help with warblade

[parinho7]

i am about to play a human warblade level 3 in a new campaign and i want help with the feat i should choose. i am planning my character up to level 20 so i'll have a total of 12 feats. i am taking improved bull rush, power attack, leap attack, shock trooper, combat reflexes and robilar's gambit.

opinions on this feat selection?
what about the other 6?

i was thinking combat expertise->improved trip but i have to spend an ability point to raise my int score. is it worth it? (my abilities are: str 17, dex 14, con, 15, int 12, wis 9, cha 12)

also, is Jotunbrud a good choise?

 

[Rhun]

Personally, I like the Martial Study feats to give my Warblades more stances.

 

[Empirate]

Jotunbrud can be a good choice if you're going for combat maneuvers (not in the ToB sense), like Tripping etc.

I think Improved Trip is a very strong feat until about level 10 or so. After that, most things will be too winged, multilegged, strong, and/or big to have much of a chance to trip. Even then, humanoid opponents are nice targets for tripping attempts. Seeing as how you start at level 3, tripping is a good option.

I'd consider weapon choice when considering feats. EWP: Spiked Chain would be an obvious and solid choice.


Are your stats rolled? If not, maybe put points from Cha into Int. Warblades profit from good Int much more than from good Cha.


BTW: Martial Study doesn't exactly give you more stances...

 

[akbearfoot]

If you are allowed to take Robilars Gambit, see if the DM will allow you to take Karmic Strike. If the answer is yes, then you take it, along with Stormguard Warrior and combat reflexes. If you have a reach weapon its even better.


Sorta depends on what you want to do too though. Leap attack and I think shock trooper are charge-based, aren't they? That makes them generally not good for a warblade, since you can't combine strikes with a charge(except for I think 2 white raven maneuvers, which cause charges)

Charisma = a dump stat. Stat priorities for warblade should probably be Strength>Int>Dex>Con

You get maneuvers that can cover most weaknesses, but you'll pretty much always suck at ranged combat. Moment of Perfect Mind, White Raven Tactics, and Iron Heart Surge are fantastic, the latter 2 are overpowered and deserve rational editing by the DM.

Iron heart, White Raven, diamond mind are great to focus on for warblades. Stone dragon is decent at mid level, but later on you spend a lot of time flying around, which means no stone dragon strikes.


I'm playing a martial adept that just hit 20th level in a Age of Wyrms campaign we've been playing for about 2 years. He's kinda an organic mashup as I changed his progression plan like 8 times, lol. Ended up a Warblade11/Swordsage2/Djinni Bloodline2/MasterofNine5. He has 14 maneuvers readied, and knows 7 stances. He's more a mobile glass-cannon type with hard hitting and tactic-controlling single attack strikes, and a LOT of counters.

 

[Malachei]

Karmic Strike requires Combat Expertise by RAW -- I think Combat Reflexes would be a much better prerequisite, and therefore have houseruled the feat. Maybe you can convince your DM to do so, as well.

It has been debated whether Karmic Strike and Robilar's actually stack. If your DM says no, I would go for one of them only, but if retraining is allowed, you should take Karmic Strike and later swap for Robilar's Gambit.

Being both a charger and an AoO / Lock-Down build at the same time is pretty feat-intensive. If you ever run out of feats, you may think about taking one level of fighter, which will slow down your martial progression, but not your initiator level (as it is your martial adept level, plus PrC, plus other classes / 2, but a minimum of one).

If you're looking for a AoO / Lock-Down build, I'd suggest to take Stand Still (XPH, but right in the SRD), and possibly Defensive Sweep.

Also, if you haven't done so already, it may help to have a look at the various handbooks (warblade, crusader and tome of battle in general).