Build help Shadow boxer

[Doomboy911]

I'd developed a relatively simple idea, I wanted a form of rapid teleportation to go with a fist fighting character. Charge one enemy teleport behind and punch the back of the head teleport beneath to uppercut then behind again for a kidney punch. Something with some fast movement.

I was thinking the shadowdancer might be best as I only need skill points to get in and a fighter gets tons but I also thought a monk might get more damage with their punches.

Not sure can anyone think of a better way to do this? Need a good deal of mobility and power to the punches.

[Red Fel]

Start with Swordsage. Use Unarmed adaptation, defined to include the Monk's unarmed damage progression, automatic Improved Unarmed Strike, and the whole "treat unarmed strikes as natural or manufactured weapons, take no penalty to blah blah" stuff. There are three Shadow Hand maneuvers that teleport you - Shadow Jaunt, Shadow Stride, and Shadow Blink. Unlike Dimension Door, they impose no limit on what you can do after teleporting. They also take a standard action, a move action, and a swift action, respectively.

Here's where you go completely berserk. Get a class that gives you Shadow Pounce - that would be the Telflammar Shadowlord or Crinti Shadow Marauder. Shadow Pounce lets you execute a full attack upon completing a teleport.

So here's how this works. Shadow Jaunt (standard action), full attack. Shadow Stride (move action), full attack again. Shadow Blink (swift action), full attack a third time. That's three full attacks in one round as you teleport about your enemy and beat them silly.

Take the Adaptive Style feat to be able to recover all of your maneuvers at once. Spend a full round action recovering them all. Then, the next round, do it again.

[Doomboy911]

Now I'm emotionally torn between well executed attacks and my despise of Book of the nine swords for (in my opinion) ruining fighter's true potential. I'd ask if the sword sage gets terribly broken but I feel I already know the answer.

Anyway to pull this stunt off without that book? As I'd feel like a hypocrite since I usually ban it from my games.

[Flickerdart]

Now I'm emotionally torn between well executed attacks and my despise of Book of the nine swords for (in my opinion) ruining fighter's true potential. I'd ask if the sword sage gets terribly broken but I feel I already know the answer.
Ruining the fighter's true potential? What does that even mean? And no, the swordsage is pretty much on par with the bard in terms of power. It's probably the weakest of the Tome of Battle classes.


Anyway to pull this stunt off without that book? As I'd feel like a hypocrite since I usually ban it from my games.
Sort of. There are items (Anklets of Translocation, Drow Shadow Cloak) that let you teleport as a swift or immediate action a small number of times per day. Soulmelds (blink shirt) allow you to teleport short distances at-will, as a move or standard action. If you're willing to dip a caster, look into the Flicker mystery (shadowcaster) or the Abrupt Jaunt ACF (wizard).

If you can't get shadowpounce, or want more punchings, Sun School from Complete Warrior allows you to make an attack every time you "move adjacent to a foe instantaneously."

[Red Fel]

Now I'm emotionally torn between well executed attacks and my despise of Book of the nine swords for (in my opinion) ruining fighter's true potential. I'd ask if the sword sage gets terribly broken but I feel I already know the answer.

Frankly, Swordsage really isn't all that broken. His recovery mechanic is the worst - by default, he takes an entire action to recover one maneuver in combat - and he doesn't have native access to the most broken maneuvers. (Looking at you, Iron Heart Surge.) He also has a 3/4 BAB progression, as opposed to the Warblade and Crusader, who have full BAB. Lastly, it's still not spellcasting, which is the most broken stuff in the game.

So, no. Not broken.


Anyway to pull this stunt off without that book? As I'd feel like a hypocrite since I usually ban it from my games.

Well, neither Crinti Shadow Marauder nor Telflammar Shadowlord is ToB. So if you block that book, they're still available. Unfortunately, it means you have to use other sources of teleportation to trigger Shadow Pounce, and pretty much all of them involve the Dimension Door disclaimer, meaning it ends your action. One option is to use the Blink Shirt soulmeld from Magic of Incarnum.

Here's how I would see it. First, dip Barbarian 1 with the Spirit Lion Totem ACF that replaces Fast Movement with Pounce. If you like, use the Whirling Frenzy variant that replaces your Rage with Whirling Frenzy, allowing you to make an extra attack each round at -2 penalty to all attacks.

Next, dip Totemist 2. That gets you access to Totemist soulmelds, 3 shaped and 1 bound (to the Totem chakra), and 2 essentia. The soulmeld you want shaped to your Heart and bound to your Totem chakra is the Blink Shirt. Its default ability is a 10' Dimension Door at-will as a standard action. Investing essentia increases the range by 10' per point invested. Binding it to your Totem chakra allows you to use its power as a move action instead of a standard action.

Lastly, Telflammar or Crinti until you get Shadow Pounce. Everything else is negotiable.

Here's how combat plays out. Round one, charge into battle, with a full attack thanks to Pounce. Round two, use your standard action to make a single attack against the enemy at your highest BAB. Use your move action to trigger your bound Blink Shirt, and teleport around your target. Shadow Pounce gives you an immediate full attack, and your turn ends. Round three plays exactly like round two.

[Dusk Eclipse]

There are other ways to get shadow pounce (or similar abilties), but Sworsage and the Shadow X line of maneuvers are the most cost effective.

You could go with the blink shirt from Magic of Incarnum, tough it would limit to one full attack per round, though to be fair you can use it all day long without further restrictions. Jaunter (Expedition to Demonweb pit) gets to use various Transportation abilities (including ddoor and Teleport) as SLA... maybe Su, can't recall off hand, with uses per day based on class level and Dex mod.

[sovin_ndore]

The old school solution to this was Telflammar Shadowlord PrC.