Warblade/Swordsage/Master of Nine maneuvers

[Umbranar]

Hello Playground,

I have a build planned for my warblade (playing from level 1) that looks like this:

Warblade 1/Unarmed Swordsage 2/Warblade 4/Master of Nine 5
I think I will fill the rest of the levels with both warblade and swordsage to get 9/9 maneuvers.
The idea is a one-handed mobile melee combatant

What maneuvers would you suggest, up to level 6 maneuvers?
So far I have this:

Warblade Maneuvers (9 readied)
Known:
1st: Steely Strike, Sudden Leap
2nd: Wall of Blades, Mountain Hammer Strike
3rd: Iron Heart Surge, Mind over Body, Insightful Strike, Feigned opening
4th: Divine Surge
5th: Bloodletting Strike, Shadow Stride
6th: Greater Insightful Strike, Ballista Throw

Swordsage Manouvers (4 Readied):
1st: Burning Blade, Mighty Trow, Moment of Perfect mind, Counter Charge, Shadow Blade Technique, Stone Bones, Distracting Amber
2nd: Foehammer

Stances:
Island of Blades (warblade)
Blood in the Water (swordsage)
Pearl of Black Doubt (warblade)
Assasins Stance (Master of Nine)
Step of the Dancing Moth (Master of Nine)

[Shining Wrath]

I'm not sure you can get all the maneuvers and stances you list as quickly as you list them.

[Red Fel]

Yeah... I'm also trying to piece together how you get the maneuvers you claim to get.

For example, Feigned Opening is a Setting Sun maneuver, which is not a Warblade discipline. Divine Surge is Devoted Spirit - again, not Warblade. That one's not Swordsage, either. Same with Bloodletting Strike, Shadow Stride and Ballista Throw - none of them available to Warblade.

Now, once you're in Mo9, you can take maneuvers from outside of Warblade or Swordsage, fine. But unfortunately, this list doesn't show what maneuvers you took and when, in order to gain which prerequisites.

Now, there's also the matter of feats. Master of Nine requires five of them: Adaptive Style, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Improved Initiative, and Improved Unarmed Strike. You get IUS from Unarmed Swordsage, fine. That leaves four. You can take Blind-Fight or Improved Initiative as your Warblade 5 bonus feat, fine. That means you still need to take whichever of the two you didn't take, plus Dodge and Adaptive Style. That's three feats. That means, unless you're using flaws, you take one at first level, one at third, and one at sixth. That just barely gets you in at the time you want to get in.

Next, the matter of skills. You need 10 ranks in 4 different skills. Technically, you can have accomplished this at level 7, because there are at least 4 discipline skills that are class skills for both. But it means you've got to be thoroughly pumping those skill ranks.

Really, the big obstacle in this build is how you got the maneuvers you say you've gotten. If you managed to get your six disciplines - which is completely doable - you're set. But I don't quite get how your maneuvers line up. And don't tell me you swapped some out - that fails for two reasons. First, you can't swap out maneuvers until Warblade 4, so you could only have swapped out one maneuver. Second, you can't swap out Warblade maneuvers for non-Warblade maneuvers, of which there are several on your Warblade list.

[Shining Wrath]

I would like to say, though, that once you fix your problems (you may wind up delaying Mo9 one level - worse things have happened) that stacking Mo9 atop Warblade is awesome-sauce. You get a truly ridiculous number of maneuvers readied and stances, which is what Warblade trades away for D12 HD & full BAB.

That Mo9 is NOT full BAB is one of those moments when the stars themselves cry out "WotC, WTF!".

[Chronos]

That Mo9 is NOT full BAB is one of those moments when the stars themselves cry out "WotC, WTF!".
I think it's because they were designing it for swordsage entry: They're the only single class that can qualify without Martial Study.

[Shining Wrath]

I think it's because they were designing it for swordsage entry: They're the only single class that can qualify without Martial Study.

Oh, I agree with that.

But the Master of all the martial adepts, capable of selecting maneuvers from Iron Heart, is not a full BAB class? The person who has mastered ALL the disciplines, who is clearly among the greatest weapon masters alive - that person is not full BAB?

The. mind. boggles.

