Best synergy race for a martial class?

[Dancingdeath]

Which race provides the best synergy for a martial class like swordsage? I'm tempted to just say human, but I've played so very many of those. Thoughts?

[Aegis013]

Depends on what you want to do with your Swordsage, and if you're up for having LA or not. So do you want to THF, TWF? Or what?

[Dancingdeath]

TWF sounds good. Speed and precision based style.

[Aegis013]

If you want to use double Kukri and try for critical hits, anything with bonus dex, str, or con that doesn't hurt any of those (and preferably doesn't hurt wis either) will be good. Unless you can find a way to key damage off of dex or somehow mitigate the desire for strength more so than just weapon finesse.

Water Orc from Unearthed Arcana is a decent pick. +4 strength, -2 Int, -2 cha. Doesn't hit the physical stats or wisdom.

Warforged is also a pretty good pick. Those immunities are tasty. Though not benefiting from normal heal spells may be problematic at times.

[Empedocles]

I'm actually going to suggest my own homebrew here: the voldur. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238557) If you don't want to use homebrew or you don't like the race (seriously, look at it though) then a raptoran could make an interesting speed/precision based swordsage, especially with a weapon in its hand and a bow in it's feet. It is LA 1 though.

EDIT: The voldur does impact wisdom though. Water orc might work better, and again the raptoran could be interesting.

[Surzt and Gurzt]

You could be a Diopsid, they can ignore DEX requirements for TWF and wield large weapons, as well as add 1.5 STR to each hand. A 1 lvl dip in Exotic Weapon master than means (under some interpretations) x2 STR on each hand if you can use an exotic one-handed weapon.

[Wings of Peace]

On chargers I prefer Half-Orc for taking the Headlong Rush (www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030301a) feat.

[Kuulvheysoon]

It depends on how your DM counts RHD - if he counts it as full IL, then you could try something like Lizardfolk (+2 Str/Con, -2 Int, +5 NA).

[Soranar]

Varies a lot depending on which ToB class you take

Personally, I find swordsage benefits the most from being a kobold

slight build makes you count as 2 categories smaller than a medium creature (which gives you all kinds of options with underfooted combat and confound the big folk) and those work very well with tiger claw maneuvers

you also get 3 natural attacks (2 claws 1 bite), again great for tiger claw (you can also get a fourth one with dragon tail)

dragonwrought gives you a +3 to Wis (on top of your bonus to DEX) and natural weapons work with shadow blade so you can be completely DEX based

Of course your CON score isn't so great so you might want to take necropolitan at some point.

[Tokuhara]

I'm actually going to suggest my own homebrew here: the voldur. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238557) If you don't want to use homebrew or you don't like the race (seriously, look at it though) then a raptoran could make an interesting speed/precision based swordsage, especially with a weapon in its hand and a bow in it's feet. It is LA 1 though.

EDIT: The voldur does impact wisdom though. Water orc might work better, and again the raptoran could be interesting.

Be proud of yourself Vilpich: your race is an official race in my upcoming Eberron game with some of the guys of my LARP group

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Honestly, it's hard to beat human. A free feat is hard to top/knock.

With LA buy-off, Goliath, Half-Giant, half-minotaur template, and the mineral warrior template are all common choices. Raptoran (and Dragonborn X) get used for non-magical, "free" flight.

Things like dwarf (Deepwarden), Elf (Eternal Blade), and other core races and their subtypes are useful if you're looking for certain prestige classes.

TL:DR; Depends on a lot of things.

[navar100]

Human - Free feat means you finish a feat chain three levels earlier than others. You also never have enough skill points, so the more you get the better.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Strongheart Halflings make insanely good Swordsages. They can remove their Str dependency, although it takes a couple of feats to do it (Weapon Finesse + Shadow Blade). They also do phenomonally well with Setting Sun stuff, since they can find a lot of things that give bonuses against larger opponents.

Rogue/Shadowdancer is a fun combo. Island of Blades lets you flank a LOT easier, which means all your sneak attack are belong to you.

[Tokuhara]

Human - Free feat means you finish a feat chain one three levels earlier than others. You also never have enough skill points, so the more you get the better.

*cough* Cop-Out *cough*


I personally say the following:

Fighter: Human (because honestly, like you need more feats...) or Goliath (Large 2-handed weapon + Power Attack = Run little goblins! Run!!!!)

