Explain Ghost Blade to Me

[Elric VIII]

I feel rather dumb right now, I just did a level 15 one-shot and used my Swordsage RKV character (that people here helped me design) for the first time. I began an encounter by using Ghost Blade and then Hand of Death. One of my friends pointed out that Ghost Blade is a strike, not a boost. I assumed it was a level 6 maneuver because it was meant to be coupled with the ones that require a flat-footed opponent and was the analog of Raging Mongoose.

What I want to know is if there's something that I'm missing about this maneuver? Aside from working with Assasin's Stance for +2d6, what warrants that maneuver being 6th level? As far as I can tell, most of the high-level monsters have rather poor Dex mods.



On a side note, the character worked great and and I wnat to thank anyone who helped me make it.

[Reynard]

No, you're not missing anything. It's just that bad.

It's worse than a maneuver you can get 10 levels earlier.

[Elric VIII]

No, you're not missing anything. It's just that bad.

It's worse than a maneuver you can get 10 levels earlier.

Alright, then. Thank you.

[Elric VIII]

So, what are people's opinions on trying to change it so that it would be a boost that reads:

"The next opponent that you attack this turn is considered flat-footed against your attacks until the end of your turn."

This would make it useful for initiating maneuvers like Hand of Death, Death in the Dark, and Shadow Noose. It would also allow you to gain the benefits of a flat-footed opponent for an entire full attack, but only against one opponent, although it would not make them flat-footed to AoOs they provoke from you.

I honestly assumed that this was how it did work. Does this seem like a reasonable change?