[PF] Leading the Battle: A Guide to the PoW Warlord

[Elricaltovilla]

LEADING THE BATTLE: THE WARLORD

Brought to you by: The Path of War

What is the Path of War?
The Path of War is a new book series by Dreamscarred Press, a third party publisher that has released quality adaptations of the Psionics system for Pathfinder, among other great products. Their latest is the Path of War, which brings the Maneuver System first found in the Tome of Battle back to the limelight through three new classes and over 13 new disciplines.

What is The Warlord?

Rating System:

We'll be using the standard rating system popularized by treantmonk and others, using a colored scale and a star rating to indicate what class features, maneuvers, feats and skills are the best for the Stalker. The Ratings are as follows:
RED*: This is a generally poor choice and probably not worth taking except in specific instances.
ORANGE**: This is not a great choice and should only be taken if the situations where it's useful come up frequently.
GREEN***: A solid choice that you can depend on, although there might be better options out there.
BLUE****: This is a great choice, something that you can expect to put to good use throughout your career.
PURPLE*****: This color represents the absolute best there is. You should strongly consider taking advantage of this no matter your build.

ABILITY SCORES

STRENGTH****: When you start making your character, you're going to end up making a choice between STR and DEX, whichever one you choose becomes
Purple**** while the other will become Red*.
CONSTITUTION***: You already have a D10 base Hit Dice, but more Hit Points are always welcome. A positive modifier can always help offset poor rolls.
DEXTERITY*****: This rates higher than STR simply because its a must for ranged builds and DEX can replace STR for very nearly everything.
INTELLIGENCE**: Your 4 skill points are (barely) enough to cover most of your necessary skills, so all you really need is a 10.
WISDOM*: Its weird for me to say you can dump this, but the ability to add your CHA mod to Will Saves makes WIS largely unnecessary.
CHARISMA****: Your Initiating Stat Modifier and the one that most of your class features run off, you use it for nearly everything, so be sure to keep it high.

Essentially, the choice you have to make is between Dexterity and Strength at 1st level, both are viable options, and each one has some advantages. Dexterity Builds are more feat intensive, but they allow you to have higher saves and slightly higher stats than Strength builds. Strength builds will allow more freedom with feats and probably a higher base damage.

Note that a ranged Warlord is always going to want a DEX focus.

A proper stat spread for a DEX Warlord should probably prioritize something like this:
Dexterity*****>Charisma****>Constitution***>Intelligence**>Wisdom*>Strength*


A proper stat spread for a STR Warlord should probably prioritize something like this:
Strength*****>Charisma****>Constitution***>Dexterity**>Wisdom*>Intelligence*

Class Features

Hit Dice- D10 Hit Dice****: You'll have a goodly number of Hit Points to play around with when you get into the thick of things and Medium Armor Proficiency to help keep you safe.
Good Fort****, Bad Reflex*, Bad Will** Saves: The same saves as a fighter, and while you won't be dodging any fireballs (without running a DEX build), you'll at least have Class Features to shore up your crappy Will Save.

Skill Points- 4+INT per level****: You're a little short on Skill Points, which is why I'm reluctant to suggest dumping INT, but you have enough to keep your discipline skills maxed and there's overlap between those and your Party Face skills.

Base Attack Bonus- Full*****: So something about Initiating classes is that they rely a lot on single attack actions with lots of bonus damage. That means that an extra 5 points of BAB goes a long way towards making sure they land their powerful strikes and don't waste resources. And with full BAB, the Warlord is sitting pretty on the accuracy front.

Gambits*****: This is the best way for you to recover expended maneuvers and also to help you and your teammates do more damage, hit more often, and tank extra hits. Each one is a swift action to activate and allows you to add your Charisma Modifier to any D20 roll made as part of the Gambit. There are many different gambits to choose from and they'll be outlined more later.

Maneuvers*****: Did you think this would rate any lower? If you're playing a PoW class, you're playing because you want these babies, and really who wouldn't? Its finally time for melee to tell the wizards to sit down and shut up and boy do you have some tools that willl let you do just that.

Maneuvers Known/Readied*****: You start with 6 maneuvers known and 4 maneuvers readied, same as the Stalker. While you'll end up with less maneuvers known/readied at the end of your career, you'll still have 18 known and 11 readied, giving you plenty of tools to utilize.

Maneuver Recovery****: You have two options, you can either use a standard action to recover 1 maneuver of your choice, or you can attempt a variety of different gambits as a swift action (paired with another action) to recover your Charisma Modifier (min. 2) in Maneuvers and if you succeed, you get the Gambit's effect as well.

Bonus Feats***: At 1st, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level you get your choice of a bonus combat feat or teamwork feat. The quality of this class feature is dependent on the feat choice you make, but its worth noting that you have ways to share your teamwork feats with allies.

Tactical Presence****: These three "totally not stances" are available starting at 2nd level, and allow your Warlord to add his Charisma modifier to saves and hit points of allies within 30 ft. as a move action (later free action) that lasts as long as the Presence remains active. Its important to note that these Presences affect you as well, because in Pathfinder you explicitly count as your own ally. The Presences are:
-Indomitable Presence***: available at 2nd level, this grants all allies the benefits of the Die Hard feat (not the feat itself) and adds your CHA mod to Fortitude Saves vs. Death, Fatigue, Exhaustion, and poison effects as a Morale Bonus.
-Rallying Presence*****: At 5th level, your Warlord can add his Charisma Mod to Will Saves vs. Fear, Death and Compulsion effects, covering some of the most unpleasant Will Save based effects you might encounter. This presence ends if you fail a save against one of the effects it provides a bonus against, and may not stack with the Warlord's Force of Personality class feature, check with your DM.
- Victorious Presence: The 9th level Presence allows the Warlord to grant his allies a decent amount of Temporary Hit Points whenever he reduces a foe to 0 or fewer Hit Points. Its not a bad ability, since it seems the temporary hit points stack and they last for the encounter or until lost, its just that Rallying Presence is much, much better at keeping you alive.

Warleader****: Warleader starts by granting you a bonus teamwork feat, and then allows you to share your teamwork feats with allies within 30 ft. (but only 1 teamwork feat at a time). It should last you through the entire encounter, and its useable multiple times per day, so if you want to capitalize on your teamwork feats, this is the way to do it.

Force of Personality****: This adds your Charisma Modifier to your Will Save, but sadly it explicitly doesn't stack with other abilities that do the same. It may not stack with Rallying Presence, although I lean towards them stacking because Rallying Presence doesn't affect all Will Saves, only some.

Tactical Flanker**: This allows you and your flanking buddy to use your Charisma Modifier as your Flanking Bonus instead of the normal +2. If you do a lot of flanking this is useful, but if you aren't flanking, its just wasted space on a character sheet.

Battle Prowess**: A small boost (caps at +3) to attack and damage rolls when wielding a weapon associated with a discipline while in a stance of that discipline.

Dual Boost***: Up to three times per day, you can initiate two boosts as part of the same swift action. It can mean some hefty damage bonuses when you really need them.

Tactical Assistance***: I like aid another, I wish it was more useful. Oh look, this ability does that! You can aid an ally within 30 ft as a standard action and then they get a bonus equal to your Charisma modifier.

Dual Tactical Presence***: Now you can have both Rallying and Indomitable presence active at once, because chances are you won't be using Victorious Presence.

