Half Orc Ranger1/ Warblade 5 (advice please)

[Outback]

Hi again folks.

I'm working out a Halforc, using this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?238705-A-3-5-Half-orc-you-ll-actually-want-to-play-All-PEACHing-HUGELY-APPRECIATED!!!!) format as the template (thanks Empedocles, I love it). I also used the Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?176968-Masters-of-the-Sword-A-Warblade-s-Handbook-Under-Construction).

I hope to play him as a one-on-one or with another friend in my mate's "The Night Below" campaign. The campaign's huge and our main party isn't even touching half of what's going on it feels, so I hope that with this guy, I can get a little more of the story out there (and I think our DM/ my flatmate would appreciate sharing the 'story' too). We created our characters by distributing 85 statpoints (then add/ subtract racial mods etc.)

The setting's being overrun with Orcs from the mountains being on the move from an undead invasion. Problem is, they're moving right into our lands.

My character is the result of the last Orc invasion, where his mother was raped by a small raiding party (yes, all of them). How she survived no one knows, for after she gave birth to the half-breed she killed herself. A local mage, who's got a penchant for picking up "strays" (he sheltered our main party's Tiefling character as well) took him in and found him a mentor (an old adventuring buddy) who taught my character about Wilderness survival, and the way of the (war)blade. Now my guy's back in his old neighborhood and he's ready to do business!

Favored enemy: Orcs and Track allow him to find and take care of the monsters who created him (in the most literal sense).

ST: 20
DX: 14
CN: 16
IN: 14
WI: 14
CH: 8

The skills I took from those available to a Ranger/Warblade MC. (Just ranks, not mods).

Balance: 5
Concentration: 8
Heal: 5
Hide: 5
Jump: 8 (for Tiger Claw maneuvers)
Know (Local): 1
Listen: 4
Move Silently: 8
Intimidate: 1
Search: 2
Spot: 4
Survival: 4
Tumble: 8
Use rope: 1
---------------------------

This is what I have so far. Balance, Concentration, Jump and Tumble on max for Warblade maneuvers.
His weapons are Falchion, two Kukri's (for backup) and a few throwing spears. The spears will go in first (pun intended) after which he mops up with the Falchion. Should it happen he gets disarmed, he has his Kukris.

I would like some advice on Maneuvers to take. I haven't read the whole ToB yet, it seems like a lot from time to time, but I do get most of my knowledge from the Handbook. I want to focus on the twohander maneuvers, with one or two two-weapon ones (for Kukri time). The latter is no must, I just like the idea of flexibility. Here's what I was thinking of.

Maneuvers:
Moment of Perfect Mind, to save my butt from Dominating effects (which my DM likes to use)
Steel Wind, as I'm going to fight Orcs, and they're rarely alone.
Sudden Leap*, I took max ranks in Jump to maneuver myself easily (that's what it's for, right? Jumping back and over people?)
Emerald razor, for the odd boss in Full plate.
Mountain hammer, for Oompfh.
Iron Heart Surge, in case Moment of Perfect Mind failed.

Stances:
Leaping Dragon Stance: (*Taking this at third lvl, I can have Sudden Leap now).
Punishing Stance, for extra Oompfh, or
Hunter's Sense, as I really dig the idea of being a tracker by Scent. Altho I do fear, this may be irrelevant with my Track feat from being a Ranger.


Please advice on what I have put down thus far, and wether or not I'm understanding Jump right (or should that be Tumble?)
I haven't really decided on my Feats yet, altho the 5th lvl Warblade bonus feat is likely to become Combat Reflexes. I was thinking of kicking ass in combat against a few Orcs, jump back 5' with a Swift action (Sudden leap) and then when they re-enter my threatened area, use AoO to kick more ass. Would that work? I'm going through the Handbook for more suggestions on Feats, but all advice is welcome.

Thanks for reading!

[Namfuak]

If you are going to multiclass Warblade, you should take two levels in another class before level 4, because that way you have an initiator level of 5 before getting your second stance and can take a 3rd level stance instead of being forced to take a 2nd level one (or ask your DM if you can add the sensible houserule to either retrain stances or put off learning stances for a level). A good strategy would be to take a level of Spirit Lion Totem barbarian for rage and pounce, which lets you full attack on charges. Combined with Sudden Leap, this means you can jump into place to charge and then charge, or combine it with the Battle Jump feat (unapprochable east) so you can jump and charge off of the jump.

[Outback]

I don't really understand how you mean that, with Initiator levels. But I reckon Ranger1/Barb(LST)1/Warblade4 is not too bad. At +6/+1 BAB, I would love to make full attacks on charges etc. Edit: Steel Wind (attack two targets, standard action) and a high BAB doesn't mean 2 attacks on 2 enemies, does it? Also I think I might take the Frenzy ACF for Barbarians over Rage.

[Seharvepernfan]

I was thinking of kicking ass in combat against a few Orcs, jump back 5' with a Swift action (Sudden leap) and then when they re-enter my threatened area, use AoO to kick more ass. Would that work?

