All the Path of War Guides in One Place!

[Elricaltovilla]

Alright, the Hussar guide is up on the first post now. Thanks again Upho! Now let's get guides on the rest of that stuff!

[Swaoeaeieu]

Finally, here's Live to Ride, Ride to Live - A guide to the Hussar class template!

There's still quite a bit of work remaining, but I believe it's at least helpful rather than confusing in its current state. Please let me know of any errors, missed options, any specific wishes you might have etc. And of course, comments/critique/praise/nitpicking/declarations of your undying love/whatever are most welcome!

a while back (years perhaps, when did PoW Ex come out?) i had an idea of a tiger riding warlord Hussar, giving the tiger panther style (i think, it has been a while) and the rider a reach weapon. Add some combat reflexes and charge past a bunch of people to hit all in the way of the real target, who gets hit by the best strike you have. I remember it being a fun idea, but never got around to writing it down.

anyway, seeing your guide reminded me of that and now im back in the animal companion frenzy.

some quick googling taught me some stuff that might fit in the guide:
- Dire collar item, Once a day, enlarge person for your animal.

- Totem beast feat, give your AC a hunter animal focus boost.

- Spirits gift, give your AC a shaman spirit gift.

- Celestial servant, for Aasimar only, but makes your AC a celestial creature

- Vampiric Companion, undead AC, gets fast healing and other stuff

- Humans alternate racial feature Eye for Talent, +2 to your AC stat of choise.

- Evangelist Prestige class, seems dumb but it adds class features from a class you have to its own (all except for one level) AND if your diety of choise is Erastil you get to summon an EXACT copy of your AC for 1 round/character level each day. So you only loose one EDL and get a second companion.

- While its a little silly, we are playing pathfinder so what the heck. with int 3 on your AC you can teach them any feats, so teaching your monkey companion kung fu is perfectly reasonable. Maybe look at the various style feats in the feat section of the handbook?

all in all, great handbook, it got my mind spinning with character ideas :D

EDIT: Aparantly you can go Aasimar with Scion of humanity so you can take racial herritage to count as Dhamphir. Meaning you can take both Celestial compantion and Vampiric companion. Vampiric Companion gives your mount the Weaknesses associated with your race, but since you only count as a Dhampir and arent actually one, you just give your mount the benefit of being undead, but not the drawbacks. If i just read that right offcourse. Holy Vampire Animals anyone?

[upho]

a while back (years perhaps, when did PoW Ex come out?) i had an idea of a tiger riding warlord Hussar, giving the tiger panther style (i think, it has been a while) and the rider a reach weapon. Add some combat reflexes and charge past a bunch of people to hit all in the way of the real target, who gets hit by the best strike you have. I remember it being a fun idea, but never got around to writing it down.

Wait... A tiger with panther style? Were you planning on having your kitty copy another kitty's style? That's.... Kitty Rip-Off! *Everyone* knows only a panther mount has panther style, and your tiger would of course never agree to have any other style than tiger style!

More seriously, that sounds like a pretty fun concept, and potentially quite effective with Paired Opportunists. The downside is that the both of you provoke when the both of you are leaving a threatened square. It would of course have been quite a bit better for a Hussar if only the mount provokes, because of Mounted Combat and the related maneuver recovery.

Btw, as far as I've seen, it seems most groups/GMs rule that AoOs provoked by mounted movement can be taken against either the rider or the mount, attacker's choice, not against both as per the actual RAW (assuming Combat Reflexes). How is this handled at your table?

anyway, seeing your guide reminded me of that and now im back in the animal companion frenzy.

Nice to see you return!

some quick googling taught me some stuff that might fit in the guide:

Thanks! Some of these weren't yet on my radar. Highly appreciated!

- Dire collar item, Once a day, enlarge person for your animal.

Both versions of this are going to be in the item section.

- Totem beast feat, give your AC a hunter animal focus boost.

This is great, and could be well worth a feat slot in higher levels. Continuous and class-independent scaling. Dunno why I've missed this. Thanks!

- Spirits gift, give your AC a shaman spirit gift.

This I already knew of, and haven't included yet because it's awful AFAICT. It has that terrible "standard action for a mediocre bonus 1 minute/day"-thing which also plagues many similar Paizo feats. Although truth be told, I haven't yet looked at all the possible spirit animal benefits yet. Anything in particular you were thinking of?

