Master of Nine question

[Particle_Man]

If I am a master of nine and have all five levels of the class and at the beginning of the day prepare maneuvers from all nine disciplines then I get a +9 bonus to damage with strikes.

If I later in the day change my readied maneuvers such that I no longer have readied maneuvers from nine disciplines but only seven do I retain the +9 bonus to damage?

Also, can I use adaptive style outside of combat?

[Kelb_Panthera]

A literal parsing of the text would suggest that you get the damage bonus set the first time you ready maneuvers for the day and remains set until the next day. The book is well known for having editing issues though and it doesn't seem at all unlikely to me that there was a point during development where maneuvers could only be readied once per day. As a GM I would rule that the bonus gets reset every time you ready maneuvers.

You can use adaptive style any time you have a full round action to do so, in or out of combat.

[Darrin]

I think I'd stick to RAW here. At the beginning of the day, if you know and ready maneuvers from all nine disciplines, you get a +9 damage bonus. That's something you earned by gaining that level of expertise. If, later on in the day, you change which disciplines you've readied, you're still completely capable of readying all nine disciplines with a full-round action. I'd say, you earned it, you keep the +9 damage bonus all day.

And yes, you can use Adaptive Style outside of combat, as the text of the feat says "at any time". Unless you're in a time-sensitive situation and the DM has deliberately started some sort of initiative count that isn't specifically combat (chase scene, ticking time bomb, spell effect, etc.), I'm not sure if it really matters if readying your maneuvers takes 6 seconds or 5 minutes.

[Particle_Man]

Thanks for the replies!