Warblade Help

[Gamereaper]

I can't for the life of me figure out how a Warblade works. I've been reading up in them, but I'm just so helplessly lost on how maneuvers and stances work.

That being said; In a campaign I am going to be running, I want to have a high level Warblade be this NPC weaponmaster that is absolutely well balanced, as in not specializing on offense or defense. He is pretty much going to be the main teacher for the melee characters in the party. If they want to specialize in something, he directs them to another teacher (who specializes in a particular weapon).

So yeah, I mostly did AD&D and I just don't understand the maneuvers. (sad face)

[OldTrees1]

Link for reference: warblade (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060802a&page=2)

Let's start with Manuevers known. Like a Sorcerer's spells know, a Warblade is limited to a finite number of manueves know with 0 repeats. There are some important differences:
1) To select a maneuver you need an initiator level (your Warblade level + 1/2 your other levels) equal to 2 * the maneuver level + 1. For example White Raven Tactics(a 3rd level maneuver) requires an initiator level of 5 (Warblade 5 or OtherClass 2 / Warblade 4 or ...)
2) Some(most) maneuvers require the Warblade to already know a certain number of maneuvers in the same discipline/school. For example White Raven Tactics requires 1 White Raven maneuver.

Now on to Maneuvers readied. Like a Wizard, a Warblade memorizes a subset of their maneuvers. There are some important differences.
1) No maneuver can be readied twice.
2) Used maneuvers become readied if Recharged. A Warblade recharges all their readied maneuvers if they spend a Swift action and either a basic melee attack or a Standard action doing nothing.

Now on to Stances. Stances know work just like maneuvers know. Stances even count for Maneuver prerequisites and vice versa. However, instead of readying stances, a Warblade can change to any of their stances as a Swift action.

[Gamereaper]

How do things like boosts work?

So Maneuvers are like spells and stances kind of are like a feat that lets you do something?

Are you limited to one discipline, can you pick more as you level up, or can you use maneuvers and stances from any discipline?

[Gemini476]

How do things like boosts work?


Boost:This category covers maneuvers that allow a
warrior to focus himself, summon his ki energy or other
source of power, and unleash it through his melee attacks.
A crusader who draws a deep breath, shouts an invocation
to his god or cause, and then unleashes a mighty attack is
using a boost.
A boost is a maneuver that grants a bonus, often on
attack rolls or damage rolls, for the duration of your turn.
A boost always requires a swift action, usually allowing
you to initiate it before unleashing a standard action or a
full attack. Some boosts impart additional effects, such as
stun or fatigue, to your attacks, and others provide some
additional effect on an enemy you have just successfully
struck in battle. If a boost affects your attacks, it applies
to all of your attacks for the round in which it was initiated,
but its effect ends at the end of your turn. A boost’s
effect applies for its duration, no matter which weapon you
might wield in that round. Even if you switch weapons
in the middle of your turn, the effect of the boost applies
to your new weapon as readily as the previous weapon.
Each maneuver’s description gives you the details of each
boost’s effect.
A boost doesn’t have to modify a melee attack. It could
provide a bonus on a skill check, to your speed, and so on,
but such maneuvers are relatively rare.
It's a swift action that (surprise surprise) gives you a boost until your next turn. A Swift Action is like a free action, except you can only use one of them each turn. Oh, and only on your turn. Sometimes they are Immediate Actions instead - an Immediate Action can be used at any time, although using it uses up the Swift Action of your next turn - if you have already used an Immediate Action, you can't use another until your next turn rolls around. (And during that turn you don't have a Swift Action to use.)

Counters are usually immediate actions and usually have some prerequisite for being used.

Strikes are usually standard actions or full-round actions to hit a guy.

Stances are a Swift Action to begin or change, and stay active until changed out of or ended (as a swift action).

[Gamereaper]

It's a swift action that (surprise surprise) gives you a boost until your next turn. A Swift Action is like a free action, except you can only use one of them each turn. Oh, and only on your turn. Sometimes they are Immediate Actions instead - an Immediate Action can be used at any time, although using it uses up the Swift Action of your next turn - if you have already used an Immediate Action, you can't use another until your next turn rolls around. (And during that turn you don't have a Swift Action to use.)

Counters are usually immediate actions and usually have some prerequisite for being used.

Strikes are usually standard actions or full-round actions to hit a guy.

Stances are a Swift Action to begin or change, and stay active until changed out of or ended (as a swift action).

Ok, are boosts expended after use for the encounter or can you use them every round?

[Svata]

Boosts are swit action buffs, essentially. They give a bonus to something, typically attack and/or damage rolls. They ARE expended after use, but recovering maneuvers used for a warblade is really easy.

Disciplines are like spell schools, but with only certain ones available to certain classes. Your warblade, for example has access to the Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw, and White Raven disciplines. Unless you multiclass to either Crusader or Swordsage, you cannot use maneuvers from any other discipline.

Stances and maneuvers known is total, not per discipline.

Also, your statement about stances=feats and maneuvers=spells is pretty much right.

[Sith_Happens]

So Maneuvers are like spells and stances kind of are like a feat that lets you do something?

More or less, yeah.


Are you limited to one discipline, can you pick more as you level up, or can you use maneuvers and stances from any discipline?

You can pick freely from all of the disciplines listed as being available to your class (which in the Warblade's case are Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw, and White Raven), with the exception that most higher-level maneuvers require you to know a certain number of other maneuvers from the same discipline. So a certain amount of specialization is necessary, but not much.

Note that unlike feats and prestige classes, you only have to meet a maneuver or stance's prerequisites to learn it, not to use it. Which means you can learn a maneuver and swap out its prerequisites later, or even learn a maneuver by swapping one of its prerequisites for it. Similarly, unlike a spontaneous caster, you can swap out a lower-level maneuver for a higher-level maneuver.

[Red Fel]

Ok, are boosts expended after use for the encounter or can you use them every round?

Boosts, like strikes and counters, can be recovered with a Warblade's usual recovery method, which takes a swift action, followed either by doing nothing or performing a normal attack. All maneuvers that are not stances can be recovered in this manner. Stances, being unique, don't need to be recovered.

Basically, it would look like this: Warblade enters combat. Warblade uses various maneuvers (strikes, boosts, counters). Warblade runs out of maneuvers. Warblade spends a swift action to recover maneuvers, and either attacks normally or does nothing else that round. Repeat.