Warblade Build Help

[Mainländer]

A friend of mine - another player of the campaign I'm in - asked me to post this for him:

Intro

Gonna start roleplaying again after long time party of 6 (2x duskblade, swordsage, cleric, wizard and me). Cleric is going necromancer and kind of a powergamer and dont expect much healing from him. We starting at lvl 1 but wanna think about concrete short term to lets say lvl 1 to 5 and general long term plan

Attributes:

24 point buy i believe forgot (apparently its 32 point built) anyway stats that was planning and could take are

Str : 18
Con : 16
Dex : 14
Int : 12
Wis : 10
Chr : 8

Skills : Ill choose later not that important probly gonna depend on my backstory too. Altho I wonder how good tumble really is didnt want to put point in it but read couple of times its good for melee char. Gonna take conc for sure tho

Feats : Really unsure about this thinking about Power attack and Sudden recovery and then going weapon focus/spec way. Planning to go 2 handed weapon way. Rather go full damage then medium dmg and medium ac. Wondering tho if sudden recovery is worth the feat to me it seems great healing 3+char lvl each encounter basicly for free but dont see many ppl suggest it. I dont like the mechanics of tactical feats in general so rather not take those.
So what i would do as it stands now
Lvl 1 : Sudden recovery, human bonus feat : power attack
Lvl 3 : Weapon focus
Lvl 5 warblade bonus feat : Really really dont know dont seem to really like any of them, suggestions?

Maneuvers : Wanna focus on Diamond mind and Iron heart and little on stone power mainly for the hammer line to overcome DR and to run + good single attack.

Maneuvers as i see them atm

chr lvl 1 : Moment of perfect mind , Steel Wind , Stone bones
Stance : Punishing stance
chr lvl 2 : Nightmare blade strike?
chr lvl 3 : Level 2 maneuver : I like Mountain hammer, Wall of blades and Emerald razor. Dunno what to take first probly either Mountain hammer or Emerald razor, if monster we encounter are easy to hit alrdy ill probly go Mountain hammer else emerald razor, no idea how hard low lvl mobs are to hit for me. Ready list wil probly be whatever i pick at lvl 2, moment of perfect mind and then either steel win of stone bones (probly depends on how much ill be depended on tanking if so i lean towards stone bones)
chr lvl 4 : an other lvl 2 maneuver : nightmare blade strike for wall of blades, 2 strike maneuvers seem enough I rather have counters and then refresh each 2 rounds
Stance lvl 2 : Really unsure, Scent for utility? but that doesnt seem good cause it aint one of the 3 school i wanna focus in so it doesnt help progress, maybe one of the diamond mind or stone +2 ac disciplines ? maybe handy vs Large of single heavy melee boss?
chr lvl 5 : an lvl 3 maneuver : The ones in my schools I like are, Iron heart surge and for damage, insightfull strike and bonecrusher, so one of those probly bonecrusher think it does more damage then insightfull strike

Random toughts
How you like this build, anything I missed, what would you do for feats both short and longterm, 1H + shield? 2 hander? feats is what I am most unsure about. About maneuvers I seem to mis boost don't seem to be any in the schools I chose anything I can do about this or aint it important enough? in the beginning boost dont seem to good cause ill be 1 hit striking most of the time anyway but with multiple attacks and time stand stills it seems very good. Also if you really want to down a mob fast one striking + boost still seems nice too, recovering maneuvers for a warblade is very easy and cheap anyway.

Books allowed
PH1&2
all the complete ones
tome of battle
(psychic books not allowed)

Couple small questions :
a) Can i use a boost and strike in one round?
b) Can I strike and counter in one round?
c) Can I boost and counter in one round?
d) Can I do all in one round?
e) I use moment of perfect mind as counter to in an NPCs to which round does the immidiate action i use belong? the current of next? Does it even take a swift action? Somebody just in detail explain me what type of maneavers i can use in conjuction in 1 turn/round plz.

Thanks all for reading and hopefully replying, sorry if the post lacks total coherance first time I do this.

 

[blargney the second]

Sub out Weapon Focus for Cleave. You'll want the extra attack as a martial initiate. As for the bonus feat at 5th, I like Improved Initiative and Iron Will. They're not sexy, but damn if they're not solid feats. Don't forget that warblades eventually get Int to damage against flat-footed targets.

 

[useridunavailable]

What really stands out to me as being out of place on a Warblade is Sudden Recovery. Page 22 of the BoNS states (under a Warblade's readied maneuvers) that "you can recover all expended maneuvers with a single swift action, which must be immediately followed in the same round with a melee attack or using a standard action to do nothing else in the round..." If you choose the melee attack option, it doesn't say that you can't follow up the first attack here with more attacks, so swift action>full attack is possible, as long as you execute no maneuvers.

