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Tome of Battle: Book of 9 Swords - Things to watch out for?
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<blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 3677206" data-attributes="member: 13966"><p>Well, we don't know what multiclassing DM Jeff's fellow did, anyway.</p><p></p><p>[sblock=Ark's PC]My PC, Jornat Arusket, was a half-giant swordsage 5/psychic warrior 4. We got a high point buy for ability scores IIRC, 42 points.</p><p></p><p>His possessions were a belt of giant strength +4, periapt of wisdom +2, cloak of resistance +1, mithral shirt +1 of light fortification, large composite longbow +1 allowing 8 points of Strength bonus to damage, and a large keen greatsword +1 of ghost touch. Total ability scores were Str 26, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 18, and Cha 10, before temporary adjustments.</p><p></p><p>He had 99 hit points, and 17 power points (enough to do Expansion for Huge size twice per day at most; that would leave him with 3 power points, so he could manifest Force Screen and Biofeedback once each in addition to that (or just Force Screen twice), unaugmented, and still have 1 power point left to make use of psionic feats).</p><p></p><p>AC was normally 20 (10 base, +4 Wisdom as Swordsage, +1 Dexterity, +5 armor), could be boosted to 24 with Force Screen manifested (25 if augmented, but not worth the bother given FS's augment cost). AC would drop to 19 or 18 when Expanded (23 or 22 with FS and Expansion). Biofeedback would give him a few points of Damage Reduction, and Hustle would give him an extra move action sometimes when he really needed it. Saving throw totals were Fortitude +9, Reflex +7, and Will +10.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Maneuvers were (considering that he'd have taken his 3rd-5th swordsage levels after the psychic warrior levels, and got to swap a maneuver at 4th or whatever): Burning Blade, Wind Stride, Counter Charge, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Charging Minotaur ; Action Before Thought, Mountain Hammer ; Death Mark, Bonecrusher ; Ruby Nightmare Blade. Stances were: Flame's Blessing, Island of Blades ; - ; Roots of the Mountain. Swordsage features were Wis bonus to AC in light/no armor, Quick to Act (+2 Initiative), and Discipline Focus (Stone Dragon ; Weapon Focus with Stone Dragon weapons such as the greatsword, and insightful strike which I can't remember the effects of ; not the maneuver but the swordsage class feature). Jornat had 6 maneuvers readied at any given time, typically Burning Blade, Wind Stride, Counter Charge, Action Before Thought, Deathmark, and Ruby Nightmare Blade.</p><p></p><p>Feats were Adaptive Style, Psionic Weapon, Power Attack, Psionic Meditation, Practiced Manifester, and Greater Psionic Weapon. Main skills were Concentration at 12 ranks, total +15, and Tumble at 12 ranks, total +13, plus a handful of other skills at 1-6 ranks each. With the Flame's Blessing stance he'd have Fire Resistance 10 from his Tumble ranks.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Normally he could attack at +16/+11 with the large greatsword or +9/+4 with the large longbow, dealing 3d6+13 damage with the greatsword (threat range 17-20 from Keen) or 2d6+9 damage with the longbow. He also had a large spiked gauntlet as a backup weapon, unenhanced, just in case he got into any grapples. With GPW he could add +4d6 damage to one of the melee attacks, but couldn't regain psionic focus to do it again unless he avoided full-attacking next time.</p><p></p><p>If battle broke out, typically he'd manifest Force Screen and move forward, or wait a bit if the opposition looks strong, in order to spend another round manifesting Biofeedback. After the brief prepping, he'd move in closer and manifest Expansion, augmented to 7 power points for Huge size (with Powerful Build allowing him to use his weaponry enlarged to Gargantuan). Once close enough he'd change stances to Roots of the Mountain or Island of Blades, depending on opposition and whether or not he has any useful allies to follow him into melee. Stance change would come before the turn of his attack.</p><p></p><p>As soon as possible after ensuring his defenses weren't ineffectual, Jornat would strike once with Ruby Nightmare Blade, Burning Blade, Greater Psionic Weapon, and Power Attack for 2 points if possible (not wanting to screw up and miss by a hair), using the greatsword. A Concentration check at +15 against the opponent's AC has a fair chance of success at that level (not awlays, but usually), so his attack would deal double normal melee damage.</p><p></p><p>The attack would be made at +14, dealing 12d6+1d6+4d6+14+8+2+30 damage (reduced by 7 points if Burning Blade's static bonus is not actually multiplied on a crit or similar, since it's unclear). If the Concentration check failed, it'd be an attack at +12 to-hit and 6d6+1d6+4d6+7+4+1+15 damage. So an average of either 105 damage or 60 damage. Most likely going to force a Fortitude save against Massive Damage if he hits. If the foe is easy to hit, he could Power Attack for 6 points instead of 2, adding +12 damage (or +24 if the Concentration check succeeded for Ruby Nightmare Blade).