Improved Warleader*: Warleader should have been a move action anyway. As late as you get this its just not impressive.

Warlord's Presence***: By 15th level you can now have all three presences active at once. It makes me wish there were more presences to choose from though.

Master Warleader***: You're going to wish you had more swift actions, because in addition to stances, boosts, Gambits and various spells and feats, your Warleader now takes a swift action.

Dual Stance***: Your capstone ability is the ability to have two Discipline Stances active at once. But you have to spend a swift action for each, so its gonna take two rounds to get up and running anyway.

[Elricaltovilla]

Racial Choices

There are plenty of races that can make for good Warlords, look for either Strength or Dexterity boosts coupled with Charisma. Here are your best choices among the standard Races:

Dwarves**: Dwarves are poor Warlords because they have a charisma penalty, and only boost Constitution out of the Physical Stats. They have useful Racial Features and Proficiencies, but their stats aren't great

Elves**: They really only have a bonus to dexterity, and their Con penalty leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Gnome****: Con bonus and Charisma bonus are great. The Small size and Strength penalty hurt melee, but are a boon for a ranged Warlord.

Half-Elf****: Pick your Stat bonus, and play with all the elf toys without any of their baggage. The bonus skill focus is useful and so are most alternate race traits.

Half-Orc****: Again, choose your stat bonus, and take advantage of Darkvision, Ferocity and some great alternate race traits.

Halfling*****: Halflings were practically made to be Dex Warlords. Bonus to Dex and Cha, penalty to Str. The small size might be a problem in melee, but is easy to overcome.

Humans*****: Yeah, They're great. Pick one or two Stats to receive a bonus, get extra skill points and a bonus feat. Cream of the crop right here.

Class Skills

As a Warlord you have 14 class skills and 4 skill points per level. Because you don't use intelligence for much else it can be difficult to find a way to keep all your skills maxed, but with the right focuses it can be done.

Acrobatics (Dex)*****: This is a Martial Discipline Skill for Thrashing Dragon, and a useful skill to have anyway for avoiding AoOs. If you're Dex focused you definitely want this maxed.
Climb (Str)*: Its not a discipline skill and its not useful once you find a way to fly, so don't worry about it too much.
Craft (Int)*: You don't need to worry too much about craft skills outside of arms and armor.
Diplomacy (Cha)*****: A Discipline Skill for Golden Lion and a useful Social Skill to have if you're looking to be a party face. Unfortunately, there is only one maneuver in Golden Lion that uses Diplomacy.
Handle Animal (Cha)**: Really only useful if you have a mount. If you don't have a mount, leave it alone.
Intimidate (Cha)***: Counterpart to diplomacy, and useful for similar reasons, however its not a discipline skill, so it takes a back seat.
Knowledge (Engineering) (Int)*: Runs off a dump stat, doesn't identify creatures, don't bother.
Knowledge (History) (Int)*: Runs off a dump stat, doesn't identify creatures, don't bother.
Knowledge (Martial) (Int)*: Runs off a dump stat, doesn't identify creatures, don't bother.
Perception (Wis)*****: This is the most commonly used skill in the game and a Discipline Skill for Solar Wind, You'll want to keep this high, and probably maxed if you're a ranged Warlord.
Ride (Dex)**: Only useful for mounted Warlords.
Sense Motive (Wis)****: The Discipline Skill For Scarlet Throne and the defensive social skill. This is a great skill to have.
Survival (Wis)****: Being the Discipline skill for Primal Fury alone is enough to rate blue.
Swim (Str)**: Situationally useful, unless you're in an aquatic campaign.

Warlord Gambits

Each Gambit is a swift action to use, and must be paired with the action described in the Gambit's Risk. Each gambit has the same rake if failed, a -2 penalty to all D20 rolls for 1 round. Each Gambit also has a unique Reward described in its entry. Each Gambit can only be used once per encounter until they've all been used, at which point all of the Warlord's Gambits become useable again.

Acrobatic Gambit***: Easy enough to pull off if you're a Dex focused Warlord, but if you fail, you not only suffer the risk, but you also potentially open yourself up to an Attack of opportunity. The Reward is an increase in damage to the target of the gambit, that does not have a listed duration.

Brave Gambit*****: All you have to do is make a successful charge attack against an opponent. You know what Discipline has access to lots of Charge maneuvers to help a Warlord pull this off? Primal Fury. The Reward is a boost to damage on the next attack made by the Warlord and allies until the Warlord's next turn.

Cavalry Gambit**: Performing a mounted charge requires you to be mounted, and non-class feature mounts are expensive and frail. Overrun attempts are difficult to pull off, as well. The Reward is a bonus on attack rolls made for attacks of opportunity made against the target by the Warlord and allies for 1 round.

Dastardly Gambit***: A dirty Trick attempt against the target is not great unless you have the feat support for it, but its useable. The Reward is a bonus on damage rolls against the target for the Warlord and Allies for 1 round.

Deadeye Gambit****: The rules for called shots are technically optional, I believe, and the attack penalties can be steep. On the other hand, adding your CHA mod to the roll as a luck bonus offsets those penalties and there are some nice effects available from the various called shots are nice. Called shots can be used by both melee and ranged characters, so if they're available feel free to use them. The Reward is restoring some of the Hit points you and your allies have lost.

Duelist's Gambit***: Disarming your opponent can be a useful tactic if they have a weapon and you have the feats for it. But those requirements aren't always met. The Reward is really nice though, a free Attack of Opportunity against the target with a damage bonus to boot.

Gatecrasher Gambit****: Another combat maneuver Gambit, this one is a bull rush maneuver. What makes it blue is the Reward, a hefty penalty to all d20 rolls made by your opponent for 1 round. This is a great setup for a friendly Wizard or other character who uses a lot of Save or Dies.

Grappler Gambit**: This gambit requires you to make a successful grapple check against the opponent. The Reward is a bonus to damage rolls for as long as you maintain the grapple.

Outrider Gambit***: Make a successfulranged attack while on a moving mount. Less risky that other mounted Gambits. The Reward adds your Charisma modifier to the attack roll of your allies' next ranged attack.

Pinhole Gambit*****: Only for Ranged Warlords, this Gambit is easy to pull off as long as you have an ally who can get up close and personal with the target for you. The Reward is a hefty penalty to the target's AC for 1 round, so full attack away.

Rascal Gambit***: Feint your opponent. If successful, the Reward flat-foots the opponent, which I thought was what Feinting did anyway, but apparently that's not the case. Still, Being Denied your Dexterity bonus and Being Flat-Footed don't seem especially different.

Ravager's Gambit*: I'm already not fond of sundering stuff, and since the Reward only helps you sunder stuff harder, and only if its your opponent's weapon, I would recommend passing on this.

Sweeping Gambit****: much to my chagrin this maneuver in no way involves brooms. Instead, its a trip attempt, and thus I recommend counting your opponent's legs before attempting. The Reward is sweet, a free Attack of opportunity with a damage bonus.

Unbreakable Gambit****: This one allows you to recover maneuvers if you succeed on a Fort or Will save. You can stack multiple hefty +CHA bonuses on your save under the right circumstances, making this a good choice. The Reward heals you for 3x your Charisma mod hit points. This Gambit can be used as an Immediate Action.


