Advice on an Ardent/Swordsage build

[schreier]

OK ... playing a one off game, and this will be my first character that has used either ToB or Psionics (let alone both) ...

The restrictions are basically "D&D official books" - no Dragon, no WOTC Website (which hurts psionics), etc ... starting at level 7, with a small list of magic items available, but 20k of value given to each character ... 28 point build

After playing around with things, I came up with an Elan Ardent 5 /Swordsage 2 ... I put swordsage as the last 2 levels to get higher level manuevers (even though a class with only 2 skill points at level 1 really killed me)

I am trying to see if I should replace level 1 with a dip into something like Ranger or Cloistered Cleric for utility and/or skills, etc .. plus any other suggestions.

The goal is to make a tank that has high utility (can do a lot of things) -- the game is similar to a hunger games scenario -- we've been placed on an island with other test subjects to see who will survive so there are limited magic items and supplies (thus Elan to avoid needing food for example, and melee to avoid the possibility of running out of ammo) ... the island is run by high level wizards of different ideologies -- so there is a "teamwork" wizard, a "darkness" wizard, a "magic" wizard, etc ... where each has a guiding philosophy and has tried to put challenges and opportunities in place so that their philosophy is adopted by the test subjects, and it wins (basically, they're trying to prove their way of thinking is best).

So the character was created to serve as a tank with the ability to have high non-combat utility and survivability

Str 13 (15 with gauntlets)
Dex 10
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 18 (20 with periapt)
Cha 8 (10 - 2 racial)

Feats:
1. Elan Resilience, Enhanced
3. Expanded Knowledge (Elemental Steward)
6. Adaptive Style
6 Weapon Focus (Diamond Mind) -- from Swordsage

Maneuvers:
Charging Minotaur
Shadow Blade Technique
Action Before Thought (Readied)
Cloak of Deception (Readied)
Mountain Hammer (Readied)
Stone Vise
Mind Over Body (Readied)

Stances:
Child of Shadow (normally used)
Dance of the Spider (utility)

Mantles:
Force (Primary)
Fate (Primary)
Freedom (Secondary)
Time (Secondary)

Powers:
Force Screen
Precognition, Defensive
Dimension Hop
Elemental Steward
Concussion Blast
Clairvoyant Sense
Time Hop

Items: (with the specific costs the DM is charging)
Chain Shirt +1 (limited to +1 armor, or a few specific abilities that weren't useful) - 1250
Vampiric Bastard Sword (limited to +1, or Elemental damages, returning, or vampiric) - 8335
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 - 2000
Periapt of Wisdom +2 - 4000
Gauntlets of Ogre Power +2 - 4000

(Other items available are vest of resistant +1 or +2, ring of protection +1 or +2, belt of ultimate athleticism, rope of stone, heward's handy haversack, wand of magic missile (2250), eversmoking bottle)


General combat strategy - prebuff with Force Screen and Precognition for AC 26, then use resilience to absorb some damage while healing with vampiric weapon. Will be able to keep concealment (stance) by using Dimension Hop to move around the battle field - which can also help flank against enemies

Bring in Elemental Steward as an additional flanker, and as utility powers (Water for grease and putting out any fires, Fire for combustion, air for flying and , and earth for creating sounds .... can also summon and attack to heal through the vampiric weapon if needed, and for scouting

Concussion blast when ranged is needed

Clairvoyance for taking peeks around corners and through doors

Time Hop - remove a piece of a bridge to take it down, open doors, sending away a baddie when there are too many, etc...

Dimension hop can also be used to get around in non-combat

Dance of the spider - utility when needed, but normally run the child of shadows for the concealment

Because of the weak reflex and fortitude saves - have the diamond mind manuevers to cover when needed

Cloak of deception - when needed - either escape, or flank, or just get through an open area without being seen

Mountain Hammer - take out anything with hardness, or baddies with DR

The other 3 maneuvers are just filler - wouldn't really plan on using them, but would be happy to if anyone comes up with options

Sorry for the long post - any suggestions?
schreier

[ExLibrisMortis]

I would put fewer points in wisdom, and more in other stats. An 18 is nice, but not worth the points if you're gishing. Maybe something like 14/10/14/10/16/8.

Psicrystals are good for utility and scouting. They're very hard to kill (diminuitive, Improved Evasion, hardness 8), they have free ranks in Listen and Spot, and they are an important part of the vigour + share pain combo (iirc share pain is not on any ardent mantle, but you could use Expanded Knowledge, if you wanted to).

Magic item-wise, can you get cheap utility items, like a belt of healing or chronocharm of the horizon walker?

Oh, and pick up Sapphire Nightmare Blade. It allows you to target flat-footed AC. Emerald Razor allows you to target touch AC.

[Diarmuid]

Another thought is that using your Elan Resilience for damage mitigation also chews up your Immediate Actions so you're limited on what you can do with Swifts on your actual turns.

Instead, one of the Mantles gives you Vigor as a 1st level power which has a 5:1 HP:PP return vs the 4:1 on the Elan Resilience. This is a better ratio and frees up a feat slot for you, but swaps out one of your mantles.

[schreier]

I didn't realize that the resilience used up my swift ... so avoided vigor thinking that reactive, even if slightly less efficient from a pp/HP perspective... was more effective. Actions are not valuable obviously.

What manuevers, powers, and feats do you think you would ditch? I can ditch the enhanced resilience for psicrystal ... Any one of the original strikes for sapphire

And sadly, none of those items are available

[Diarmuid]

For the ardent I've been building, I grabbed the resilience at first level, but plan to retrain out of it when I can stack enough Temp HP via Vigor to see me through fights (probably 3rd).

I was also looking at psicrystal if my DM allows for them to gain feats. I'd then look to take Expanded Knowledge at 6th, which would let me add Share Pain from the Psy War list to my powers known. Then when I use Vigor it would effect me and the crystal and I'd effectively get double duty from it.

Also somewhat requires a houseruling on what happens when psicrystals die, but my DM has taken the Comp Psy errata that defines what happens if an Elemental Envoy dies (upgrade from normal psicrystal) as as good general idea for crystal destruction.