Help my player with ToB...

[atemu1234]

I have a player who has started playing a dragonborn water orc warblade. Unfortunately, he seems content to not read his own abilities, and has yet to actually figure out stances and maneuvers. His power is currently derived mostly from his wbl.

So basically, he needs a crash course, and I'm a little bit rusty.

[Hiro Quester]

Maybe point the player to Elfin's warblade handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?176968-Masters-of-the-Sword-A-Warblade-s-Handbook-Under-Construction). It helped for me when I was building a warblade (that has yet to be played, FWIW).

[Studoku]

Is the player having fun? If he's content to play as a Fighter, there's always the option of just letting him.

[Red Fel]

I have a player who has started playing a dragonborn water orc warblade. Unfortunately, he seems content to not read his own abilities, and has yet to actually figure out stances and maneuvers. His power is currently derived mostly from his wbl.

I can't tell if this is facetious or not; pure text is a terrible medium for sarcasm.

If you're not being facetious, if he genuinely seems happy with his character as-is, then a crash course is a waste; more than that, it's an eminently bad idea, because it amounts to telling him how he should be playing his character. Look, there are people who play characters poorly all over the place; there are newbies and low-ops and people who just don't give a hoot, and that's fine. We don't have to tell them they're having badwrongfun if they like what they're doing and they're not upsetting the table. So if that's the case, I'm with Studoku - if he's having fun, let him be.

Even without maneuvers, Warblades have actual class features, which is more than I can say for Fighters; he's not exactly crippling himself. (Although an Orc Warblade is technically taking a penalty.) That raises an interesting point, actually - a Dragonborn Water Orc. That's moderately optimized, conceptually. But if he's someone who isn't even bothering to read his class abilities, then that strikes me as incongruous - which suggests the idea wasn't his. Did you suggest it to him? Are you trying to get him to optimize?

All that said, let's look at the other side of the coin. Let's assume he genuinely wants to get better at ToB, and you were just being facetious. Okay, first off, WotC very helpfully made these printable maneuver cards (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20061225a) for quick and easy reference. He should definitely use them. Second, have some handbooks: ToB for Dummies (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=357.0) is great, and I second the vote for Elfin's Masters of the Sword (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?176968-Masters-of-the-Sword-A-Warblade-s-Handbook-Under-Construction) Warblade handbook. Point him to those, and he'll figure things out rather quickly.

[Sam K]

Assuming he likes the idea of warblade but just isn't up to reading a bunch of text, just offer to put him in a stance and give him the option to use a boost or counter every round (it doesn't interrupt the actions he normally does, unless he's using other swift actions). You can help him pick based on how he plays the character (if he plays it as a barb, he can use punishing stance, for example, as that goes well with HP tanking and doing lots of damage).

If he doesn't really care about warblade and just wants to hit things with a stick, let him. High powered race, actual class abilities, he's still not gonna be useless.

[atemu1234]

I was being facetious. My mistake, should've used blue text.

[BWR]

*snip*.

As usual, RF hits the nail on the head. I've tried 'helping' people who do stuff 'wrong' before and it just leads to resentment, no matter how well-meaning the advice and how delicately put. This isn't to say that there are not people who would be fine with whatever advice you can give them, but I would make very sure this player is one of those before volunteering to help.
Should the player start falling behind on damage or start to feel less useful in combat then you can try to help. You might, if you feel the need, comment on how well he's doing even ignoring his most powerful class abilities, but I wouldn't.
If everyone is having fun and they aren't ruining the game for anyone, he's doing it right.

[Xerlith]

Okay, to give some solid stuff:
This link. (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1146801)

Also, did he already choose his maneuvers? I hope he did.

What is the problem? DOes he not know how to use them? PRoblems with understanding mechanics?

[atemu1234]

Okay, to give some solid stuff:
This link. (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1146801)

Also, did he already choose his maneuvers? I hope he did.

What is the problem? DOes he not know how to use them? PRoblems with understanding mechanics?

I helped design the character, gave advice. Dragonborn Water Orc is standard for him since his last character was a barbarian.

[Xerlith]

Okay, so, basically... What do you expect us to do? Reading through the crunchy parts of ToB is a short work and you can safely figure it after no more than ten minutes. The problem comes to this: The player doesn't want to do it. Sadly, we can't do that for him so your best bet is probably showing him the fun that comes from the ability to do different fun and cool things at a consistent rate - because that's basically what the Warblade does.

Now, we can just simply make the maneuver/skill/feat selection for him, but if he doesn't know how they work together, it's a fool's errand, since it's HIS character and even the best builds are crippled in the hands of someone who haven't figured out what is written on his character sheet.

TL;DR Talk to the guy about WHY he's so reluctant to learn, so you can figure out what to do next.

[Karl Aegis]

You could make some cards with maneuvers on them for your NPC enemies and show him what he is missing out on by doing the same things he could be doing.