Victory Gambit*****: All you have to do to succeed on this Gambit is reduce your target to 0 hit points or less. Don't be afraid to unload the best you've got on this Gambit, it'll pay off. The Reward adds a bonus to your allies next attack roll.

[Elricaltovilla]

Maneuvers

Maneuvers in Path of War work just like they do in the Tome of Battle. But they introduce several new disciplines to the mix with plenty of different things to offer. The Warlord has access to the Disciplines of Golden Lion, Scarlet Throne, Primal Fury, Solar Wind and Thrashing Dragon.

Golden Lion

Golden Lion is a leadership focused Discipline, and provides many effects to aid your allies with increased attack rolls, damage rolls, extra actions, and healing. Overall it's a powerful discipline that works better the better you work with your team. Its Discipline Skill is Diplomacy***** and its associated weapon groups are Heavy Blades, Hammers and Polearms.

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1st

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Demoralizing Roar**: Boost. Shaken is a useful debuff, but at low levels you'll be lucky to get two enemies to have to make the save, and at mid to high levels, everything is going to succeed on the save.

Encouraging Roar***: Boost. Demoralizing Roar's twin brother, a simple boost to attack and damage rolls for all allies for one round. Good for making sure those low level hits land.

Hunting Party****: Strike. Only at its best if you have an ally who can make the Attack of Opportunity, but at low levels two attacks will almost always lay the target low.

Pride Leader's Stance***: Stance. A morale bonus to saves vs. demoralization and fear effects that doesn't stack with your Presences isn't going to see use for very long.

Pride Movement****: Boost. Grant an adjacent ally an immediate move action, if it can be used on yourself (it specifies adjacent ally, you're your own ally, but are you adjacent to yourself?) upgrade this to purple.

Tactical Strike****: Strike. Your first "move an ally" strike, it has a short range and a short maximum distance, but its enough to get an ally where they need to be.

2nd

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Call to Action****: Strike. A nice repositioning maneuver for an ally, too bad they have to be adjacent to you.

Defending the Pride***: Boost. A decent AC boost at low levels, but sadly doesn't scale. Still, a wide area of effect makes this dependable. I wonder why it isn't a counter though.

Distracting Strike***: Strike. While you may not have many ways to capitalize on flat-footing your opponent, your allies probably do. Still this feels a little out of place as there are other disciplines (and other initiators) that do the flat-footing thing much better.

Pyrite Strike***: Strike. This doubles as both offensive and defensive, used properly it can keep your opponent from full attacking you or allow you to retreat without provoking an Attack of Opportunity. On the offensive side it can get your enemy into position to be flanked, or if you're very lucky, knocked off a cliff.

Warning Roar*****: Counter. Golden Lion is a little light on counters, but this one is only second level and its amazing. A Diplomacy vs. Attack roll will probably go in your favor, and since it has a range of 60 ft. you'll be able to use it to aid your allies from across the battlefield.

3rd

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Circling the Prey*****: Boost. With a 60 ft. range, this boost should allow nearly all your allies the ability to 5 ft. step into a better position. Get the Wizard out of melee, get the fighter into melee, and the best part is that it's a boost, so you still get to attack.

Golden Commander Stance*****: Stance. An improved version of the ToB stance Island of Blades. All allies within 30 feet of the Golden Lion Disciple gain the benefits of flanking an opponent as long as there is another ally adjacent to the opponent, even if not in flanking position. Rogues will love this.

Kill the Wounded*****: Strike. A low level boss killer, the more attacks your allies can get on the target the better this will be.

Pack Pounce**: Strike. If this were a boost it might rate green, but as a strike that requires adjacent allies and has a low bonus damage cap, it just leaves something to be desired.

4th

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Charge of the Battle Cat***: Strike. Charge your opponent and potentially knock them prone. A solid all around maneuver.

Direct the Pride*****: Boost. Allows your adjacent ally to act immediately after you do, which has a great many potential uses. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can use it on yourself. We'll miss you White Raven Tactics.

Golden Lion Charger***: Stance. Increase the accuracy of your Charge attacks and never risk an Attack of Opportunity for charging. Useful if you're not already using a maneuver that doesn't provoke AoO's for charging.

Golden Swipe***: Strike. 10 feet of movement is better than 5, at least you can guarantee that they won't be getting a full attack off next round. But you probably won't get more than two or three Attacks of Opportunity out of this maneuver.

5th

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Discipline of the Pride*****: Boost. Grant any allies within 30 feet use of a feat you possess for 3 rounds. Give the BSF some ranged feats so he can actually hit the dragon when its in the air, Give the rogue Outflank, Give the Wizard Power Attack for a laugh. Give your allies Martial Training so they can have fun with maneuvers too!

Guard the Pride**: Counter. It only affects one adjacent ally and while the AC bonus is hefty (up to +10), it raises some rules questions like: Do you count as adjacent to yourself? I'd personally prefer a smaller bonus that affects more allies so that I could actually guard the pride, not just one member.

Strategic Blow*****: Strike. Not only does it have a hefty damage bonus but you grant a nearby ally an extra move action. Use it to get your BSF lined up for a charge or full attack, allow your Squishy Wizard to get out of melee, or get the Rogue into flanking position. And don't forget, you are your own ally.

Roar of Battle*****: Strike. Boss killing, teamwork edition. Your attack gets a damage bonus and your allies all receive a damage bonus on attacks against the target of this maneuver for 1 round. Unload the full attacks and watch the target get sliced and diced into itty bitty bits.

6th

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Endurance of the Strong*****: Counter. An Immediate Action ranged heal, name a spell that does that. I dare ya.

Golden General's Attitude**: Stance. A maximum of a +3 bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls and saves vs. Fear effects isn't that impressive. Especially given that these are all morale bonuses and thus don't stack with the other (higher) morale bonuses you can be sending out.

Harry the Prey*****: Strike. You get an attack! And you get an attack! and you get an attack! It's a strange form of AoE, but you can use it to spread the hurt around to all your enemies or make a focused attack on the big guy.

Lion's Feast***: Boost. Every enemy you and your allies kill for a round grants you temporary hit points, this can lead to a potentially massive amount of HP, or it can be completely worthless. Use only against big groups of fairly weak enemies.

7th

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Golden General's Victory****: Boost. Kill a foe and heal all allies within a large area up to 20 hit points each. The healing strikes me as a bit low, but the wide area and swift action more than make up for it. Note that this boost is initiated after you slay the foe, so no worries about failing if you roll low damage.

Orichalcum Swipe***: Strike. The damage boost is hefty, and the ability to send your foe running in a direction of your choosing is great, but it requires a bit of forethought and teamwork to line up enough Attacks of Opportunity, so the full benefit may be lost.

War Lion's Charge*****: Strike. Charge your foe without provoking Attacks of Opportunity and deal massive damage with a chance to stun the target. Pairs nicely with a few gambits and plenty of Primal Fury stuff.

8th

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Alpha's Roar****: Boost. A +4 bonus toall saves and to DCs for all allies within 30 ft. for 1 round is a good solid boost, if a little boring.

Lion Lord's Agony**: Strike. This maneuver could be one of the most damaging maneuvers you have, but since it requires you to run around with low Hit Points, I'm recommending you stay away from it.

