Talbot
2010-07-28, 04:53 AM
So, having been messing around with Tomb of Battle trying to build a "Swash-Sage" (there's a thread about it elsewhere), I came up with kind of a cool build idea, but I'm not sure it would be particularly playable.
Basically, the idea is a martial adept who travels the world, training to master not just the maneuvers of each class, but their spirit and philosophy too, and taking class levels to reflect that. So, for instance, while studying Tiger Claw he might take a level of Ranger (probably the Wildshape Variant), or Barbarian. For Shadow Hand he takes a level of Rogue, for Devoted Spirit a level of Paladin, for Diamond Mind some Psychic Warrior, etc.
I see the build shaking out roughly as follows:
2 Levels each of Swordsage/Crusader/Warblade
1 Level "Shadow Hand" (probably Rogue, maybe Shadow Sun Ninja or Assassin)
1 Level "Devoted Spirit" (probably Paladin, maybe Cleric or Favored Soul)
1 Level "Tiger Claw" (probably Ranger, maybe Barbarian or Bloodclaw Master)
1 Level "White Raven" (probably Marshal, maybe Bard or Artificer)
1 Level "Diamond Mind" (probably Psychic Warrior, maybe Factotum or Ardent)
1 Level of "Setting Sun" (probably Monk, maybe Psion or Dungeoncrasher Fighter)
1 Level of "Iron Heart" (probably Fighter, maybe Samurai or Bloodstorm Blade)
1 Level of "Stone Dragon" (probably Knight, maybe Barbarian or Deepstone Sentinel)
1 Level of "Desert Wind" (probably Dragonfire Adept , maybe Duskblade or Pyrokineticist)
5 Levels of Master of Nine
Total Maneuvers Known: 24, assuming no Martial prestiges besides Mo9
Total Stances Known: 7, assuming no Martial prestiges besides Mo9
Initiatior Level: 13 as Warblade, Crusader, and Swordsage, although you'd only get two level 7 maneuvers, and only at level 20.
Initial Thoughts: Probably you'd want to use the Unarmed Swordsage variant as it gives you ostensibly a free feat needed for Mo9 without losing anything since you still get all your proficiencies from Warblade and Crusader. Your BAB will be terrible unless you go fractional, although your saves should be ok either way. Although you get enough maneuvers known, you probably won't know very many high-level maneuvers from each school because of pre-reqs (although taking Martial Study three times gives you exactly enough maneuvers to have three for each school, and two Martial Stances means you've got one stance per school too, which would fit the class... but that and Mo9 would pretty much eat up all of your feats). You're likely going to have some pretty awful MAD.
Questions for the Playground:
1) Is there a way to make a build like this (not necessarily this exact build, but a build with nine one-level dips thematically relating to each school) playable? Even optimized?
2) Any better suggestions for which classes would fit which schools? I went with all base classes for the primary examples above, but I'm sure you could do it with all prestiges as well.
3) Anything else to contribute? Comments? Questions? Curse Words?
Basically, the idea is a martial adept who travels the world, training to master not just the maneuvers of each class, but their spirit and philosophy too, and taking class levels to reflect that. So, for instance, while studying Tiger Claw he might take a level of Ranger (probably the Wildshape Variant), or Barbarian. For Shadow Hand he takes a level of Rogue, for Devoted Spirit a level of Paladin, for Diamond Mind some Psychic Warrior, etc.
I see the build shaking out roughly as follows:
2 Levels each of Swordsage/Crusader/Warblade
1 Level "Shadow Hand" (probably Rogue, maybe Shadow Sun Ninja or Assassin)
1 Level "Devoted Spirit" (probably Paladin, maybe Cleric or Favored Soul)
1 Level "Tiger Claw" (probably Ranger, maybe Barbarian or Bloodclaw Master)
1 Level "White Raven" (probably Marshal, maybe Bard or Artificer)
1 Level "Diamond Mind" (probably Psychic Warrior, maybe Factotum or Ardent)
1 Level of "Setting Sun" (probably Monk, maybe Psion or Dungeoncrasher Fighter)
1 Level of "Iron Heart" (probably Fighter, maybe Samurai or Bloodstorm Blade)
1 Level of "Stone Dragon" (probably Knight, maybe Barbarian or Deepstone Sentinel)
1 Level of "Desert Wind" (probably Dragonfire Adept , maybe Duskblade or Pyrokineticist)
5 Levels of Master of Nine
Total Maneuvers Known: 24, assuming no Martial prestiges besides Mo9
Total Stances Known: 7, assuming no Martial prestiges besides Mo9
Initiatior Level: 13 as Warblade, Crusader, and Swordsage, although you'd only get two level 7 maneuvers, and only at level 20.
Initial Thoughts: Probably you'd want to use the Unarmed Swordsage variant as it gives you ostensibly a free feat needed for Mo9 without losing anything since you still get all your proficiencies from Warblade and Crusader. Your BAB will be terrible unless you go fractional, although your saves should be ok either way. Although you get enough maneuvers known, you probably won't know very many high-level maneuvers from each school because of pre-reqs (although taking Martial Study three times gives you exactly enough maneuvers to have three for each school, and two Martial Stances means you've got one stance per school too, which would fit the class... but that and Mo9 would pretty much eat up all of your feats). You're likely going to have some pretty awful MAD.
Questions for the Playground:
1) Is there a way to make a build like this (not necessarily this exact build, but a build with nine one-level dips thematically relating to each school) playable? Even optimized?
2) Any better suggestions for which classes would fit which schools? I went with all base classes for the primary examples above, but I'm sure you could do it with all prestiges as well.
3) Anything else to contribute? Comments? Questions? Curse Words?