Warblade

[undead hero]

I'm creating a level 2 warblade and I need to know if there is a way to get not only dex to attack (weapon finesse) but dex to damage via a feat somewhere.

I have this guy as a dex/con/int who will focus on diamond mind concentration attacks/damage but I want to be able to do some damage without spending a maneuver.

[Circle of Life]

The Shadow Blade feat from the same book adds Dex to damage when wielding a Shadow Hand weapon and while you're in a Shadow Hand stance.

[Cwymbran-San]

There was another one in the Eberron CS, i cannot remember the name...but i think it required you to be a certain race.
Do you intend on using a certain weapon?

[Darrin]

The Shadow Blade feat from the same book adds Dex to damage when wielding a Shadow Hand weapon and while you're in a Shadow Hand stance.

There's a couple other ways to get Dex on damage:

Drow Hit-and-Run Tactics Fighter ACF (Drow of the Underdark). Requires target to be flat-footed.

Champion of Corellon Larethian (Races of the Wild). Only works with certain weapons.

[Circle of Life]

The OP specified feats, otherwise I would have just linked to the X stat to Y ability thread. *shrug*

[NeoSeraphi]

The Shadow Blade feat from the same book adds Dex to damage when wielding a Shadow Hand weapon and while you're in a Shadow Hand stance.

Yeah but you can't get Shadow Blade on a warblade unless you dip swordsage or take 3 feats (Martial Study, Martial Stance, and Shadow Blade)

[RaggedAngel]

The OP specified feats, otherwise I would have just linked to the X stat to Y ability thread. *shrug*

Like Circle said, there aren't many ways to get Dex to damage, and most of them are race-specific. The only one that isn't is the one he mentioned, Shadow Blade, and it requires you to always be in a Swordsage-school stance, which will probably chafe a bit as a Warblade.

My recommendation is to speak to your DM and see if he'll give you a very reasonable bit of homebrew, "Improved Weapon Finesse", that lets you have Dex to damage with finesse-able weapons.

[BIGMamaSloth]

The Shadow Blade feat from the same book adds Dex to damage when wielding a Shadow Hand weapon and while you're in a Shadow Hand stance.

AFB, but I'm pretty sure you don't have to wield a shadow hand weapon, It's just the stance.

[RaggedAngel]

AFB, but I'm pretty sure you don't have to wield a shadow hand weapon, It's just the stance.

I'm not AFB, and you do have to use one of the Shadow Hand discipline's preferred weapons. Sorry.

[Circle of Life]

Yeah but you can't get Shadow Blade on a warblade unless you dip swordsage or take 3 feats (Martial Study, Martial Stance, and Shadow Blade)

I know, and it's not a choice I would personally recommend. The OP asked a question and I gave him the only answer within those parameters though.

Personally, I feel Dex to damage with finesseable weapons should be a thing inherent to the Weapon Finesse feat, but that's stepping into the realm of homebrew and houserules, and can't be expected to apply to everyone.

[Zombulian]

Improved Weapon Finesse is one o' dem. I think it has a BAB prereq so I don't think you can get it at lvl 2.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Improved Weapon Finesse is one o' dem. I think it has a BAB prereq so I don't think you can get it at lvl 2.

As far as I know, 3.5 has no such feat. You'll need to provide a book.

[Cwymbran-San]

Out of topic: what do WBL and AFB stand for?:smallredface:

[NeoSeraphi]

Out of topic: what do WBL and AFB stand for?:smallredface:

WBL- Wealth By Level. The amount of gold/magic items a character should have based on his level, as stated in the DMG.

AFB- Away From Book. It means "I didn't look this up, I'm quoting it from memory"

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You would do well to get a 2-level dip to fix your stance progression anyway, so grab Swordsage 2 and get Shadow Blade.

[FMArthur]

It's not three feats, just a 3000gp Shadow Hand maneuver item, Martial Stance and then Shadow Blade.

While that still is a fairly poor trade if you don't intend to use the maneuver or the stance you get on the way there, you can still do it anyway and not be gimped. It's hard to shake the feeling that wasted feats ruin your character because all the other mundane melee classes are driven by their feats more than their class features, but ToB takes care of you properly. You're already safe from mediocrity's cold grasp by being a Warblade. :smallwink:

[Keld Denar]

You don't have to use the SH maneuver, but you DO have to be in the SH stance. That basically locks you in to a 1st level stance for the rest of your life unless you spend even more feats on Martial Stance as your IL gets higher.

[NeoSeraphi]

You don't have to use the SH maneuver, but you DO have to be in the SH stance. That basically locks you in to a 1st level stance for the rest of your life unless you spend even more feats on Martial Stance as your IL gets higher.

Oh, yeah, I didn't even think about that, but he is a warblade. That means, by taking Shadow Blade, he'd essentially be losing one of his best class features until 20th, when he can start dual-stancing. That's a pretty significant loss for just Dex to damage.

[FMArthur]

Yeah, when you put it that way you really are losing some of your own class's strength for the priveledge of taking multiple feats to do something pretty unamazing.

[Essence_of_War]

There's a couple other ways to get Dex on damage:

Drow Hit-and-Run Tactics Fighter ACF (Drow of the Underdark). Requires target to be flat-footed.

Champion of Corellon Larethian (Races of the Wild). Only works with certain weapons.

Also, there is a link my sig to the warblade handbook that includes a sample build that uses Champion of Corellon to get dex to damage. It's pretty cute, but the real dex-to-damage stuff doesn't come online until around 8th-10th level.


I have this guy as a dex/con/int who will focus on diamond mind concentration attacks/damage but I want to be able to do some damage without spending a maneuver.

Make sure that if you go this route, you pick up both Emerald Razor and Power Attack. Use a spiked chain, the elven courtblade, or the elven thinblade in 2-hands. These are all weapons that are finessable that allow you to get the full 2-1 power attack return.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Instead of EWP you could get Improved Weapon Familiarity (CW) to count all the Elven weapons as martial, as long as you're using an Elf race. That gets the Thinblade, Lightblade, Courtblade, and probably a few others as well, plus as an Elf you'd be proficient with bows despite being a Warblade. Snow Elf in Frostburn doesn't get a Con penalty.

I'll agree that staying in a 1st level Shadow Hand stance your entire career is a major drawback. However, you could go something like Unarmed Swordsage 1/ Warblade 2/ Unarmed Swordsage 1/ Warblade 3/ Master of Nine 2 for Dual Stance and you'll be doing quite well. It takes quite a few feats, and you're still restricted to Shadow Hand weapons for Dex to damage, but it's definitely playable.

[undead hero]

So I'm going with Warforged Warblade 2, Diamond Mind will be my main school but I'm not a big fan of their stances so I'm probably going to stick with stone dragon stances.

Thanks for all the help, and the warblade handbook actually pointed me toward warforged :D i like it... :D

[Drathmar]

So I'm going with Warforged Warblade 2, Diamond Mind will be my main school but I'm not a big fan of their stances so I'm probably going to stick with stone dragon stances.

Thanks for all the help, and the warblade handbook actually pointed me toward warforged :D i like it... :D

Just remember for most Stone Dragon Stances if you move more than 5ft they end automatically.

[Hiro Protagonest]

So I'm going with Warforged Warblade 2, Diamond Mind will be my main school but I'm not a big fan of their stances so I'm probably going to stick with stone dragon stances.

Thanks for all the help, and the warblade handbook actually pointed me toward warforged :D i like it... :D

I think Stone Dragon gets a lot of undeserved flak. It's actually pretty good.

But do you why it gets that flak? A fraction of it's maneuvers and almost all of it's stances.