[Umbranar]

Sorry for late reaction.
I get some maneuvers because the Master of Nine sais: At each odd-numbered level, you gain two new maneuvers known from any of the nine disciplines. At each even-numbered level, you gain one new maneuver known from any of the nine disciplines.

For my complete level breakdown (small rebuild):


Planned Level Progression
1st: Warblade 1
-Maneuvers: Sapphire Nightmare Blade (DM), Steely Strike (IH), Sudden Leap (TC)
-Stance: Punishing Stance (IH)
-Human Feat: Weapon Finesse
-Character level 1 feat: Dodge

2nd: Unarmed Swordsage 1 (IL: W1/S1) 6 swordsage maneuvers, 4 readied, 1 stance
-Maneuvers: Burning Blade (DW), Mighty Trow (SS), Moment of Perfect mind (DM), Counter Charge (SS), Shadow Blade Technique (SH), Stone Bones (SD)
-Stance: Island of Blades (SH)
-Unarmed Swordsage nets me Improved Unarmed Strike (DM ruled it works exactly like monk ability)

3rd: Unarmed Swordsage 2 (IL:W2/S2), +1 maneuver known, +1 stance
-Maneuver: Distracting Amber (DW)
-Stance: Blood in the Water (TC)
-Character Level 3 feat: Improved Initiative

4th: Warblade 2, (IL: W3/S3), +1 warblade maneuver known, +1 wisdom
-Maneuver: Mountain Hammer Strike (SD)

5th: Warblade 3: (IL: W4/S3), +1 warblade maneuver known
-Maneuver: Wall of Blades (IH)

6th: Warblade 4: (IL: W5/S4), +warblade maneuver readied, +1 warblade stance, swap maneuver
-Stance: Pearl of Black Doubt (DM)
-Swap: Sapphire Nightmare Blade (DM) for Insightful Strike (DM)
-Character Level 6 feat: Adaptive Style

7th: Warblade 5: (IL: W6/S4), +1 warblade maneuver known
-Maneuver: Iron Heart Surge (IH)
-Level 5 Warblade feat: Blind-Fight

8th: Master of Nine 1: (IL: W7/S5), +1 Swordsage Maneuver known, +1 Warblade Maneuver known, +1 Warblade maneuver readied, +1 dex
-Maneuvers: Foe hammer (DS) (swordsage), Divine Surge (DS) (Warblade)

9th: Master of Nine 2: (IL: W8/S6), +1 Warblade Maneuver known, +1 Warblade Maneuver readied, +1 Warblade Stance,
-Maneuver: Mind over Body (DM)
-Stance: Assassin`s Stance
-Character Level 9 Feat: Shadow Blade

10th: Master of Nine 3: (IL: W9/S7) +2 Warblade Maneuvers known, +1 warblade Maneuver Readied
-Maneuvers: (SH), Elder Mountain Hammer (SD)

11th: Master of Nine 4: (IL: W10/S8) +1 Warblade Maneuver known, +1 Warblade Maneuver Readied, +1 warblade stance
- Maneuver: Shadow Stride (SH), Leaping Flame (DW)
- Stance: Press the Advantage (WR)

12th: Master of Nine 5: (IL: W11/S9, +2 Warblade Maneuvers known, +1 Warblade Maneuver Readied Feat: Martial Stance: Aura of Chaos (DS), +1 dex
- Maneuvers: Greater Insightful Strike (DM), Ballista Throw (SS)

[Runestar]

The Master of Nine also strikes me as one of those PRCs you shouldn't enter too early. Seems more appropriate as a capstone prc, to be taken at lv15+. This would allow you to quickly fill out all the higher lv manoeuvres, rather than be stuck with a handful of low level ones.

[Umbranar]

The Master of Nine also strikes me as one of those PRCs you shouldn't enter too early. Seems more appropriate as a capstone prc, to be taken at lv15+. This would allow you to quickly fill out all the higher lv manoeuvres, rather than be stuck with a handful of low level ones.

Im not sure this character will make it from 1 to 20, knowing how my group works. Somehow I feel I cant protect this character against everything they might throw at my party. I will see how it works out for the first few levels and then decide how to spend my levels.