Masters of the Sword: A Warblade's Handbook [Under Construction]

[TravelLog]

Bit late on this one, but I have to disagree.

Shadow can give Fast Healing 2 which any Warblade will love. A source of Evasion. Mirror Image. Damage Reduction. Any Warblade would love that stuff. I say it meshes fairly well. Even the movement speed boost will be loved by the Warblade.


Edit:

Also, definitely approve of Lolth-Touched and Mineral Warrior. Its hard to find two better +1 LAs.

Also, if you can meet its requirements, Saint is always amazing.

That's true, though Swordsages will still love it more. And yeah, Saint is beyond amazing. More than worth the +2 LA. I'd even say its gold.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Awesome, but in the weapon section I sorely missed the quarterstaff.

The weapon section needs updating anyway. A lot of the stuff I put there was from PF, and apparently it had different stats in 3.5 (sword cane).

[Cieyrin]

Also, if you can meet its requirements, Saint is always amazing.

It's a good template but I'm not sure what it's actually providing to Warblades that's really good, as the only stat boost you care about from it is the +2 Con, Holy Power buffs your maneuvers with a save and DR and Fast Healing that you can get cheaper and not have half your feats devoted to Exalted feats. And you sure as hell don't want to go into it via Vow of Poverty, as Warblades aren't a good candidate for that, as they need stuff to kick ass and take names. I'd rather pursue Shadow, as it doesn't require heavy feat and RP restrictions and boosts more martial oriented builds then Saint ever will. That +2 LA doesn't help your IL, either, so I think the gains for getting into Saint is marginal at best for Warblades.

[Halae]

Oh, I have a good choice for the feats section. It's From Dragon, so it's iffy about DMs acceptance, but it's a good, fairly balanced feat, and extremely good for someone who's going to be standing in front of the enemy all day.

Troll-blooded. Has a requirement of toughness, and can only be taken at level 1 (requiring that you be human, if not for flaws) and it makes it so that you're counted as fatigued when in direct sunlight, but it gives you Regen 1. This is amazing for anybody that's going to be standing in front of the enemy a large amount, even with its heavy drawbacks. If the DM says no, tell him that if he wants to seriously threaten the life of the character, he can just present a mage that uses fire or acid spells, or use a monster; there's certainly enough fire and acid creatures in the books. Or, hell, even just a guy with a torch cauterizing the wounds. Or, go the non-combat route. regen creatures will not regenerate damage from starvation or from suffocation, so those are viable options.

However, this also opens up a feat from the Fiendish codex books, called Rapid Regeneration. It can be taken multiple times, and only has a requirement that you have a regen score, which it increases by one. Dump any spare feats into that, and you have a guy that can stand up a few rounds later even while combat is going on and get a few more hits in. Pretty sweet deal, especially when you're trying to keep up with the mages.

[Cieyrin]

Oh, I have a good choice for the feats section. It's From Dragon, so it's iffy about DMs acceptance, but it's a good, fairly balanced feat, and extremely good for someone who's going to be standing in front of the enemy all day.

Troll-blooded. Has a requirement of toughness, and can only be taken at level 1 (requiring that you be human, if not for flaws) and it makes it so that you're counted as fatigued when in direct sunlight, but it gives you Regen 1. This is amazing for anybody that's going to be standing in front of the enemy a large amount, even with its heavy drawbacks. If the DM says no, tell him that if he wants to seriously threaten the life of the character, he can just present a mage that uses fire or acid spells, or use a monster; there's certainly enough fire and acid creatures in the books. Or, hell, even just a guy with a torch cauterizing the wounds. Or, go the non-combat route. regen creatures will not regenerate damage from starvation or from suffocation, so those are viable options.

However, this also opens up a feat from the Fiendish codex books, called Rapid Regeneration. It can be taken multiple times, and only has a requirement that you have a regen score, which it increases by one. Dump any spare feats into that, and you have a guy that can stand up a few rounds later even while combat is going on and get a few more hits in. Pretty sweet deal, especially when you're trying to keep up with the mages.

The feat requires you to be a Human from a specific region, as its from the Greyhawk regional feats articles that work the same way as the Forgotten Realms regional feats do. Just something to keep in mind before we start trying to stick it on Warforged or something.

[Halae]

The feat requires you to be a Human from a specific region, as its from the Greyhawk regional feats articles that work the same way as the Forgotten Realms regional feats do. Just something to keep in mind before we start trying to stick it on Warforged or something.

Maybe, but almost no DM I've met that allows the feat really cares about that. still, it's good of you to mention that, yeah.

[Cieyrin]

Maybe, but almost no DM I've met that allows the feat really cares about that. still, it's good of you to mention that, yeah.

It's in the same category that Battle Leap is these days with how PGtF removed the Knowledge(Local) trick so you don't have to be a giant monkey to take it and people get really touchy about that, I've found, so best to cover all our bases, y'know what I mean?

[Essence_of_War]

Elfin,

Do you think a skill-trick section under the skills heading might be a good addition? I'd be willing to do a short write-up of the highlights.

