Maneuvers Known
Maneuvers Readied
Stances Known
a 20th lvl Warblade will be able to know 2 Manuvers 9th lvl(provided he meets the prereqs), but can only Ready 7 manuvers for use thruout the day, unless he has the feat: Adaptive Style(allows him to change "Readied" manuvers with a full round action)
as for 7th, 8th, 9th lvl ..."Stances" ..... some Disciplines dont have high level stances:
Desert Wind ... max 8th lvl Stance
Stances and Manuvers are Different
:D
Conversely, Swordsages gain 1 stance at 20.
Take the Martial Stance feat to get access, or multiclass out. There are only a small handful of stances of 7th and 8th levels.
McPoyo, I had not come to the 'martial stance' yet. I looked at the table that I was referred to before reading 'martial stance'. Now I understand.
Thanks a lot for the help and the time from both of you.
If you have any suggestions for a swordsage or warblade, let me know. I am 'rolling one up' in about a week.
If you have any suggestions for a swordsage or warblade, let me know. I am 'rolling one up' in about a week.
What sort of character do you want? Asking for a "swordsage or warblade" is a bit broad.
I am thinking swordsage and maybe start levelne as a fighter or warblade for some additional feats and hit points. The swordsage is pretty stat oriented and does not get great armor.
I'll take any suggestions.
Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately, Island In Time is the 20th level capstone, so how about being satisfied with the ignore DR option?
WB 4/SS4/WB+3/Eternal Blade 2/X 2/Mo9 5?
That being said, Time Stands Still + Island In Time are an attractive combo, so, say, Warblade 7/Crusader 3/Eternal Blade 10 should be solid, and leave all your feats free, too. Very little X to Y potential, but a katana is a medium weapon anyway.
That being said, I thought about 1-level of WB to cover all the martial manuevers.
Bear with me because I am new to 3.5 and that is what we are playing. You really like the 'eternal blade' for two levels? I do not know what Mo9 is. Break that down for me. Where is the 'eternal blade' from.
How about human and fighter at level-1. So, the build would be fghtr 1/wb 1/ss 7(?)?
In what case would you use a swordsage as the primary build and the weapon of choice?
Ditto for Eternal Blade - which is _the_ most Diamond Mind-ish Prestige Class.
There's a trick to martial adept levels: four levels of anything means the first level you pick on an adept class can pick second level maneuvers, so X 4/Swordsage is a very common start. Those X could even be four separate classes.
Eternal Blade 2 nets you ability to pick a target from battlefield and completely ignore their damage reduction. This is... rather a big deal. It even works vs. epic monsters.
Swordsages don't get access to Iron Heart, which contains a whole lot of striking goodies. A katana Swordsage would instead focus on Diamond Mind + Stone Dragon disciplines.
Swordsage is by far my favourite, but I lean towards Tiger Claw / Shadow Hand builds.
Do note that Warblade has D12 hit dice (better than fighter), and also gets some bonus feats. That being said, a single Fighter level nets you heavy armor, all shields and ranged weapons.
Warblades are INT focused, while Swordsages are WIS focused. Swordsages get WIS to AC while in light armor or unarmored, Warblades get INT to reflex saves, critical confirmation and strike damage.
Thus, Swashbuckler 3 is amazing for Warblades. SWS3/Warblade7 is a solid Eternal Blade entry.
Any number of Warblade levels is good, Except four. Seven is a nice, relatively late cut-off point. Three is very nice, also. So, say, Fighter 1/Warblade 3/Swordsage is a solid start.
Swordsage suffers from medium BAB, meaning unless you're using fractional BAB, you pretty much want levels in sets of four, unless you're filling in with full - BAB classes. Good cut-off points are 2, 6, 7-10. Beyond that, you probably should go Swordsage 20, for Dual Boost is a powerful ability, only eclipsed by the Ruby Knight Vindicator.
Fighter 1/Warblade 3/Swordsage 10/X 2/Master of Nine 5 is quite solid, if feat-intensive. You might consider Monk 2 for the X, unless you're an Unarmed Swordsage Variant. (loses AC bonus in armor, gains improved unarmed strike.)
Actually, something like Fighter 1/Warblade 3 / Swordsage 8/Eternal Blade 2/Monk 2/Fighter 1/Master of Nine 5 should work.
Gets evasion, DR-piercing, fighter levels help in qualifying for Master of Nine, Wis to AC, Int to Ref saves, Wis to strike damage on focus disciplines.
I was wanting a push towards the swordsage, but seeing both builds is nice.
What weapon and style would you take with for the SS and WB?
Using a SS as the primary class to beat your WB build, how would you do it?
Assuming you want to use a single weapon, rather than two, go Warblade. It gets access to Iron Heart and Diamond Mind, both extremely strong disciplines, especially when two handing a weapon. Pick up Power Attack and Emerald Razor (Diamond Mind level 2) and you have a pretty good build.
Swordsage is better for TWF, with access to Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand, which isn't as strong as Iron Heart, but is still really good. Shadow Hand also contains all the "movement" stances, most notably teleports. I'm playing a Swordsage currently, and Shadow Hand is truely amazing.
The most annoying thing about Master of 9 is the five feats required. I reccomend Fighter 2/Monk 2/Warblade 11/Master of 9. Just make sure you get all the requirements and Martial Study (Any nonwarblade school.)
As a tangent, what is the CO boards opinion of Stance Mastery? I personally love it, If only because of a rather epic Giants Stance + Dancing Blade Form combo that i ended up pulling off. I always thought it would be way too good on a Swordsage.
What two weapons are you using for your swordsage and does the off hand weapon deal much damage?
From what you wrote, you think that the different martial powers are not close to equal?
The martial schools aren't perfectly equal in power. I find that Stone Dragon is really weak, other than a few select maneuvers which ignore DR. (the Vise line is also good, and the capstone is amazing.) White Raven is good in theory, but in my games, with a max. party size of... 6, 3 being spellcasters and 1 being a rogue, it just isn't worth it. Tiger Claw focuses on TWF, and is lackluster without it. Shadow Hand is one of my favourite schools, so i'm a little bias, but i find it really good. It also contains Teleports, like i noted already, and stances which increase mobility. Setting Sun has some crazy movement of other people, and there is a build kicking around which uses its capstone, Tornado Throw, to throw things miles. It is one of my favourite styles as well. Iron Heart is really really good, it has some of the best maneuvers, although its capstone isn't one of them. Diamond Mind is my favourite school, and Time stands still is just amazing. Devoted Spirit i don't really have enough experience with to judge, as i've played a single crusader from levels 1 to 4. Desert Wind is a nice school in theory, like white raven, until you realize that fire damage is vastly overrated.
I thought wb with a large falchion with 2d6 damage. The one iron stance gives an extra 1d6. Not to bad. Throw in some type of flat foot or sneak strike and it could be really bad.
I have a two weapon fighter. I was thinking longsword and hand axe or morning star and short sword or hand axe.
What and how did you build your crusader?
The EB or Mo9 has to be an elf. I cannot remember which one. That makes me not want to take 1-2 levels of fighter for the feats and hit points.