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Troll in the Playground
Join Date: Jun 2009
Gender: 
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Masters of the Sword: A Warblade's Handbook
Multiclassing: Half a Sword
Thanks to Essence_of_War, ShneekeytheLost, and Draz74
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Barbarian
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Unfortunately, it doesn't give you much you don't have already. Full BAB? Got it. D12 HD? Got that too. Hulk smash? No problem for ya. DR? You have Stone Dragon for that. Rage? Maneuvers are a much more effective way of increasing damage output.
In fact, there's only one real thing you can get from it. A single-level dip with the Spirit Lion Totem from Complete Champion lets you trade out the 10' speed bonus for Pounce. That means you don't need to wait to get Pouncing Strike, and can use it more frequently. Of course, since you've already got it, you may as well pick up Intimidating Rage and the skill trick Never Outnumbered for some battlefield control to go with your pounce. Other than that? Give this a pass.
Draz74 has a few additional points:
Eh, Whirling Frenzy is still pretty nice. Not worth it by itself, still, no. But if you're dipping for Pounce, I'd suggest taking Whirling Frenzy instead of Rage + Intimidating Rage.
A second Barbarian level is also pretty viable, if you use some other ACFs, since it doesn't lose you any Initiator levels. In particular, the Wolf Totem gives you Improved Trip instead of a redundant Uncanny Dodge. Of course, you have to ask your DM if he'll allow you to take Lion Spirit Totem from CChamp and Wolf Totem from UA.
Bard
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Bards and Warblades go together like healbots and beatsticks. There's a feat that even makes this easier: Song of the White Raven. It lets your Bard levels and your Warblade levels stack for determining your level of Inspire Courage. There's been a lot of thought on how to maximize Inspire Courage, I suggest you look into it. While you are at it, look up Dragonfire Inspiration.
What you lose: Two initiator levels, 1 BAB, 2 maneuvers known, 1 maneuver readied, and Stance Mastery with a traditional 4Bard/16Warblade build
What you gain: Inspire Courage to give Morale bonuses to everyone's attack and damage, and because it is a Morale bonus, it should stack with just about everything else (other than another morale bonus, of course). Possible Dragonfire Inspiration to give a handful of d6's to everyone's damage rolls. Mind you, this includes yourself. Suddenly, you will find yourself being able to hit a lot more often, and doing a lot more damage per hit as well. And so does your allies. With Lingering Song, you can get both of them going simultaneously long enough to end the fight.
If you are considering being the 'party leader' who wants to help and support the party as a whole in a meaningful way, and already considering White Raven to do so, then this is definitely a very viable option for you.
Cleric
Crusader
Factotum
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When multiclassing into factotum, a primary warblade has two obvious options available: a two-level dip or a more committed four-level one. Generally, factotum dips are best for warblades who already have a high Int, or for higher ECL characters who have ways of boosting their Int through items. Since you may already want to be boosting Int to increase the benefit gained from your "Battle" line of class features, this can be very profitable.
Two-level dip
Four-level dip:
Gestalt
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In a Gestalt game, a warblade//factotum can be a very powerful primary melee character. Keep an eye on the following levels:
Level 8 - You get Cunning Surge. This is fantastic, breaking the warblade's action economy wide open. You can initiate a maneuver and make a full attack, initiate two maneuvers, or do a maneuver and recovery! Talk with your DM about whether or not this is usable multiple times a round. Avoid flying DMGs. If you have an ECL 8+ Gestalt game, and you'd like to play a Warblade, strongly consider the factotum for nothing other than this ability.
If this is usable multiple times per round, you can take Font of Inspiration once (see below) to open every combat with WRT, Surge to recover maneuvers, Surge out WRT. Everyone in your party will thank you. Your DM will likely not. Even if you don't take Font, you can still use WRT, then on your next turn, recover maneuvers and surge out WRT!
Level 11 - Cunning Breach. Allows you to bypass SR/DR for 2 IP. This can be very broadly useful with your arcane dilettante ability (or use it to punch the hell out of golems).
Level 16 - Imrovedp Cunning Defense permanently gives you your Int mod as a dodge bonus to AC, though you have to be in light armor. That's a major downside if you aren't in a mithral breastplate or the equivalent. This can be much better if you're going for a more dextrous build to take advantage of TWFing.
Feats
Fighter
Monk
Spoiler
A two level monk dip gets you 3 bonus feats, and with the UA variants, two of these could be just about any applicable feats to your build. I'm partial to the "overwhelming attack" line, particularly when I'm building a warblade who has powerful build or large size, but just about any warblade could make good use of Power Attack and Improved Bull Rush.
Notably, this also nabs you evasion, and if you're planning on using a mithril breastplate or lighter, this combines saucily with your 'action before thought' diamond mind maneuver.
The bonuses to base saves are also nothing to sneeze at.
It's also possible to get value out of monk 1 or monk 6, but I find neither of these to be as compelling as monk 2.
Paladin/Hexblade
Ranger
Samurai (OA)
Prestige Classes: Perfecting the Sword
Last edited by Elfin : 12-23-2011 at 05:47 PM.
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