- Celestial servant, for Aasimar only, but makes your AC a celestial creature

This I've also decided not to include yet, mainly because it won't often be worth one of the Hussar's typically extremely valuable feat slots before high levels. But see also about the zombie silliness below.

- Vampiric Companion, undead AC, gets fast healing and other stuff

Now this can actually be pretty darn awesome! Although healing could of course become problematic, and you'd be pretty limited in your choice of mount, since very few of the useful ones come with enough Cha to be viable as undead. Great find, thanks!

- Humans alternate racial feature Eye for Talent, +2 to your AC stat of choise.

I'm going to put this in together with the similar Halfling ART, since both are traps for a Hussar, replacing traits which are far more valuable. So with the possible exception of increasing a mount's Int in a game limited to the earliest levels, this is a very bad option. So far, the only truly worthwhile similar ART I've found is the Half-orc's Shaman Enhancement, since it actually replaces something of typically less value for a Hussar.

- Evangelist Prestige class, seems dumb but it adds class features from a class you have to its own (all except for one level) AND if your diety of choise is Erastil you get to summon an EXACT copy of your AC for 1 round/character level each day. So you only loose one EDL and get a second companion.

Evangelist is typically not especially great for a Hussar, but that Erastil boon... Whoa! I had completely missed this. Considering how deadly a mount can be even without a rider, it could make the PrC quite a bit more attractive for the Hussars who play in a setting with access to the boon. And the lost EDL isn't necessarily much of a problem, since you'll often need Boon Companion anyways. Too bad the other Erastil boons are of very little use.

- While its a little silly, we are playing pathfinder so what the heck. with int 3 on your AC you can teach them any feats, so teaching your monkey companion kung fu is perfectly reasonable. Maybe look at the various style feats in the feat section of the handbook?

Oh, I have, but I should probably take another look, since I had obviously forgotten for example that the Panther Style chain's prereqs actually aren't that bad for many mounts, and its benefits could be nice for charge and AoO oriented Hussars.

Btw, there's actually nothing stopping any Int 3 mount from taking IUS as well as any style feats, barring those which require a hand-held manufactured weapon, of course. And there's Feral Combat Training to make the IUS dependent ones sing. Still, most of them aren't worth the tons of feats typically required to get them going, so only Bulette Charge Style have so far made it into the guide.

all in all, great handbook, it got my mind spinning with character ideas :D

Thanks! That's exactly the effect I was hoping for!

EDIT: Aparantly you can go Aasimar with Scion of humanity so you can take racial herritage to count as Dhamphir. Meaning you can take both Celestial compantion and Vampiric companion. Vampiric Companion gives your mount the Weaknesses associated with your race, but since you only count as a Dhampir and arent actually one, you just give your mount the benefit of being undead, but not the drawbacks. If i just read that right offcourse. Holy Vampire Animals anyone?

Huh...? Lemme just...

*checks related RAW*



*checks again*



Yes, you definitely read that right. So unless there's some rarely discussed Paizo FAQ entry which takes this cheese off the table, it appears an aasimar Hussar could totally ride say an "Dead Devil Monkey Angel" with a Cha pumped up as far as it goes (which won't exactly be to the High Heavens, but still)...

I absolutely love it! Especially since the combo's mechanical benefits are actually nothing special in relation to the costs, while the flavor is just so hilariously freakishly weird and silly it simply has to be done!

OK, new rule: every PF game must include at least one session in which a CZM^TM (Celestial Zombie Mount^TM) plays a major role. Officers of the Special Swaoeaeieu CZM^TM Agency will make regular visits to ensure this rule is followed.

[Swaoeaeieu]

Wait... A tiger with panther style? Were you planning on having your kitty copy another kitty's style? That's.... Kitty Rip-Off! *Everyone* knows only a panther mount has panther style, and your tiger would of course never agree to have any other style than tiger style!

More seriously, that sounds like a pretty fun concept, and potentially quite effective with Paired Opportunists. The downside is that the both of you provoke when the both of you are leaving a threatened square. It would of course have been quite a bit better for a Hussar if only the mount provokes, because of Mounted Combat and the related maneuver recovery.

Btw, as far as I've seen, it seems most groups/GMs rule that AoOs provoked by mounted movement can be taken against either the rider or the mount, attacker's choice, not against both as per the actual RAW (assuming Combat Reflexes). How is this handled at your table?

Nice to see you return!

