Any advice? Beguiler/Warblade, E6 game

[graeylin]

I am making a 6th level PC in a gestalt E6 game (3.5).

I was thinking Beguiler/Warblade, but I am not sold on it yet (i could be talked into a Bard/Blade, for example, if they are better).

I would likely do Beguiler5/Mage of the Arcane Order 1// Warblade 6.

But, is there an advantage to doing Barbarian and warblade on the other side? Perhaps for a tripper build? Get a reach weapon, stay back out of direct melee, and trip with a chain or something? And, of course, be a beguiler with access to about every spell.

Barbarian, i can do wolf totem, get improved trip for free. Add in knockdown, and go to town? Does Warblade 6 do much better than WB 4?

advice? thoughts?

[HunterOfJello]

Since this is an E6 game, Barbarian 2/Warblade 4 might be a better fit than pure warblade. I would never normally suggest avoiding a pure initiator build, but with the number of feats you're going to have, you can still take Martial Study three times and get 3rd level warblade maneuvers from it each time. Your initiator level is still 5, which isn't much worse than 6.

(Note that Martial Stance doesn't have a limit to the number of times you can take it, so take a bunch of 3rd level stances too.)

The exception to this suggestion is if you wanted to use Martial Study to gain maneuvers from non-warblade disciplines. If you do that, then remember to use Martial Stance as a method of gaining the prerequisite of knowing maneuvers in the appropriate discipline.

[BowStreetRunner]

It partially depends on your starting stats. You didn't mention point buy, die rolls, or other method. If you were going with something like a standard array, Beguiler Warblade would benefit from high INT more than Beguiler Barbarian/Warblade. How MAD can you afford to be?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If not using fractional BAB, I'd go Warblade 1/ (Unarmed) Swordsage 2/ Warblade 3// Beguiler 5/ Mage of the Arcane Order 1. Beguiler 2 gives you +1 BAB, while Swordsage 1 gives +0. Swordsage 2 gives +1 BAB, while Beguiler 3 gives +0. So you'll still have a +6 BAB at 6th level. Take either Kung-Fu Genius or Carmendine Monk and you'll get your Int bonus added to your AC when wearing light armor. You can use Martial Study/Stance to add more 3rd level maneuvers/stances to Warblade, including those you qualify for via Swordsage maneuvers/stances.

[Nihilarian]

I'd probably avoid barbarian, since you can't cast while raging.

What's your general concept?

[graeylin]

My problem right now is I don't have a clear concept/idea yet. I am just kicking this around, as a potential tripper build idea, and because beguiler/warblade comes up frequently as a great gestalt E6 combo.

I just found out that my party will have a Bard/Warblade, so... this may be a redundant/bad idea.

I don't have much luck with super optimized builds, honestly. MotAO was pretty "crazy" for me already. I tend to play pretty vanilla builds typically.

For those who asked, we have an amazing 40 point buy for our stats. So, MAD isn't a horrible problem.

[Nihilarian]

In an E6 gestalt game with a point buy like that I would jump at the chance to play a competent monk. As it happens, monk comes with free tripping feats.

You may also consider Factotum to get Int to Str checks, and/or Marshal to get Cha to the same.

[graeylin]

thanks. I hadn't considered the monk. Simpler than barbarian and ACF.

I will consider that.

What about Beguiler/MotAO and a divine caster? Theurge of some type? lots of spell goodness, buffing, support and let the others do the front line fighting.

I saw the mystic ranger, but... no Dragon material allowed. Should I just do a ranger/wizard?