[Elfin]

The magic items are coming soon, I promise. It's just a lot to get through.

[Iron Orbit]

Just wanted to post and say thanks for this handbook! My friends and I are currently in a campaign and the information on Warblades here has been invaluable for me and my Warblade! Keep up the great work!

[Elfin]

Can't believe that I forgot Lolth-touched and Mineral Warrior. Those will go up in due time, and Saint as well.

Essence - A Skill Tricks section under Skills would be excellent, but I can manage that. There's no need for you to take it upon yourself, though I appreciate the offer.

Iron Orbit - Glad it's been of use to you.

Battle Leap and Troll-Blooded are iffy. But roleplaying requirements are fairly commonplace to waive, so I think that they do after all merit a position. A selection of feats from other sources is something I'll get around to.

MIC weapon enhancements up later, hopefully. Apologies for the delay.

[Lateral]

Cool. By the way, I agree with upgrading Warforged- with the various immunities, CON boost, and ability to get heavy armor better than full plate at 1st level without proficiency, I'd say it's on par with your average human warblade.

[WhiteFox]

I was wondering if you had free time in there as well to do Eternal blade under the prestige classes. If you did it would be greatly appreciated.

[Elfin]

MIC weapon enhancements are up. Warforged will find they have a shiny new cyan rating.

Edit - Eternal Blade will definitely be added; it's a superb choice for a warblade. Just warblade 10/Eternal Blade 10 is excellent, though you can dip a couple of crusader levels as well - the standard EB build is warblade 8/crusader 2/Eternal Blade 10. Pick up the Thicket of Blades stance; get a guisarme or spiked chain and go to town. For race, you'll want either a snow elf, wild elf, or wood elf. Snow elf is strictly superior to wild elf. Wood elf is an interesting choice for higher point-buys; you lose Int and - painfully - Con, but notably gain Dex and Str.

[WhiteFox]

Very much appreciated for your advice on EB.

I play in an eberron game with a Valenar Elf (Using Wood Elf, but going off of the stats on d20srd)

I planned on going 10 warblade/10 EB because the crusader dip would have made headaches for my GM.

I sort of regret not going warforged as that just seems so great setting wise.

[Darrin]

MIC weapon enhancements are up. Warforged will find they have a shiny new cyan rating.

Magebane should probably be downgraded to blue. MIC nerfed the Complete Arcane version, so it no longer works on creatures with SLAs. It now only works on creatures that explicitly have arcane spellcasting or invocations (warlocks, dragonfire adepts).

I'd like to see Sizing upgraded, but that's more of a personal favorite. Very useful for adding onto an existing weapon rather than buying a new larger-sized weapon once you pick up Strongarm Bracers (and what Warblade doesn't want Strongarm Bracers?).

[Cieyrin]

I'd like to see Sizing upgraded, but that's more of a personal favorite. Very useful for adding onto an existing weapon rather than buying a new larger-sized weapon once you pick up Strongarm Bracers (and what Warblade doesn't want Strongarm Bracers?).

Anybody who has Powerful Build already but yeah, they're pretty nice if you don't have something better.

[Lord Ruby34]

As far as LA +1 races go it might be worth mentioning Catfolk (RotW). They get a +4 bonus to Dex and +2 to Cha without any penalties. Neither is great, but their other assorted benefits aren't bad at all. They have an additional ten feet of movement speed, low-light vision and a bonus to a few insignificant skills. But the real reason you'd take them is for the Catfolk Pounce feat. You can pounce on a flat-footed foe, and with the Dex bonus and your first Warblade bonus feat probably being improved initiative, going first could happen more often than you'd think. It's not bad for Dex focused Warblades, although Swordsages probably benefit more.

You also might want to consider linking to some of the ToB homebrew on these boards. Some DM's won't let it in, but others will, and it doesn't hurt to mention it.

[FMArthur]

As far as LA +1 races go it might be worth mentioning Catfolk (RotW). They get a +4 bonus to Dex and +2 to Cha without any penalties. Neither is great, but their other assorted benefits aren't bad at all. They have an additional ten feet of movement speed, low-light vision and a bonus to a few insignificant skills. But the real reason you'd take them is for the Catfolk Pounce feat. You can pounce on a flat-footed foe, and with the Dex bonus and your first Warblade bonus feat probably being improved initiative, going first could happen more often than you'd think. It's not bad for Dex focused Warblades, although Swordsages probably benefit more.

You also might want to consider linking to some of the ToB homebrew on these boards. Some DM's won't let it in, but others will, and it doesn't hurt to mention it.

Catfolk Pounce is absolutely not worth taking both +1 LA and a feat for though. It's even more conditional than regular pounce. The melee classes that least benefit from Catfolk Pounce are the martial adepts anyway, and the other catfolk traits are meager benefits that you don't need to use up your race selection to get.