Triumphant Lion's Leadership****: Stance. You and allies within 10 ft. gain a bonus to damage while in this stance based on the number of enemies you've killed. The duration of the bonus is the same duration as the stance, so its ripe for "bag of chickens" shenanigans.

9th

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Lord of the Pridelands*****: Boost. The only boost in the game that costs a standard action, but its worth it. All your allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Attack, Damage, AC and all Saves for each ally within 60 ft. for 1 round. It caps at +10, so as long as you have 4 buddies (remember, you count as your own ally) you're golden. Pun intended.

Primal Fury

By tapping into the raw predatory hunger found in all of us, Disciples of Primal Fury unleash powerful attacks and rush across the battlefield to deliver bloody death to their foes. It specializes in high damage attacks, charging and huge flat bonuses to attack rolls. Its Discipline Skill is Survival**** and its associated weapon groups are Axes, Heavy Blades, and Hammers.

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1st

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Crushing Blow***: Strike. The damage bonus is small and the save doesn't scale, so its good early on but falls off very quickly.

Panthera on the Hunt***: Strike. The only reason this rates green is that you don't provoke AoOs when you charge.

Primal Wrath**: Strike. Power Attack, the maneuver. The damage bonus is good, but you'll be swapping this one out quickly.

Running Hunter's Stance***: Stance. A 10 ft. bonus to movement speed helps get you in range of your prey.

Shoulder Rush***: Strike. The best use of this is to recover maneuvers with the Gatecrasher Gambit before you get the feat. The +4 bonus makes it much easier to pull off.

Stance of Aggression***: Stance. This will wear out quickly, but the extra damage helps end low level encounters early.

2nd

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Bloody Riposte**: Counter. I don't like counters that require you to get hurt in order to use them, and this one doesn't even give you a damage bonus to boot.

Crippling Strike****: Strike. A damage boost and an ongoing bleed effect. The bleed damage is small, but it'll add up over time.

Devastating Rush***: Strike. Charge a target and do extra damage and ignore DR a very solid strike.

Momentum Crash****: Boost. A hefty damage bonus on your charge attack that can be paired with a charging strike for maximum effect.

Raging Hunter Pounce*****: Strike. A charge with a full attack, the goal of any melee character. This will continue to age gracefully the more attacks you get.

3rd

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Blade-Breaking Counter***: Counter. If your opponent is wielding a weapon you can easily destroy, you can potentially negate their attack. Otherwise you're out of luck, especially against monsters lacking manufactured weapons.

Disparity Blow**: Strike. If this were a first or second level maneuver it'd rate much higher, but a free trip attempt shouldn't be overlooked.

Frenzy Strike****: Strike. Better the more weapons you have to attack with (both manufactured and natural), each attack gets a good damage bonus.

Primal Warrior Stance****: Stance. A stance that increases your size and weapon damage and stacks with effects like Enlarge Person. This is a great stance to have.

4th

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Furious Primal Wrath****: Strike. The attack penalty might be steep, but it greatly outpaces Power Attack at this level, especially if wielding your weapon two handed.

Impaling Strike****: Strike. A decent damage bonus and CON damage. Solid, if a bit unoriginal.

Momentum Crush****: Boost. Doubling the damage output of its predecessor and ignoring DR/Hardness to boot. Still a very good choice.

Shrug It Off****: Counter. A Survival check in place of AC, giving you a good chance to negate an attack against you. This is the way counters should work.

5th

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Cornered Frenzy Strike*****: Strike. Area of Effect attacks are something that Melee has trouble making so this maneuver fulfills a much needed niche. The huge damage bonus on each attack just makes it all the sweeter.

Dizzying Blow****: Strike. A nauseated foe is a dead foe. There's a good chance that your target won't even get to make the save though, because the damage bonus on this maneuver is the same as some 8th level maneuvers.

Lightning Step****: Boost. There's a very common tactic to stop chargers, the use of difficult terrain. Any ability that helps you overcome that is useful, and the ability to change direction during your charge is equally useful.

Meteoric Crash***: Strike. This only rates green because you can pair it with the Gatecrasher Gambit to recover other maneuvers. Bull Rushing is only occasionally useful, and the fact that you deal barely more than half the bonus damage of a strike of the same level in the same discipline just doesn't bode well for this Strike.

6th

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Blade of Fury*****: Boost. Someone tried to tell me that this maneuver was broken, and they're not entirely wrong. This boost adds such a massive to-hit bonus to your attacks on a charge that even your worst iterative attack now has a better than even chance of hitting. The extra damage only ensures that your target will be reduced to a fine mist of negative hit points so low they can only be expressed in scientific notation. You could seriously build an entire character around capitalizing on this maneuver.

Charge of the Battle Panthera***: Strike. Just like Dizzying Blow, this charge attack sticks such a huge damage bonus on the end of your charge that the chances of your opponent living long enough to make the save are pretty slim. That being said the damage increase from Dizzying Blow isn't significant and Prone isn't as good a debuff as nauseated.

Shield-Breaking Strike**: Strike. I suppose this could be situationally useful, but why on earth would you want to break your opponent's stuff when this Discipline is so chalk full of maneuvers that let you brutally eviscerate your opponents without damaging their highly valuable equipment?

Skirmisher's Stance****: Stance. Since you'll be moving around so much anyway, what with needing at least 10 ft. to charge, this is a nice little damage bonus and the extra accuracy doesn't hurt.

7th

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Blood-Spray Strike***: Strike. An aptly named strike, with a good damage bonus and lots of CON damage. But you can probably outdamage this maneuver with some of your lower level charge maneuvers, so its only average.

Devastating Momentum****: Boost. Double the damage of Momentum Crush, also ignores DR/Hardness, and now adds a chance to stun. That's all folks, pack it in.

Primal Frenzy****: Strike. Another maneuver to hit everyone in reach with every weapon you have, this one comes with more damage and an AC penalty the following round, so make sure all your targets are dead.

8th

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Iron Hide Stance****: Stance. The DR is nice, the boost to CMB/CMD is also nice, but its the increased Strength bonus to damage that sells this stance. I would give it a pass if you're dexterity based, but definitely consider it if you're running around with high strength.

Meteoric Crash*: Strike. Really this is just sad. There's a 5th level maneuver with equal damage and a better rider effect, pass on this.

Unbreakable Panthera Guard*****: Counter. Survival check vs. attack roll to not only negate an attack but also gain temporary hit points. A top of the line counter.

9th

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Wrath of the Primal Hunter*****: Strike. The ultimate charge attack, gain a huge bonus to your attack rolls the further you are from your target when you start the charge, then get off a full attack, and unload more dice in bonus damage than there are in most gaming shops. You think I'm joking? I might be hyperbolizing a bit but 90 d6's are hard to come by.

Scarlet Throne

Born originally from the art of dueling, the Scarlet Throne discipline is regal and commanding. Scarlet Throne distinguishes itself with highly accurate attacks that deal good damage, and some of the best counters in the game. Its Discipline Skill is Sense Motive**** and its associated weapon groups are Heavy Blades, Light Blades and Spears.

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1st

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Blade of Breaking***: Strike. As combat maneuvers go, Sundering is far from my favorite, but this maneuver makes it easy to pull off.

Circular Stance***: Stance. Giving a big middle finger to Rogues right from the get-go, Circular Stance means that you're never flanked except by rogues at least 4 levels higher than you.

