Arctic Dwarf Stormguard Warrior build questions

[titans4ever]

I am joining a Forgotten Realms campaign at level 4. There is no true cleric in the group so everyone must be pretty sturdy and balanced so I was thinking of going crusader. I am choosing the arctic dwarf race from the Unearthed Arcana because of the area we are playing in. The +2 to Str and Con are great since we are mainly out in the wilderness fighting but the drawbacks are a -4 to Dex and a -2 to Cha. This really hampers a true lockdown/crackdown build of most crusaders.

I saw a crusader/warblade build around the Stormguard Warrior feat. I was going to tweek it some since the original was a human build. I want some input to see if someone with some tome of battle experience thinks this character would work. All 3.5 books are in play. I am open to any suggestions on different builds that would work better or alternate feats to take.


Here is the original so you don't have to look it up:

Stomguard Crusader
Build Stub: Human Crusader 16 / Warblade 4 (Crusader 8 / Warblade 1 / Crusader +2 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +2 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +2 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +2)

Feats:
Human: Combat Reflexes
1: Stand Still
3: Extra Granted Maneuver
6: Stone Power
9: Ironheart Aura
12: Stormguard Warrior
15: Robilar's Gambit
18: Defensive Sweep (PHB2)

My version:

Starting stats are 17/17/16/15/14/13.
Str: 20 (17+2 mod+1 4th lvl), Dex: 12 (16-4 mod), Con: 19 (17+2 mod), Int:13, Wis: 15, Cha :12 (14-2 mod)

Build Stub: Arctic Dwarf Crusader16 / Warblade 4 (Crusader 8 / Warblade 1 / Crusader +2 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +2 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +2 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +2)

Feats:
1: stand still
3: extra granted maneuver
6: combat reflexes
9: ironheart aura
12: stormguard warrior
15: robilar's gambit
18: defensive sweep or power attack?


I would follow the maneuver progression given in the original build so I won't list it here.


Changes and why
I would lose Stone Power from the feats list since I get one less overall feat for being a dwarf and this one seems the logical choice. I can see that you can easily lose 5 to hit to gain 10 HP almost every round you hold back on AoPs and you still can have a huge to hit advantage in the round from combat rhythm and channel the storm.

I was wondering if power attack would be a good level 18 feat? With all the bonuses to hit from AoPs going into combat rhythm and channel the storm, swinging a weapon two handed I could easily drop some to hit to increase the damage output for the round and still have a plenty of to hit bonuses.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much info as possible. Thanks for any advice, tips or mods to the character that can make it better.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Be warned that you will be quite a bit more fragile without Stone Power. Also, with your build, Defensive Sweep > Power Attack.

[titans4ever]

Does this build need a cleric to keep him up with Robilar's Gambit activated and no stone power?

[Blueiji]

As long as you're using Unearthed Arcana variant races you should consider the Water Orc (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/elementalRacialVariants.htm#waterOrcs). They get a +4 STR, +2 CON, -2 INT, -2 WIS, and -2 CHA.

If you slap on the Dragonborn of Bahamut template from Races of the Dragon you can slap +2 and -2 DEX onto that.


Does this build need a cleric to keep him up with Robilar's Gambit activated and no stone power?

No. You'll probably have a fantastic CON, and both your classes have very high hit dice. You'll be fine.

Make sure someone can UMD a wand of lesser vigor for out of combat healing though.

[titans4ever]

A friend was looking at the base build and my first version and we discussed it some on need and speed to get the main trick into play. The big changes are in red.

My second version:

Starting stats are 17/17/16/15/14/13.
Str: 20 (17+2 mod+1 4th lvl), Dex: 12 (16-4 mod), Con: 19 (17+2 mod), Int:13, Wis: 15, Cha :12 (14-2 mod)

Build Stub: Arctic Dwarf Crusader16 / Warblade 4 (Crusader +4 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +4 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +4 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +2 / Warblade +1 / Crusader +2)

Feats:
1: Combat Reflexes
3: extra granted maneuver
6: ironheart aura
9: stormguard warrior
12: robilar's gambit
15: Defensive Sweep
18: stand still

Reasoning:
Breaking this build down, it comes to 3 things to function well for combat damage (not full fledge lockdown mode). You need Thicket of Blades and Robilar's Gambit to feed Stormguard Warrior's Channel the Storm and Combat Rhythm. Stand Still and defensive sweep just add to your ability to pump it up more and create a better lockdown situation.

Moving my first level of warblade to level 5 only pushed back thicket of blades one level but it will also allow me to get Stormguard Warrior and Robilar's Gambit earlier. The main trick of the build is now started at level 9 instead of 12, is fully functioning at 12 instead of 15, and only gets more dire for the person in front of me with each feat after that.

New questions:
Are we messing things up by moving the feats around the way we did?

Where do you put your ability points in this build? STR for more damage? Con to take the damage from Robilar's? Dex to allow more AoP's? I was going to go 1 to STR to make it even, 1 to CON to make it even, then the rest to DEX.