Goliath Warblade suggestions

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

ranger557

Oct 26, 2010 17:57:59
Hey all, I was thinking of going a Goliath Warblade and then enter into bloodstorm blade. What do you guys think are good builds for this? Also we are using a houserule for 3 skill points for a feat. Thanks for any suggestions. Oh all books are allowed.

here are my stats:
str: 18 + 4 = 22
dex: 15 - 2 = 13
con: 18 + 2 = 20
int: 17
wis: 13
cha: 13
#2

mervin_magnus

Oct 26, 2010 21:00:19
I'd capitalize on that houserule, 3 skill points for a feat is almost stealing

I made a bloodstorm blade build (though I took some pointers from a previous one)

Master Thrower is a really good choice

After that it depends if you want more attacks, or more damage

For attacks:
Chaos Monk/Regular Monk (Flailing Strike/Flurry) - Need Shou Disciple lvls to make this work
(monk I recommend the least because it takes the most investment, which could be put to use elsewhere)
Whirling Frenzy Barbarian
Maho-Bujin (OA) (makes BAB give more attacks)
Rapid-Shot is a good choice

As for weapons the best choices are the boomerang and the cresent knife (I like boomerang myself)
If you're going with the weapons i suggested above, Exotic Weapon Master and Exoticist Fighter Variant aren't bad choices

For damage I'd just check power attack and melle damage optimization builds and see how they do it (sry my bloodstorm build is for lots of attacks, so this area im not too familiar with) 
#3

Maat_Mons

Oct 26, 2010 22:37:57

3 skill points buys a feat? A feat buys 5 skill points. I smell an infinite loop.


Brutal throw (Complete Adventurer) lets you use strength to hit with thrown weapons. Power throw (Complete Adventurer) lets you use power attack with ranged weapons. These are redundant with bloodstorm blade abilities, buy why wait for 7th level when you can spend 6 skill points to be effective from the start?

#4

ranger557

Oct 27, 2010 13:06:23

3 skill points buys a feat? A feat buys 5 skill points. I smell an infinite loop.


Brutal throw (Complete Adventurer) lets you use strength to hit with thrown weapons. Power throw (Complete Adventurer) lets you use power attack with ranged weapons. These are redundant with bloodstorm blade abilities, buy why wait for 7th level when you can spend 6 skill points to be effective from the start?


Yeah, it would be an infinite loop lol, but our DM doesnt allow us to do that lol. Yeah I was thinking about getting Brutal throw and Power throw, but figured not to because they come in with the abilities of the Bloodstorm blade class. However, i might get them anyway, I was also looking at the "Marking of" feats that goliaths can get and they look pretty good to buy lol. One thing got me thinking was that in the Bloodstorm blade class, you get the Throw Anything feat, but it doesnt say if you need to meet the prereqs or not and i only have a 13 dex  Surprised. I was thinking of using a large goliath greathammer or the minotaur greathammer Laughing lol.
#5

lormador

Oct 27, 2010 21:31:31
What about a level of swordsage? You could trade those skill points for feats. Is there any way to do that more than once per level?

Feat Rogue might be cool too. Trading 6 of the skill points for 2 feats means you could get a fighter feat and 2 other feats at the cost of a single level.

Maybe work out a charging build in the early levels, a feat-heavy, high-damage melee thinggie. Bloodstorm Blade will give you all the ranged options necessary all by itself.

You know, things like Whirling Rage Lion Totem Barbarian for pounce and an extra attack. Leap Attack. Battle Jump. Of course Power Attack. With this skill point for feat thing, you might even be able to swing the Lightning Mace trick.
#6

ranger557

Oct 28, 2010 18:37:49
What about a level of swordsage? You could trade those skill points for feats. Is there any way to do that more than once per level?

Feat Rogue might be cool too. Trading 6 of the skill points for 2 feats means you could get a fighter feat and 2 other feats at the cost of a single level.

Maybe work out a charging build in the early levels, a feat-heavy, high-damage melee thinggie. Bloodstorm Blade will give you all the ranged options necessary all by itself.

You know, things like Whirling Rage Lion Totem Barbarian for pounce and an extra attack. Leap Attack. Battle Jump. Of course Power Attack. With this skill point for feat thing, you might even be able to swing the Lightning Mace trick.

