Help feat out a Swordsage

[Angerland]

I'm in a bit of a rut. We started our Ebberon campaign last week and I am playing an elven Swordsage (level1) Thing is I am not sure what angle I want to take this character. I would like to keep multiclassing toa minimum if possible. I don't know if I want to go the TWF route maybe leading in to Blood claw master at level 6 or 7, or if I want to go a more mobility/stealthy oriented route. My role in the party is mainly the scouty light fighting warrior type..or at least that is what I envision after on session. My manuvers are mainly from Shadowhand and Tiger Claw, with some cherry picking from Diamond mind, setting sun and desert wind. I took shadowblade for my 1st feat ( I will pick up the feat that allows maneuver change for full round action later), and am looking towards Weapon finesse at 3.

My stats are:
Str13
Dex19 (from 17; +2 for elf)
Con11 (from 13;-2 for Elf)
Int12
Wis15
Cha11
There is still wiggle room for the stats, meaning I can rearrange them a bit but it will have to be before thursday night when we play again.

I guess I need to know if the dodge, combat expertise, mobility, spring attack route would be better for me than TWF. Also what about taking some levels of Swashbuckler or Dervish (when I qualify). Any thoughts would be great. All Wotc books are open for use.

My other party members are
Warforged Dusk blade
Shifter Warblade
Changleing Rogue/soon to be wizard
Human Monk/sorceror going towards enlightened fist I believe.

 

[hong]

Spring Attack is bad, since it doesn't work with strikes. Get Acrobatic Strike from PHB2, which gives you +4 to attack if you use Tumble to avoid an AoO.

 

[Nightfall]

Anger,

Consider going Ninja/Swordsage/Ninja of the Setting Sun Pr-class. Look closely at Setting Sun and Shadow Hand schools/manuveurs. This way you can be bad ass fighter in close quarters but still favor sneak attacking/fighting

 

[Angerland]

I had thought of mixing in levels of Rogue or ninja before but have been at a loss. Since I am the skillful memeber of the party I wasn't sure which of the two would be better. Flavor wise I like the ninja, but even scout could be viable. Next I wouldn't know how many levels to dip into.

I am not a fan of the Shadow Sun ninja PrC.

 

[Particle_Man]

Adaptive Style (this one is almost mandatory for a Swordsage),
Extra Readied Maneuver (Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!)

At high levels (15, 18), throw in some extra stances as feats. Unless you multi-class, that is the only way for a swordsage to get the 8th level stances before level 20. And they are pretty decent!

Some phb II goodness: Dive for Cover, Combat Acrobat (synergy between these two feats), Acrobatic Strike (something to do with your move action).

 

[Seeten]

Couple of levels of monk gives you Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, another bonus feat, nice unarmed strike damage, and unarmed strike is the favored weapon of almost all the disciplines, including shadow hand, setting sun, and tiger claw.

 

[brehobit]

Pure swordsage is the way to go, at least until level 9. On feats....

If your DM allows adaptive style to refresh all manouvers (which I think is very broken) I'd suggest that.

Blade mastery (or whatever it's called) is great. +1 damage strikes from one school +2 to the related skill, and +1 DC is way cool for some schools (desert wind in particular)

Extra readied maneuver is nice for a swordsage if adaptive style has been nerfed.

Improved Init is always nice. Unlike a traditional fighter who doesn't really mind going last (baddy closes, gets one attack, fighter takes full attack) the swordsage likes to go first as he probably won't be taking full attacks. And death mark (which is very powerful from levels 5-9) is best if you go before your allies.

Boosting your tumble is very important early on. Your fighting will often consist of attack then tumble away (to prevent anything from getting a full attack on you). Skill focus is a bit overkill, but tempting at lower levels. (Blade mastery is really nice this way if you take it in something that has tumble as a skill).

Getting one or of the devoted spirit maneuvers might be worthwhile. And the 6th level "good" stance _rocks_ if you have a multi-weapon full-BAB type in the party.

As far as multi-classing goes, I'd say barbarian (with extra rage) and scout make the most sense. Oddly, warblade is pretty sweet once you get to be 9th level or so. Crusader less so, but still nice.

Mark

 

[Mort]

Don't have my books with me at work, but with such a high Dex you definately want the feat that allows you to add your Dex to damage when in a shadowhand stance and using a shadowhand weapon.

And yes, if you use the official interpretation (refreshes all manuevers) adaptive style is a must.

 

[pawsplay]

One level in Scout, the rest in Swordsage. That gets you skills, plus +1d6 skirmish when you move, which you can combine with Acrobatic Strike.

 

[Angerland]

because of the relatively high skill points I get I planned on keeping Tumble, Hide, and jump maxed out and concentration and sense motive nearly so as these are the skills related to the styles I am using.

I guess where I need the focus part is what feats to take as the skirmishing fighter in the group. The move up and hit or hti and move away type. The get in/get out or get the wizard hiding in the back type?
I already have the shadow blade feat which allows me to add my dex to damage when I hit.

A friend of mine also just picked up complete scoundrel and I am really interested in some of the mobility skill tricks.