Given that you can recover all of your maneuvers as a swift action whenever you want (only Warblades are afforded this luxury), why would you want to spend a feat to be able to recovere one maneuver as a swift action once a day? One of my favorite recommendations for a Warblade is that he or she pick up Martial Study: Burning Blade ASAP. This maneuver is useful as long as you take levels in Warblade, as the more attacks you get and the higher your initiator level gets, the more bonus damage you get. We're not talking about a sliding scale, here, either--each level you gain is an extra point of damage for each of your attacks. Anyway, whatever you decide to do, I would strongly advise against Sudden Recovery for a Warblade for the reasons listed above.

 

[evermind]

Speaking from some experience with Warblades (both playing them and GMing with them in the group), I would recommend the following

Skills - Tumble is extremly worthwhile, since you will want to get into flanking positions as quickly as possible, or be able to re-position yourself with regard to your opponent. Hitting a target,, then tumbling away some distance does mean the opponent will have to move towards you, forfeiting his/its sequence of full attacks in the process

Concentration is a valuable skill primarily if planning on heavy use of Diamond Mind techniques (which can be very deadly ). Otherweise, avoid.

As for stats, I don't really think Con 16 will be worth the expenditure over Con 14 (you are rolling D12s in the first place) - re-allocate those points to Int (14, you will want combat expertise, since heavy armours cannot be used. It also means valuable skill points and improved yield from INT-related powers of the Warblade ) and either Wis (fine for will saves, and awareness skills ) or Cha.... Warblades do have access to social skills, and unless you intend to be the social klutz of the party....

Maneuvres
Punishing stance is simply..... junk . The -2 to AC sucks big time, the extra damage is pretty moot, plus you cannot exchange stances later on. Unless you have a long-term plan which requires acquisition of a Iron Heart stance, AVOID.
Consider the Tiger Blood stance that provides "Scent" (Hunter's Sense ? This will be priceless until high levels, especially outside combat) or the jump bonus and aim for the Tiger blood maneuvres. Just my 2 cents on that

You maneuver selection is definitely missing Stone Dragon strikes, especially Mountain Hammer, which is a very effective maneuvre at low levels, since it circumvents any Damage reduction.... and at low levels, you usally don't have an entire arsenal of weapons at hand. Problem is - tone Dragon strikes only work if you have your feet placed on solid ground ---> they become useless once you fly, climb through trees, swim, are upstairs in a building (wooden floorboards etc. ).

"Moment of Perfect Mind", while very good is a bit useless at low levels, since magical opposition at that time is scarce, and so are will saves. Pick up later and pick Nightmare Blade instead. "Emerald Razor" is nice, if you use a heavy two handed weapon, less so with something light, especially if you don't have power attack.

Rabid Wolf Attack is nice, since the +4 to hit often enough comes in handy.... plus, in combination with Power Attack and a two-handed weapon... 'nuff said !

Insightful Strike easily beats Bonecrusher for damage if you have concentration maxed out, especially if you go for sword and board style or something High-crit range like a scimitar or rapier. Why ? For one STR penalities etc. do not count, and it gets better each and every level. Plus, it actually gets affected by Crits, doubling its effect (according to official FAQ ). At level 5, that would mean 10 +D20 ( 8 ranks +2 Con Bonus)... improving each and every level. Now if you get your hands on a keen scimitar (crit range 15-20), that would be 20 + 2D20. While Bonecrusher will NOT multiply the extra dice. and is not getting better independent of character equipment.

As for the Warblade bonus feats, I picked "Combat Reflexes" on both my warblades (one using a dagger whip caused real havoc that way ) , although Improved Initiative and Blind-Fighting are nice too - nothing sucks more than placing your single valuable maneuvre strike squat on the target, and then having the blow miss because of blur or displacement....

Strike "sudden recovery" (for the reasons explained above) and pick up "Vital recovery" if you feel unsure about timely healing, "Martial Lore" for a off-school maneuvre ( personally I would recommend angling for a Shadow Hand maneuvre ----> then take Martial Stance and pick up "Assassin's Stance" once you can grab it (+2D6 Sneak are nothing to laugh at for a mobile fighter who profits from flanking anywa ).

Weapon Focus is pretty moot as well, either take "Combat Expertise" or "Reckless Offensive" (XPH, methinks) for better defense or offense options.

"Improved Unarmed combat" is a less common, but highly effective choice. Use a 10' reach polearm, threaten the immediate 5' radius with your bare hands and feet. Do nasty maneuvres while appearing unarmed ( we had a warblade spring herself from prison that way, hammering through the prison wall with mountain hammers.... must have been hell on the fingernails, though ). Wonderful feat, depending on your playing style and campaign



Couple small questions :
a) Can i use a boost and strike in one round?
b) Can I strike and counter in one round?
c) Can I boost and counter in one round?
d) Can I do all in one round?
e) I use moment of perfect mind as counter to in an NPCs to which round does the immidiate action i use belong? the current of next? Does it even take a swift action? Somebody just in detail explain me what type of maneavers i can use in conjuction in 1 turn/round plz.

a) yes, if only one takes a swift action to use
b) see a)
c) usually not, since they use swift and immediate actions which are basically free actions of which you can have only one/round.
d) see c)
e) to your next round, that is the one following after the incident requiring the will save. hence, you cannot use the Perfect Mind maneuvre to make a will save and then recover your meanuvres on the following round (since you already have spend your swift/free action for that set of activity.)