Thanks! Some of these weren't yet on my radar. Highly appreciated!

Both versions of this are going to be in the item section.

This is great, and could be well worth a feat slot in higher levels. Continuous and class-independent scaling. Dunno why I've missed this. Thanks!

This I already knew of, and haven't included yet because it's awful AFAICT. It has that terrible "standard action for a mediocre bonus 1 minute/day"-thing which also plagues many similar Paizo feats. Although truth be told, I haven't yet looked at all the possible spirit animal benefits yet. Anything in particular you were thinking of?

This I've also decided not to include yet, mainly because it won't often be worth one of the Hussar's typically extremely valuable feat slots before high levels. But see also about the zombie silliness below.

Now this can actually be pretty darn awesome! Although healing could of course become problematic, and you'd be pretty limited in your choice of mount, since very few of the useful ones come with enough Cha to be viable as undead. Great find, thanks!

I'm going to put this in together with the similar Halfling ART, since both are traps for a Hussar, replacing traits which are far more valuable. So with the possible exception of increasing a mount's Int in a game limited to the earliest levels, this is a very bad option. So far, the only truly worthwhile similar ART I've found is the Half-orc's Shaman Enhancement, since it actually replaces something of typically less value for a Hussar.

Evangelist is typically not especially great for a Hussar, but that Erastil boon... Whoa! I had completely missed this. Considering how deadly a mount can be even without a rider, it could make the PrC quite a bit more attractive for the Hussars who play in a setting with access to the boon. And the lost EDL isn't necessarily much of a problem, since you'll often need Boon Companion anyways. Too bad the other Erastil boons are of very little use.

Oh, I have, but I should probably take another look, since I had obviously forgotten for example that the Panther Style chain's prereqs actually aren't that bad for many mounts, and its benefits could be nice for charge and AoO oriented Hussars.

Btw, there's actually nothing stopping any Int 3 mount from taking IUS as well as any style feats, barring those which require a hand-held manufactured weapon, of course. And there's Feral Combat Training to make the IUS dependent ones sing. Still, most of them aren't worth the tons of feats typically required to get them going, so only Bulette Charge Style have so far made it into the guide.

Thanks! That's exactly the effect I was hoping for!

Huh...? Lemme just...

*checks related RAW*



*checks again*



Yes, you definitely read that right. So unless there's some rarely discussed Paizo FAQ entry which takes this cheese off the table, it appears an aasimar Hussar could totally ride say an "Dead Devil Monkey Angel" with a Cha pumped up as far as it goes (which won't exactly be to the High Heavens, but still)...

I absolutely love it! Especially since the combo's mechanical benefits are actually nothing special in relation to the costs, while the flavor is just so hilariously freakishly weird and silly it simply has to be done!

OK, new rule: every PF game must include at least one session in which a CZM^TM (Celestial Zombie Mount^TM) plays a major role. Officers of the Special Swaoeaeieu CZM^TM Agency will make regular visits to ensure this rule is followed.

glad to help!
on the things i mentioned that arent that good: it still might be worth adding them to the guide as a warning to future Hussar players. As i found those with a ten minute google quest other might too. So the big red letters might be a good warning to our dear animal friends.

CZM, akashic animal companion template, teach em some maneuvers (preferably supernatural ones like Broken Hourglass or Sleeping godess), really try to make your DM give up with fitting that abomination into the narative.

[upho]

Hussar guide update: Just wanted to say that finally almost everything aside from the maneuver section is in place and the guide is nearly finished, though there still also remains a bit of work on the Gear, FAQ and example build sections. I think it's also grown to more than twice of the size it was two weeks ago when I first presented it.

glad to help!
on the things i mentioned that arent that good: it still might be worth adding them to the guide as a warning to future Hussar players. As i found those with a ten minute google quest other might too. So the big red letters might be a good warning to our dear animal friends.

CZM, akashic animal companion template, teach em some maneuvers (preferably supernatural ones like Broken Hourglass or Sleeping godess), really try to make your DM give up with fitting that abomination into the narative.

I've added most of the stuff we've talked about, and thankfully for example Totem Spirit isn't necessarily as bad as I first suspected. Haven't yet had the time to put in the items, and I've decided not to include Evangelist, at least for now. Thanks again for your help!