[Lord Ruby34]

That's all true, and it probably isn't worth it. I have made a Catfolk Swordsage that was pretty deadly though. Boosts and Counters simply become more important than Strikes. You could probably do something similar with a Warblade. I really don't know too much about any decent boosts for Warblades though, as I tend to play Swordsages.

It's also not a bad option when there's a rogue in the party and things tend to be flat-footed anyway.

EDIT: A dip in Spirit Lion Totem Whirling Frenzy Barb is of course better, but not everyone wants to be a Barbarian, and with LA buyoff this doesn't eat a level.

[Elfin]

I'll link to the Age of Warriors archives. I'm leery, though, because while a lot of that stuff is absolutely splendid, they never really did rigorous quality control.

Magebane should probably be downgraded to blue. MIC nerfed the Complete Arcane version, so it no longer works on creatures with SLAs. It now only works on creatures that explicitly have arcane spellcasting or invocations (warlocks, dragonfire adepts).

I feel silly for not noticing that. It'll be changed right away.

I'd like to see Sizing upgraded, but that's more of a personal favorite. Very useful for adding onto an existing weapon rather than buying a new larger-sized weapon once you pick up Strongarm Bracers (and what Warblade doesn't want Strongarm Bracers?).

A fair point.

[Elfin]

Additions coming. Do be aware – while I'm doing my best to add frequently, I'll be posting additions a fair deal slower than when the handbook was originally posted, due to time constraints. Luckily, now that the bulk of the handbook is down (though it's far from finished), slower updates won't be as much of a problem. Hopefully it will also help prevent burnout.

Edit: Apologies for the double post.

[Elfin]

That's MIC throat items up.

[FMArthur]

Still no mention of the Goliath race's always-jump-as-if-running ability? That's great on Tiger Claw and saves up your stance slot for something that isn't Leaping Dragon Stance. Sudden Leap in particular gets a lot of great use no matter what kind of battle you're in or what fighting style you focus on, and it's a shame that other races need to be in a particular stance to get proper use out of it. Goliaths have no such problem. Great warblades.

[Draz74]

Sudden Leap in particular gets a lot of great use no matter what kind of battle you're in or what fighting style you focus on, and it's a shame that other races need to be in a particular stance to get proper use out of it. Goliaths have no such problem.

Neither do Raptorans, Thri-Kreen, high-level characters, or anyone with the Leap of the Heavens feat.

[FMArthur]

I should have said most other races. My bad there. However, raptorans' +10 to Jump is not nearly as good as just being able to jump as if running. It is basically a fixed +5ft for those standing jumps. Even the thri-kreen +15ft falls behind goliaths around 11th level. It's just a great race for jumping.

[Cieyrin]

I should have said most other races. My bad there. However, raptorans' +10 to Jump is not nearly as good as just being able to jump as if running. It is basically a fixed +5ft for those standing jumps. Even the thri-kreen +15ft falls behind goliaths around 11th level. It's just a great race for jumping.

That just means picking up Leap of the Heavens and/or Leaping Dragon as a Thri-Kreen. It's just that Goliaths can do it all the time, as opposed to some of the time without further investment.

[FMArthur]

Did I somehow give you the impression that this was not the case?

Here, let me be ultra clear now to avoid future confusion:

Mountain Movement is a benefit of the Goliath race. It lets you make standing jumps as if they were done with a running start, and lets you engage in accelerated climbing without the -5 penalty. It is not the only feature of the Goliath race nor the only reason you would want to be a goliath. It is useful for ToB classes with access to Tiger Claw maneuvers and it's more convenient to jump with in general. It is not impossible to jump without it. You can increase your Jump checks through other means. You can spend resources to replicate or the effect. One of those resources would otherwise take up your stance to use, and another would take a feat. Goliaths cannot use this ability to fly. Goliaths cannot push the world beneath them downwards by jumping with this ability. It is rendered mostly useless when you are dazed, stunned, paralyzed, unconsious, dead or incompetent. You lose the use of Mountain Movement when transformed into something else in most cases. Spellcasting is a better use of time than jumping. A goliath warblade could potentially lose this ability by using Iron Heart Surge. It probably looks silly to use in motion. Even tall players may find themselves incapable of using Mountain Movement when LARPing. Mountain Movement may cause injury even if successfully used when LARPing. This ability does not automatically win you every game all the time forever, or at least not on its own.

Despite all these limitations, it's a benefit worth making a tiny note of in the Goliath description in the OP.

[Cieyrin]

Did I somehow give you the impression that this was not the case?

Nope. Love the reference to LARPing as a Goliath Warblade. That just sounds silly. :P

[Darrin]

Another nitpick with some of the MIC items, specifically long-range communications...

Aspect Mirror (4000 GP, Complete Scoundrel) is far superior to the Linked armor property, Farspeaking Amulets, Sending Stones, Rings of Communication, etc., since it has unlimited use and unlimited range (on the same plane). Contact Medallion is kinda nice if you suddenly need to contact someone who doesn't already have a communication device, but would be useless if everyone in the party already has an Aspect Mirror.