-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Good feats for lvl 5 crusader?
- Thread starter Sitara
- Start date
brehobit
Explorer
Personally, at first level I went with the feat that gives you an extra prepared maneuver and the one that lets you heal when you recover maneuvers. And Weapon focus at third level.Sitara said:
The healing isn't clearly worth it, but in a limited healing game (druid as the healer) it's darn handy. And +1 to hit is just useful when everything depends on hitting.
Stone power is also good for some builds and should be looked at carefully.
Mark
Arkhandus
First Post
Extra Granted Maneuver, Weapon Focus, and Power Attack or Stone Power.
If you're going for a two-handed weapon, take Power Attack instead of Stone Power, and be a rampaging death machine. If you're going for a shield and a one-handed weapon, take Stone Power to play up your raw toughness to further levels of insanity and be a nigh-unstoppable juggernaught.
Another set of good choices is Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain), Combat Expertise, and Improved Trip. If you want to be cheesy, then a Crusader can be ever so very cheesy with a spiked chain. But in that case, your 6th-level feat ought to be Combat Reflexes, and you better have a good Dexterity (14+ is preferable with CR). It'll probably do you more good than Extra Smite.
Vital Recovery can also be very useful at low to middle levels (and it's at least some small use at upper levels, unlike the Toughness feat). With Extra Granted Maneuver, you'll probably be recovering maneuvers at the end of your 3rd turn in each battle, so you'll get a nice jolt of free healing at that point in most battles (the ones that last more than 3 rounds, anyway). You might substitute this for Stone Power if you're going for the sword-and-shield or hammer-and-shield approach, at least until 6th or 9th level, but at either of those points you should pick up Stone Power anyway.
For a slightly different defensive approach, you might go for Devoted Bulwark, White Raven Defense, and either Martial Study (for another maneuver known of 1st or 2nd level, like Burning Blade, Steel Wind, or Shadow Blade Technique) or Martial Stance (for another stance known of 1st-level, like Iron Guard's Glare or Leading the Charge; you should already know Martial Spirit and either LtC or Bolstering Voice). Then you could qualify for the Faith Unswerving tactical feat upon reaching 6th-level.
If you have Player's Handbook II, then Shield Specialization and Shield Ward could be handy for defense, alongside Stone Power, Power Attack, Extra Granted Maneuver, or Devoted Bulwark.
If you're going for a two-handed weapon, take Power Attack instead of Stone Power, and be a rampaging death machine. If you're going for a shield and a one-handed weapon, take Stone Power to play up your raw toughness to further levels of insanity and be a nigh-unstoppable juggernaught.
Another set of good choices is Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain), Combat Expertise, and Improved Trip. If you want to be cheesy, then a Crusader can be ever so very cheesy with a spiked chain. But in that case, your 6th-level feat ought to be Combat Reflexes, and you better have a good Dexterity (14+ is preferable with CR). It'll probably do you more good than Extra Smite.
Vital Recovery can also be very useful at low to middle levels (and it's at least some small use at upper levels, unlike the Toughness feat). With Extra Granted Maneuver, you'll probably be recovering maneuvers at the end of your 3rd turn in each battle, so you'll get a nice jolt of free healing at that point in most battles (the ones that last more than 3 rounds, anyway). You might substitute this for Stone Power if you're going for the sword-and-shield or hammer-and-shield approach, at least until 6th or 9th level, but at either of those points you should pick up Stone Power anyway.
For a slightly different defensive approach, you might go for Devoted Bulwark, White Raven Defense, and either Martial Study (for another maneuver known of 1st or 2nd level, like Burning Blade, Steel Wind, or Shadow Blade Technique) or Martial Stance (for another stance known of 1st-level, like Iron Guard's Glare or Leading the Charge; you should already know Martial Spirit and either LtC or Bolstering Voice). Then you could qualify for the Faith Unswerving tactical feat upon reaching 6th-level.
If you have Player's Handbook II, then Shield Specialization and Shield Ward could be handy for defense, alongside Stone Power, Power Attack, Extra Granted Maneuver, or Devoted Bulwark.
Nifft
Penguin Herder
Extra Granted Maneuver and Stone Power. These are the Crusader's bedrock.
Another one I like is White Raven Defense (going towards Clarion Commander). Weapon Focus is fine, but not as good for you as it would be for a Warblade. Crusader is one of the very few martial classes who can do just fine without Power Attack, so I say don't bother with it.
Blade Meditation is decent.
I really like sword-and-board Crusaders, since they're one of the few classes who can perform without using two-handed Power Attack, so that's the route I'd take. As has been mentioned, the PHB-II feats which enhance shield efficacy would help.
Cheers, -- N
Another one I like is White Raven Defense (going towards Clarion Commander). Weapon Focus is fine, but not as good for you as it would be for a Warblade. Crusader is one of the very few martial classes who can do just fine without Power Attack, so I say don't bother with it.
Blade Meditation is decent.
I really like sword-and-board Crusaders, since they're one of the few classes who can perform without using two-handed Power Attack, so that's the route I'd take. As has been mentioned, the PHB-II feats which enhance shield efficacy would help.
Cheers, -- N
Thanks a lot for the help guys. Very helpful tips here. However a few more q's:
Wouldn't the Lucky racial feat from FRCS (+1 to AC, AND +1 to all saves) be even better than devoted bulwark?