Barbarian: Half-Orc (stereotype, but awesome sauce) or Golaith (see above and add rage)

Ranger (I count this as a melee-type): Elf (racial substitution pending), Halfling (Go with the ranged feat tree and use a thrown weapon, like a skiprock.), or Raptoran (two words: Foot Bow)

Paladin: Dwarf (Lotsa HP), Hellbred: Body (good overall, plus wonderful fluff) or Lesser Aasimar (MAD vs. +Wis and +Cha...)

Swashbuckler: Whisper Gnome (need I say more?) or Strongheart Halfling (> Human)

Knight: see paladin

Warblade: Grey Elf (Eternal Blade), Dwarf (Deepstone Sentinel), Human (Master of the 9), Halfling (Bloodstorm Blade), or Dragonborn Hellbred: Body (Tankasarus)

Crusader: Same as above, minus Halfling and add Lesser Aasimar (RKV)

Swordsage: Whisper Gnome (Shadow-Sun Ninja), Strongheart Halfling (Same), Venerable Dragonwrought Loredrake Desert Kobold (JPM)

[Particle_Man]

An oddball choice: Azurin. The soulmelds add a nice little touch to the martial classes. And you still get your free feat. But I guess that is technically still Human.

Duskling could be interesting for a speedy tank but losing int can hurt warblades.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

I know it's already been tossed in the ring, but I love strongheart halfling for anything that isn't strengh dependent. I'm plying in a Age of Worms campaign right now with an all strongheart halfling party. Everybody is loving them both mechanically and because we're freaking halflings.

Also did anyone mention Feral? That template is quite OP not as Op as Half-Minotaur or Mineral Warrior but still.

[Morph Bark]

I'm actually going to suggest my own homebrew here: the voldur. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238557) If you don't want to use homebrew or you don't like the race (seriously, look at it though) then a raptoran could make an interesting speed/precision based swordsage, especially with a weapon in its hand and a bow in it's feet. It is LA 1 though.

EDIT: The voldur does impact wisdom though. Water orc might work better, and again the raptoran could be interesting.

Actually, Raptorans are LA+0. They also make delicious Dragonborn, alongside Goliaths and Mongrelfolk.

[Tytalus]

Marrulurks (Sandstorm) make very nice swordsages.

Death attack, poison use (and a 1/day nauseating breath), sneak attack +2d6 (that's +4D6 with Assassin's Stance), Darkvision, great ability modifiers (Str +2, Dex +6, Con +4, Wis +6, Cha +4), two bonus feats, +4 to Listen, Hide and Move Silently plus some minor benefits (fire resistance 5, etc.) are quite useful. Also, they are small.

The downsides are the 3 RHD (monstrous humanoid) and the LA+1.

[Duskranger]

Whenever I make a swordsage I try to make it a Whisper Gnome, bonus to dex and con, even though it gives minuses to str and cha.

I mean focus slightly on shadow hand (for the stances) and shadowblade your way out of everything.

[JeminiZero]

I'm partial to Dragonborn, Raptoran, and any race using the Dragonwing line of feats for Warblade. Firstly it provides flight which is one of the few things that the class lacks (whereas swordsages get a nice stance that effectively provides it).

More importantly, all 3 of the above provide flight that has the clause allowing you to make Dive attacks with piercing weapons for double damage (normally this can only be done with claws or talons (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Fly)). Obviously, this synergizes well with White Raven maneuvers and Tiger Claw's Pouncing charge.

Finally all 3 Wings also provide a +10 racial jump bonus,which synergizes with Tiger Claw.

[Yorrin]

It's been mentioned a couple times already, but Dragonborn (with the base as either Water Orc, or if you cant take the Wis/Cha penalties then Hellbred) makes an excellent tank, and fits thematically quite well with Crusader.

[Empedocles]

Be proud of yourself Vilpich: your race is an official race in my upcoming Eberron game with some of the guys of my LARP group

Seriously? Sweet!

[Dancingdeath]

This community never fails to come through. I like several of the options here. Thank you all very much.

[Rubik]

Dvati twins make awesome martial characters. They get two sets of actions in a round, so long as they don't cast spells. You just need a REALLY high Con, since you split HD hp. Find a way to grab regeneration or something, and high miss chances, and you should be okay.

[eggs]

Nezumi can be pretty cool - bonus to Con to cover the Swordsage's main weaknesses, high speed for Tiger Claw Jump checks and general maneuverability and additional bonuses to saves against common poison effects. The natural attacks are a bit weird and would actually nerf most characters who want to use unarmed strikes, iirc.