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Message: <blockquote data-quote="StreamOfTheSky" data-source="post: 5761954" data-attributes="member: 35909">IME, Crusader is the strongest, but also the most bland.  The no action required maneuver recovery (and in the case of Warblade, which barely requires action, Crusader doesn't have to ever stop pumping out maneuvers) is just really good.  You may not have your best maneuver available right when you want it, but you'll usually have at least 2 or 3 "best" maneuvers, so chances are you'll seldom be left hanging, especially with the Extra Granted Maneuver feat, a virtual requirement for any Crusader not just dipping.  The delayed damage pool gives you another round to end the fight before dropping, which is a lot of time in D&D combat, and furious counterstrike's bonus is on par with inspire courage, eventually better.   The other class features like cha to will saves, reroll save once per day, Mettle, and Diehard are all fairly boring, but very nice to have.The real power of Crusader, though, is prestige classing.  They are prime (or in the former case, the only) entry classes for the 2 most powerful prestige classes in ToB: Ruby Knight Vindicator and Eternal Blade.  They are also the best class to make a Jade Pheonix Mage with since their recovery requires no actions to detract from your casting.  Prestige classes also often have faster maneuvers readied (and thus, granted maneuvers) advancement than the base class.Crusader's drawbacks are mostly only having 3 disciplines.  One is possibly the worst in the game (Stone Dragon), but the other 2 are two of the best in the game, so it balances out.  Again, PrCs can often give different discipline options, making them a strong choice.  Only other real issue is that Crusader has so very few boosts and counters, it's almost all strikes.  For example, through the first two maneuver levels, the only maneuver they can take that isn't a strike is Shield Block (counter), if they're even using a shield.  But, a lot of their strikes and stances fill in the role of boosts and counters the other classes would have.  The healing strikes, for instance.  Or their devoted spirit stances, which can heal, debuff enemies attacking allies, or turn the Crusader's threatened area into a no-man's land hellscape (Thicket of Blades, one of the best stances).  Finally, for what little it's worth, I should note Crusader has the best proficiencies, including the only one of the adept classes with martial ranged weapons.Warblade is a great class and probably the best for pure killing power.  It's also the only class with access to the two far and away best maneuvers in the book (Iron Heart Surge and White Raven Tactics; Crusader gets the latter, Swordsage gets neither).  Overall, Iron Heart is a great discipline, though mostly for boosts and counters until the late levels.  Despite the d12 HD, the Warblade will often have abysmal AC and thus soak up tons of damage, very similar to the Barbarian, really.Warblade's main weakness is the anemic amount of maneuvers and the fact you can't use a maneuver the turn you recover them.  This is the most likely adept class to spend a bunch of rounds not using maneuvers.  Will save is also often a big concern, though Moment of Perfect Mind can help.I like the int focus of the class, it finally offers a strong option for someone wanting to play a "smart fighter" that isn't a caster.  The most powerful things to do with Warblade usually involve Stormguard Warrior tactical feat, using one or both of the AoO and touch attack based tactics to pump up next round's damage to massive levels.  The only prestige class "unique" to Warblade, Bloodstorm Blade, is really really cool, but less powerful than the base class because it doesn't advance maneuvers at all, and is best left as a niche class for throwers.Swordsage, after having played several, I've come to find to be the weakest of the 3 classes.  They get the most maneuvers, and indeed the most "magical" ones, but they also lack a lot of the strongest disciplines/maneuvers/stances in the book, and their recovery mechanic is godawfulterrible.  Also, lacking the full BAB and high HD of the others, you're relying much more on those maneuvers, and with so many boosts and counters, I've found I actually blow through all my readied maneuvers faster as a Swordsage than as the other 2 classes.  The Adaptive Style feat is basically a tax you need to pay just for the class to function properly, and even then, you're spending every 3rd, 4th, or 5th round doing nothing.  Desert Wind is overall one of the weakest disciplines, possibly worse than Stone Dragon.  Shadow Hand is very good, but for utility (going invisible, teleporting, etc...), not for offense.  Setting Sun doesn't work as advertised, it's pretty bad for a weak halfling in practice.  To use it well, you want an optimized trip build with as much str and size as possible to get the throws to succeed often and do damage.  Setting Sun can be good, but in order to be good, requires a level and type of specialization the typical Swordsage won't be able to provide.Other than that, not sure what else to say...bar none the weakest class features of the three, IMO.  The amount of skills is nice, but only 2 more than the other adepts and lacking the really prime things like Use Magic Device, Spellcraft, etc... that you'd actually want to spend points on ideally.  The class is very squishy and really does need its maneuvers to fight worth a damn.  All that said, it's a very fun class with a lot of varied, interesting options, even if not the most powerful, and it's probably my favorite class of the three to play.</blockquote>

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