Warblade Build

[3drinks]

Hey all. Working on a Warblade for a friend's PF game. Looking at a few build ideas from the Warblade's handbook here, but I need some help on determining what direction I want to go. At the moment, I'm looking at Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian (for Pounce) 1/Warblade X.

I like the Spiked Chain and I do like the tripper build. Big Spiked Chain fan.
I also like the double kukri "crit fisher" with the Tiger Claw style.
I also like the Leap Attack/Shock Trooper build too.
EDIT: I also like the Robilar's Gambit build, with Karmic Strike.

Currently the party is Cleric, Sorcerer, Swordsage and they're probably about a low - medium-ish optimization level.

Suggestions for how to focus myself? As for book access I have 3.5 material, PF material, various splat books and ToB (obviously lol) but no third party or homebrew.

[Firechanter]

Either stick to single-class Warblade (which is perfectly viable since it gives you good stuff at every level and leads to a nice capstone), or make sure your non-Warblade levels total to even numbers.

For instance, if you are going to take Barb 1, you might as well also take Cloistered Cleric 1 and grab three Devotion feats and TU.

However, you don't really need Spirit Lion. You can get Pounce via a Tiger Claw maneuver. Sure, you can't spam it, but I found this to be a metagame advantage. If you use it sparingly, the DM is not as likely to shut down your charges completely.
You also don't really need the Devotion feats. Your hit chance and damage output are gonne be just fine, you can get Swift Action movement from maneuvers as well etc.

Your discipline selection is kinda like "Kid in a candy store". So much good stuff! Diamond Mind and White Raven are particularly awesome, but Iron Heart and Tiger Claw also have their perks.

You can largely ignore Stone Dragon, except for Mountain Hammer.

Tiger Claw is a bit difficult to get into. Mind you, it's not as TWF-focused as the fluff would have you believe. Blood in the Water is great for dual kukris, but the other top picks like Pounce and Dancing/Raging Mongoose are also super-effective with a two-handed weapon.

As for Robilar's Gambit / Karmic Strike; I'd rather stick that on a Crusader, who gets extra boons from getting hit. Though a Warblade can certainly also be made to work with that.

[3drinks]

Either stick to single-class Warblade (which is perfectly viable since it gives you good stuff at every level and leads to a nice capstone), or make sure your non-Warblade levels total to even numbers.

For instance, if you are going to take Barb 1, you might as well also take Cloistered Cleric 1 and grab three Devotion feats and TU.

However, you don't really need Spirit Lion. You can get Pounce via a Tiger Claw maneuver. Sure, you can't spam it, but I found this to be a metagame advantage. If you use it sparingly, the DM is not as likely to shut down your charges completely.
You also don't really need the Devotion feats. Your hit chance and damage output are gonne be just fine, you can get Swift Action movement from maneuvers as well etc.

Your discipline selection is kinda like "Kid in a candy store". So much good stuff! Diamond Mind and White Raven are particularly awesome, but Iron Heart and Tiger Claw also have their perks.

You can largely ignore Stone Dragon, except for Mountain Hammer.

Tiger Claw is a bit difficult to get into. Mind you, it's not as TWF-focused as the fluff would have you believe. Blood in the Water is great for dual kukris, but the other top picks like Pounce and Dancing/Raging Mongoose are also super-effective with a two-handed weapon.

As for Robilar's Gambit / Karmic Strike; I'd rather stick that on a Crusader, who gets extra boons from getting hit. Though a Warblade can certainly also be made to work with that.

I can get Pounce via Tiger Claw? Wow. All this time I was under the impression Spirit Lion was the only option. Good to know.

I'm definitely looking to Iron Heart and Diamond Mind the most. Tiger Claw was only if the viability of the dual kukri archetype was actually worth pursuing - which I'm kind of getting an impression it will be very much hit or miss. So I'm probably going to go with the "ol' faithful" stand-by with the Spiked Chain and Improved Trip. Maybe go with an AoO build, however that gives me yet another stat I want to be decent to good. Stone Dragon, yes, is largely crap, sans Mountain Tombstone Strike and Mountain Hammer.

