Mo9 timing

[danzibr]

I'm looking to make a ToB character, primarily Warblade, some Swordsage, then 5 levels of Mo9. We're starting at level 11 and the DM allows you to use the first level of a PrC to qualify for it, so I can take Mo9 at level 7. However, I read that it's good to put it off.

Right now I'm thinking Warblade 4, Swordsage 1, Warblade 2, Swordsage 1, then Mo9 5. When the campaign starts I'll be IL 10 for Warblade and 8 for Swordsage.

Question: is that too early to take Mo9?

Also, I don't imagine we'll be gaining too many levels, so suggesting waiting until 16-20 to take Mo9 probably won't work.

[Fouredged Sword]

If you expect the game to run to 20, then maybe. Most games run maybe 3-4 levels though, so in practice you can get a lot of milage out of just going Mo9 as soon as you can.

There are three theories

Warblade x / swordsage 2 / Mo9 5 - added up so you start the game with as much Mo9 as you can squeze in, but leaving it as your last 5 levels.
- This build allows you to start with the capstone to master of nine. It starts strong, and unless you are planning to pick up a 9th level strike from a non-warblade school you loose very little.

Warblade x / swordsage 2 / Mo9 1 - added so you just start Mo9 with your 11th level. This gives you a clear path of advancement and is most likely going to maximize your level of stances you can get with Mo9.

Warblade 13 / swordsage 2 / Mo9 5 - wait until the end. You can get all 9ths this way if you want.

Touch of cheese - uncanny trickster and legacy champion mean that you never have to stop advancing Mo9 readied and known progressions, as well as extend the double stance turns per day. You can get tons of readied and known warblade strikes this way.

[danzibr]

Hey, thanks for the response. I should have mentioned I'm the party's only martial character (we have a somewhat martial Sorc, a blasty Sorc and a healing Cleric, and me). That's why I'm favoring Warblade.

I like the cheese idea, but it's a low op game and... yeah. I think I'll go with theory 1, basically. It's not as early as I can take it but assuming the campaign lasts for a couple more levels I'll cap out without too much left over.

[Draz74]

Yeah, Mo9 timing is weird because optimizing it depends on how long the campaign is going to keep running.

In general, though, my compromise solution is to take its levels widely spread out: save some for the high levels where they can be used to pick up 9ths, but don't hesitate to take the first level at Level 9 or so to get the ball rolling. And intersperse Mo9 2-3 somewhere in between, whenever you have maneuvers/stances that you really want become available.

So at Level 11, I'd go with one or two levels of Mo9. Two if you can rig it so that the second one picks up a non-Warblade maneuver and stance (Shifting Defense?) you are really happy to have.

On a side note, I generally prefer a 1-level dip in (Unarmed) Swordsage and a 1-level dip in Fighter or Barbarian, compared to a 2-level dip in Swordsage, on a Mo9 build. But of course it depends on a number of factors, such as how many Shadow Hand/Setting Sun maneuvers you want and how good your Wisdom score is.