Warblade and Swordsage: Overpowered?

[Nail]

Heh, heh.

There are reasons I don't allow Psionics IMC......

 

[Slaved]

Pretty nice build Fedifensor, I like it. Why katana though? Rapier would allow you to use a shield and get you a pretty nice critical range to play with.

Also, do stances count as manuevers? If not then you cannot have battle leaders charge or press the advantage.

Otherwise it looks like a lot of fun. I would like to have it in my group.

 

[Fedifensor]

Pretty nice build Fedifensor, I like it. Why katana though? Rapier would allow you to use a shield and get you a pretty nice critical range to play with.

Rapier doesn't give you that two-handed weapon boost with Power Attack, which is really handy if you're going against a person's Touch AC. And a katana is more thematic to kalashtar, in my opinion.

Also, do stances count as manuevers? If not then you cannot have battle leaders charge or press the advantage.

Per page 44 of the ToB: "Stances are considered maneuvers for the purpose of meeting a prerequisite to learn a new maneuver." Good thing, too. It would be really hard to make a diverse warblade build without that rule. Also note that I "traded up" as I built the character level by level to 10th, swapping out maneuvers (not stances) at 4th, 6th, and 8th level.

Otherwise it looks like a lot of fun. I would like to have it in my group.

I've been working on the background. Given the kalashtar focus on mental talents (see Races of Eberron for a good discussion of this), the character is likely to be either an orphan or a rebel among his people. He has a few psionic feats, but he's less reliant on the power of his mind than a psionic warrior. However, the Diamond Mind technique begs to be invented by a kalashtar, and it could spur the development of a new method to fight the physical manifestations of the Dreaming Dark. I need to come up with some catchphrases derived from zen quotes, though ("No matter how hard the wind blows, the mountain cannot bow to it").

Future advancement for the character would include Adaptive Style (to refresh Moment of Perfect Mind quicker and adapt to a changing battlefield) and a 2-level dip into Warmind (to get a few psionic powers like Force Shield). However, as I don't expect the campaign to go past 15th level, I'm not going to worry about planning things out too far.

 

[NilesB]

Rapier doesn't give you that two-handed weapon boost with Power Attack, which is really handy if you're going against a person's Touch AC.

It can.

 

[Slaved]

Rapier doesn't give you that two-handed weapon boost with Power Attack, which is really handy if you're going against a person's Touch AC. And a katana is more thematic to kalashtar, in my opinion.

Good point! I had forgotten about power attack.

Per page 44 of the ToB: "Stances are considered maneuvers for the purpose of meeting a prerequisite to learn a new maneuver." Good thing, too. It would be really hard to make a diverse warblade build without that rule. Also note that I "traded up" as I built the character level by level to 10th, swapping out maneuvers (not stances) at 4th, 6th, and 8th level.

Wow! I am learning all sorts of things about this book, that is great. I definately like that they work as prerequisites, that does indeed make it easier to have diverse choices.

I did count out the abilities to make sure they were properly done as well and it looks good to me.

I've been working on the background. Given the kalashtar focus on mental talents (see Races of Eberron for a good discussion of this), the character is likely to be either an orphan or a rebel among his people. He has a few psionic feats, but he's less reliant on the power of his mind than a psionic warrior. However, the Diamond Mind technique begs to be invented by a kalashtar, and it could spur the development of a new method to fight the physical manifestations of the Dreaming Dark. I need to come up with some catchphrases derived from zen quotes, though ("No matter how hard the wind blows, the mountain cannot bow to it").

Future advancement for the character would include Adaptive Style (to refresh Moment of Perfect Mind quicker and adapt to a changing battlefield) and a 2-level dip into Warmind (to get a few psionic powers like Force Shield). However, as I don't expect the campaign to go past 15th level, I'm not going to worry about planning things out too far.

Makes sense. 2 Levels of war mind would be pretty funny as well, although using power points and a round for force sheild sounds like a poor option. Expansion however could be right up there with a good choice, except that it does not combo very well with mithril tornado, at least not nearly as well as it combos with whirlwind attack.

When you get the money adding the psionic weapon ability called parrying to your weapon might be a good idea as well. Mostly to help with your AC. Oh, I guess it does not work well with the war mind though.

Thinking of power points though it looks like you can only use your deep crystal weapon 4 times a day right now. You have to have at least 1 point remaining to be able to regain focus. It probably won't be a big deal, but be careful with that!

And something I just thought of, a character can expend their focus to take 15 on a concentration check. You are likely to be making it a touch attack instead but it is an option if you need consistant damage for the manuever more than a greater chance to hit. You might want to look into getting a psicrystal when you pick up the war mind levels. With another feat it can hold an extra focus for you, just in case.

 

[Fedifensor]

Makes sense. 2 Levels of war mind would be pretty funny as well, although using power points and a round for force sheild sounds like a poor option. Expansion however could be right up there with a good choice, except that it does not combo very well with mithril tornado, at least not nearly as well as it combos with whirlwind attack.

