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

[true_shinken]

Originally Posted by Endarire

The Oriental Adventures high DC Tumble rules were ported to the SRD.

Nope, those are from Epic Level Handbook. OA has more stuff.

[Cieyrin]

Originally Posted by Mongoose87

There's nothing there about 5 to 10 foot steps.

Or the other special functions beyond falling longer distances OA introduced, like wall bouncing to climb.

[Elfin]

Originally Posted by Kyuu Himura

And every time I read a Warblade handbook, I think that Storm Guard Warrior is more and more awesome.

It is indeed.
So, it seems like if you're going strictly RAW, WRT can be used on yourself. Seems sort of silly, but meh.

[Telok]

Originally Posted by ShneekeyTheLost

An improvement of Drummer Boy:

You can pick up Aptitude equivelant from ToB so that any weapon with the Aptitude enhancement is considered to be whatever weapon is necessary for the feats which require specific weapons...

...Also, Drummer Boy needs Pouncing Strike or a one-level dip in Lion Totem Barbarian for Pounce

I wasn't aware of the Aptitude enchantment, of course it's been a year or two since I made these builds too. We need to keep in mind that these were not intended to be optimized builds or used in tournaments. I made these for use in an actual game where things that were too powerful did get trimmed [<cough> druids <cough>].

And if you can get an unassociated level of barbarian in there without incurring xp penalties or losing and delaying feats, good luck.

[Incanur]

Originally Posted by Elfin

So, it seems like if you're going strictly RAW, WRT can be used on yourself. Seems sort of silly, but meh.

It's less silly than having minions use it on the BBEG, so go for it if you allow the thing in the game at all.

[true_shinken]

Originally Posted by Telok

I wasn't aware of the Aptitude enchantment, of course it's been a year or two since I made these builds too.

RAI is pretty clear that aptitude weapons should not be teh br0kenzorz, though.
It's just another editing mistake from ToB, they should work like the Warblade ability.

[Boci]

Originally Posted by true_shinken

RAI is pretty clear that aptitude weapons should not be teh br0kenzorz, though.
It's just another editing mistake from ToB, they should work like the Warblade ability.

I started a thread eons ago asking what it should actually be worth if it worked as written. I think the answer was +3, +2 if you choose a single weapon.

[Elfin]

Originally Posted by Incanur

It's less silly than having minions use it on the BBEG, so go for it if you allow the thing in the game at all.

Oh, definitely. We allow it to be used like that in my group, anyway, and while it's something that's perhaps annoyed me from time to time, it's really not such an enormous problem. Better, like you say, than giving anther turn to the wizard.

[Ranger Mattos]

Interesting guide for one of my favorite classes, I'll have to look in it more in depth later. But it does look useful, even though it's not complete yet.

And you might want to head over to the Christmas avatar thread. Someone made you that avatar you wanted.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Originally Posted by Elfin

Oh, definitely. We allow it to be used like that in my group, anyway, and while it's something that's perhaps annoyed me from time to time, it's really not such an enormous problem. Better, like you say, than giving anther turn to the wizard.

I thought WRT just gave a move-action... which does not easily translate into another spell, since it's neither a Swift action for a Quicken nor a Standard action for a spell...

[Elfin]

Thanks for the heads up, Mattos.

[Incanur]

Originally Posted by ShneekeyTheLost

I thought WRT just gave a move-action... which does not easily translate into another spell, since it's neither a Swift action for a Quicken nor a Standard action for a spell...

It gives a whole turn (can act again), so presumably a standard, move, and swift.

[Boci]

Originally Posted by ShneekeyTheLost

I thought WRT just gave a move-action... which does not easily translate into another spell, since it's neither a Swift action for a Quicken nor a Standard action for a spell...

Thats order forged from chaos.

[MeeposFire]

Originally Posted by ShneekeyTheLost

An improvement of Drummer Boy:

You can pick up Aptitude equivelant from ToB so that any weapon with the Aptitude enhancement is considered to be whatever weapon is necessary for the feats which require specific weapons.

So you could combine, for example, Keen Kukri, with a crit range of 15-20, with Aptitude, and still use them in conjunction with Lightning Mace. Combined with Blood In The Water, it can become possible to have an obscene number of attacks and bonus damage to every attack.

There was even a Test of Spite build which used Aptitude and Lightning Mace and a splitting crossbow or something like that to create a nearly infinite loop. Which was freekin' hilarious when he failed a save vs Death Wish and turned himself into a red mist.

Also, Drummer Boy needs Pouncing Strike or a one-level dip in Lion Totem Barbarian for Pounce

Aptitude could also allow you to use imp nat attack, snap kick, and superior unarmed strike to boost your kukri to 3d6 damage and extra attack even on a move.

[Elfin]

Fifth level maneuvers are up.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

3rd level stances:

Diamond Mind:

Pearl of Black Doubt: Less useful than you may think. Bonuses only last a single round, and if they're going to be missing you, more AC isn't going to do much more good. And if they are hitting you, you're not going to be piling up bonuses.

Iron Heart:

Absolute Steel Stance: Extra speed and a +2 AC bonus if you move around. Not bad, but there's better 1st level stances to be in.

Stone Dragon:

Roots of the Mountain: Well, if you could keep it up while moving, it would be pretty decent for a battlefield-control specialist. Any creature that goes into your threatened space gets a -10 on Tumble checks. That makes it a lot harder to tumble past you to avoid AoO's. DR2/- isn't bad either. However, you have to plant and stay put for it to continue being effective. This makes it far less useful.