No, not unless you're using a reach weapon and they were 10ft away to begin with. You don't provoke an AoO by entering a threatened square, only by leaving one. Also, you can just adjust 5ft back, you don't need to sudden leap. If you're using a reach weapon and they move all the way up to you, you could sudden leap 10ft back (so theres 2 squares between you), so that when they run up again, you get an AoO because they left the square you threatened, but the act of jumping back in the first place would provoke one from them.

[Outback]

Huh, then we're playing this game wrong, because we always get AoO's on us if we enter threatened areas unless we're Charging. (Quote DM: "That's what Charge is for"). If he sticks to that, it WOULD make sense, right? As I said, I won't be using a Reach weapon, but a Falchion. And how do I leave threatened areas without getting AoO's? Is that through Tumble then?

Also I noticed if I Rage or Frenzy, I can't make Concentration checks. Should I therefor not take Moment of Perfect Mind?

[Seharvepernfan]

Huh, then we're playing this game wrong, because we always get AoO's on us if we enter threatened areas unless we're Charging. (Quote DM: "That's what Charge is for"). If he sticks to that, it WOULD make sense, right? As I said, I won't be using a Reach weapon, but a Falchion. And how do I leave threatened areas without getting AoO's? Is that through Tumble then?

Also I noticed if I Rage or Frenzy, I can't make Concentration checks. Should I therefor not take Moment of Perfect Mind?

It's one of the most commonly misunderstood rules in D&D.

Charge is for moving up to twice your speed and still getting to attack (also comes with a nice bonus).

You can tumble, yes, even while jumping. Otherwise it's just the withdraw action, or a 5ft step (aka 5ft adjustment).

[DEMON]

but the act of jumping back in the first place would provoke one from them.

Not unless they had a reach weapon as well.

Edit: My bad, didn't notice they were already adjacent in your example.

Although, obviously, full attacking with a reach weapon and then moving 5 ft. away with a 5-foot step would give you the option to get an AOO the next round when they try to get next to you. Then it's just 5-foot stepping and attacking for the remaining rounds, if you don't want to grant the enemy an AOO as mentioned by Shar above.

[Outback]

Okay, besides my obvious lack of knowledge on game mechanics, is there anything about the build itself?

[DEMON]

Okay, besides my obvious lack of knowledge on game mechanics, is there anything about the build itself?

Skills:
1 point in Intimidate seems pointless to me, especially with that CHA.
I'd go with only 3 ranks in Heal, since with 14 WIS, you're at 5 and can take 10 to make DCs of 15.
Try to add ranks in more Knowledges, Ranger has quite a few good ones
Don't increase your ranks in Balance anymore skill unless you have a particular use for them.

Stances:
Hunter's Sense is good as it can also help you detect nearby invisible beings.
With falchion and kukris as your weapons of choice, you might wanna look at the Blood in the Water stance.
You don't qualify for Leaping Dragon Stance at 3rd level (well, not at 3rd character level, if you meant initiator level, then all is well).

Weapons: I'd go for a composite bow over the spears, myself.

[Seharvepernfan]

Everything looks solid. I personally would drop some of your 1 rank skills to get 5 ranks in search for the synergy bonus to track, but eh.

Hunter's sense is definitely not redundant with track, because you can track by scent, which has drastically lower DC's (assuming time hasn't passed). You can get all three stances if you take Martial Stance as a feat. Punishing stance is certainly useful against orcs, because they'll probably hit you regardless of the -2 penalty to your AC, and you'll want to be dropping them in one hit, which the stance will help with.

[Namfuak]

I don't really understand how you mean that, with Initiator levels. But I reckon Ranger1/Barb(LST)1/Warblade4 is not too bad. At +6/+1 BAB, I would love to make full attacks on charges etc. Edit: Steel Wind (attack two targets, standard action) and a high BAB doesn't mean 2 attacks on 2 enemies, does it? Also I think I might take the Frenzy ACF for Barbarians over Rage.

Like full casters (though it is not explicitly stated for them like it is in ToB), martial stances and manuevers can only be taken once you have an initiator level of (stance or manuever level * 2) - 1. This means, for example, 2nd level manuevers require IL 3, 3rd level require IL 5, and so on. Either due to a mistake or poor design, Warblades get their second stance at level 4, which according to the formula means they can only take 2nd level manuevers (3rd level requires 5 Warblade levels), and stances, unlike manuevers, cannot be retrained, so they are stuck with a 2nd level stance when they could have a 3rd level one if they had waited one level. To offset this, if you are planning on multiclassing anyway (Warblade 20 is pretty nice if you plan on going that far, so not multiclassing is still a good option despite this), you should take 2 levels in another class before warblade 4 (this could be Warblade 3/Ranger 1/Barb 1/Warblade 4 if you want, it doesn't matter), because classes which are not the initiator class count 1/2 of their levels toward your total IL for any class. Thus, 2 Non-Warblade + 4 Warblade = 5 IL, which is enough for a 3rd level stance, versus 4 Warblade = 4 IL, which is only enough for a second level stance, and you don't get another stance until level 10 (where again having the 2 non-Warblade levels pushes you up to IL 11, so a 6th level stance can be taken rather than being forced to take a 5th level stance).