Prince's Attitude***: Boost. Protects you while you move through the battlefield, nose pointed high. Its a solid boost, but it'd be better served as a stance, since there's just no guarantee the things this protects you against will happen on the round you use it. Additionally, I have no idea how to apply the initiative bonus.

Red Zephyr's Strike****: Strike. Hit your opponent then get out of range before he can hit you back, makes kiting baddies easy and fun. Also, I really love the name.

Scarlet Zweihander*****: Stance. There are 1st level stances that improve your defenses and 1st level stances that increase your damage. This stance does both. There is literally no downside to it.

Scything Stike****: Strike. Hit two enemies with the same attack, its like cleave but doesn't cost a feat.

2nd

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Garnet Lance***: Strike. Bonus damage and ignore DR, very solid for a maneuver of its level, but not the most creative.

Regal Blade***: Boost. The bonus damage is more variable than most strikes, but the boost to attack rolls makes this more likely to hit.

Rising Zenith Strike*****: Strike. Using a Sense Motive check in place of your attack roll can potentially improve your chances to hit, and the ability to double your damage is really potent.

Sanguine Barrier****: Counter. Replace your AC with a Sense Motive check. It'd still be a good counter if it was 3 levels higher, so you might never get rid of this one.

3rd

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Dazing Strike***: Strike. Bonus damage with a chance to daze the target on a failed save (big surprise). It's a good choice for its level, but I'm deducting points for the name.

Scarlet Eye's Perception****: Boost. Your next attack is resolved as a touch attack. That's actually really good, but you can't power attack a touch attack.

Strike of Defeat****: Strike. The less HP your opponent has, the more damage this attack does, making it a great finisher for those big bags of HP and Fast Healing.

Unfettered Movement***: Stance. Increased movement speed and a bonus to AC vs. Attacks of Opportunity (not just those from movement). Good defense and mobility are nice to have.

4th

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Noble Blade****: Boost. An improved version of Regal Blade, you'll probably never miss with it thanks to the attack roll bonus, making it a very reliable choice.

Red Zephyr's Dance****: Strike. Spread the love of your sword around by making a 10 ft. movement after every attack, up to your maximum number of main hand attacks and your maximum movement speed. Ask your DM if extra attacks from haste or speed weapons affect this.

Sanguine Perseverance*****: Counter. Replace your Saving Throw with a much higher Sense Motive check. Which Saving Throw, you ask? All of them. Get this, use it, love it, never let it go.

Weeping Scarlet Razor****: Strike. This strike weeps tears of your opponent's blood. Literally. The damage bonus is good, and the bleed damage is above average for its level.

5th

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Riddle of Iron****: Strike. Better damage and a higher save DC, but essentially the same thing as Dazing Strike. Couldn't they have named Dazing Strike Riddle of Copper to keep the theme going?

Ruby Zenith Strike****: Strike. An improved version of Rising Zenith Strike. The damage and accuracy of this attack are going to make you very happy.

Sanguine Perfection*****: Counter. Ignore or negate any status effects affecting you for a number of rounds equal to your Initiator Modifier. Its a wall of text, but they tried to cover their bases without making the same mistakes as Iron Heart Surge. They succeeded.

Scarlet Riposte****: Counter. Not only can you negate your opponent's attack, you get to counter attack with a damage bonus. A very good AC replacement option.

6th

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Blade of Perfection*****: Strike. Hit your opponent as if you'd rolled a natural 20 and automatically threaten a critical hit. This is the only time I'd recommend using a vorpal blade.

Final Blow*****: Strike. Coup de Grace your target if they're below 25% of their maximum Hit Points as a standard action. As a bonus, so long as you have this maneuver readied, you can make a Sense Motive check as a free action to determine if the potential target is below 25% HP. Even if you don't use the strike, the reasonable DC on the check makes this very useful to coordinate your attacks.

Red Zephyr's Fleetness**: Boost. I wish the Red Zephyr line had ended stronger. A +30 ft. movement speed is good, but this really needed some attacks, or at least a damage bonus.

7th

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Royal Blade****: Boost. Your attack gets a bonus to hit and a decent bonus to damage, and all attacks you make for the round force the target to save or cower for 1 round.

Ruby battle Lord's Strike*****: Strike. Make a full attack as a standard action, with all attacks using your Full Base Attack Bonus +2. Its a good thing you can't initiate this maneuver while two weapon fighting, or can you? (Hint: Unarmed Strikes, Armor Spikes, buckler shield bashes, more attacks equals more damage, period).

Sanguine Proclamation****: Strike. An attack with a good damage boost and a chance to knock the target prone. The mind affecting tag stinks, but the imagery of it is priceless.

8th

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Descending Sunset Strike****: Strike. The "Rising" line of maneuvers ends with a descending strike that lays the opponent low with quadrupled damage. All it asks is a simple Sense Motive roll in place of your attack roll and you should be totally fine with that.

Riddle of Steel**: Strike. Conan the Barbarian would honestly be ashamed of this maneuver. The damage bonus is pitiable for the level you get it, the maneuver's saving grace is its rider effect, a Save or Suck to make wizards green with envy.

Scarlet Majesty Stance****: Stance. Anyone wanting to hit you must make a Will Save in order to target you with an attack. They can only attempt the save once per round, but if they do manage to hit you, they become immune to the Stance for 24 hours, so make sure to kill them before they can do so.

9th

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Heavenly Blade of the Scarlet Throne*****: Strike. An extra 100 damage is amazing already. The Save or Die rider is even better, if they fail the save, they're paralyzed for minutes and even if they succeed they're still stunned for long enough to kill them next round.

[Elricaltovilla]

Maneuvers Continued

Solar Wind

Solar Wind takes an unusual direction and decides to be nice and friendly to Ranged Attackers. If you wield a bow, crossbow or thrown weapon, this is the discipline for you. Its associated skill is Perception***** and its associated weapon groups are Bows, Crossbows, and Thrown.

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1st

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Curving Ray Shot****: Strike- Cover is one of the biggest obstacles to ranged weapons, so it's great that Solar Wind gives you an answer to that right away. The only drawback is the perception roll, but it should be easy to succeed on.

Horizon Wind Lancet**: Boost- An extra 1d6 on one ranged attack in the round is good at low levels but ages really quickly.

Phantom Sun Stance****: Stance- Say goodbye to tracking how much ammo you have. As long as its mundane ammo, you have it.

Solar Sting***: Strike- Cover a 10'x10' area with phantom caltrops that halve your opponent's movement speed and do damage? It's like Entangle, but shiny and pointy.

Stance of Piercing Rays***: Stance- Solar Wind's 1st level damage boosting stance increases your damage output by 1d6 fire damage. Like poor little Desert Wind, this suffers from everything and their grandma having fire resistance at mid to upper levels.

Steady Hand***: Boost- Increased range increment is much better for thrown weapons than for bows and crossbows, but every bit helps. Especially since its a swift action to use.

2nd

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Feel the Wind***: Boost- I've never had to fight in naturally occurring storm winds, and most GMs I've played with can't be bothered to remember the penalties for bad weather anyway, but the beauty of this is that it just says no to spells like Wind Wall, which used to hard counter any type of archery.

Intercepting Shade**: Counter- Shooting arrows out of the sky with your own arrows makes for a great image, but this counter is useless unless you're doing just that.

