Barbarian//Swordsage??

[Asteron]

Would this work?

I don't think that a Barbarian could initiate a lot of maneuvers while raging. Am I correct in that?

The reason it comes up is that we are starting a gestalt campaign in a bit and one of the players wants to play a 4e character that he had as a 3.5 one. He had a Goliath Barbarian.

I have been wracking my brain to find a class that goes with barbarian in gestalt for this character. He was always played as a "lets just kill some stuff" character. Spellcasting is just out for him (even if it didn't clash with Rage) and I thought that martial adept would be great for the active side of the gestalt. Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

[Fouredged Sword]

There is a feat in the book of exalted deeds that lets you have more freedom about what you can do during a rage. You still can't spellcast, but you can "use tactics and deal non-lethal damage". I would file strikes and such under that heading and let the player do what they want with a little feat tax.

[John Longarrow]

You can use maneuvers while raging.

A more fitting combo may be either Warblade or Crusader. Both get to cycle through their maneuvers pretty quickly, so they are not one time per encounter.

Not sure if that meets what you are looking for. As I've not played 4E, you may want to describe what in game effects you want to duplicate.

[Asteron]

You can use maneuvers while raging.

A more fitting combo may be either Warblade or Crusader. Both get to cycle through their maneuvers pretty quickly, so they are not one time per encounter.

Not sure if that meets what you are looking for. As I've not played 4E, you may want to describe what in game effects you want to duplicate.

I thought about Warblade, but went with Swordsage because the character had a bit of a fire focus and Desert Wind would suit him well. I've played with a guy with a SS and there were only a handful of times when he ran out of maneuvers in a fight...

[Scow2]

Swordsage is also better if it's Gestalt (Instead of just Multiclassing), because Barbarians and Warblades are largely redundant with each other: Same saves, same Skill Points/Level, Similar Skill Lists, Same Hit Dice, Same BAB, and I think they have a few other "same X" things, and worse non-maneuver class features. The only advantage is access to White Raven and Iron Heart (Which is damn good, but Martial Study can pick the important Iron Heart bits up... or, you can try to strike an agreement with the DM to get access to Iron Heart in exchange for nonthematic disciplines.)

Swordsage, however, has a different Good Save (I can't remember if they also have Will as a good save), More Skill points/Level, a larger skill list, overwritten BAB and HD, and good class features, like WIS to AC (Yes, a tertiary attribute, but the most important Mental attribute to a Barbarian). Non-Pouncing barbarians probably prefer Light over Medium armor because it's just one point of AC, and FAR more mobility.

[Greenish]

Barbarian//Swordsage should work just fine. The only maneuvers you can't use during rage are those that require using Concentration (the skill), which is to say, a handful of the Diamond Mind ones. The saves replacers are among those, but then, Barbarian//Swordsage has all good saves and reasons to pump Con and Wis (and probably doesn't mind decent Dex score either).

[Asteron]

Excellent!

Thanks, guys!