Tiger Claw:

Leaping Dragon: There's a ring which does pretty much the same thing this stance does. Belkar has it, in point of fact. Remember the cardinal rule of choosing precious stances, my young padawan: Never spend a stance on that which you may purchase for gold.

White Raven:

Tactics of the Wolf: Extra damage while flanking equal to 1/2 IL. If you can reliably set up flanking opportunities, this has a lot of potential. Remember, your buddies get this too, so flanking rogues are now doing even *more* damage. This is like half-again what Craven can do for them. If you've got several melee users who like to flank, or if someone has Clarion Call or Island of Blades or some other way of making flanking happen easier, it can be pretty nasty. Requires some forethought and setup, though.

[Elfin]

Remember, though, Leaping Dragon Stance doesn't just add a +10 to Jump checks - it actually adds +10ft.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I can't believe I forgot to bookmark this thread before :facepalm:

Shneekey, I have to say that I disagree with your analysis on Leaping Dragon stance, the ring of jumping only gives a competence bonus on jump checks (and it is a bit expensive for my tastes); the real use for the stance is to get the ability to treat all jump as having a running start.

That way you get less difficult DCs, and if you use something like sudden leap you will cover more terrain.

I also think it would be extremely useful on a hood build for example and I am sure a jumplomancer might welcome the bonus

Edit: And now I want to make a Dual wielding Halfling Warblade, that abuses the jumping manoeuvres >_< Thanks a lot Shneekey

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Originally Posted by Elfin

Remember, though, Leaping Dragon Stance doesn't just add a +10 to Jump checks - it actually adds +10ft.

Ironically, that just makes it worse, because it can't be used for things like making the Jump check on Pouncing Strike. Absolute Steel Stance is strictly better, because it adds +10 speed as well, and also gives minor AC bonus.

[Endarire]

Leaping Dragon Stance helps much if you want to jump high. Again, see Hood.

[Runestar]

Pearl of black doubt can be useful if you are surrounded by mooks, or facing monsters with a ton of natural attacks (which all tend to be made at the same attack rating). But yeah, you really need a lot of attacks, each of which only has a modest chance of hitting you, for it to be effective.

The list of 3rd lv stances for a warblade sure doesn't seem very attractive. Think I actually stuck with punishing stance for quite a while...

[Elfin]

I'm a Blood in the Water guy, myself. Though really, Absolute Steel is okay, and I don't think Leaping Dragon is all that awful.

[Elfin]

Sixth and seventh level maneuvers are up, with the final two levels to come tomorrow. But these two are another where I'm unsure as to whether I've judged things correctly; what are your thoughts?

[Boci]

I think you're over selling avalanche of blades and scything blade. AoB only really shines for a combat rythme warm up, for normal melee attacks I would hesitate to even mark it blue, and scything blade just gives you an extra attack as a swift action. Flashing sun is a second level maneuver and its arguable better since you trade -2 to hit for a swift action.

[poignant123]

Mmm. Avalanche of Blades kind of strikes me as unreliable. But it's still awesome, especially if you turn the attacks into touch attacks. One thing is to use Touch of Golden Ice with a this and a single powerful natural attack. Of course the catch is being Exalted.

Moment of Alaricity is awesome, especially if you're an Eternal Blade and have Island in Time/Eternal Training. Team up with someone who has White Raven Tactics and you're effectively nuking them many times for that one round.

I've never really seen a use for Scything Blade, I just deal enough damage and Cleave.

[Elfin]

The cyan rating was a typo, actually. I need to proofread; the cyan was intended for Moment of Alacrity.

But that was my feeling as well. Avalanche of Blades is at blue where it belongs, and I've demoted Scything Blade to black.

[Draz74]

Another note on Avalanche of Blades: I recently discovered comboing it with Wraithstrike.

Note that to use Swooping Dragon Strike, you actually have to jump over a monster, which can be very difficult with large monsters -- worse than getting them to just fail their save. And some things are immune to stunning. None of this keeps it from being easily a cyan-worthy maneuver.

Moment of Alacrity ... doesn't make you go first. It is a boost, not usable at the time that you roll initiative. Can still be nasty in certain combos: delay your turn until you're last in the initiative order, then take two turns in a row. If you are using other maneuvers intelligently, ouch. That said, I'm not sure what color this boost deserves overall.

Manticore Parry doesn't rate a cyan in my book, mostly because it's completely useless in a fight with a solo baddie.

Hamstring Attack ... My vague memory is that it allowed a save, which made me not like it much. But I'm too lazy to look it up right now, so I could very well be wrong.

Quicksilver Motion is "meh," just because there are easier ways to do the same thing. (Travel Devotion or Sudden Leap can cover it if you just want to move as a swift action, and if you need an actual move action, the MIC offers a couple options: the reasonably cheap Quicksilver Boots, or the insanely good Belt of Battle.) I'd make it black or blue, not cyan.

[Boci]

Originally Posted by Draz74

Manticore Parry doesn't rate a cyan in my book, mostly because it's completely useless in a fight with a solo baddie.

Depends on whether you can declare an ampty square to be an enemy.

Originally Posted by Draz74

Hamstring Attack ... My vague memory is that it allowed a save, which made me not like it much. But I'm too lazy to look it up right now, so I could very well be wrong.

Halves dex damage and speed penalty.

[FelixG]

Originally Posted by Boci

Depends on whether you can declare an ampty square to be an enemy.



Halves dex damage and speed penalty.

empty square, AC 5

[Boci]

Originally Posted by FelixG

empty square, AC 5

It makes sense. If you can deflect an incoming attack into another creature, you should be able to deflect it into an empty space.