Solar Flare***: Strike- A good strike that ignores cover and does additional fire damage. This is going to be a theme.

Solar Lance***: Strike- So there's some miscommunication between the short text and the detailed description of this maneuver about what exactly happens, but going by the detailed entry you get an attack which does extra damage (not fire!) and allows for a free bull rush attempt on the attack with a +2 bonus.

3rd

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Blinding Ray Shot***: Strike- This attack offers no bonus damage, it's one major saving grace is the blindness effect that accompanies the attack sans save. No save blinding is pretty powerful.

Phantom Wind Ray**: Boost- If your opponent fails a perception check vs. your attack roll the attack resolves against their Flat-Footed AC. This would probably be better with some damage bonus, but if you really need to hit somebody, this has a good chance of doing it.

Solar Reflection***: Strike- Hit one opponent with bonus damage, hit a second opponent with the same attack (but no bonus damage) a solid way to make multiple enemies pay.

Sunwalker Stance***: You get to move and attack and a bonus to AC if you move more than 10 ft. Its solid, but feels a little lacking in the "kill things faster" department.

4th

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Dazzling Solar Flare****: Strike- I told you this Solar Flare stuff would come up again. This is a good damage boost (sadly its fire), but the Fort Save or Daze is 1d4 rounds of nice, and it still dazzles (meh) on a successful save. I guess that's where the name comes from.

Disarming Gust**: Strike- Suddenly disarming your opponent is nice, but the damage this does is not significant and disarming only works if your opponent is using a weapon.

Solar Storm****: Strike- You don't use this attack to protect someone from ranged attacks, or keep them from making ranged attacks (although that part is nice). The real reason to use this Strike is that for 1d6 rounds you can force an opponent to stay in one spot, unless they have a really good reflex save.

Solar Wind Lancet**: Boost- The damage boosts that Solar Wind has to offer are kind of sub par, and this one is exactly that, unfortunately. The fort save or knock prone is nice, but the damage just isn't there.

5th

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Blinding The Bull****: Boost- I have no idea where the name for this Boost comes from, but it's a pretty sweet boost anyway. Considering all the sexy little bonuses that Stalkers have which are triggered off a critical hit, anything that makes that easier is a great addition.

Double Solar Reflection****: Strike- Double Solar Reflection is twice as good as regular Solar Reflection. Wonder how that worked out?

Focused Solar Lance****: Strike- Finally, a level appropriate damage boost, with a really cool rider effect that pins the opponent to either a wall or the floor. You're actually better off trying to pin them to the floor, since they're considered both prone and pinned in that case.

Searing Break**: Boost- Searing break adds a good bit of damage to all your ranged attacks for one round. And since ranged attacks get off a lot of attacks in one round, this is a good boost to use. Then you get 6th level maneuvers and never touch this one again.

6th

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Burning Break****: Boost- And all of a sudden, Searing break is useless. This nearly doubles the damage bonus of Searing Break and is only one level higher.

Solar Meteor Blow****: Strike- Also known as "Knock Everybody Prone!" this maneuver does either +4d6 (short version) or +6d6 (detailed version) damage to the target of the attack and forces everyone in a 15 ft radius of the target to make a Fortitude save or be knocked prone.

True Shot Stance****: Stance- Wow, sixth level maneuvers are really a sweet spot for Solar Wind. This stance doubles your threat range on ranged weapons and ignores Partial Concealment and "Any Cover" the target might have. Oh, this doesn't say if it stacks with keen or not, but its safe to assume it does not.

Twisting Wind Shot***: Strike- When I first read this maneuver I was ready to give it a purple rating. Instead, it only does damage equivalent to a critical hit, and doesn't trigger any crit associated abilities the stalker has. If the attack would be a critical hit, you increase the damage multiplier by 1 and trigger all the tasty crit stuff you have.

7th

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Phantom Sunstorm***: Boost- This boost doesn't seem all that potent at first, but when you consider all the variable damage boosts available to POW characters, this becomes a lot more appealing. Max your damage, and watch your enemies burn.

Stunning Solar Flare****: Strike- Let's do a bunch of extra damage (that isn't fire!) and stun our opponent for 1d3 rounds. Then let's point and laugh at him. Because really, you've got like 2 more rounds before he can even act again, so take a little break to revel in the suffering of your enemies like Conan would.

Triple Solar Reflection****: Strike- The Solar Reflection series of maneuvers are all pretty good for their levels, and Triple Solar Reflection continues to demonstrate that. Hit four opponents with one attack, and do extra damage to the first three.

8th

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Aurora Break***: Boost- If you read only the short description of this maneuver it's terrible, doing exactly the same thing as the 6th level maneuver Burning Break, Fortunately the detailed description increases this to +8d6 on all attacks, making it much more attractive.

Solar Hailstorm Stance*: You get to add your Wis Modifier to ranged attack damage, and you get two extra attacks on a full attack action. Everyone loves extra attacks, and this is just perfect... until you read that it doesn't stack with haste, speed weapons, or the multi-shot (which is probably supposed to be the Mayshot Feat) and rapid shot feats. So with that, you're gaining two extra attacks, but losing out on potentially 3 (haste/speed, Manyshot, and Rapid Shot). Please excuse me while I go cry in a corner.

Solar Wind Tsunami****: A 60 ft cone is a pretty massive area and 15d6+Initiator Level damage (notably untyped) is significant enough to make for one heck of a mook killer. There's a Reflex Save for Half damage though, which can really ruin your plans.

9th

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Solar Wind Nova****: A 20 ft area spread, with 20d6 damage and a save or knock prone. It's a good capstone maneuver, and probably the best AOE in Path of War, but it doesn't get to take advantage of any flat damage bonuses you might have.

Thrashing Dragon

Hey, remember how Two Weapon Fighting kind of stinks? Thrashing Dragon fixes that. With plenty of damage boosts, some great multi hit attacks and a few good mobility maneuvers, Thrashing Dragon makes Two Weapon Fighting more than just viable, it makes it outright deadly. The associated Skill for Thrashing Dragon is Acrobatics***** and its associated weapon groups are Close Weapons, Light Blades and Double Weapons.

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Inner Sphere Stance****: Stance- A very good defensive stance, especially at level 1, but most people aren't going to use it when compared to its brother stance.

Offensive Roll****: Strike- An acrobatics check (which you should easily make) to flat foot your opponent and do extra damage.

Outer Sphere Stance*****: Stance- This stance has the highest damage bonus of any 1st level stance. Its the equivalent of +2d6 damage per round at level one. The -2 to AC is completely forgivable considering how good this stance is.

Swift Claws****: Strike- The first of many maneuvers in this discipline that offer you the chance to hit your opponent twice (or more) as a standard action. Make sure you're in Outer Sphere stance when you use this and you'll be shredding your way through the opposition. The only downside is that you have to target one opponent with both attacks.

Talon on the Wing**: Boost- If you're in Thrashing Dragon for the throwing weapon stuff, this is good for you. Otherwise skip it.

Wyrmling’s Fang***: Throw your weapon at a foe and do extra damage. I'd recommend not using such maneuvers unless you have access to returning weapons, or a shield

2nd

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Flash Kick***: Strike- This is a very rare Full Attack Action strike. It lets you add an extra unarmed strike to you full attack with a damage boost but an attack penalty. It's decent, but I can't help feeling like it was supposed to be a boost.

