Or at least something closely equivalent. When we pull out the warblade class from the 3e stigma of fighter vs warblade balance and just take a look at the design mechanics, I see several design decisions I really like.
1) Benefits from boosting a non-combat stat. In the warblade's case, its intelligence. The warblade gets bonuses to boosting his int (a non-combat stat) in combat. However, while the bonuses are nice, they aren't so critical that the warblade suffers from MAD (in other words, having to have a high int in order to work).
You could play an intelligent swashbuckler warblade who uses a rapier and gets a nice bonus to confirm criticals, and gets a decent reflex save. You could play a full strength just swing and kill warblade with no int, and it works. Both builds are viable.
2) Skillfull but not too skillful. With 4+int skill points, the warblade gets a decent selection of skills. And the fact that he can be more int based than a traditional fighter means if he wants to be a more skillfull fighter he isn't strongly penalized for it. However, he's no rogue.
3) The ability to change abilities from day to day. One thing about fantasy novels and heroic places is the main characters do a LOT of different things, go to a lot of different places, and get into a variety of encounters. Static class abilities and feats can only do so much. However, the ability to alter your abilities from day to day (with manuevers) allows a warblade to handle a wider variety of encounters as opposed to being stuck just swinging his weapon.
I hope in 4e they will continue with these design decisions in class creation. I think it is a wonderful improvement on the old model.
1) Benefits from boosting a non-combat stat. In the warblade's case, its intelligence. The warblade gets bonuses to boosting his int (a non-combat stat) in combat. However, while the bonuses are nice, they aren't so critical that the warblade suffers from MAD (in other words, having to have a high int in order to work).
You could play an intelligent swashbuckler warblade who uses a rapier and gets a nice bonus to confirm criticals, and gets a decent reflex save. You could play a full strength just swing and kill warblade with no int, and it works. Both builds are viable.
2) Skillfull but not too skillful. With 4+int skill points, the warblade gets a decent selection of skills. And the fact that he can be more int based than a traditional fighter means if he wants to be a more skillfull fighter he isn't strongly penalized for it. However, he's no rogue.
3) The ability to change abilities from day to day. One thing about fantasy novels and heroic places is the main characters do a LOT of different things, go to a lot of different places, and get into a variety of encounters. Static class abilities and feats can only do so much. However, the ability to alter your abilities from day to day (with manuevers) allows a warblade to handle a wider variety of encounters as opposed to being stuck just swinging his weapon.
I hope in 4e they will continue with these design decisions in class creation. I think it is a wonderful improvement on the old model.
