Swordsage builds

[Teapot Salty]

Hey guys, so, for valentines day, I realized I was still in love with my beautiful ex, 3.5, and decided to honor her by learning a cool build for a class I never got to play.
So, I'd really appreciate it if ya'll would share your favorite swordsage builds with me, you name it. Whether it's crazy powerful, or crazy fun, or has the best possible fluff, tell me what makes the build so sweet. It is much appreciated, thanks, and as always, go nuts.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Honestly, I usually multiclass swordsage heavily and it's most commonly a dip for a rogue build than the main class itself. And my most memorable primarily-swordsage characters have all had some houserules that made them more practical (like the whisper gnome using setting sun throws...should be the ideal candidate by the fluff....by the RAW she would have taken -4 size penalty and be unable to throw above medium size b/c it's still a trip check...so those were houseruled to function properly).

The times I straight class swordsage are usually for enemies for PCs to fight when I DM. You can roughly model plenty of anime and videogame characters off of swordsage, especially with the unarmed variant. Here are Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter, for example:
Ryu
Human Swordsage 6
HP: 42 (6d8 +12)
AC: 21 (10 +5 armor +3 wis +3 dex) (+1 w/ move)
Touch: 16 (+1 w/ move); FF: 18
Saves: Fortitude +4, Reflex +8, Will +8
Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 8
BAB +4, Grapple +6, Init +5
Falchion +8 melee (2d4 +4, 18-20/x2) (+1 fire w/ move)

Maneuvers (IL 6, 11 known, 7 readied):
1 Distracting Ember (DW, Boost) R
1 Burning Blade (DW, Boost) R
1 Sudden Leap (TC, Boost) R
1 Charging Minotaur (SD, Strike)
1 Counter Charge (SS, Counter)
2 Flashing Sun (DW, Strike)
2 Fire Riposte (DW, Counter) R
2 Claw at the Moon (TC, Strike)
3 Fan the Flames (DW, Strike) R
3 Death Mark (DW, Strike, DC 16) R
3 Mind Over Body (DM, Counter) R
Items: Mountain Hammer, Emerald Razor

Stances:
1 Flame’s Blessing (Fire Resistance 10) R
1 Step of the Wind (ignore difficult terrain, bonuses)
3 Holocaust Cloak (Attackers take 5 fire damage)

Class Features: Quick to Act +2, AC Bonus, Weapon Focus (DW), Insightful Strikes (DW)
Feats: Adaptive Style, Extra Readied Maneuver, Desert Wind Dodge, Desert Fire (+1d6 skirmish on DW strikes)

Skills (ranks +ability +synergy +other):
Concentrate +11 (9 +2)
Jump +13 (9 +2 +2)
Know Local +9 (9)
Listen +12 (9 +3)
Martial Lore +9 (9) (+2 DW)
Sense Motive +12 (9 +3)
Tumble +14 (9 +3 +2)

Gear: Novice DM Ring (3000), +1 Falchion (2375), +1 Chainshirt (1250), Novice SD Belt (3000)


Ken Masters
Whisper Gnome Swordsage 6
HP: 48 (6d8 +18)
AC: 23 (10 +5 armor +3 wis +4 dex +1 size) (+1 or 4 w/ move)
Touch: 18 (+1 or 4 w/ move); FF: 19
Saves: Fortitude +5, Reflex +9, Will +8
Str 12, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 6
BAB +4, Grapple +1, Init +6
Shortsword +11 melee (1d4 +5, 19-20/x2)

Maneuvers (IL 6, 11 known, 6 readied):
1 Distracting Ember (DW, Boost) R
1 Wolf Fang Strike (TC, Strike)
1 Sudden Leap (TC, Boost) R
1 Shadow Blade Tech (SH, Strike)
1 Counter Charge (SS, Counter) R
2 Cloak of Deception (SH, Boost) R
2 Fire Riposte (DW, Counter)
2 Claw at the Moon (TC, Strike)
3 Shadow Garrote (SH, Strike) R
3 Soaring Raptor Strike (TC, Strike) R
3 Shadow Jaunt (SH, Boost)
Items: Cloak of Deception, Disarming Strike

Stances:
1 Child of Shadow (move 10 ft: gain 20% miss chance)
1 Step of the Wind (ignore difficult terrain, bonuses)
3 Assassin’s Stance (+2d6 SA damage) R

Class Features: Quick to Act +2, AC Bonus, Weapon Focus (SH), Insightful Strikes (SH)
Feats: Shadow Blade, Weapon Finesse, Adaptive Style, Desert Wind Dodge, Titan Fighting
Flaws: Shaky, Poor Reflexes

Skills (rank +ability +synergy +other):
Balance +15 (9 +4 +2)
Concentrate +12 (9 +3)
Hide +21 (9 +4 +0 +8)
Jump +15 (9 +4* +2)
Move Silently +17 (9 +4 +0 +4)
Tumble +15 (9 +4 +2)

Gear: Masterwork Small Shortsword (310), +1 Small Chainshirt (1250), Boots of Agile Leaping (600), Novice IH Vest (3000), Novice SH Gloves (3000)

Ryu has a fire attacking basis and has his Hadoken (Fan the Flames). Ken has Shoryuken (Soaring Raptor Strike) and more shadow and jumping attacks. Looks like i didn't use unarmed variant on them for some reason...

Also, not mine, but before I ever used Swordsage I read about this guy's character in a high level Age of Worms game (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?186400-Bo9S-Notes-on-swordsage-in-play) (total spoilers for that campaign, obviously) and how it worked in play. He rather came to love the save-replacing Diamond Mind maneuvers.

[Waazraath]

Pure swordsage, that would be:

- thrower build, setting sun focussed. Azurin swordsage 20, feats: 1) jotenbrud, B) combat expertise, 3) improved trip, 6) shape soulmeld: mauling gaunlets, 9) power attack, 12) extra essentia, 15) adaptive style, 18) ready extra maneuver.

Stances: child of shadow (20% miss chance in default combat modus, from lvl 1), dance of the spider, hearing the air, strenght of stone (only child of shadow mandatory for the build, rest flavour / utility and not required)
Maneuvers: all the throwing maneuvers from setting sun, rest free (but fun to take some shadow hand maneuvers combined with some stealth skills to create an unlikely 7 feet tall ninja)

For:
improved trip gives +4, throwing maneuver another +4, jotenbrud a +4, mauling gaunlets +8, for a +20 on opposed strength checks to trip when using a throw maneuver. Even without numerous items like brute's gaunlets, armbands of might or torc of the titans, more then enough bonusses to ensure a win in an opposed contest. Move from enemy to enemy (up to size huge), throw them away, make 'em prone, or fly far away, do extra damage, make some bonus attacks (improved trip), deny enemies a full attack, have 20% miss chance always active, and have lots of maneuvers left if this tactic doesn't work for some reason. Fun extra: you can even make this build work with soulborn 8 / swordsage 12, to get the full effect of the mauling gaunlets (combine with unarmed swordsage) - have soulborn do something useful, w00t!