Warblade progession
- Thread starter Darklone
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Eldritch_Lord
Adventurer
The best thing to do is multiclass 2 levels in one of the other martial adept classes. Not only will it let you do a higher-level warblade stance, but it will fix some other stance level issues later on. I'd suggest one of the following:
1) If you're more defensive-oriented, do crusader. The delayed damage pool helps a bit, and later you can use Martial Study to learn some good counters (like the 3 Diamond Mind save replacers) as a crusader so they auto-refresh; counters are most useful when you can count on using them over and over without having to immediately refresh the round after you use them.
2) If you're more offensive-oriented, do swordsage. Pick up boosts and strikes that cover your weaknesses--Stone Dragon to overcome DR, Desert Wind for fire-vulnerable enemies, Shadow Hand for some cold damage and mobility, etc.--that you wouldn't use often enough to use a warblade slot on; with 6 maneuver slots, you can pick up a lot of maneuvers that you only really need to use once per encounter as an opening shot.
1) If you're more defensive-oriented, do crusader. The delayed damage pool helps a bit, and later you can use Martial Study to learn some good counters (like the 3 Diamond Mind save replacers) as a crusader so they auto-refresh; counters are most useful when you can count on using them over and over without having to immediately refresh the round after you use them.
2) If you're more offensive-oriented, do swordsage. Pick up boosts and strikes that cover your weaknesses--Stone Dragon to overcome DR, Desert Wind for fire-vulnerable enemies, Shadow Hand for some cold damage and mobility, etc.--that you wouldn't use often enough to use a warblade slot on; with 6 maneuver slots, you can pick up a lot of maneuvers that you only really need to use once per encounter as an opening shot.
StreamOfTheSky
Adventurer
I'd say ask the DM nicely to just get the bloody stance at level 5 where it belongs. Barring that, Swordsage is nice if you wanted Adaptive Style anyway, as I believe Cust Serv stated one round using adaptive style lets you refresh multiple class's maneuver pools, making it a good deal for a Warblade/Swordsage.
I like dipping Barbarian for Pounce (Lion Totem variant, C.Champion) at level 1, and...from there whatever. Barb 2 gives Uncanny Dodge, which can be traded with alternate class features, since Warblade gives them too. Another useful totem is Wolf Totem, from UA, giving you Imp. Trip w/ no prereqs at level 2 for the price of Uncanny.
Fighter also conveniently has its best two levels up front, as does paladin, as does many other full BAB classes. For certain TWF Warblade builds using Tiger Claw and Iron Heart, shooting for Stormguard Warrior's Combat Rhythm, dipping 3 into Swashbuckler for int to damage with light weapons might be good. If doing this, use the Arcane Stunt alt class feature in C.Mage to trade that Grace class feature for a cool int/day spell-like ability, such as feather fall or blur.
I like dipping Barbarian for Pounce (Lion Totem variant, C.Champion) at level 1, and...from there whatever. Barb 2 gives Uncanny Dodge, which can be traded with alternate class features, since Warblade gives them too. Another useful totem is Wolf Totem, from UA, giving you Imp. Trip w/ no prereqs at level 2 for the price of Uncanny.
Fighter also conveniently has its best two levels up front, as does paladin, as does many other full BAB classes. For certain TWF Warblade builds using Tiger Claw and Iron Heart, shooting for Stormguard Warrior's Combat Rhythm, dipping 3 into Swashbuckler for int to damage with light weapons might be good. If doing this, use the Arcane Stunt alt class feature in C.Mage to trade that Grace class feature for a cool int/day spell-like ability, such as feather fall or blur.
My DM actually delayed it to 6th lv instead, in keeping with the warblade's general trend of getting new stances at even lvs (5th lv stance at lv10, and 8th lv stance at lv16). He also delayed his 4th maneuver readied slot to lv5, in keeping with the warblade getting a new slot every 5 lvs. Both part of the same package deal, so it was take it or leave it...
Monk is a decent 2-lv dip prior to warblade4, IMO. You get +3 to all saves, 2 useful feats (IUS and combat reflexes) and evasion (which works in light armour), at the expense of +1bab and a little hp.
I feel that swordsage is best delayed to at least 9th lv (XX8/swordsage1), so you get IL5, and can select 3rd lv maneuvers (such as zephyr dance).
A warblade3/crusader1/swordsage1 is a nice point of entry into shadow sun ninja.
Found that barb wasn't all that great for my warblade, as pounce was of little benefit since I used mainly standard action strikes, while rage disabled the use of my concentration-based maneuvers.
Fighter1 at lv20 lets you take weapon supremacy in place of dual stance, so I feel that is more trouble than what it is worth.
For my warblade, took punishing stance at 1st lv, dance of steel at 6th (see above) and dancing blade form at 10th. Would have taken stance of alacrity at lv16 (with a feat spent on martial stance: supreme blade parry at lv15 for dual stance at lv20) if my campaign had lasted that long.
blargney the second
blargney the minute's son
I like Divine Mind 1/Fighter 1/Warblade X. Fighter feats are always handy for meleers, and the Divine Mind level gets you: +2 to two saves, d10 hp, a persistent aura that gives +1 attack & damage (and some other good ones too), some killer mantle abilities like +10' speed, and power points to fuel psionic feats. Think Deep Impact + Ruby Nightmare Blade.
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