Flick of the Wrist****: Strike- I know I've warned against Disarming foes before, but this isn't even a Disarm Combat Maneuver. It's just two attack rolls (with an attack bonus) doing regular damage, and your character just happens to steal your opponents weapon. This is how Disarming should be.

Reflexive Twist****: Counter- A save replacing maneuver, which allows a Reflex Save to be replaced by an Acrobatics check. If you're Dex focused you can pretty much guarantee that your Acrobatics check is going to be higher than your Reflex Save.

Sun Dips Low****: Counter- Let's replace your AC with an Acrobatics Check. This one is a little harder to justify keeping considering all the bonuses you can get to AC, but it definitely has its uses.

Sweeping Tail**: Strike- The trip attempt does not provoke AoOs, and gets a bonus to the roll, but the damage is very low. You could do much better than this maneuver unless you're trying to trigger AoOs on your opponent when they get up.

3rd

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Ancient’s Fang***: Strike- I'm not sure this maneuver qualifies for a word as heavy as Ancient, but its a good boost to damage with your thrown weapon of choice. Here's a fun image about how the name came about though: Imagine a Great Wyrm Gold Dragon spitting his dentures at a foe to attack them.

Battle Dragon’s Stance*****: Stance- Two weapon fighting comes with a lot of annoying little penalties that get in the way of the damage, Battle Dragon's Stance can reduce or even eliminate those penalties. The Initiative Boost is great, and the extra damage for TWF is just gravy.

Fangs Strike Low****: Strike- This maneuver applies a goodly amount of bleed damage to the opponent, but the best part is that it halves the opponents (land) movement speed.

Vicious Swipe***: Strike- Does extra damage, and has a chance to daze the opponent. I'd probably put this in a different discipline if it was me, since it feels more at home in Steel Serpent or Broken Blade, but its a solid maneuver with a great potential debuff nonetheless.

4th

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Devastation Roll****: Strike- This maneuver is a little tough to read, but if you move alongside your opponent for 10 feet and use an acrobatics check to beat their AC, you do lots of extra damage and the opponent is considered flat footed.

Dragon Assault*****: Strike- Make a full attack action, and every attack that hits does increasing damage. This is a great maneuver that only gets better the more attacks you have. It caps at +5d6, but that's ok, because it doesn't say you don't continue adding +5d6 to every attack after the 5th one. This maneuver will continue to see use even up to 20th level.

Dragon Rush****: Boost- As part of an attack, full attack, etc. action this boost adds an extra unarmed strike that does +3d6 damage. More attacks make me happy.

Sharpened Talons***: Boost- How good this maneuver is depends on whether or not it requires you to be doing slashing damage. The Detailed Description says that it only applies to light blades or natural attacks that do slashing damage, but the short description says it applies to light weapons.

5th

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Bend With the Wind****: Stance- One of the best defensive stances there are, you can either gain a stacking bonus to AC for every attack that misses you, or you can make a 5 foot step every time they miss. You can even mix and match the effects. This stance does require some battlefield awareness, since you have to have an open space to move to in order to gain the benefit of either effect though.

Hurricane of Fangs***: Boost- Another boost to thrown weapons, this increases their range and adds your Initiator Level to damage.

Reversing Thrust****: Counter- Not only can you negate your opponent's attack with an acrobatics check, you can make a counterattack at your full Base Attack Bonus. This is a very tasty counter.

Thrashing Dragon Twist*****: Strike- Two attacks against every adjacent foe makes this strictly better than cleave and great cleave. The added attack for Unarmed Strikes makes this an absolutely amazing maneuver.

6th

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Great Wyrm’s Fang***: Strike- A great boost to damage for a thrown weapon, but there's no listed damage for the bleed effect.

Rending Claws***: Strike- This can only be used with slashing or piercing weapons, but if used the damage is pretty impressive.

Tail Slap***: Strike- The damage bonus for this maneuver is crap, and its useless unless you're invested in Unarmed Strike damage, but the status effect is great. Your opponent is either stunned for 1d4 rounds or dazed for 1. In either case, they're in trouble.

Unbreakable Talons***: Boost- A good damage bonus, and the ability to treat your slashing or piercing weapons (and natural attacks) as adamantine make this a very solid boost.

7th

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Alacrity on Wing****: Counter- remember all the great stuff about Reversing Thrust? This is even better. You still get to negate the attack, and now you get to make two counter attacks, each with a nice little damage bonus.

Brutal Dragon’s Stance****: Stance- This is an improved version of Outer Sphere Stance, and offers increased damage for the same penalty. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the damage boost is quite as good as it was at level 1.

Thrashing Dragon Frenzy*****: Strike- Thrashing Dragon Twist's big brother. With this, you can make 4 attacks against each opponent, or 6 if you have IUS. Yes, I said 6 attacks.

8th

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Doom Talon****: Boost- Automatically confirm a critical hit and deal extra damage. You still gain the bonus damage against foes that are immune to critical hits, which is nice.

Dragon Warrior’s Talons/Stance****: Stance- There's some naming confusion in the PDF, but the mechanics are fine. Your attacks ignore DR and deal bleed damage. No mention of if the bleed damage stacks, so assume not.

Thrashing Blades*****: Strike- A standard action to initiate, this strike lets you make a full attack with no reduction in attack penalty for iterative attacks, and deal extra damage with each attack. The -4 penalty to AC next round isn't even a blip on the radar.

9th

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Deadly Dragon Strike*****: Strike- This attack is a killer, literally. You make two attacks against targeted foes (either both attacks on one target or one attack for each of two targets) and if the attacks hit, it forces a fortitude save or be slain instantly, and even if they succeed they still take major damage. The fact that you can force your opponent to make two pretty high saves or be killed is pretty darn impressive.

[Elricaltovilla]

New Feats and Useful Old Feats

The Path of War introduces a bunch of new feats that are useable by any character, and have plenty to offer. I'll be providing ratings for each of the new feats presented in Path of War and highlighting some very useful older feats for the stalker.

New Feats

Advanced Study [Combat]****: This feat lets you add two new maneuvers or one stance to your list of maneuvers/stances known. It can be taken multiple times, so feel free to take it if you want to nab a few extra high level maneuvers or stances.

Discipline Focus [General]***: Discipline Focus increases the Save DC of your maneuvers and the damage of Discipline weapons. If there's a particular weapon you're attached to this is a good way to add a little extra damage and a little extra oomph to your favorite discipline.

Deadly Agility [Combat]*****: The best feat to be released in Path of War, Deadly Agility allows you to use your Dexterity in place of Strength for any Finesseable weapon. You can potentially take this right out of the gate, and safely dump Strength. Note that during the Playtest, this was a HIGHLY controversial feat, so there's a very good chance your DM will ban, nerf or otherwise interfere with this feat.

Double Weapon Finesse [Combat]***: Double Weapon Finesse is kind of tough to rate, if you're building a Dex based, Two Weapon Fighting, Double Weapon using character, then your prayers are answered. But otherwise, you're not going to even look at this long enough to know what it does.

Extra Readied Maneuver [Combat]****: For some reason this feat makes me think of Dirty Harry. You can have an extra maneuver readied to pull out just in case. Having an extra Boost or Strike to down your opponent, or an extra Counter to save your hide can really make a difference.

