Deepstone Sentinel worth it?

[Dude_Here]

Hi,

I'm making a Dwarf Crusader lockdown build and was thinking about
going into Deepstone Sentinel until I read you have to be in a Stone Dragon
stance to initiate its stances. The core stance for lockdown builds is Thicket of Blades which I would have to forgo in favor of Deepstone stances. I was just wondering if this Prestige Class was optimal for a lockdown build or should I stick with straight Crusader?

Thanks :smallsmile:

[Cieyrin]

Mountain Fortress Stance creates a similar effect to Thicket of Blades, in that the difficult terrain created prevents 5' steps for landbound creatures, thus, unless they withdraw, they'll provoke from you. If your opponents are flying or mobile, Stone Dragon stances aren't that great anyways, so nothing lost.

Alternatively, if you could manage to make your way into Master of the Nine, you could Dual Stance it up, though that'd require dipping Warblade or Swordsage for the prereq maneuvers, not to mention the steep feat requirements, so perhaps that's more pipe dream territory.