Expansion isn't very useful until I can get the manifester level high enough to get minutes/level. As for Force Shield - +4 shield AC (with an additional +2 insight AC from chain of defensive posture) is worth the 2-level dip and a standard action at the start of a tough combat. Especially if I have a bit of warning before the combat starts.

When you get the money adding the psionic weapon ability called parrying to your weapon might be a good idea as well. Mostly to help with your AC. Oh, I guess it does not work well with the war mind though.

I was actually thinking of the Martial Discipline (Diamond Mind) property, to boost my attack roll. Drop into a Diamond Mind stance or use a Diamond Mind maneuver, and I'd get +3 to the attack roll. Right now, the best defense is a good offense...and I do have a lot of hit points.

Thinking of power points though it looks like you can only use your deep crystal weapon 4 times a day right now. You have to have at least 1 point remaining to be able to regain focus. It probably won't be a big deal, but be careful with that!

Already taken that into account. I mainly plan to use the deep crystal when I need to hit hard and fast. I won't need it in any round when I use Insightful Strike, since the damage won't stack.

And something I just thought of, a character can expend their focus to take 15 on a concentration check. You are likely to be making it a touch attack instead but it is an option if you need consistant damage for the manuever more than a greater chance to hit. You might want to look into getting a psicrystal when you pick up the war mind levels. With another feat it can hold an extra focus for you, just in case.

Taking 15 isn't quite worth it - yet. Once I get Greater Insightful Strike, that's about +10 damage over average, or a consistant 90 HP hit at 11th level. Still, most targets are going to have a Touch AC that's more than 5 points less than their regular AC, which makes Power Attack a better option on non-Insightful strikes. Deep Impact is also nice if I want to guarantee the hit on anything better than a natural 1.

I just can't spare two more feats for the Psicrystal Containment. Besides, to really make it worth it, I'd want Greater Psionic Weapon as well. It's something I'd do with a Psionic Warrior build, but the Warblade just doesn't have the slots for it. A better option for this build would be to dip 4 levels into Warmind instead of 2, so I could get Hustle. Actually, if I went that far, I may as well take 5 levels and get Sweeping Strike.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

Sweeping Strike + Deep Impact + Power Attack + any hard-hitting Strike = scary opponent.

I almost went for this one once, but I didn't want to make something broken and get Tome of Battle banned from our game.

 

[charlesatan]

It can.

"Rapier

You can use the Weapon Finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a rapier sized for you, even though it isn’t a light weapon for you. You can’t wield a rapier in two hands in order to apply 1½ times your Strength bonus to damage. "

 

[Fedifensor]

Sweeping Strike + Deep Impact + Power Attack + any hard-hitting Strike = scary opponent.

Sweeping Strike is nice, but it does rely on getting your foes adjacent to each other.

I almost went for this one once, but I didn't want to make something broken and get Tome of Battle banned from our game.

Well, my first character for the campaign was a Warforged Warlock, but I eventually switched characters out because one of the players kept insisting it was broken. The guy plays a Warforged Juggernaut that does tons of damage with a falcheon and Power Attack, so I'm not sure why he felt so threatened by my 4d6 Eldritch Blasts with Frightful Blast and Eldritch Spear blast invocations. Maybe it was the Fell Flight...

My current character is a Human Sorcerer 6/Cleric 1/Silver Pyromancer 2 with the Heroic Spirit and Action Surge feats (he started out as a Sorcerer 6/Cleric 1 with no PrC when he first joined the group). I just picked up a Lesser Metamagic Rod of Empower Spell. Being able to dish out two fireballs in round 1 (doing [9d6 x 1.5] + 9d6 = 22 1/2d6 of fire damage) to everyone in a 20' radius puts my Warlock to shame. And since I started out with nothing outside of the core rules and the ECS, I can't be blamed for using a new, unbalanced WotC book. I'd be just as deadly (perhaps moreso) as a pure Sorcerer 9 with the same feats - at least the Silver Pyromancer has picked up Cure Light Wounds as a 1st level sorcerer spell to help the party out.

Anyway, I've created the Kalashtar Warblade in case the same player complains about my sorcerer, or if my character dies in the next adventure (since we take turns DMing, and it's that player's turn to DM for us). Since my other characters have been caster-types, I'm going to see if he complains when I use a melee character. If he still complains...I'll find another campaign.

I have to say that as much fun as I'm having with the sorcerer, I think I'd have even more fun with the Warblade. It would be a nice change of pace to be in the thick of things instead of being the glass cannon blasting from the rear of the party. The only reason I haven't played a melee character before now is that the options for fighters were rather sparse. I much prefer a maneuver-based character who can alter his capabilities for different battles instead of using the same feat combos over and over again.

 

[NilesB]

That'll teach me to depend on my memory of 3.0 without checking if it's changed.

But I note a distinct lack of text saying that the rapier is an exception to the rule that 1 handed weapons wielded in 2 hands add twice the number subtracted from your attack rolls when power attacking.