[nothinglord]

I couldn't easily find an answer to this question elsewhere, but the answer might be worth putting in the guides, so I'll just ask here. For the purposes of Silver Vulnerability, what actually counts as silver? Obviously a silver or mithral weapon should, but does anything else count? The Flowing Mithral Fist feat explicitly calls out being counted for silver vulnerability, but would things like a +2 weapon or the Eldritch Claws feat count?

[Elricaltovilla]

I couldn't easily find an answer to this question elsewhere, but the answer might be worth putting in the guides, so I'll just ask here. For the purposes of Silver Vulnerability, what actually counts as silver? Obviously a silver or mithral weapon should, but does anything else count? The Flowing Mithral Fist feat explicitly calls out being counted for silver vulnerability, but would things like a +2 weapon or the Eldritch Claws feat count?

Only silver, alchemical silver, mithral or other things that explicitly stated they count as silver for purposes of vulnerability would count.

[kaliisteele]

Just discovered Meele Tactics Toolbox has a Finesse-able spear called the elven branch spear, possibly saving you a feat if you want spears and are playing an elf or half-elf, but you can still pick it up with exotic weapon proficiency. will definitely be using on my zealot. it even gives you a +2 to AoO attacks triggered by movement.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

It doesn't really save you a feat (it changes to Weapon Finesse->Deadly Agility from Spear Dancer->Deadly Agility), but it does vary up your flexibility, and you can pick it up sooner, if you already have the proficiency. But he normally doesn't put specific weapons that have weird properties in his guides, though.

[Elricaltovilla]

Just discovered Meele Tactics Toolbox has a Finesse-able spear called the elven branch spear, possibly saving you a feat if you want spears and are playing an elf or half-elf, but you can still pick it up with exotic weapon proficiency. will definitely be using on my zealot. it even gives you a +2 to AoO attacks triggered by movement.

Elven Branch Spear is really only impressive if you aren't using Path of War. Other Spears and polearms are better in general and are available for use through Polearm Dancer.

[Andor13]

Out of curiosity, are they ever going to fix the Black Seraph Style? It's been broken for a while now to the best of my knowledge.

[Elricaltovilla]

Out of curiosity, are they ever going to fix the Black Seraph Style? It's been broken for a while now to the best of my knowledge.

I can't answer that question, sorry.

[Sunforger42]

So, I've been on the guy who does the Tactician handbook for the last few years about this, but I'm really into the Awakened Blade prestige class, and was hoping someone would do a handbook of that guy. Any takers?

[Elricaltovilla]

So, I've been on the guy who does the Tactician handbook for the last few years about this, but I'm really into the Awakened Blade prestige class, and was hoping someone would do a handbook of that guy. Any takers?

"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

That's how I got started writing these guides. You should consider doing the same. 90% of it is just spelling out the obvious for people. And then you can steal all the glory and praise for writing the guide and giving back to your online community instead of letting someone else get it.

If no one else is willing to climb that hill, you should consider doing it yourself. I promise it'll be a rewarding experience for you.

[Kaouse]

Is there a guide for the Fool's Errand Discipline? If not, can anybody who has played around with it in game share their experiences with the discipline, as well as how it compares to other disciplines? What really cool things can initiators of this discipline do that others cannot?

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Is there a guide for the Fool's Errand Discipline? If not, can anybody who has played around with it in game share their experiences with the discipline, as well as how it compares to other disciplines? What really cool things can initiators of this discipline do that others cannot?

I can do that, I played a Fools Errand specialist from 10-15. I had a blast playing him; it sticks to a central theme very well, but applies it very well. A lot of really good stances, and good ways to blend unarmed and armed combat. It also has some very interesting meta things it can do; a stance that also allows you to be in a lower stance, a counter that can copy maneuvers... Lock is a useful mechanic to employ. But I also made my GM and a few other players eternal haters of PoW by the time the campaign fell apart.

[Swaoeaeieu]

Is there a guide for the Fool's Errand Discipline? If not, can anybody who has played around with it in game share their experiences with the discipline, as well as how it compares to other disciplines? What really cool things can initiators of this discipline do that others cannot?

I played a sanguinist medic who also focussed on fools errand. Best argument for the discipline is my experience with how we ended our campaign at level 20, where i suplexed an elder dragon through a portal to hell after uppercutting him 300 feat into the air.

Path of War is great for making your character feel over the top cool, fools errand is no different.

Being able to punch someone 2000ft away from you at high level does erase certain chalanges, but can very much be worked around by the dm.

all in all i recommend it!

