Warblade 20||LA 4/??? 6/Eternal Blade 10
As for the ???, I am trying to decide between varying levels of Crusader, Swordsage, and possibly 2 levels of Fighter or Bloodclaw Master. For feats at 8th level, I was thinking Ironheart Aura, Stormguard Warrior, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush.
If you are planning on going all the way to 20th, then make good use of that double stance ability. If Revanent Blade isn't your thing, then two well-timed levels of Swordsage to pick up Assassins Stance or some levels of Crusader to get Thicket of Blades and Martial Spirit would be good additions.
Heck, if on the other side you went LA 4/Swordage 1/Crusader 1/Fighter 2/Swordsage +1/Crusader +1/Eternal Blade 10, you'd be able to pick up all the above listed stances, and use the fighter feats to get more maneuvers, if you desired. (Or other combat feats, whatever).
I think Mineral Warrior could be added with a few other lesser templates to give you much better than celestial at +4, but it would be decent with Celestial too - just drop 1 level of Fighter. Draconic paired with Mineral Warrior would be pretty good. Net +4 natural armor, +4 Str, +6 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, gain a claw attack, all for a mere +2 LA.
In the end, I'd probably go with a Crusader dealio because I hear they are tanks. Phrenic template is good. Be prepared for one-trick ponies if your DM is an optimizer as well, I guess.
With the Revenant Blade class feature that KSB mentioned, I could imagine some wicked build combinations. Leap Attack, Intelligent Tanking, ???
+4 STR, -2 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Int, +2 wis, Pounce, Rake, Rend, Natural Weapons, Natural Armor of an amount I don't remember, etc
Mineral Warrior, LA +1
Str +2, Con +4, Int –2 (min 1), Wis –2, Cha –2, Burrow Speed equal half your land speed, dr 8/adamintine
Half Minotaur, LA +1
+8 Str -2 Dex +4 Con +2 NA -1 AC and Attack from going Medium Size to Large
Str +4 Con +2 Int –2 Wis +2 +2 NA, Track, Scent, and a Gore Attack
Total
Str +12, -2 Dex, +4 Con, -2 int, +2 Wis, +4 NA, -1 AC and Attack Track, Scent, and a Gore Attack
Still have 1 LA left
Total Str +18, Dex -4, Con +10, Int -8, Wis +2, Cha -2
plus all those nice abilities.
Complete Adventurer
Complete Scoundrel
Complete Warrior
Draconomicon
Dungeon Masters Guide I & II
Dungeonscape
Eberron Campaign Setting
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Magic of Incarnum
Monster Manuals I
Planar Handbook
Players Handbook I & II
Tome of Battle
The battles are all 1v1, so I was thinking a lockdown/crackdown build.
Completely random thought, and feel free to completely ignore it... but if you could get everyone in your group to play Legion Devils (+5 LA, 3 HD, Fiendish Codex II), and you (or someone in your party) was primarily a Crusader... your party would be really hard to defeat through Hitpoint damage.
AFB, but polymorph+otherworldly might be better.
The first time I tried Master of Nine, but of course I can put those four feats and five levels to better uses elsewhere.
To use it well, you need to pick a focus first and then figure out what you want from your LA levels. Strength? Dex? Speed? Size? Some trick?
The ruleset, with unrestricted 3rd level spells and gestalt, is the perfect gish playground. Think about a splash of a spellcaster.
Alright, I've got an idea: Barbarian/Frenzied Bezerker||Warblade/Eternal Blade. With that, I can get LA/HD of up to +9 on the Barbarian side, unless the race/template gains the use of Rage, in that case +10.
Do you want to stick exclusively with books that you own personally (i.e. MM1) or do mind referring to the monster manuals and supplements available to the group as a whole if we gave you a decent race?
Also, is it actually +4 LA or is it +4 ECL (LA + HD)? Because if you're going with a warrior, I would actually recommend going Large with big stat boosts and picking up something like Minotaur. (Though there are better Large creatures you could use.) If there is any chance of ever getting into a group battle, you're going to want something to bolster your will saves as well if you take Frenzied Berserker.
I highly recommend Crusader on one side, as it has by far the best recovery mechanic.
I highly recommend Crusader on one side, as it has by far the best recovery mechanic.
"Best" is a relative term-- if you want consistency, then warblade is superior to crusader. A swift action and a full attack for one round out of five or six (or even two or three) isn't going to significantly reduce his damage output.
For race, you might want to consider half-dragon-- half-shadow (Draconomicon) gives you a breath weapon that drains a negative level. Unfortunately, without Races of the Dragon that is only once per day, but it still provides you with +8 Str, wings if you're large, 3 natural weapons (which could be bumped up higher again with Races of the Dragon), and a number of other natural stat bonuses and attributes.
An interesting combination out of the books you have available might actually be a half-dragon dolgaunt, out of the Eberron Campaign Setting. That picks up 360 foot blindsight, 2 tentacles (10 foot reach, Con drain), 2 claws, 1 bite, Improved Trip, +12 Str, +6 Dex, +4 Con, +4 Int, +4 Wis, +2 Cha, +7 natural armor, breath weapon (1 negative level), immunity to energy drain, and damage reduction for an ECL 8. While you're not Large, you do still have reach and 5 natural attacks before Rapid Strike to use with something like Time Stands Still.
If you want to go a little bit more standard, Thri-kreen would also do nicely when it comes to stacking numerous attacks (albeit through Multiweapon Fighting instead of natural attacks). Half-Giant Half-Dragon would get you powerful build and the standard half-dragon abilities while minimizing your level adjustment. However, if you want brute strength, you probably aren't going to beat a half-dragon ogre, which picks up actual Large size, reach, and +18 Str at ECL 9. Straight troll probably wouldn't be bad if you're willing to give up a couple of levels of Frenzied Berserker either.
All of these do give up Eternal Blade (since you're not an elf), however, the dual stance ability of Warblades at 20 is very nice on its own and Warblade has more than adequate special abilities throughout.
If I go with the dolgaunt, I could always grab a level or two of PsyWar for Expansion, to increase my size. That dolgaunt build sounds pretty cool though. I'll check it out.
That would work-- you even have an extra level to play with on the frenzied berserker side. Dolgaunt Dragon 8/Psychic Warrior 1/Barbarian 1/Frenzied Berserker 10 // Warblade 20 would work rather well all told.
Even one level is going to be useful given the minute per level duration of Expansion and if you want extra time, Practiced Manifester would help with that.