3.5 Deepstone Sentinel gestalt

[herrhauptmann]

Currently working on a gestalt character for a pbp game. One half of the progression is a homebrew class I've posted about a few times, The mancer. The other half is likely to be a hodgepodge of other classes.
But what I'm specifically wondering about is the Deepstone Sentinel PrC. Entry requirements are definitely strict, +10 bab, 13 ranks in balance. But the fluff of the PrC definitely seems to be similar to the dwarven defender (first and last line of defense).

So I'm wondering if the deepstone is actually a decent PrC, or rather, is it a 'usable' PrC?
The fact that it's not mentioned regularly tells me that it's underpowered compared to bloodstorm blade and the ruby knight vindicator, though those two are both very, very good.
So am I wasting time trying to get into deepstone sentinel, would my time be better spent with another class? And since the other half my progression is going to be split between martial and nonmartial classes, which maneuvers would continue to be useful in later levels. (When I've got level 2 and 3 maneuvers, but am 10th level or so)

[SurlySeraph]

It's not a waste of time, and it's pretty good for battlefield control - unless there are significant numbers of flying enemies. Then it can't do much.

Stone Dragon gets a number of maneuvers for denying actions to targets; take them. It's full of direct damage strikes, and a couple of those never hurt. Its various hardness-overcoming maneuvers are also surprisingly useful outside of combat: forget taking an adamantine pick to go through brick walls, Mountain Hammer lets you burrow through adamantine with your fists.

[Kallisti]

Bear in mind that it's a town-defense game--enemies trying to fly in would have to go over any walls you have, exposing themselves to archer fire from the guards.

Flyers aren't impossible, but at least within the town itself you should fight mostly (though not entirely) landlocked enemies, against whom the Deepstone Sentinel's powers should be about as advertised.

I've always thought of the Deepstone Sentinel as a fairly solid late-game PrC--it's not astounding, but it's better than straight Warblade. It isn't worth devoting a whole lot of resources to qualifying, but if you'd qualify fairly easily anyway it's worth picking up. This last part is just personal opinion, though--don't hold me to it.

[NineThePuma]

Further This (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9233697#post9233697) makes Stone Dragon less painful all around.

[herrhauptmann]

Further This (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9233697#post9233697) makes Stone Dragon less painful all around.

That actually looks useful, particularly with the relatively low number of maneuvers I'll have as a warblade.
Kallisti, any objections to using that one in place of regular stone dragon?

[Dusk Eclipse]

Bear in mind that it's a town-defense game--enemies trying to fly in would have to go over any walls you have, exposing themselves to archer fire from the guards.

Flyers aren't impossible, but at least within the town itself you should fight mostly (though not entirely) landlocked enemies, against whom the Deepstone Sentinel's powers should be about as advertised.

I've always thought of the Deepstone Sentinel as a fairly solid late-game PrC--it's not astounding, but it's better than straight Warblade. It isn't worth devoting a whole lot of resources to qualifying, but if you'd qualify fairly easily anyway it's worth picking up. This last part is just personal opinion, though--don't hold me to it.

I dissagree with that, the Dual stance ability is one of the most powerful class features found in ToB, straight warblade is perfectly viable and sometimes recomended over other options.