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Note that unless your entire group is on board with Path of War, Utter Commitment WILL make people angry.

On a more constructive note, Fools Errand Style is a very neat set of feats. Really, the weakest part of Fool's Errand is that it relies on Climb.

[upho]

So, I've been on the guy who does the Tactician handbook for the last few years about this, but I'm really into the Awakened Blade prestige class, and was hoping someone would do a handbook of that guy. Any takers?

Generally speaking, in terms of mechanical effectiveness the Awakened Blade is at the very least good and not rarely absolutely awesome on top of a combination of almost any class with a power progression - including the tactician - and any class with initiation with a matching stat dependence. Or on top of a single class archetype already offering both, such as the Pathwalker psychic warrior or a Gifted Blade + War Soul soulknife.

I believe advice on PrCs should preferably be given in the guides for the most related base classes, as they often are. Which of course doesn't necessarily diminish the value of guides focusing on individual PrcCs as well, especially in the case of the more class-agnostic ones which may work well on top of a large number of class combinations. Such as the Awakened Blade. Which also really stands out from a very large majority of PF PrCs, both in terms of the number of build types it may enable/enhance, and in terms of its many powerful features.

So I totally agree with you that the AB deserves its own guide, and with Elric that you should do it yourself! Especially considering how long you've already been waiting and that such a guide may very well never see the light of day unless you write it yourself.

If you're looking for stuff already written about the AB, have a look at its entries in Battleship789's Soulknife guide and Castilonium's Zealot guide (link in OP of this thread). And I've made a sample zealot/wilder/AB build also found in the zealot guide plus a more basic build outline of a warder/psion/AB hanging out in this thread which may be of interest.

[digiman619]

Note that unless your entire group is on board with Path of War, Utter Commitment WILL make people angry.

On a more constructive note, Fools Errand Style is a very neat set of feats. Really, the weakest part of Fool's Errand is that it relies on Climb.

On the plus side, picking a Carfolk for your race gives you +8 racial bonus, something that no other discipline has (assuming there's not a Fly or Swim based discipline I missed).

[Elricaltovilla]

On the plus side, picking a Carfolk for your race gives you +8 racial bonus, something that no other discipline has (assuming there's not a Fly or Swim based discipline I missed).

What book is the Carfolk race in? Vehicles and Villains?

[TiaC]

So, I've been on the guy who does the Tactician handbook for the last few years about this, but I'm really into the Awakened Blade prestige class, and was hoping someone would do a handbook of that guy. Any takers?

I started a guide here. Please give me feedback.

[ATalsen]

On a more constructive note, Fools Errand Style is a very neat set of feats. Really, the weakest part of Fool's Errand is that it relies on Climb.

I always thought that relying on climb was a strong point; I mean, very few skills out there can easily get a +8 racial bonus, just from having a climb speed, and getting a climb speed is fairly easy if you are looking to do so.


At the low end, a potion of Spider Climb should get you that +8.

Spider Climb
"The subject gains a climb speed of 20 feet and a +8 racial bonus on Climb skill checks"


EDIT: I see digiman619 makes the same point about the +8 bonus.

[Sunforger42]

I started a guide here. Please give me feedback.

I understand the idea of trying to save as many manifestor levels as possible, as that is the munchkin thing to do. "Thou shalt not sacrifice Caster Levels, or Manifestor levels" is one of the first rules of making an optimized gish. I get that. Don't forget that in a high psionics campaign, Dreamscarred Press suggests giving all soulknives the gifted power progression, meaning you can combine it with the initiator progression, meaning it's another class that can enter the prestige class on its own. I have never played a soulknife like that, though. I do love the Gifted Blade archetype, and it goes really well with the Psychic Armory archetype, or the unarmed combat archetype. I like that the soulknife can either be the manifesting side with the Gifted Blade archetype, or the initiating side with the War Soul archetype. Something I've been thinking about is the psychic armory gifted blade with an aurora soul mystic, so that you are SAD on Wis, and you have ranged and melee options.

[upho]

I always thought that relying on climb was a strong point; I mean, very few skills out there can easily get a +8 racial bonus, just from having a climb speed, and getting a climb speed is fairly easy if you are looking to do so.

This. On top of the fact that it's the only Str based discipline skill, meaning it can often be brought up higher than even Intimidate and not rarely for even less cost, and easily far above any Dex based discipline skill. Which in turn can make FE's skill dependent maneuvers some of the most reliable in the game, including even when used against monster CMD's in higher levels.

