suggestions for building a firbolg warblade

[luthais]

Decided I'm gonna kill off my warlock. I like the way it works just fine, just feeling tugged more towards a melee character. He'll start at lvl4, so post some builds and explain how you would continue the build. The campaign isn't focused on optimization, but it won't hurt anything either. List feats, maneuvers, weapons, whatever you think would be the best start to a great warblade.

[Red Fel]

Decided I'm gonna kill off my warlock. I like the way it works just fine, just feeling tugged more towards a melee character. He'll start at lvl4, so post some builds and explain how you would continue the build. The campaign isn't focused on optimization, but it won't hurt anything either. List feats, maneuvers, weapons, whatever you think would be the best start to a great warblade.

The great thing about Warblades is that they're great out of the box, they're hard to mess up, and they can do a variety of fun things, depending on your play style.

The less-than-great thing about your request is that you haven't explained what it is you want to do with your Warblade - you've simply said "build me one." I would never walk up to an architect and simply say "design a home." You're going to have to be more specific.

What do you want from your Warblade? What maneuvers appeal to you? What's your play style? Sword and board? Heavy plate tank-and-spank? Light and mobile? Do you want to emphasize White Raven, boosting your party and abusing the action economy? Do you want to combine Stone Dragon smashery with range and heavy weapons? Do you want to sit there and replace every save with a Concentration check, like a boss? Do you prefer unarmed combat, two-weapon fighting, two-handing a smashing weapon, or keeping at range?

You haven't said anything about what you want, chief. How about we start there?

[Lyndworm]

Character Level 4, or Effective Character Level 4? It's very important, because firbolgs have 13 RHD and an LA of +5. That makes a firbolg with 4 Warblade levels an ECL 22 character.

[luthais]

This is only my second campaign, played a fighter and a ninja in the first. I'd like to have something like TWF, but from what I hear THW beats it on almost everything. I guess I want to be able to soak up the damage while swinging a greatsword around. I know I'll be grabbing iron heart surge, but I'm not really familiar with the styles. That's why I asked for everyone's opinion on how they would build, thus giving me a few options on how I could proceed. I'm not opposed to shields or ranged though.

As far as ecl, the dm isn't going to use the LA or anything for firblg, just gonna scale back a couple things. The bonuses are nice, but its the flavor that really made it jump at me. For the purposes of this thread, treat it as human minus the first lvl bonus feat.

[Red Fel]

This is only my second campaign, played a fighter and a ninja in the first. I'd like to have something like TWF, but from what I hear THW beats it on almost everything. I guess I want to be able to soak up the damage while swinging a greatsword around. I know I'll be grabbing iron heart surge, but I'm not really familiar with the styles. That's why I asked for everyone's opinion on how they would build, thus giving me a few options on how I could proceed. I'm not opposed to shields or ranged though.

As far as ecl, the dm isn't going to use the LA or anything for firblg, just gonna scale back a couple things. The bonuses are nice, but its the flavor that really made it jump at me. For the purposes of this thread, treat it as human minus the first lvl bonus feat.

Actually, soaking up damage is more the Crusader's bailiwick. They have some good maneuvers through Devoted Spirit that help them tank, as much as that can be done in the game; and they have a class feature that allows them to receive damage, delay that damage, and then use any delayed damage as a boost to their attacks.

Ignoring the firbolg side, though, it sounds like you want your classic Warblade beatstick. So let's look at the Warblade basics first.

1: Stats. Obviously, you want Strength to inflict pain, Con to receive it. Warblade benefits from another stat - Int. You gain various abilities through the class that get your Int modifier added to crit confirmation, to damage against flat-footed or flanked enemies, to opposing various melee tactics, and to attack and damage rolls on AoOs. In short, it's very good to be a smart bruiser. Further, if you plan to capitalize on AoOs, you'll probably want some Dex in there too.

2: Style. This one is the key. How you plan to play will influence your decisions with regard to maneuvers, feats and gear. First, decide your weapon style:

- The two-weapon fighter. This one will obviously need more dex than your average build. You'll be making a lot of use of Tiger Claw maneuvers, particularly the Mongoose maneuvers. Two-weapon fighting is frowned on, because those who crunch the numbers claim you can get more for less with a big two-handed weapon and Power Attack.
- The sword-and-board. This is frowned on, because it shares the TWF's inability to add full strength to attacks, but loses out on the extra weapon. The added AC from a shield isn't going to help much in the long run.
- The two-handed beatstick. This is a popular choice - two hands, one weapon, lots of damage. Power Attack will be your bread and butter.

Next, decide your role:
- The stand-alone. You are everything you need. You smash with Stone Dragon, use Diamond Mind for your saves, and shrug off spell effects with Iron Heart Surge.
- The tactician. You support the party. Expect a heavy emphasis on the action economy-breaking White Raven.
- The beef tank. This really isn't you, as much. As a Warblade, your proficiency extends only to medium armor. You could technically take mithral plate, but that's pricey. Your maneuvers also don't lend themselves to "shielding others," they lend themselves to "causing pain."

3: Maneuvers. This is why you became a Warblade. You get access to the following disciplines:
- Diamond Mind: This one is about precise blows and Concentration checks. If you have a high Constitution, this is your bread and butter. You can replace saves with Concentration checks, and perform single strikes that deal double (or quadruple!) damage.
- Iron Heart: The trademark of the Warblade, Iron Heart is basically about being ridiculously awesome. It's got a little bit of everything, including the infamous Iron Heart Surge, and its capstone gives you +100 damage to a single attack. No save.
- Stone Dragon: The unloved Stone Dragon discipline is about overcoming DR and hardness, and usually requires standing on the ground for no apparent reason.
- Tiger Claw: This is the critfarmer's friend. This discipline is about dual-wielding weapons, fishing for crits, and jumping. Because jumping.
- White Raven: White Raven is known for doing one thing extraordinarily well, and that is breaking the action economy. The action economy says that any character, PC or NPC, can only take a certain number of actions in a turn. You take the action economy out back and shoot it.

There is an excellent, detailed Warblade handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176968) that outlines disciplines, maneuvers, stances, and feats. It is designed towards optimization, however; what is optimized by the numbers may not be what is fun for you. My advice is to look at ToB, read it in detail, and figure out what looks fun.

Remember, Warblade is a class with a high floor - it starts off strong, and it's very difficult to do a bad Warblade build. I encourage you to do with it what looks most enjoyable to you.