I figured Robilar's was largely for a tank-ish build so I will leave that to that archetype (and the Crusader does seem very, very well-suited to it).

Is it worthwhile going Wolf Totem Barb to get Improved Trip for, iirc, Uncanny Dodge? What about swapping Rage for Whirling Frenzy (although I am partial to retaining Rage, but I want to keep my options open for the best choices)? Is it worthwhile to dip Fgt1 after this Barb for the extra feat (Exotic Weapon) since my Human feat will be Combat Expertise to set up for Trip - Wolf Totem gives me Trip without Expertise so I might be able to skip that anyway, if viable. Though I am always partial to Improved Initiative for a combat-oriented class.

Is Exotic Weapon Master worth considering with this build? All I can see right now I need is Trip, Expertise (and I guess power attack with leap attack/shock troop)? and my Prof. feat so I seem pretty feat light for the build. Though I understand spending two extra feats on exotic weap. prof. is dead because of the Warblade's weap. familiarity. Or is Warblade20 really that viable? I understand keeping initiator levels as high as possible.

Thanks for the help thus far!

Oh! I guess I forgot to mention our starting level is five!

[lsfreak]

I can get Pounce via Tiger Claw? Wow. All this time I was under the impression Spirit Lion was the only option. Good to know.
Check this out. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103358)


Tiger Claw was only if the viability of the dual kukri archetype was actually worth pursuing - which I'm kind of getting an impression it will be very much hit or miss.
There are still some good options in Tiger Claw - see Sudden Leap, Pouncing Charge, Dancing/Raging Mongoose, Swooping Dragon Strike, and Wolf Pack Tactics.

If you're likely to go all the way to 20, especially if you're expecting a decent amount of play at 20th level, it's worth staying single-classed warblade for Stance Mastery. If you're not going that far, I'd generally recommend grabbing two levels of something else before 4th level, due to how weirdly warblade stances are given out. Grabbing two levels of something and then your 4th level of warblade gets you a 3rd level stance, otherwise you have to burn a feat or wait until 10th level and give up your 5th level stance for one.

[Andezzar]

I can get Pounce via Tiger Claw? Wow. All this time I was under the impression Spirit Lion was the only option. Good to know.While pouncing charge (level 5 maneuver) indeed gives you a full attack on the charge you do in conjunction with the maneuver, this still is a charge and has the normal movement restrictions to charges.

Bounding assault (Diamond Mind 4) on the other hand lets you make an unrestricted double move and an attack at its end. "This maneuver is considered a charge attack when determining if feats and other abilities apply to your attack." (ToB p. 62). so any character with pounce and/or shock trooper and/or leap attack can use those when initiating this maneuver.


I'm definitely looking to Iron Heart and Diamond Mind the most.Can't go wrong there.


Is it worthwhile going Wolf Totem Barb to get Improved Trip for, iirc, Uncanny Dodge?That depends on how long the campaign will go. The Warblade also gets Uncanny Dodge.

[Firechanter]

Generally I don't think much of Trip anymore, it's just too unreliable, considering how many enemies will have much higher Str, be larger and/or have more legs than you. For Lockdown purposes, take Stand Still.

A Warblade wants to have decent Dex anyway, because you're limited to Medium armour and probably will prefer to stay Light anyway, for unrestricted movement.

And yes, Bounding Assault is pretty awesome if you get Pounce from another source. It's a strong choice, so it just depends on whether you want the capstone or not. The Warblade also has several ways to get Swift Action Movement to get you into position for a regular charge; just means you can't activate the Mongoose on the same turn.

That aside, I'd always try to talk to the DM about the stance progression. I consider the printed progression a typo that normally would have been errataed. Try to negotiate acquiring your followup stances at levels 5, 10 and 15 - at least that's regular.
It just makes absolutely zero sense that you would have to spend a feat or even multiclass just to get access to your own friggin _class feature_ in good time. It's like saying "Yeah, Fly is a 3rd level Wizard spell, but you can't take it before level 8 regardless, just because." Nobody would do that.