The main factor here is really that you can't retrain stances - if your DM decides to ignore that rule, this whole thing is unnecessary.

[Outback]

On the 1 skill point things, I usually do that to "reserve" prior knowledge in that skill and so to expand it without difficulty. For example, I think if your 6th level and have no Knowledge Religion ranks, you cannot simply pump that skill up to max rank at your next level up, since you didn't "know" anything about it earlier. (IE, not without roleplaying learning it alot). If you have at least one rank in a skill, you can just "expand" upon that you knew and don't need alot of roleplay justification for it.

[DEMON]

On the 1 skill point things, I usually do that to "reserve" prior knowledge in that skill and so to expand it without difficulty. For example, I think if your 6th level and have no Knowledge Religion ranks, you cannot simply pump that skill up to max rank at your next level up, since you didn't "know" anything about it earlier. (IE, not without roleplaying learning it alot). If you have at least one rank in a skill, you can just "expand" upon that you knew and don't need alot of roleplay justification for it.

Fair enough. Yet, all the more reason to actually invest ranks into other knowledges, instead of healing or intimidate. Roleplaying becoming more intimidating as you rise in level seems like a non-issue and same goes for being more skilled in patching wounds.

[Outback]

True enough. Altho, the template for Halforc I use (linked in first post) gives Strength on intimidate, iso Charisma, so its not as bad as it seems. As I expect this guy to be alone alot, some ranks in Heal (set to 3 as adviced, to take 10s) are a no-brainer. I imagine him stitching his own wounds after a succesful ambush. Redistributing ranks in other Knowledge skills at the moment :).

Still would love some advice on possible Feats tho. I'm thinking Martial Stance for a third Stance not yet sure on the other two, tho Power attack is on my list. I just want to wait and see if there's something that might suit me better.

[Namfuak]

True enough. Altho, the template for Halforc I use (linked in first post) gives Strength on intimidate, iso Charisma, so its not as bad as it seems. As I expect this guy to be alone alot, some ranks in Heal (set to 3 as adviced, to take 10s) are a no-brainer. I imagine him stitching his own wounds after a succesful ambush. Redistributing ranks in other Knowledge skills at the moment :).

Still would love some advice on possible Feats tho. I'm thinking Martial Stance for a third Stance not yet sure on the other two, tho Power attack is on my list. I just want to wait and see if there's something that might suit me better.

You should get power attack, you mention taking two Kukri's but I would grab a backup rapier if you want to have a weapon with a big crit range as a backup, so that you can continue using power attack with it (and wield it in two hands so you can get the double return on your BAB investment. Speaking of which, either taking improved critical or putting keen on your Falchion would go well with Blood in the Water stance.

This guide says it's incomplete but seems to have a decent number of feats listed:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?176968-Masters-of-the-Sword-A-Warblade-s-Handbook-Under-Construction

[Outback]

Yeah Improved Crit at Bab+8 is a no brainer, I think it'll be like a Scythe through a wheatfield. Tho also considering getting a Keen Falchion, and Improved Crit on the Kukris (so I dont need to get 2 keen Kukris). Our DM doesn't really do "buying" magic items like it's a shop, so very likely I'll just take ImpCrit on the Falchion. Is there a non-magical way of improving a weapon's crit chance?

[Namfuak]

Yeah Improved Crit at Bab+8 is a no brainer, I think it'll be like a Scythe through a wheatfield. Tho also considering getting a Keen Falchion, and Improved Crit on the Kukris (so I dont need to get 2 keen Kukris). Our DM doesn't really do "buying" magic items like it's a shop, so very likely I'll just take ImpCrit on the Falchion. Is there a non-magical way of improving a weapon's crit chance?

Improved Critical explicitly doesn't stack with anything else (including the Keen property and Keen Edge spell), although the 3.0 class Disciple of Dispater does say it stacks with Improved Critical, so if you really want to go down the crit stacking route that's your next option (that said, your character doesn't strike me as an evil demon-worshipper). As I said though, you should pick 2 handed weapons or 2 single hand weapons and stick with it, because Power Attack is necessary for getting damage out of two-handed weapons but near-useless for two-weapon fighting (since it can't be applied to light weapons), whereas you'll want to take some tiger claw maneuvers and the whole 2-weapon fighting chain. All that said, it might also be worth considering taking a bludgeoning secondary rather than a slashing or piercing so you can use it against skeletons, I don't know if the setting has them or not.

[Seharvepernfan]

If a falchion is your main weapon, make your secondary weapon a morningstar, and always wear a spiked gauntlet regardless.