[Bo9S] Notes on swordsage in play

[Nifft]

Reading this is a delight. I've bought the book.

I just intend to use it for bad guys.

I highly recommend the Swordsage or Warblade for bad guys. The Crusader is excellent, but a lot of work in play... maybe it needs a specialized electronic tool to manage?

Since you are smart and on top of stuff, you might also consider Hong's spiffy ToB-inspired bad guy classes. I'm sure he'll provide a link with very little provocation.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Piratecat]

Goodness, that would be useful.

 

[blargney the second]

I highly recommend the Swordsage or Warblade for bad guys. The Crusader is excellent, but a lot of work in play... maybe it needs a specialized electronic tool to manage?

That matches my experience. The swordsage & warblade mostly have abilities that you can precalculate and not have to worry about while running them. The crusader's refresh mechanism and delayed damage pool require more attention.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Reading this is a delight. I've bought the book.

I just intend to use it for bad guys.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Thanks for the informative play experience with the class. Threads like this are really enjoyable and helpful.

Bought the book a few weeks ago and I really like it. It'll have to find its way into my games whenever I get playing again.

 

[hong]

Goodness, that would be useful.

See link in sig.

Oops, no sig! Sig attached.

-------
"Yes, I said Awesome Blow. Go ahead, hong - you know you wanna sig it...." -- S
Hong's D&D page | Hong's Iron Heroes page

 

[hong]

That has been my experience as well. I'd say that it's true that clerics and druids have the potential to be (among the) most powerful, but it's how you use the potential that counts. And that doesn't just mean character design twinkery; tactics in play are at least just as important.

I've been in a game with a single-class ranger with just a couple of non-PHB feats and a psion straight off the WotC minmaxing boards (full plated psion/illithid slayer polymorphing into a hydra with a feat to gain a Su ability), and it was the ranger that was considered the powerhouse of the group, while the psion somehow consistently managed to enter his uber combat mode exactly the round before the fight is over.

That reminds me of the ubertwinked cleric in the RttToH campaign, who was also the character who died the most. If he got his full buff suite up, he could be awesome, but this almost never happened and his unbuffed strength was puny by comparison. The player has an eldritch knight in this campaign (absent for a few sessions) and he's still the one who's died the most.

Who is that?

Martin. He's probably the one who's most likely to think in terms of "winning the game", ie foiling the DM's dastardly plans, surviving to fight another day, etc. The powergaming he does is directed towards this end, as opposed to being an end in itself: eg he got shadowdancer levels for hide in plain sight, uncanny dodge and evasion, and his ninja character in RttToEE/RttToH had the same abilities. One of the first spells he cast in the Dragotha fight was superior invisibility (Spell Compendium), so that Draggie wouldn't be able to target him.

 

[Nail]

One of the first spells he cast in the Dragotha fight was superior invisibility (Spell Compendium), so that Draggie wouldn't be able to target him.

Now there's a cool spell......

 

[jasin]

Is it? "So invisible you can't be seen even by things that see invisible" reminded me a bit of d02's "killz yous even if you cant be kilt".

Still, by the time we go up against Dragotha, I'll probably have it myself. I'm not proud.

 

[Nail]

Is it? "So invisible you can't be seen even by things that see invisible" reminded me a bit of d02's "killz yous even if you cant be kilt".

Still, by the time we go up against Dragotha, I'll probably have it myself. I'm not proud.

In one of the final fights in the last campaign, I had the BBEG use it at the beginning of the fight (along with Time Stop, obviously). It worked very well....and kept the high-level combat going. Usually high level combats are too short for my liking.

 

[hong]

I hate greater invis with all of my body including my pee-pee, so I feel much the same way about the superior version. Still, I might allow it by making it target: personal. It'll make wizards that much more annoying, but then going up against a wiz without spellcaster support is foolish.

Oddly I don't have so much of a problem with the ninja ability to go invisible. I guess it's because it's an integral part of their schtick, and I love my ninjae.


Hong "yes, with my pee-pee as well" Ooi