</p><p></p><p></p><p>Follow-up would be a Concentration check to regain psionic focus, likely to succeed, as a move-equivalent action. Then on his next turn he'd strike with Death Mark, Greater Psionic Weapon, and 2 points of Power Attack, at 14 to-hit and 6d6+6d6+4+1+15 damage, so 56 damage on average, also likely to force a Fortitude save against Massive Damage. Follow through by another use of Psionic Meditation to prepare for the next attack. Third round would probably be use of Adaptive Style to ready maneuvers again, probably replacing Action Before Thought and Wind Stride and Counter Charge, with Bonecrusher, MOuntain Hammer, and Sapphire Nightmare Blade</p><p></p><p>Fourth round would see a repeat of the 1st round's offensive, and similarly the fifth round would be a repeat of the 2nd round's offensive. The sixth round would be a strike with Bonecrusher, Greater Psionic Weapon, and Power Attack, then the seventh round would be a strike with Mountain Hammer, Greater Psionic Weapon, and Power Attack. Eighth round would be a strike with Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Greater Psionic Weapon, and full Power Attack since the foe would be flat-footed against the Sapphire Nightmare Blade.</p><p></p><p>After that his Expansion would fade and he'd be normal-size again. Force Screen and Biofeedback would still be going strong, but if by some absurd chance the battle was still going, he'd have to either re-manifest the augmented Expansion, or just be more careful as he fights since he'd lost much of his brute force. Ready maneuvers again with Adaptive Style, and maybe try his Stomp psi-like ability, though its Reflex DC is only 11. Still, if used against mooks, it just might knock one or two off of their feet, making them easier prey when he attacks.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I chose most of Jornat's maneuvers for their broad tactical possibilities and a few just for raw power (Ruby Nightmare Blade and Bonecrusher; Death Mark is also good but only against foes lacking Fire Resistance/Immunity, and mainly for blasting a group of mooks. Jornat would have been a joy to play (and not just in tactics/power, I liked my background and personality for him too). Mainly he was going to be my experiment with 3.5 psionics and the Book of Nine Swords in actual play. Too bad the campaign got cancelled after the first (annoying and extremely rail-roaded) session. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown :(" data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> </p><p></p><p>Rambling over! <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" /> [/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Arkhandus, post: 3677206, member: 13966"] Well, we don't know what multiclassing DM Jeff's fellow did, anyway. [sblock=Ark's PC]My PC, Jornat Arusket, was a half-giant swordsage 5/psychic warrior 4. We got a high point buy for ability scores IIRC, 42 points. His possessions were a belt of giant strength +4, periapt of wisdom +2, cloak of resistance +1, mithral shirt +1 of light fortification, large composite longbow +1 allowing 8 points of Strength bonus to damage, and a large keen greatsword +1 of ghost touch. Total ability scores were Str 26, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 18, and Cha 10, before temporary adjustments. He had 99 hit points, and 17 power points (enough to do Expansion for Huge size twice per day at most; that would leave him with 3 power points, so he could manifest Force Screen and Biofeedback once each in addition to that (or just Force Screen twice), unaugmented, and still have 1 power point left to make use of psionic feats). AC was normally 20 (10 base, +4 Wisdom as Swordsage, +1 Dexterity, +5 armor), could be boosted to 24 with Force Screen manifested (25 if augmented, but not worth the bother given FS's augment cost). AC would drop to 19 or 18 when Expanded (23 or 22 with FS and Expansion). Biofeedback would give him a few points of Damage Reduction, and Hustle would give him an extra move action sometimes when he really needed it. Saving throw totals were Fortitude +9, Reflex +7, and Will +10. Maneuvers were (considering that he'd have taken his 3rd-5th swordsage levels after the psychic warrior levels, and got to swap a maneuver at 4th or whatever): Burning Blade, Wind Stride, Counter Charge, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Charging Minotaur ; Action Before Thought, Mountain Hammer ; Death Mark, Bonecrusher ; Ruby Nightmare Blade. Stances were: Flame's Blessing, Island of Blades ; - ; Roots of the Mountain. Swordsage features were Wis bonus to AC in light/no armor, Quick to Act (+2 Initiative), and Discipline Focus (Stone Dragon ; Weapon Focus with Stone Dragon weapons such as the greatsword, and insightful strike which I can't remember the effects of ; not the maneuver but the