3.5e I don't know how to play a Crusader.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

You can do it without a Barbarian level by taking the Broodguard template for +0 LA.

Or be an anthropomorphic badger, or take the orc racial paragon levels, or be a werebadger...

[Rebel7284]

You can do it without a Barbarian level by taking the Broodguard template for +0 LA.

What's the source for the template?

Or be an anthropomorphic badger, or take the orc racial paragon levels, or be a werebadger...

Must be human is a prerequisite.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Must be human is a prerequisite.

Human Blood and Human Heritage are your friends, and half-orc should qualify already, on account of being half-human, too.

And I wouldn't suggest it (the template has way too many negatives to take in this instance), but you can be human and werebadger at the same time.

[Troacctid]

What's the source for the template?

Savage Species, page 161.

[Particle_Man]

btw, if you go Crusader/Thayan Knight, the Thayan Knight levels count for half their value as far as getting further crusader stances and maneuvers goes (which can be done through the Martial Stance and Martial Study feats). Might be worth considering. There is a night 6th level Lawful martial stance that lets you treat a d20 roll as 11, once per round.

[Ludic]

Human Blood and Human Heritage are your friends, and half-orc should qualify already, on account of being half-human, too.

And I wouldn't suggest it (the template has way too many negatives to take in this instance), but you can be human and werebadger at the same time.

That still won't work. He's playing a character from Thay. That is working for a Red Wizard. Thay is to Faerun as Germany was to WW2. Super xenophobic.

If he isn't human, he's fodder. Non-Humans aren't even protected under Thay's laws. Not even as a slave. You can literally kill a halfling in the middle of a crowded city, and as long as you're human, no one would bat an eye. That's just reality in that country. You're better protected by the laws of Menzoberranzan as a non-Drow than you are as a non-human in Thay.

A Red Wizard wouldn't even buff him if he were enslaved and being forced to be a bodyguard. This is one of the few times, Human is a must. Templates that don't change type are good. But the end point is he must be a Human base to be considered remotely valuable to a Red Wizard.

[Eisfalken]

I know everyone hates shields, but you can actually do a decent shield-bashing build. It's basically TWF, except A) you don't need ridiculous levels of Dex to get there, and B) you're doing it more to keep a better shield bonus to AC than Two Weapon Defense (which is a horrible feat) will ever actually give you.

The gist is Improved Shield Bash, Shield Specialization (PH2), and Active Shield Fighter (PH2). This is like having a bunch of TWF feats only better because you can use any weapon with any shield (TWF requires light weapon trickery), you keep your shield bonus to AC when bashing (which basically is better than TWD because you get your whole shield bonus always, not just when fighting defensively or whatever), and a smidgen more shield bonus (it's not great, but you at least get "something" climbing to Active Shield Fighter).

That's basically it. The rest of the trick is, get a variable shield (MIC) soon as you can afford it, and any one-handed bludgeoning weapon you can hold in two hands when you want more damage. You change the shield size as you need for a given situation (double-hand hit with your main weapon, light/heavy shield for shield bashing hits, and tower shield to give you cover for Ref and AC bonus against stuff). At early levels, you can probably stick to a spiked heavy shield, decent one-handed weapon, and a few throwing weapons just in case you need them. Once you have the variable shield, you can take a composite bow as the ranged weapon (since you can shrink the shield down to buckler size).

Shield Ward (PH2) is almost a must-have at some point; it gives shield bonus to touch AC, making that "useless" tower shield infinitely useful for a defensive configuration.

The rest is pretty much opened up. You could dip into Exotic Weapon Proficiency (maul or warmace); weapons are from CW, and prof lets you use it one-handed. Does very impressive damage as a one-handed weapon, which you could use two-handed by shrinking down the variable shield to a buckler. Use it with Power Attack for even more fun. Or go Improved Buckler defense with a magic weapon that can change between one-handed and two-handed versions, along with Power Attack; even with a humble changeling spear, you can shrink the spear to shortspear to throw (with returning on it to bring it back), set it up as a longspear against a charge or just to get reach, etc.

The best part is you can dump Dex a bit here, since none of the shield-oriented feats need or want it. All you need is Str, Con, maybe some Cha for smite and Intimidate (see if you can get Never Outnumbered skill trick, could come in handy if your bonuses are high enough for it).

Like I said, I'm sure everyone is rolling their eyes about making a shield-based build work, and no it's not optimal, but it'll get the job done with maneuvers, you bet.

[Troacctid]

You can't bash with a tower shield.

[Darrin]

The best part is you can dump Dex a bit here, since none of the shield-oriented feats need or want it. All you need is Str, Con, maybe some Cha for smite and Intimidate (see if you can get Never Outnumbered skill trick, could come in handy if your bonuses are high enough for it).

I am not entirely in agreement with this advice. Agile Shield Fighter allows you to TWF with a heavy shield, and replaces the TWF penalties with -2/-2, which is somewhat useful... however, you can do the same thing by taking Oversized TWF (Complete Adventurer), which allows you to treat a heavy shield as if it were a light weapon, and it doesn't cost you two prereq feats. (You'll still want to take Improved Shield Bash, but you don't need to take Shield Specialization... and you're going to need every feat slot because a shield-basted TWF build is going to be horrendously feat-starved.)