Yeah, swordsage would be an interesting class to start with but has no access to ironheart maneuvers Frown lol. Why rogue?...im not going for sneak attack or anything and we already have a whisper gnome rogue in our group. Also I was thinking of going heavy melee because im not going ranged until like lvl 6 when i enter the bloodstorm blade, something like warblade5/bb1 and so forth. I was wondering how would fling ally work with the bloodstorm blade's abilities? Could I fling my gnome friend ally into battle and he returns back to me lol?
#7

lormador

Oct 28, 2010 22:07:11
My point was that a level of Rogue means lots of feats. If you've got 12 Intelligence, you can score 3 feats with a single level. 2 levels of Rogue and that's 6 feats, plus Evasion, and if you chose Feat Rogue, you get 2 Fighter feats on top of that.

So if you did an entry like:
Whirling Rage Barbarian 1
Feat Rogue 1
Feat Rogue 2

by 3rd level you could already have Pounce, an extra attack with Rage, and the feats:
Extra Rage, Power Attack, Battle Jump, Leap Attack, Leap of the Heavens, Cleave, Improved Initiative, Intimidating Rage, Instantaneous Rage, and Imperious Command.

4th level is Warblade and from there into Bloodstorm Blade.
#8

ranger557

Oct 30, 2010 12:13:52
My point was that a level of Rogue means lots of feats. If you've got 12 Intelligence, you can score 3 feats with a single level. 2 levels of Rogue and that's 6 feats, plus Evasion, and if you chose Feat Rogue, you get 2 Fighter feats on top of that.

So if you did an entry like:
Whirling Rage Barbarian 1
Feat Rogue 1
Feat Rogue 2

by 3rd level you could already have Pounce, an extra attack with Rage, and the feats:
Extra Rage, Power Attack, Battle Jump, Leap Attack, Leap of the Heavens, Cleave, Improved Initiative, Intimidating Rage, Instantaneous Rage, and Imperious Command.

4th level is Warblade and from there into Bloodstorm Blade.

yeah true, levels in rogue would bag me more feats and that variant, but im not going that approach because i would have to explain to the dm why he started as a barbarian to rogue to martial artist warblade, lol. Wait....maybe not lol, but either way yeah I would definitely get the following feats: Power attack, improved bull rush, shock trooper, leap attack, and knockback. However, Im going ranged too, so Im going to get point blank shot, far shot, precise shot, fling ally, rock hurling, and fling enemy.
#9

j-boy85

Oct 30, 2010 12:18:51
Might be better to specialise in melee rather than ranged, bag a scroll of Fly and let the wizard hang onto it and that makes up for lack of ranged, plus your speed lets you close with just about anything. What about a level in Crusader? Seen it used with Polearms, and with a Goliath you're whacking for some serious damage and you become the ultimate soaker. And to fling enemies level 1 manouver in Setting Sun lets you throw a guy 10 feet with a touch attack, single feat could give you access if you don't want to take Swordsage but way cheaper than all the Fling enemy pre-reqs
#10

Balthanon

Nov 02, 2010 1:27:09
One thing got me thinking was that in the Bloodstorm blade class, you get the Throw Anything feat, but it doesnt say if you need to meet the prereqs or not and i only have a 13 dex  . I was thinking of using a large goliath greathammer or the minotaur greathammer lol.



Nah, you want a harpoon. Why crit for double damage when you can get it every time you throw your weapon and pull it back instantly (ripping it out of your opponents body)? ;)

For Throw Anything, typically if you are directly granted a bonus feat you don't need the prerequisites.  If you select it from a list, you do.  (So you're good in this case.  Not that the feat is really worth using much-- the range is horrible.  It's mostly for emergencies.)

One other note on this-- while I would recommend initiator levels for the character, with as many feats as you want it can be any of them from the book.  Martial Study and Martial Stance will let you pick up the iron heart maneuvers you need.
#11

Wyvernhand

Nov 02, 2010 2:34:22
You have POWERFUL BUILD!  Use it.  Take Power Attack, Improved Bullrush, and Knockback (Races of Stone).  Build with Barbarian1-2/Fighter2/Warblade1-2/BSB4/X.

Take the Dungeoncrasher ACF from Dungeonscape.  Consider Extra Rage so you can hulk out more than once a day.  Spend the rest on BSB stuff.  You won't really need Precise Shot, especially once you get into BSB, since your ranged attacks will be considered melee attacks and thus not suffer from "firing into melee" rules.  With Knockback, you can fling people into walls from halfway across the room, which is crazy fun.
#12

aelryinth

Nov 02, 2010 21:53:56
Warning!  If you are granted a BOnus Feat, you must meet the pre-reqs unless it says you do NOT have to.  See the Fighter...tons of bonus feats, never says he gets them free, has to meet the reqs.  The default rule is that you must meet the reqs for feats, and Bonus feats do not change that.

