[Bo9S] Notes on swordsage in play

[Hypersmurf]

We found a huge force-vat containing a hideous soup of body parts and stuff. I mean, the dishes in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom had nothing on this baby.

How about the one in Conan the Barbarian?

"So, this is Paradise..."

-Hyp.

 

[hong]

Worse than that, even. I mean, this monster was Huge! That's about the size of a beer glass.

 

[hong]

And what the heck, here's the character backstory.

Padma Illindra [redux]


“Oh no, not again”

A willowy, wandering swordswoman from Gandharva in Faerun’s east, Padma Illindra has popped up repeatedly in the selectors’ lists over the last 7 years despite a tendency to go missing in action at critical moments. A stylish fighter with a flashing blade and a remarkable ability to reinvent herself, she gives the impression of always being on the threshold of greatness without quite breaking through. Some have compared her to Damien Martyn; but others reject such comparisons, pointing out firstly that every character is unique, and secondly that Martyn, as far as can be told, doesn’t have breasts.

In her first outing at the top level, in company with a motley group of adventurers she helped destroy a cult of elemental evil in Cormyr. Consistent failure to smite, however, saw her dropped for the latter half of the campaign. She then toured the Silver Marches and Anauroch, where despite playing second fiddle to the kobold Deekin she put an end to the machinations of the lich Heurodis. In the process she fell through a portal to the plane of shadows but managed to escape, emerging in the city of Waterdeep. There, she was a key player in the campaign against the archdevil Mephistopheles; her achievements in this time memorably included breaking the 150 (points of damage on one hit) barrier, and an unbeaten stand of 86 (kills in one fight) with Valen Shadowbreath at the gates of Lith My’athar. Chafing at arbitrary restrictions placed on her, however (chiefly the requirement to tell her party members every 10 minutes to for gods sake stop running halfway across the map), she moved to Neverwinter where conflict with a resurgent King of Shadows was brewing. She led her side to a series victory, but again at the moment of triumph she was sucked through a planar gate, this time to the world of Oerth.

Now located in the Free City of Greyhawk, Illindra’s first foreign transfer has placed a number of new challenges in her path as she seeks to restart her career. For starters, all her Toril-specific abilities, including 1) her trackless step; 2) her +2 bonus to saving throws against spells and spell-like effects with the words “rock”, “stone”, or “wood” in the name of the effect, shugenja spells of the earth element, and wu jen spells connected to earth or wood; 3) her +2 racial bonus to Wilderness Lore and +4 racial bonus to Hide skill checks when in woods or forest; and 4) her ability to speak with animals once per day, no longer function. The last is particularly aggravating, and stories have surfaced in the media that she continues to try to speak with animals, most recently just before the shock one-day loss to Bangladesh. Illindra herself firmly rejects such allegations, claiming merely to have been drunk at the time. In addition, all her languages (with the exception of “Common” and Spirit Tongue, which is called “Old Suloise” in Oerth or something equally silly) have been rendered useless. Thankfully, in this line of work one tends to do most of one’s talking with a sword or a fireball, something at which Illindra can claim much experience.

— Smiteinfo staff, 595 CY

 

[jasin]

Of course, I didn't really want to save each round against a disintegrate effect, so I figured this was as good a time as any to unleash the big smite. The blade of my sword crackles with an eldritch blue glow as I activate true strike, and I wind up and Power Attack for max, dealing 196 points and exploding the horrible flesh-thing into a shower of Kyuss worms and gore.

I must say I am impressed. How do you get 196? True strike + Power Attack + diamond nightmare blade + insightful strike? (I just noticed that both a maneuver and a swordsage special ability are called exactly the same... I'm thinking about the swordsage special.) Or is there something else?

 

[hong]

I must say I am impressed.

Coming from the person who built Nialle and Lianne, that's high praise! The 196 was before gaining a warblade level. Insightful strike (the swordsage ability) helps, yes.

bastard sword 2-handed + Str 22 + Wis 22 + sword +5 + Blade Meditation (Diamond Mind) = +21 damage
-12/+24 Power Attack = +45
diamond nightmare blade x4 = +180

Add true strike and Acrobatic Strike to get +39 attack, 4d10+180 damage. Even without true strike that's still +19 attack, which is enough for low-AC melee brutes.

 

[glass]

Yes I do actually. Have you gone through any long or drawn out battles where you have run out of maneuvers yet? I really want a round by round account of that battle with the 800+ hit point and >50AC creature!

As someone who is DMing* AoW for a group which includes a Swordsage, I would also very much like to read that when the time comes.


glass.

(* Although my party is only in the second adventure and currently on hiatus anyway, os there's no rush).

 

[green slime]

I agree with mr glass.

 

[jasin]

Coming from the person who built Nialle and Lianne, that's high praise!

You remeber their names!

But honestly, the latest Padma seems more twinked out to me.

Lianne could do +9d6+99 iaijutsu damage, but that was once per fight. Padma has diamond nightmare blade for ~200, greater insightful strike for another ~100, and a whole bunch of other lesser strikes... or she can just go ethereal for a round and come out with DNB ready again.

Granted, my girls were better in straight up melee with their Cha-boosted attack bonuses...

The 196 was before gaining a warblade level. Insightful strike (the swordsage ability) helps, yes.

BTW, how come you took punishing stance? No higher level Iron Heart stances you found interesting?

BTW2, I made a warblade for Savage Tide (Keca's been all sorts of busy, so AoW has been on hold for the last three weeks). He started as pure Iron Heart, with the inevitable exception of moment of perfect mind, but now I'm trying to decide on the direction I'll be taking him.