The other problem with Agile Shield Fighter is while it allows you to TWF with a heavy shield, you only get one offhand attack. If you want to get a second or third offhand attack, you'll need to take TWF (which is useless to you now), then Improved TWF and Greater TWF. And those do have Dex requirements.

[Eisfalken]

A Red Wizard wouldn't even buff him if he were enslaved and being forced to be a bodyguard.

Small point of order: the Red Wizard doesn't waste spells if it doesn't serve an immediate purpose/need.

I can do more destruction with a bodyguard with enlarge person at a high CL than a couple of fireballs can do on their own. If that bodyguard follows me willingly through a combination of mental conditioning and me actually rewarding them in the slightest once in a while, then I don't waste magic controlling them like lesser wizards have to.

When you play a Red Wizard, doing evil "for teh lulz" won't make you powerful. Doing it to force others into submission to your power, to force events to happen in a controlled manner, and anything that puts power in your hands, that's all fair game.

[John Longarrow]

For Thayan Knight, the prestige class does little to help your build. If you are taking it solely for role playing reasons, talk to the DM to see if you can just stay crusader instead.

With initiators (classes from Tome of Battle) keeping up your initiator level is almost as important as keeping up spell casting is to a spell caster. Higher level maneuvers get progressively better so anything that slows down how quickly you get them needs to be balanced against what higher level maneuvers you could take instead.

[Eisfalken]

You can't bash with a tower shield.

Yes, and if you had read my post, you'd see that I said you start with heavy shield, and buy a variable shield later on. Which lets you change a shield between buckler, light, heavy, and tower, for just +1 cost.

So then you can use the shield for either more attack, or more defense. Buckler for two-handed weapons, heavy shield for one-handed ones, and tower when even a few points of AC or Ref could be important.

I am not entirely in agreement with this advice. Agile Shield Fighter allows you to TWF with a heavy shield, and replaces the TWF penalties with -2/-2, which is somewhat useful... however, you can do the same thing by taking Oversized TWF (Complete Adventurer), which allows you to treat a heavy shield as if it were a light weapon, and it doesn't cost you two prereq feats.

No, it doesn't have two pre-req feats. It requires Str 13, and TWF, which needs Dex 15. Meaning you now suffer MAD (you have to have Con, and would be advised to have at least some mental stats for crusader).

I guess my question is, is a feat worth MAD? I think it is, depending on your actual stat layout. If you get 32 point buy or lucky rolls, sure, Oversized TWF is a strictly better deal if you're really that feat-starved. But then you also don't qualify for Shield Ward, which puts your shield bonus on touch AC, which I think is something to at least think about (touch AC being the only sure way to zap people at high levels, especially fighter-types).

The other problem with Agile Shield Fighter is while it allows you to TWF with a heavy shield, you only get one offhand attack. If you want to get a second or third offhand attack, you'll need to take TWF (which is useless to you now), then Improved TWF and Greater TWF. And those do have Dex requirements.

Granted, but there's an issue even I hadn't considered until now:

He's a crusader. Read the mechanics on strikes. See how they're all standard actions? Yeah, no extra attacks. He can move and strike, but those extra attacks all take full-round actions. Even if he wanted to squeeze out more damage, he's better off with maneuvers doing that. Divine Surge is 8d8 in a single attack at full BAB, and he gets access to it at 7th level.

So technically, shield bashing as we're suggesting is neither necessary nor efficient. I'd say he should still consider grabbing Shield Specialization/Ward to boost touch AC, and still consider a variable shield to provide options as needed (tower for cover, heavy for regular fighting, buckler for using a bow or bigger melee weapon).

Otherwise, he's better off getting things that synch with maneuvers: anything that boosts attacks overall, but don't require full-round anything. Power Attack and/or charging builds might be better here. Never mind the actual TOB feats he may want to get extra maneuvers, stances, or other abilities.

[Ludic]

Small point of order: the Red Wizard doesn't waste spells if it doesn't serve an immediate purpose/need.

I can do more destruction with a bodyguard with enlarge person at a high CL than a couple of fireballs can do on their own. If that bodyguard follows me willingly through a combination of mental conditioning and me actually rewarding them in the slightest once in a while, then I don't waste magic controlling them like lesser wizards have to.

When you play a Red Wizard, doing evil "for teh lulz" won't make you powerful. Doing it to force others into submission to your power, to force events to happen in a controlled manner, and anything that puts power in your hands, that's all fair game.

While this is true, I was applying this to the suggestion that he use an Anthro-Badger (for rage) with human-blooded feats (which would technically allow him to take the Thayan Knight PrC, even if the setting still wouldn't). Which even if it suited his immediate purpose, the Red Wizard still wouldn't waste a spell on because it's a disposable non-human that he can replace by forcing another into submission, or just buying at the next fork in the road.