats: 32 point buy Str 20, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 8 I would like to achieve this combination EWP [Spiked Chain] (F) + Stormguard Warrior (F) + Thicket of Blades (DS3, S) + Rolimbar's Gambit (F) or Karmic Strike (F) + Defensive Rebuke (DS3, M) + Burning Brand (DW2, M) + Power Attack (F) + Sweeping Strike (CA): Use Defensive Rebuke + Thicket of Blades + Rolimbar's Gambit the first round to gain a bunch of AoOs; sack the AoOs that you gain (don't take them) and trade out attacks for touch attacks. The next round use burning brand increasing reach to 15' feat and make good use of sweeping strike. Power attack with impuny. Laugh maniacally as your flaming chain slices through all your enemies within 15' of you. Now, how to go about doing this. Stormguard requires BAB+6, 2 ironheart maneuvers and ironheart proficiency weapon Thicket of Blades requires 1 devoted spirit maneuver. Martial Study or 1 level of crusader. Robilar's Gambit requires Combat Reflexes. Defensive Rebuke requires one devoted spirit maneuver. Taken care of by Thicket of Blades+prereqs. Burning Brand - no prereqs. Power Attack requires str 13 Sweeping Strike - Psionics are banned for non Gith/mindflayers so I think this part of the combo is out. There's a warblade 20 build that accomplishes this by 20th level, but it would be cool to be able to get this combo working before then. I chose goliath so that I could use a large sized spiked chain for greater reach. I realize this is a bit of a stub. I hope to flesh out the build and have more soon, but any advice is welcome. Edit: I suppose I'm going to have to have a higher dex in order to take advantage of max AoOs. Wow, Crusader sucks, randomly determined maneuvers? I guess Martial Study really is the way to go. Does increasing the size of a reach weapon increase the distance you can reach with it? Does a large spiked chain reach to 20 ft?
#2 Wyvernhand Apr 04, 2009 20:17:36	Does increasing the size of a reach weapon increase the distance you can reach with it? Does a large spiked chain reach to 20 ft? Not unless your base size increases as well. So...a medium sized goliath with a large sized spiked chain has 10' reach, the same as a medium sized human with a medium sized spiked chain. A large sized goliath (via Mountain Rage Alt Class Feature) with a large (or huge)spiked chain would have 20' reach, the same as a large sized human with a large sized spiked chain would. Do note that Goliaths are not Humans, but rather Humanoids. This is an important distinction when your friendly wizard want to cast Enlarge Person on you. Also note that Robilar's Gambit requires a +12 BAB or higher. Thus, there is no way to aquire it with your current 10 level maximum. You can plan for it though. Karmic Strike (CWarrior) is very similar, but requires 2 terribad feats to take (Dodge and Combat Expertese). I'd suggest splashing 2 levels of Fighter either at levels 2 and 3. This will help you pick up a couple more feats since you are gonna be very hungry for them. Also, take flaws if you can, since you'll need them. Murky Eyed would be ideal, since you'll be primarily melee. Probably Vulnerable as your other one given that your AC is gonna be terrible anyway...
#3 karmme Apr 04, 2009 20:58:37	Definately sound advice except that I forgot to mention A) Fighter is banned B) I'm taking Vulnerable to make up for the lack of human feats C) Probably going to be a lot of ranged combat involved in the campaign since it's a spelljammer campaign. I actually think I'm going to just go ahead and steal this build. I don't understand why every build seems to include Ironheart aura. It seems very situational and I'm not going to take it. Do you think that I should go for a race that can actually be large? The only LA+1 races that I know of are half-ogre and half-minotaur. Those are both from dragon and I'd have to ask DM approval. 20 foot reach would perhaps make murky eyed a valid option since that's almost like ranged fighting.
#4 sofawall Apr 05, 2009 21:59:10	Oh my gosh I forgot about flaws for my beguiler! Thanks Karmme! Anyway, for LA+1 half-minotaur is nice, and for flaws vulnerable (ac is useless) and either shaky (-2 ranged rolls) or inattentive (-4 listen/spot). Murky-eyed is roll concealment miss chance twice, take the worst of the two. Not a nice flaw at high levels. Iron Heart Aura is the one that boosts ally's saves by two when you're in Iron Heart, right? I don't think it's that good. Also, are you going AoOs or trips? Because with AoOs, stand still, sidestep, karmic strike etc. are all awesome, but take up feats. With trip, though, you trip guys :D Although I suppose you could combine them, but at ecl 10, it doesn't work so well.
#5 dr_rocktopus Apr 06, 2009 7:25:45	I'd gently ask that you not roll half-minotaur because f***** ******* **** dragon magazine.
#6 reis Apr 06, 2009 8:21:27	I had a similar idea that was based a bit more on crowd control than "zomg" damage, but you might be able to pull some ideas from it for you build nonetheless. You can read it here here one must have for a character like this is a way to increase your (actual) size to large or huge and thus your reach, burning brand does this but with a spiked chain build you want as much reach as you can get.
#7 dr_rocktopus Apr 06, 2009 8:56:40	Fiend Graft: Long Arm, fiend folio?
#8 bitznarf Apr 06, 2009 9:57:06	Err. those other ones, Greatreach bracers I think they are called.
#9 Caylin Apr 06, 2009 10:18:01	Ironheart aura is required for stormguard warrior so you really do need it even though the feat sucks. 1 lvl of crusader won´t let you grab thicket of blades as your 1st stance with a class has to be a 1st lvl one. So warblade 6 and crusader 2 is the fastest you can achieve it. Also read the tome of battle guide; lots of useful info there.
#10 reis Apr 06, 2009 10:18:11	also deformity: tall from heroes of horror