Martial Stance across class boundaries?

[BlackDog918]

Can a single classed Warblade take Thicket of Blades with the Martial Stance feat? Or is at least a one level dip in Crusader necessary?

[Manly Man]

As long as your total levels would equate to an initiator level that would allow third-level maneuvers and stances, then yes. For example, a Fighter 9/Warblade 1 would have an initiator level of 5 when looking for Crusader maneuvers, which, at it turns out, is enough to nab Thicket of Blades. That this is a terrible idea (the build, I mean; you'd be umpteen times better off just taking ten levels of Warblade and getting the stance with a feat later) is beside the point.

[Darrin]

Can a single classed Warblade take Thicket of Blades with the Martial Stance feat? Or is at least a one level dip in Crusader necessary?

Martial Stance requires that you know at least one maneuver in the same discipline. So a straight Warblade would need to take Martial Study first.

(It might be possible to use a Novice Devoted Spirit Amulet to skip taking Martial Study, but some DMs might not allow this.)

[Crake]

(It might be possible to use a Novice Devoted Spirit Amulet to skip taking Martial Study, but most DMs will not allow this.)

Fix'd. I have yet to hear of a DM anywhere allow someone to qualify for feats/classes via magic items.

[LordBlades]

Fix'd. I have yet to hear of a DM anywhere allow someone to qualify for feats/classes via magic items.

Actually quite a few of them do, since it's stated explicitly in both the rules and the FAQ.




A feat sometimes requires you to have a certain ability
score, which is the case with Two-Weapon Fighting (it
requires Dex 15). A character has, say, Dex 13, but wears
an item, in this case gloves of Dexterity +2, and now her Dex
score is 15. Can she take the feat and have it be active only
when she wears the item?

Actually yes, she could take the feat, but she would lose the
use of the feat if, for whatever reason, she loses the bonus from
the item



Also, in Complete Warrior, pag 17, under 'Meeting Class Requirements'



An alignment change, levels lost because of character death, or the loss of a magic item that granted an important ability are examples of events that can make a character ineligible to advance farther in a prestige class