Good Luck

 

[Rhun]

Strike "sudden recovery" (for the reasons explained above) and pick up "Vital recovery" if you feel unsure about timely healing, "Martial Lore" for a off-school maneuvre ( personally I would recommend angling for a Shadow Hand maneuvre ----> then take Martial Stance and pick up "Assassin's Stance" once you can grab it (+2D6 Sneak are nothing to laugh at for a mobile fighter who profits from flanking anywa ).

If you are concerned about healing, using the Martial Study feat to pick up Revitalizing Strike isn't a bad idea either...a successful attack allows you to heal 3d6+initiator level. I personally think this is a better idea than taking Vital Recovery (since it heals more damage), but it does take up a maneuver slot that you could use for something else.

Edit: Actually, nevermind; that only works if you meet the prereqs, and you'd have to have another Devoted Spirit maneuver to do that.

 

[Arkhandus]

What really stands out to me as being out of place on a Warblade is Sudden Recovery. Page 22 of the BoNS states (under a Warblade's readied maneuvers) that "you can recover all expended maneuvers with a single swift action, which must be immediately followed in the same round with a melee attack or using a standard action to do nothing else in the round..." If you choose the melee attack option, it doesn't say that you can't follow up the first attack here with more attacks, so swift action>full attack is possible, as long as you execute no maneuvers.

Given that you can recover all of your maneuvers as a swift action whenever you want (only Warblades are afforded this luxury), why would you want to spend a feat to be able to recovere one maneuver as a swift action once a day? One of my favorite recommendations for a Warblade is that he or she pick up Martial Study: Burning Blade ASAP. This maneuver is useful as long as you take levels in Warblade, as the more attacks you get and the higher your initiator level gets, the more bonus damage you get. We're not talking about a sliding scale, here, either--each level you gain is an extra point of damage for each of your attacks. Anyway, whatever you decide to do, I would strongly advise against Sudden Recovery for a Warblade for the reasons listed above.

I think he meant to take Vital Recovery, not Sudden Recovery. He just mixed up the name; I think he means to take the one that heals him when he recovers maneuvers, judging from his post (which is Vital Recovery).

I think he should consider taking Martial Study (Crusader's Strike) at 1st or 3rd level, since he can't expect healing from the party's cleric. Then take Martial Study (Revitalizing Strike) sometime around 6th or 9th, to supplement the occasional healing from Vital Recovery. (note that Revitalizing Strike requires one other Devoted Spirit maneuver as a prerequisite, otherwise I'd probably skip Crusader's Strike). Of course these healing strikes should only be used against mooks, after dispatching the biggest enemies first.

 

[Arkhandus]

Couple small questions :
a) Can i use a boost and strike in one round?
b) Can I strike and counter in one round?
c) Can I boost and counter in one round?
d) Can I do all in one round?
e) I use moment of perfect mind as counter to in an NPCs to which round does the immidiate action i use belong? the current of next? Does it even take a swift action? Somebody just in detail explain me what type of maneavers i can use in conjuction in 1 turn/round plz.

a) Yes, generally speaking. Boosts require a Swift Action to activate, while Strikes generally require a Standard Action or Full-Round Action to activate. You can use a Swift Action in the same round as a Standard or Full-Round Action. But you cannot choose to use a Boost after making your attack roll or the like; if you're going to use a Boost for your attack, then you have to activate that Boost before making the attack.

b) Yes. Counters use an Immediate Action to activate, which counts as a Swift Action if used on your own turn. But if you use a Counter on someone else's turn, then instead it uses up the one Swift Action allowed on your next turn.

c) Yes and no. Yes if you use the Counter at some time after your own turn, such as when an opponent attacks you. No if you intend to use the Boost and the Counter both during your own turn, since they both use up a Swift Action when used on your own turn.

d) Yes, if you use the Counter at some time after your own turn. You could Boost at the start of your turn, move up to an opponent with a Move Action, then initiate a Strike that needs a Standard Action (such as Ruby Nightmare Blade), then follow up on an opponent's turn with a Counter.

Of course, Warblades don't get much in the way of Boosts or Counters. I'd suggest taking Martial Study (Inferno Blade) at 15th-level to boost damage sometimes, since Inferno Blade has no prerequisites (other than being a 7th-level maneuver, so you need to be a 13th-level initiator or higher to learn it).

e) It depends on when you use the Moment of Perfect Mind. If you haven't taken your own turn yet in that particular round, then Moment of Perfect Mind will use up the Swift Action that you would be allowed on your own turn that round (so you wouldn't be able to use a Boost in that round, for example).

Otherwise, if you already took your turn for that round, and an NPC tries to zap you with Color Spray later in that round, then using Moment of Perfect Mind against that will just expend your Swift Action for the next round (rather than expending your Swift Action for this round).

 

[blargney the second]

Btw, Vital Recovery is particularly fun for warforged warblades.