Stone Power only seems to work with either attack normally OR with using stone dragon maneuvers; since I will usually be using devoted spirit maneuvers it may not be helping me much.
Does the cleve feat work with maneuvers? I mean, if you use a maneuver successfully against a foe, and kill him, and then use the cleve feat to immediately attack another foe beside the first, do you gain the affects of the maneuver again?
Wouldn't the Lucky racial feat from FRCS (+1 to AC, AND +1 to all saves) be even better than devoted bulwark?
Stone Power only seems to work with either attack normally OR with using stone dragon maneuvers; since I will usually be using devoted spirit maneuvers it may not be helping me much.
Does the cleve feat work with maneuvers? I mean, if you use a maneuver successfully against a foe, and kill him, and then use the cleve feat to immediately attack another foe beside the first, do you gain the affects of the maneuver again?
Arkhandus
First Post
There is no Lucky feat in the FRCS. Maybe it's something in the Player's Guide to Faerun, but I dunno. Anyway, Forgotten Realms material is often overpowered compared to most other material.
There is a Luck of Heroes regional feat in the FRCS, which gives +1 on saving throws, but your character has to originate from one of the few designated regions in order to take it.
Devoted Bulwark is a prerequisite for Faith Unswerving, and Faith Unswerving can be pretty useful to some Crusaders.
Stone Power will be helpful because you won't always have a Devoted Spirit granted and ready all the time; and besides, there are several good Stone Dragon maneuvers at low levels. Stone Bones, Charging Minotaur, Mountain Hammer, Bonecrusher, at least. Remember that as a Crusader, your maneuvers granted at any given moment will be randomly chosen from among your ready maneuvers; at 5th-level you might have enough Devoted Spirit maneuvers, but some will be inferior or just not useful at any given moment. But you can ALWAYS make use of the extra damage from Mountain Hammer or Bonecrusher or their higher-level cousins, and Damage Reduction from Stone Bones and its cousins is useful too.
On any round when you don't have Revitalizing Strike or Crusader's Strike granted, you can make great use of the Stone Dragon strikes. Foehammer is inferior to Mountain Hammer, too (MH is good for demolishing objects, FH is not).
Cleave may or may not work in combination with Strikes, it isn't clear. Power Attack works with them, but Cleave might be excluded by one of the lines in the Blade Magic chapter. But that line is vague, so who knows? However, the Sage mentioned once that he is inclined to interpret Cleave as not working with Strikes. Accept or ignore that as you will, the rules themselves are not quite clear on it.
But if Cleave does work with Strikes, it wouldn't duplicate the Strike's effect, just give you a separate, normal attack against a different foe. That at least seems to fit directly within the wording and intent of the rules in Tome of Battle.
There is a Luck of Heroes regional feat in the FRCS, which gives +1 on saving throws, but your character has to originate from one of the few designated regions in order to take it.
Devoted Bulwark is a prerequisite for Faith Unswerving, and Faith Unswerving can be pretty useful to some Crusaders.
Stone Power will be helpful because you won't always have a Devoted Spirit granted and ready all the time; and besides, there are several good Stone Dragon maneuvers at low levels. Stone Bones, Charging Minotaur, Mountain Hammer, Bonecrusher, at least. Remember that as a Crusader, your maneuvers granted at any given moment will be randomly chosen from among your ready maneuvers; at 5th-level you might have enough Devoted Spirit maneuvers, but some will be inferior or just not useful at any given moment. But you can ALWAYS make use of the extra damage from Mountain Hammer or Bonecrusher or their higher-level cousins, and Damage Reduction from Stone Bones and its cousins is useful too.
On any round when you don't have Revitalizing Strike or Crusader's Strike granted, you can make great use of the Stone Dragon strikes. Foehammer is inferior to Mountain Hammer, too (MH is good for demolishing objects, FH is not).
Cleave may or may not work in combination with Strikes, it isn't clear. Power Attack works with them, but Cleave might be excluded by one of the lines in the Blade Magic chapter. But that line is vague, so who knows? However, the Sage mentioned once that he is inclined to interpret Cleave as not working with Strikes. Accept or ignore that as you will, the rules themselves are not quite clear on it.
But if Cleave does work with Strikes, it wouldn't duplicate the Strike's effect, just give you a separate, normal attack against a different foe. That at least seems to fit directly within the wording and intent of the rules in Tome of Battle.
Ok another thing:
Is it just me or is burning blade much better than searing blade, because searing blade only does 1d6 more damage AND costs a standard action, while burning balde costs s wift action which means it can be used as a full attack (multiple strikes)? Or was searing blade errata'd to a swift action?
Is it just me or is burning blade much better than searing blade, because searing blade only does 1d6 more damage AND costs a standard action, while burning balde costs s wift action which means it can be used as a full attack (multiple strikes)? Or was searing blade errata'd to a swift action?
Nifft
Penguin Herder
Stone Power is there for when you use your few Stone Dragon maneuvers, which have some gems (as has been mentioned). But mostly it's there so you can negate attrition damage.Sitara said:
"Oh, your archers dealt me 10 points of damage? That gives me a +2 to damage, a -3 to attack, and I get the 10 hit points back! MOUNTAIN HAMMER!"
Cheers, -- N