Extra Gambit [Combat]**: You actually might want to avoid this feat due to the way Gambits refresh. You'll end up with plenty of gambits, probably more than you need, so taking on another trick to complete before you get the good ones back isn't recommended.

Fuse Styles [Combat, Style]***: Allowing you to assume a stance and a style with the same action is pretty nice if you're using both. Supposedly there will be new Style feats coming down the pipeline, but none have appeared yet.

Greater Unarmed Strike [Combat]****: Let's make Improved Unarmed Strike viable for people who aren't monks or ninjas. There's some good damage progression on this feat, but it doesn't interact at all with classes that use a Monk's Unarmed Strike damage progression.

Lightning Recovery [Combat]**: Once per day you can immediately recover an expended maneuver as a free action. You can take this feat multiple times, but honestly I'm not sure its worth it.

Lightning Swap [Combat]**: If there were a class that could take advantage of drawing and sheathing their weapon as a free action to gain some sort of mechanical benefit, this would be a much better feat. As it is now, it's just a good bit of flavor and a bonus to CMD.
EDIT: This is being replaced by the Mixed Combat Feat from Ultimate Psionics.

Martial Training I-VI [Combat]*****: There are six levels of feat here, and each one lets you learn two and ready one maneuver from a chosen discipline. The recovery mechanic for them sucks, but if you choose Thrashing Dragon or Broken Blade, your maneuvers are all keyed off your Dexterity, which has some good potential use with the Prestige Classes that are currently in beta.

After taking all six levels, you net: 9->11 Maneuvers Known, 3->5 Stances Known, and 6 Maneuvers Readied, with two opportunities to swap out previously learned maneuvers. You can select maneuvers of up to 6th level, and treat your Initiator Level as 1/2 your Character Level + your Initiator Stat Modifier (chosen via your discipline skill).

Old Feats

Weapon Finesse*****: You want this because you want Deadly Agility. You want this so you can dump Strength. You want this.

Piranha Strike****: The Dex based Power Attack, it's a very useful feat if available, but because it's in an obscure book it may not be allowed.

Improved Initiative***: This does border on Blue****, depending on your exact build. If your dexterity is high, and you have extra options to improve your initiative further that you could avoid taking this, but if you find yourself with room, it's a very good choice to have.

-Point Blank Shot/Precise Shot/Rapid Shot/Deadly Aim*****: This rating only applies if you're playing a ranged Warlord. You're going to need these feats and other archery feats to make your style viable in the long run. I don't want to go into detail on all of them, but archery is very feat intensive and these 4 are key to any archery build.


Panther Style****,Panther Claw*****, Panther Parry****- When you provoke an AoO from movement, you can spend a swift action (Free Action up to Wis Mod times with Panther Claw) to make a retaliatory AoO against your opponent. Considering how Primal Fury, Golden Lion and Scarlet Throne all offer maneuvers that let you take extra movements are, there will be plenty of opportunities to put these to good use. Its too bad you need IUS to make them work.

Multiclassing

Path of War classes are multiclass friendly, if you take a dip in another class, make sure its an even numbered dip because non initiator class levels count as 1/2 of an Initiator Level. These tables below show how levels in PoW classes interact with Levels in other classes for determining Initiator Level and access to maneuvers.

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{TABLE=head]Table 1.
{TABLE=head]Levels in Non-initiator Class|IL from those classes|Highest level of maneuver after 1 level of initiator class
2|1|1
4|2|2
6|3|2
8|4|3
10|5|3
12|6|4
14|7|4
16|8|5
18|9|5[/TABLE][/TABLE]


{TABLE=head]Table 2.
{TABLE=head]Levels in non-initiator class|Levels in initiator class|total initiator level at 20|highest level maneuvers at 20
2|18|19|9th
4|16|18|9th
6|14|17|9th
8|2|16|8th
10|10|15|8th
12|8|14|7th
14|6|13|7th
16|4|12|6th
18|2|11|6th[/TABLE][/TABLE]

Tables Courtesy of Novawurmson and Greenish

[rollforeigninit]

Subscribing to thread. Good job so far. My wife will be a Warlord(lady?) in our upcoming campaign so I'd better pay attention. ;)

[deuxhero]

Angel-Blooded Aasimar has nice stats (and SLA) on its own, but what makes it really nice is it can fly under its own power for with the Angel Wings feat (a little late at 11 though it is unlimited then).

[Elricaltovilla]

Subscribing to thread. Good job so far. My wife will be a Warlord(lady?) in our upcoming campaign so I'd better pay attention. ;)

Glad you like it. Let me know if you have any questions and let me know how your wife likes the class.

Angel-Blooded Aasimar has nice stats (and SLA) on its own, but what makes it really nice is it can fly under its own power for with the Angel Wings feat (a little late at 11 though it is unlimited then).

There's an aasimar and a teifling for everything, I may add them in later, but I usually just highlight the core races because I know those will be available.

[Elricaltovilla]

Well this is ready enough to pull the WIP tag, calling Novawurmson to add it to his guide compendium!

[Squirrel_Dude]

Doesn't the Warlord also have access to the Thrashing Dragon discipline?

[Elricaltovilla]

Doesn't the Warlord also have access to the Thrashing Dragon discipline?

Yes, guess I forgot to put that in the intro to the discipline descriptions. The analysis is already in the third post though.

[TheLastSane1]

Well I bought this product just now, and your guide will help out a lot.

I noticed hammers featured a lot into the disciplines weapons could you use this for a hammer-slinger build?

[Elricaltovilla]

Well I bought this product just now, and your guide will help out a lot.

I noticed hammers featured a lot into the disciplines weapons could you use this for a hammer-slinger build?

Oh very definitely. For something like that, I'd recommend a Dex build with a focus on PrimalFury, Thrashing Dragon and Solar Wind. Dual Wield the hammers, and maybe change the damage type of Solar Wind to electricity/sonic, rename it "Mjolnir's Rain" for a more Thor like feel.

[TheLastSane1]

To bad Dwarfs suck, the Dwarven Thrower would be awesome for this build even if you would need 120K to buy two of them.

Thanks for the advice, I am currently working on Bard//Warlord Gestalt Thought Build. So far its awesome!

[Elricaltovilla]

To bad Dwarfs suck, the Dwarven Thrower would be awesome for this build even if you would need 120K to buy two of them.

Thanks for the advice, I am currently working on Bard//Warlord Gestalt Thought Build. So far its awesome!

I'd love to see it when you're done.

[Novawurmson]

Hey! I haven't been on the forums much, but I'll add this to the compendium in a jiffy :D

[tekevil]

So a Greatsword or Falchion will net you favored weapon bonus for Golden Lion, Primal Fury, and Scarlet Throne? Nice!

[ghanjrho]

So a Greatsword or Falchion will net you favored weapon bonus for Golden Lion, Primal Fury, and Scarlet Throne? Nice!

Also Scythe, Katana, Longsword and Falcata. If you want to throw in some Thrashing Dragon synergy, make it a Two-Bladed Sword or Double Walking-Stick Katana. The DWSK can also be used for Broken Blade if you take Mixed Combat (resheath it as a free action, it becomes a quarterstaff)

[Ecliptic]

I know this guide is a couple years old, but it's great! any chance of adding mithral current (discipline) and bushi/archetypes to it? ;}