Rogue/Swordsage build

[tricktroller]

Hey folks!

So Here is my plan. I want to make a skillmonkey that is also very nasty in close combat. Through island of blades and vexing and adaptable flanker I want to put some serious hurt on mt opponents.

Here is the kicker though; I can only use Bo9S,core and the complete books. We are playtesting some new rules and so we are attempting to keep the crazy to a minimum.

So help me out with building this.

32 pt point buy
Str 12
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 14
Cha 8

Current plan is Rogue1/Swordsagex/Prc X

[Emmerask]

You could take another of the tob base classes and go with master of 9, having two stances is pretty nice as a swordsage.

Don´t forget to take the dex to damage feat in any case :smallwink:

[Vknight]

You could take another of the tob base classes and go with master of 9, having two stances is pretty nice as a swordsage.

Don´t forget to take the dex to damage feat in any case :smallwink:

I forget what that dex to damage feat is/where it is

But you should totally go elf for that boost to Dex I mean who really needs Con
Feats and Skills I'd suggest human but not much to add at the moment

[Emmerask]

Shadow Blade I think it was called - though you have to be in a shadow hand stance and must use a shadow hand weapon, but since both are good for a rogue type class there is not really a problem :smallsmile:

[tricktroller]

It is called shadow blade and I will probably take it. Also I intend to stay in shadow hand stances, island of blades or assassins stance once I am higher level. Island of blades will help me set up for sneak attack and if I get into position and don't need it I can swap to assassin's stance.

I am also working on building a generalist wizard with these same books.

[Emmerask]

Well a generalist wizard is not really hard to build and quite boring to be frank :smalltongue:

I personally kind of like the phoenix mage from tome of battle, I don´t know how powerful the prc actually is but it seems fun to have spells and maneuvers... sooooo many options

(don´t have the books with me at work so all names are from memory and maybe wrong^^)

[Shining Wrath]

Even though you are going for skillmonkey you may want to cut INT and up WIS. Lots of SS stuff is Wisdom based, plus Will Saves.

6 SP / level for SS ought to get you lots of stuff.

If you can get a friend to take some White Raven maneuvers, like Flanking Maneuver or Tactics of the Wolf, it will make you even nastier.

[Krazzman]

You have to decide between Shadow Blade and more skillpoints on first level.

You either get Shadow Blade on first level or on 6th as you will most likely pick up weapon finesse on level 3. I don't know but I think Shadow Blade even had another feat as prereq... didn't it?

[Azoth]

Adaptable Style is a must have feat for any swordsage build. There recovery mechanic sucks otherwise.

Being this feat intensive already you will be relying mostly on strikes for damage...so find the best shadow hand weapon you can that is a one hander.

[Krazzman]

Adaptable Style is a must have feat for any swordsage build. There recovery mechanic sucks otherwise.

Being this feat intensive already you will be relying mostly on strikes for damage...so find the best shadow hand weapon you can that is a one hander.

That was it.

Featbuild wise it will be smarter to start with Swordsage... you loose 8 Skillpoints but seriously... who cares? Adaptive Style + Shadow Blade, then on third level Weapon Finesse on 6 you can take Craven or something else.

Short Sword seems to be the "best" weapon he can get out of his source-list.

[tricktroller]

Only problem with not taking rogue at some point is that I will need trapfinding. We are ignoring the class skills list but keeping trapfinding. If I were skill monkeying about I'd need that probably. Also I planned to use the rogue SA and the SS ability to flank with adjacent allies to get sa every round. I planned to bounce betwixt the two.

@Emmerask, ok so build be a non conjurer or abjurer wizard that would be fun.

[Casper13]

Hey tricktroller,

I'm currently playing Rogue 3/Swordsage 2/Swash 6(+X)! And I really love this combination. Rogue/SS-Combination is so much fun to play!
My whole character-concept is build on getting sneak-attack-circumstances all the time and it works just fine! I'm fighting with two keen kukris (i like keen+craven), i'm not using the shadow blade...sure it's really nice, but didn't work out with my char.
For Stances and Maneuvers I'm using Island of Blades (best thing ever, u always get your foes flanked and sneak 'em to death), when I'm in the right position am switching too Assassin's Stance to get +2d6 more sneak!
For first round I'm using Wolf Fang Strike, Move and get an attack with my two weapons, after this i try to get Full-Round-Attack every time, to get as much sneak-damage as possible.
When I got no ally to use IoB, i use 'Distracting Ember' for another full-round-sneak, or I use 'Cloak of Deception' for get full-round-sneak.
My 4th slot maneuver changes some times, but the most time i take 'fire riposte'..or 'mountain hammer'...'shadow jaunt'...and for better crit chance 'shadow blade technique'.
Ok it's not what you are planing to play...i just want to share my experience with rogue/SS

[StreamOfTheSky]

Elf doesn't have to be terrible. I love both Wood Elf and Wild Elf, and those are core races (MM). If you use multiclass penalties, it'll hit you, though.

I like doing a Martial Rogue 2-4 levels (the UA variant that gets feats instead of SA) w/ Swordsage, but I suppose that's not an option for you. SA really isn't that great, and Swordsage performs much better as a skirmishing strike-user than a TWF type that sneak attack is optimal for, due to the medium BAB. Having some SA is still useful for Staggering Strike and (if available) Craven, so by all means get Assassin's Stance, but I don't think having a *big* pool of SA dice is that important for a Swordsage build.