swordsage class feature). Jornat had 6 maneuvers readied at any given time, typically Burning Blade, Wind Stride, Counter Charge, Action Before Thought, Deathmark, and Ruby Nightmare Blade. Feats were Adaptive Style, Psionic Weapon, Power Attack, Psionic Meditation, Practiced Manifester, and Greater Psionic Weapon. Main skills were Concentration at 12 ranks, total +15, and Tumble at 12 ranks, total +13, plus a handful of other skills at 1-6 ranks each. With the Flame's Blessing stance he'd have Fire Resistance 10 from his Tumble ranks. Normally he could attack at +16/+11 with the large greatsword or +9/+4 with the large longbow, dealing 3d6+13 damage with the greatsword (threat range 17-20 from Keen) or 2d6+9 damage with the longbow. He also had a large spiked gauntlet as a backup weapon, unenhanced, just in case he got into any grapples. With GPW he could add +4d6 damage to one of the melee attacks, but couldn't regain psionic focus to do it again unless he avoided full-attacking next time. If battle broke out, typically he'd manifest Force Screen and move forward, or wait a bit if the opposition looks strong, in order to spend another round manifesting Biofeedback. After the brief prepping, he'd move in closer and manifest Expansion, augmented to 7 power points for Huge size (with Powerful Build allowing him to use his weaponry enlarged to Gargantuan). Once close enough he'd change stances to Roots of the Mountain or Island of Blades, depending on opposition and whether or not he has any useful allies to follow him into melee. Stance change would come before the turn of his attack. As soon as possible after ensuring his defenses weren't ineffectual, Jornat would strike once with Ruby Nightmare Blade, Burning Blade, Greater Psionic Weapon, and Power Attack for 2 points if possible (not wanting to screw up and miss by a hair), using the greatsword. A Concentration check at +15 against the opponent's AC has a fair chance of success at that level (not awlays, but usually), so his attack would deal double normal melee damage. The attack would be made at +14, dealing 12d6+1d6+4d6+14+8+2+30 damage (reduced by 7 points if Burning Blade's static bonus is not actually multiplied on a crit or similar, since it's unclear). If the Concentration check failed, it'd be an attack at +12 to-hit and 6d6+1d6+4d6+7+4+1+15 damage. So an average of either 105 damage or 60 damage. Most likely going to force a Fortitude save against Massive Damage if he hits. If the foe is easy to hit, he could Power Attack for 6 points instead of 2, adding +12 damage (or +24 if the Concentration check succeeded for Ruby Nightmare Blade). Follow-up would be a Concentration check to regain psionic focus, likely to succeed, as a move-equivalent action. Then on his next turn he'd strike with Death Mark, Greater Psionic Weapon, and 2 points of Power Attack, at 14 to-hit and 6d6+6d6+4+1+15 damage, so 56 damage on average, also likely to force a Fortitude save against Massive Damage. Follow through by another use of Psionic Meditation to prepare for the next attack. Third round would probably be use of Adaptive Style to ready maneuvers again, probably replacing Action Before Thought and Wind Stride and Counter Charge, with Bonecrusher, MOuntain Hammer, and Sapphire Nightmare Blade Fourth round would see a repeat of the 1st round's offensive, and similarly the fifth round would be a repeat of the 2nd round's offensive. The sixth round would be a strike with Bonecrusher, Greater Psionic Weapon, and Power Attack, then the seventh round would be a strike with Mountain Hammer, Greater Psionic Weapon, and Power Attack. Eighth round would be a strike with Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Greater Psionic Weapon, and full Power Attack since the foe would be flat-footed against the Sapphire Nightmare Blade. After that his Expansion would fade and he'd be normal-size again. Force Screen and Biofeedback would still be going strong, but if by some absurd chance the battle was still going, he'd have to either re-manifest the augmented Expansion, or just be more careful as he fights since he'd lost much of his brute force. Ready maneuvers again with Adaptive Style, and maybe try his Stomp psi-like ability, though its Reflex DC is only 11. Still, if used against mooks, it just might knock one or two off of their feet, making them easier prey when he attacks. I chose most of Jornat's maneuvers for their broad tactical possibilities and a few just for raw power (Ruby Nightmare Blade and Bonecrusher; Death Mark is also good but only against foes lacking Fire Resistance/Immunity, and mainly for blasting a group of mooks. Jornat would have been a joy to play (and not just in tactics/power, I liked my background and personality for him too). Mainly he was going to be my experiment with 3.5 psionics and the Book of Nine Swords in actual play. Too bad the campaign got cancelled after the first (annoying and extremely rail-roaded) session. :( Rambling over! :heh: [/sblock] [/QUOTE]
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