[3.5]Lumi Sworsage

[Thurbane]

Hey all,

I'm not very familiar with ToB, and I'm looking for suggestions for an NPC/DMPC for an upcoming game - Lumi Swordage 4.

He will be a sometime ally/sometime enemy of the party, and will be starting at ECL 8/CR 6 (2 RHD, +2 LA and 4 levels of Swordsage). Race and class are non-negotiable.

Basically, just looking for advice on maneuvers, stances and feats. I want him to be primarily melee focused, but out of combat utility would be good. Ideas for gear would also be appreciated.

Ability scores (elite array + racials): Str 14, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 8
BAB +5
Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +11
Skill points: 64
3 feats, plus Improved Initiative as a bonus feat

I would like to limit sources as much as possible, preferably just MM3, ToB & core.

Cheers - T

[Beardbarian]

Go unarmed with Diamond Mind, Shadow Hand and Setting Sun focus
If you want him to be alone take levels in Shadow Sun Ninja
If you want him to be a leader take Master of Nine levels

Or both, why not?

[Thurbane]

Hmmm, I'd rather stick with an armed swordsage. As one of the first ToB characters in our game, I'd rather avoid the adaptations section.

[Beardbarian]

I was thinking Improved Unarmed strike and Superior Unarmed strike
First because SSNinja and Mot9 need it, and second for the natural progression

[Psyren]

Swordsage Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259783)

ToB is not my strong suit at all so that's the extent of the help I can provide.

[Red Fel]

I second use of the Swordsage Handbook. It's an excellent resource. However, if you're making an NPC/DMPC, you want a lower-optimization character, so that he doesn't outshine the characters.

For survival purposes, I would recommend maxing Concentration and investing in the three Diamond Mind save-counters. You now have someone who can basically make every save, which will prevent save-or-lose/die scenarios. With a Lumi's high Con, that will be pretty easy to pull off.

You also have to take Adaptive Style. For a Swordsage, it is mandatory.

Between your Lumi initiative bonus and the Swordsage's Quick to Act, you will probably be at the top of the initiative list. Use that advantage to create openings that the party can use. For example, if your character is tough enough to handle a brawl, you could use the Sudden Leap maneuver at the start of combat to move into the fray. (Make sure you can make the Tumble check necessary to avoid getting mauled in motion.) You could then use a combination of Combat Reflexes and Stand Still feats to ensure that nobody will move away from you and towards the other PCs. (This may require you to find a way to offset your racial Dex penalty.)

I would advise you to consider taking maneuvers which make the character a complement to the party, rather than a stand-alone character in his own right. Counters would be great, but for the fact that it basically requires you to attack yourself. ("The monster attacks the Lumi. The Lumi uses a counter. The monster dies.") Ironically, this may make Swordsage harder to play.

[Techwarrior]

With that stat spread and level here is my advice.

At fourth level you get Insightful Strikes, this lets you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage rolls of a Strike maneuver. As a fourth level swordsage, you get access to a lot of strikes. You do have to choose a discipline to add it to though, and you need to be careful about it. Diamond Mind has some good strikes for damage, and more importantly for making attacks that ignore portions of armor. For a longer running character, I'd choose this. However, there is a Desert Wind maneuver that allows you to Full attack (Flashing Sun). It's a very useful maneuver if you can get other damage sources, like the +4 bonus from your Wisdom if you chose Desert Wind. Those are going to be the really good picks, Diamond Mind for a bit of versatility, and Desert Wind to maximize attacks. At first level you get Weapon Focus with a group of weapons from a discipline, choose one with the weapon you want this character to use.

Either way you shake it down, you don't have the Dexterity necessary to utilize Two Weapon Fighting, so you're going to want to make sure you go two handed. Grab Power Attack and Adaptive Style (ToB). That leaves one feat for you to grab some really cool trick to make this guy special. I'd grab Sudden Recovery, Extra Granted Maneuver, or Cleave.

You will maximize the Concentration skill. After that you can pretty much pick whatever fits how you see the character. If you're going to delve into the Tiger Claw discipline, make sure you've got a decent Jump skill.

Now, I'd select your stances next. You get 2 of these at the moment, and they both are going to be first level stances. I'm a big fan of Island of Blades, but it seems like this guy wants to be able to run solo, which is perfectly fine. I would suggest taking Hunter's Sense, Flame's Blessing, or Child of Shadows.

Once you've picked those, you'll need to pick maneuvers. You're going to start taking swordsage with a high enough Initiator level to take 2nd level maneuvers at level 1 swordsage, and 3rd level maneuvers at 3rd level. You'll also get a maneuver swap at 4th to select another 3rd level maneuver.
So realistically, you get 7 first or second level maneuvers (1 that you can use just to fulfill prereqs) and 3 third level maneuvers (1 from when you swapped a maneuver).

The two real utility maneuvers are Shadow Jaunt (a short range teleport, 2nd level, no prereq) and Mountain Hammer (swiss army hammer, 2nd level, also no prereqs). These 2 and Cloak of Deception are things you absolutely want to take. After that you have to customize this a bit. Counters are something Swordsages get by the truckloads, and there are some very useful ones (Baffling Defense, Counter Charge and Mind Over Body come to mind). You'll also have access to some really useful Strikes, that you should look over. The Diamond Mind ones are really useful, as is Flashing Sun and Shadow Garrote.

I'd suggest the following stance and maneuver loadout.
Stances: Island of Blades, Hunter's Sense
2nd Level Maneuvers: Mountain Hammer, Shadow Jaunt, Cloak of Deception, Emerald Razor, Baffling Defense, Sapphire Nightmare Blade
3rd Level Maneuvers: Shadow Garrote, Mind Over Body
Note that I actually did not use the 4th level swap. Those 2nd level maneuvers are really useful. However, if you see yourself not using one of the second levels I selected, I'd go ahead and swap it for Insightful Strike or Zephyr Dance.

[Thurbane]

Thanks guys, great advice! :smallsmile:

When I get the final build nailed down I will post it for review.