In short, in comparison to the other disciplines, you pay investments in an otherwise more pointless skill in exchange for much better combat use potential. Sure, it's not as great a discipline skill as Intimidate can be, but so is no other.

I started a guide here.

Yay! TiaC has Awakened! Good morning, TiaC!

Please give me feedback.

Aight:

I understand the idea of trying to save as many manifestor levels as possible, as that is the munchkin thing to do. "Thou shalt not sacrifice Caster Levels, or Manifestor levels" is one of the first rules of making an optimized gish. I get that. Don't forget that in a high psionics campaign, Dreamscarred Press suggests giving all soulknives the gifted power progression, meaning you can combine it with the initiator progression, meaning it's another class that can enter the prestige class on its own.

These are pretty much also my thoughts.

And even from a pure optimization POV, for example Pathwalker psy-war 6 won't make for a bad damage focused AB, especially in most games which end before 15th anyways. You actually get an overall better power level progression than manifester/initiator class combos prioritizing the initiator side, combat manifesting with martial power, and a path trance bonus which keeps scaling throughout AB levels. And most importantly a much less bumpy overall progression, typically allowing you to much better fill your intended combat role straight out of the box. Works particularly well with Broken Blade or Primal Fury path supercharger types of builds.

I think the most noteworthy cons are that you gain fewer powers and especially maneuvers (and thus also less fuel for clairsentient counter later on), competing entry level priorities (6th vs 7th with martial power), mediocre recovery methods, and basically have no room for nifty dips.

So sure, it doesn't have the same utility or ridiculous combat power potential of transmogrifist warder "Psipertank" or angry wilder zealot "Psipportmonster" builds, but I also really don't think it deserves a red rating. More somewhere around green, while the Gifted War Soul knife is probably a weaker orange.

[TiaC]

I understand the idea of trying to save as many manifestor levels as possible, as that is the munchkin thing to do. "Thou shalt not sacrifice Caster Levels, or Manifestor levels" is one of the first rules of making an optimized gish. I get that. Don't forget that in a high psionics campaign, Dreamscarred Press suggests giving all soulknives the gifted power progression, meaning you can combine it with the initiator progression, meaning it's another class that can enter the prestige class on its own. I have never played a soulknife like that, though. I do love the Gifted Blade archetype, and it goes really well with the Psychic Armory archetype, or the unarmed combat archetype. I like that the soulknife can either be the manifesting side with the Gifted Blade archetype, or the initiating side with the War Soul archetype. Something I've been thinking about is the psychic armory gifted blade with an aurora soul mystic, so that you are SAD on Wis, and you have ranged and melee options.

Yes, the High-Psionics soulknife can enter the class on it's own. However, between the prerequisites and the loss of blade skills and manifesting, I'm doubtful if it's better than just straight soulknife. It might pull ahead by level 12 or so, but until then, you're down a lot of feats, blade skills, and powers. Also, I'm pretty sure it's still better to take a one or two level vitalist dip with natural blade and advance that.

Yay! TiaC has Awakened! Good morning, TiaC!

Aight:These are pretty much also my thoughts.

And even from a pure optimization POV, for example Pathwalker psy-war 6 won't make for a bad damage focused AB, especially in most games which end before 15th anyways. You actually get an overall better power level progression than manifester/initiator class combos prioritizing the initiator side, combat manifesting with martial power, and a path trance bonus which keeps scaling throughout AB levels. And most importantly a much less bumpy overall progression, typically allowing you to much better fill your intended combat role straight out of the box. Works particularly well with Broken Blade or Primal Fury path supercharger types of builds.

I think the most noteworthy cons are that you gain fewer powers and especially maneuvers (and thus also less fuel for clairsentient counter later on), competing entry level priorities (6th vs 7th with martial power), mediocre recovery methods, and basically have no room for nifty dips.

So sure, it doesn't have the same utility or ridiculous combat power potential of transmogrifist warder "Psipertank" or angry wilder zealot "Psipportmonster" builds, but I also really don't think it deserves a red rating. More somewhere around green, while the Gifted War Soul knife is probably a weaker orange.

I'm sorry, red rating? I gave the pathwalker blue. I rated the normal psiwarrior orange, but only because if you're going psiwarrior, you really should be a pathwalker. I gave the Gifted Blade red, because that section is rating classes as Manifesters, the next section will rate them as initiators. I'll put in a note about the High-psionic variant, but it is an optional rule, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a DM say no.