White Raven can make a great pirate captain, but there's another player doing the flamboyant swashbuckler thing, and I'm already playing the diplomat in AoW, so this time I went with a typical D&D fighter personality, complete with Cha 8. Not that that makes WR maneuvers any less effective, but it just doesn't fit very well.

Tiger Claw only has a couple of maneuvers I like, but those I really like, and there's an organization in the city called the Church of Whirling Fury which is a bunch of evil-hating barbarians and clerics, so TC could create an interesting angle there.

And then there's Diamond Mind, which is overall one of my favorites (along with IH), but I'm not sure if I want to play that sort of monkishness in a pirate game. OTOH, the church of Wee Jas is strong in the city, and I've taken a liking for them already, so I might end up as the only law-leaning member of the party...

OK, I'm done with the hijack. We can get back to talking about Padma now.

 

[hong]

You remeber their names!

Well, it took a bit of work, but I got there in the end.

But honestly, the latest Padma seems more twinked out to me.

Lianne could do +9d6+99 iaijutsu damage, but that was once per fight. Padma has diamond nightmare blade for ~200, greater insightful strike for another ~100, and a whole bunch of other lesser strikes... or she can just go ethereal for a round and come out with DNB ready again.

Granted, my girls were better in straight up melee with their Cha-boosted attack bonuses...

Heh. I was actually thinking that, more by accident than design, I've managed to create a decent iaijutsu duelist. +18 init, 200 damage is enough to one-shot 5 of 6 PCs in the party, including herself.

(goes searching for Li's statblock...)

Padma against Lianne would probably still go Lianne's way, though. 10 levels of iaijutsu master gets you Strike With No Thought, which means you always go first (and, incidentally, makes you immune to flat-footedness). So Lianne makes 2 attacks using One Strike Two Cuts, which is 2x wpn damage +18d6+198... I'm not 100% sure if you get Iai Focus dice with both attacks, but that's my guess.

At this point Padma is most likely dead, but if not we roll init, which Lianne probably wins with +21 against +18. So she can finish the job with another 2 hits from 1S2C, or just a full attack. If Padma manages to get a shot in, her best bet is to go invisible with cloak of deception, since even with true strike, AC 51 is not trivial to hit if you want to Power Attack as well. DNB also requires a Concentration check with DC = AC, and that's not a good bet either.

Mind you, Lianne is a purposely twinked build and first-strike-kill is what she's designed for, so it shouldn't be surprising that she comes out ahead. It would be rather embarrassing (for both of us) if it was otherwise.

BTW, how come you took punishing stance? No higher level Iron Heart stances you found interesting?

It actually says that a 1st level warblade can only take a 1st level stance. It's the same for crusaders and swordsages. Yeah, a bit weird, but I'm not that fussed. It's really Iron Heart Surge + Iron Heart Focus + uncanny dodge that I'm after.

BTW2, I made a warblade for Savage Tide (Keca's been all sorts of busy, so AoW has been on hold for the last three weeks). He started as pure Iron Heart, with the inevitable exception of moment of perfect mind, but now I'm trying to decide on the direction I'll be taking him.

White Raven can make a great pirate captain, but there's another player doing the flamboyant swashbuckler thing, and I'm already playing the diplomat in AoW, so this time I went with a typical D&D fighter personality, complete with Cha 8. Not that that makes WR maneuvers any less effective, but it just doesn't fit very well.

Tiger Claw only has a couple of maneuvers I like, but those I really like, and there's an organization in the city called the Church of Whirling Fury which is a bunch of evil-hating barbarians and clerics, so TC could create an interesting angle there.

And then there's Diamond Mind, which is overall one of my favorites (along with IH), but I'm not sure if I want to play that sort of monkishness in a pirate game. OTOH, the church of Wee Jas is strong in the city, and I've taken a liking for them already, so I might end up as the only law-leaning member of the party...

Have you seen Enter the Dragon (the Bruce Lee movie)? The main villain in that has his own island, a bit like a pirate warlord. He's icy-cool most of the time, but explodes into a murderous fury when he gets angry. You could play a Diamond Mind guy like that: your general air of calmness just puts your episodes of violence into sharp relief.

 

[jasin]

Heh. I was actually thinking that, more by accident than design, I've managed to create a decent iaijutsu duelist. +18 init, 200 damage is enough to one-shot 5 of 6 PCs in the party, including herself.

Yes! That's one of the things I liked about the XPsiHB, actually, how the bonus damage and touch attack psionic feats (Psionic Weapon and... something with a fancier name) let you create a swordsman who uses concentration to strike deadly blows (which is a pretty good description of an iaijutsu duelist, at least a fictional OA one).

And diamond mind is like that, only better. And swordsages even get an initiative bonus!

Mind you, Lianne is a purposely twinked build and first-strike-kill is what she's designed for, so it shouldn't be surprising that she comes out ahead. It would be rather embarrassing (for both of us) if it was otherwise.

OK, yes, when both sides have the 200 hp in one hit thing down, initiative is the next most important number, an an iaijutsu master is hard to beat there.

But you're sure as hell trying! How'd you get +18 init? +6 Dex, +4 Imporoved Initiative, +4 quick to act... what am I missing?

Edit: OK, found the +4 from the spirit-possessed sword.

Have you seen Enter the Dragon (the Bruce Lee movie)? The main villain in that has his own island, a bit like a pirate warlord. He's icy-cool most of the time, but explodes into a murderous fury when he gets angry. You could play a Diamond Mind guy like that: your general air of calmness just puts your episodes of violence into sharp relief.

That could work, since I've been trying to play my Iron Heart guy like that.