==Aelryinth
#13

ranger557

Nov 21, 2010 22:44:02
Might be better to specialise in melee rather than ranged, bag a scroll of Fly and let the wizard hang onto it and that makes up for lack of ranged, plus your speed lets you close with just about anything. What about a level in Crusader? Seen it used with Polearms, and with a Goliath you're whacking for some serious damage and you become the ultimate soaker. And to fling enemies level 1 manouver in Setting Sun lets you throw a guy 10 feet with a touch attack, single feat could give you access if you don't want to take Swordsage but way cheaper than all the Fling enemy pre-reqs

very true, thats what im going for, melee of course, but i was thinking of getting some ranged feats to help out with the bloodstorm blade class. I don't want to go crusader because I've been playing that class for the past 12 levels in my other campaign and this character is going to meet up with the crusader. In essence, the dm is going to merge the two campaigns later, so Im going to be playing a crusader for a long while and i still don't know what to do with him....i thought he was going to be lvl 5 and we were going to drop the adventure, but nope we kept going and i'm still trying to figure his build and concept. Oh he's a warforged crusader Laughing.  Anyway, I tangent off lol........the warblade is what i want to play and build with the bloodstorm blade in the process and he's a goliath so i thought it would be cool for him to pick up people and throw them! Lol for flavor of course. Also the prereqs for fling ally or enemy is just rock hurling lol, besides the str and powerful build and I got that already Tongue out.
#14

ranger557

Nov 21, 2010 22:53:10
One thing got me thinking was that in the Bloodstorm blade class, you get the Throw Anything feat, but it doesnt say if you need to meet the prereqs or not and i only have a 13 dex  . I was thinking of using a large goliath greathammer or the minotaur greathammer lol.



Nah, you want a harpoon. Why crit for double damage when you can get it every time you throw your weapon and pull it back instantly (ripping it out of your opponents body)? ;)

For Throw Anything, typically if you are directly granted a bonus feat you don't need the prerequisites.  If you select it from a list, you do.  (So you're good in this case.  Not that the feat is really worth using much-- the range is horrible.  It's mostly for emergencies.)

One other note on this-- while I would recommend initiator levels for the character, with as many feats as you want it can be any of them from the book.  Martial Study and Martial Stance will let you pick up the iron heart maneuvers you need.

well i was thinking about the Minotaur greathammer for damage and crit range. I do know of the harpoon and it sounds cool, but my friend and I thought the dm wouldnt allow it because of the crazy retardness of it pulling out from the "returning" ability. Even though its meant to stay lodge in the target unless the target pulls it out and not you or "magic" lmao. So it sound too good to be true and we know our dm would nerf us in some way, so im sticking with the greathammer lol. Also we are still dicussing about the bonus feat conondrum lol. We will see what happens when we cross that bridge, but i don't have to worry about it until level 4 lol. Oh my dex is now 14 and my cha is 10 lol i rerolled lmao.
#15

ranger557

Nov 21, 2010 22:57:14
You have POWERFUL BUILD!  Use it.  Take Power Attack, Improved Bullrush, and Knockback (Races of Stone).  Build with Barbarian1-2/Fighter2/Warblade1-2/BSB4/X.

Take the Dungeoncrasher ACF from Dungeonscape.  Consider Extra Rage so you can hulk out more than once a day.  Spend the rest on BSB stuff.  You won't really need Precise Shot, especially once you get into BSB, since your ranged attacks will be considered melee attacks and thus not suffer from "firing into melee" rules.  With Knockback, you can fling people into walls from halfway across the room, which is crazy fun.

Fighters sounds awesome, but don't know why i love warblade now! Lmao but I will still be taking those feats Laughing.  Barbarian doesnt fit my character's concept and training he went into lol, but in a optimize way it does look delicious lol. Of course this is a forum of optimization lol and definitely consider a point to take that level in the future, sooner or later. Thanks
#16

ranger557

Nov 21, 2010 23:00:27
Warning!  If you are granted a BOnus Feat, you must meet the pre-reqs unless it says you do NOT have to.  See the Fighter...tons of bonus feats, never says he gets them free, has to meet the reqs.  The default rule is that you must meet the reqs for feats, and Bonus feats do not change that.

==Aelryinth

I see, hmm......now that makes sense. If thats the case that i will need to boost my dex before i get into the awesomeness that BSB offers. Hopefully we will see what the dm will offer as a houserule, that i don't have to meet the prereq Tongue out lol. In any case, I wish they had said that more clearly for the PrC description lol. Thanks