[Elricaltovilla]

I started a guide here. Please give me feedback.

I'll go ahead and add this to the list of guides. Nice work!

[upho]

Yes, the High-Psionics soulknife can enter the class on it's own. However, between the prerequisites and the loss of blade skills and manifesting, I'm doubtful if it's better than just straight soulknife. It might pull ahead by level 12 or so, but until then, you're down a lot of feats, blade skills, and powers. Also, I'm pretty sure it's still better to take a one or two level vitalist dip with natural blade and advance that.

On second thought, you may very well be correct in this, actually. At least for most types of soul knife builds. Blade skills are a very big deal.

I'm sorry, red rating? I gave the pathwalker blue. I rated the normal psiwarrior orange, but only because if you're going psiwarrior, you really should be a pathwalker. I gave the Gifted Blade red, because that section is rating classes as Manifesters, the next section will rate them as initiators. I'll put in a note about the High-psionic variant, but it is an optional rule, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a DM say no.

Oh, now I get it! Sorry, seems I lost my reading comprehension and also missed both the pathwalker entry and the (obvious) entry class category divide for some weird reason. Thanks for the Awakening!

Anywho, it was the path of the warrior description which - while technically true in general - struck me as a bit misleading:

"Path of the warrior*: These classes are generally poor choices for the manifesting side of an Awakened Blade. As you need at least 3 levels in these classes to get any benefit from this ability, using them as the initiating side of a progression will leave you many manifester levels down by the end of things. This ability doesn’t do enough to make up for that."

But now that I'm Awakened and have read the guide more thoroughly, I'm much less sure whether there should be a mention of the pathwalker exception here. I guess unlike myself, a very large majority of readers don't read in their sleep or suffer from serious cognitive deficiencies, and thus have no problem understanding once they read the psy-war entry?

Speaking of potentially misleading, nitpick: At least in the guide's current WIP state, I believe the "Entry" description/advice makes a bit too widely sweeping generalization, specifically:

"You will get the greatest benefit out of Awakened Blade if you use it to advance a full manifester, as classes with reduced manifesting progression make up for it through a better chassis and class features, neither of which are advanced by Awakened Blade. /snip/ Thus, generally the initiator class is picked for the recovery method and initiating attribute rather than class features."

You're likely already fully aware of the reason why I'm saying this, but just in case:
There are plenty of exceptions to this depending on what your build priorities are (aside from game specific parameters like start and end levels). Most notably, if you're prioritizing greater and earlier (melee) combat capabilities over general adventuring versatility, the main purpose of your manifesting is typically to provide you with sufficiently action-efficient and powerful options to enable and boost your "buff-'n'-bash" combat style, and almost the opposite of what you're saying here is likely to be true. Meaning the choice of class(es) making up the initiator side is more important, or even absolutely vital and build defining, because of class features other than maneuvers and recovery, while the manifester side may very well contain fewer levels and the optimal choice is primarily dictated by the specifics and demands of the initiator side rather than the other way around.

This is especially true in the case of builds looking to excel in combat role(s) other than the traditional "single-target striker", as effective control/debuff/defender styles typically rely more on - and/or more greatly benefit from - mechanics not provided by AB and manifester levels. And yet, perhaps somewhat counter-intuitively, the AB probably stands out as even more superior for such less conventional and more highly combat focused melee builds than it does for other builds.

[Azoth]

Have to say I am enjoying a Vitalist/Medic/Awakened Blade that focuses on Radiant Dawn and Sleeping Goddess. Definitely not a melee damage dealer build, but the combination of Triage with the Fast Healing expertise and Collective healing means that the build can effectively heal through encounters without wasting action economy. Using disciplines with utility and control manuevers also helps expand the limited tool kit of a Vitalist.

Maybe not the most optimized combination, but seems to hold up solidly.

[exelsisxax]

Make sure you rate the Nightmare "stupidly good" as an entry. Your maneuver recovery is excellent, your action economy is amazing, and it eventually gets to ignore fear immunity, making black seraph amazing even at high level, and can make strikes as touch attacks. It's a better dread than the dread, AB lets you cheese it harder if you really want. Only downside is that getting Psi meditation is a heavy tax, and that'll be almost all your powers known by 5th level.