Piggy Knowles
2019-11-15, 10:03 PM
INTRODUCTION
With more than a decade and a half of toying around with 3.5, I’ve accumulated a lot of spare builds and ideas. While I don’t have an active game going right now, I still like to pop open my builds folder and try to refine things. Recently I decided to make a dedicated effort to flesh out some of these builds into full write-ups, and reached out to some friends in the CO community who might be interested in doing the same. In the spirit of Tempest Stormwind’s Weekly Optimization Showcase (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?), I thought I’d showcase the end results here.
The goal is (usually) not to show off any fancy new TO trick, but to showcase effective, playable builds and spur discussion. While each of us has a different build philosophy, in general the intent is to create something that can be played in most groups from level 1 to level 20. Again, the goal is discussion, so feel free to discuss the build, talk about other options, make suggestions or tear it all to shreds. Also, feel free to use anything showcased here in any of your campaigns—and let us know how they work out if you do!
Right now the group consists of myself, the Viscount, Akal Saris, Venger and WhamBamSam, with a couple of other folks hopefully on their way. Typically one of us writes up the build concept and possibly a stub, the others share feedback on Discord or in some of the shared documents we have, and together we refine things until we’re happy with the final product. I’ll list the build’s main author whenever I showcase a particular build.
Buffsader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559259-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Buffsader) (ToB/Gish/Party Support)
The Utility Belt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560988-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Utility-Belt) (Psionics/Stealth/Utility)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569004-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Eternal-Sunshine-of-the-Spotless-War-Mind) (ToB/Psionics/Melee Damage)
The Melding Pot (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?579458-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Melding-Pot) (Incarnum/Utility)
That’s So Raven (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581950-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-That%92s-So-Raven) (Gish/Ranged/Debuff)
Dancing in the Dark (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582528-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Dancing-in-the-Dark) (ToB/Stealth/Lock-down)
Gladys Knight and the Pips (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583657-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Gladys-Knight-and-the-Pips) (Arcane/Face/Utility)
Zen in the Art of Archery (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584417-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Zen-in-the-Art-of-Archery)
I Choose You! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588818-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-I-Choose-You!) (Divine/Summmoning)
Cold World (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589769-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Cold-World) (Divine/Summmoning/Lockdown)
Holy Roller and His Holy Boulders (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?591809-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Holy-Roller-and-His-Holy-Boulders) (Ranged/Wild Shape/Exalted)
Big Brother is Watching (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?593033-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Big-Brother-is-Watching) (Scrying/Arcane/Party Support)
The White Elephant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?600206-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-White-Elephant) (Arcane/Debuff/BFC)
Tales From the Crypt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?601739-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Tales-From-the-Crypt) (Halloween Spooktacular)
For this showcase, we’ll look at an initiator with a flair for edged weapons: Switchblade Suzie!
https://filmfreedonia.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/kickass06.jpg?w=696
Switchblade Suzie
”Where’d you get that?”
BACKGROUND
Early on in 3.5’s history, I feel like everyone was always looking at ways to optimize iaijutsu focus. A holdover from 3.0 that never received an official update, the idea of a skill-based way to add bonus damage was always a captivating one, and the whole concept lends itself to a lot of fun flavor.
Over time, though, it fell out of favor. It’s still commonly referenced as a way for factotums to contribute in combat, and it’s definitely not rare (and for two excellent takes on an iaijutsu-focused character check out the original Op Showcase’s Always on Edge and Assassin’s Speed). But in general, leaning too hard into iaijutsu focus feels like a lot of work for minimal returns. There’s the immediate problem of getting access to the skill, something that only a handful of classes can do, and it requires significant investment and focus on what is usually a dump stat to produce decent damage numbers. Triggering it also requires jumping through several hoops, as there are only a few ways to guarantee that your opponent is flat-footed. I’m also personally not a big fan of two of the most commonly suggested methods of triggering it (bags of marbles and wands of grease); both are fun ways to mess with the enemy but I find them unreliable as methods of consistently triggering your main combat method.
So no one was more surprised than myself when I found myself poking around with various iaijutsu focus-related builds. I’m not sure why I decided I wanted to build one. I was thinking about non-Power Attack based methods of melee damage in general, and ways to build off of them, and somehow landed on the old classic. For all of its foibles, if you can make the damage numbers high enough to compete with melee staples like PA and find a way to consistently trigger it, there are some very nice aspects to the skill. It’s a lot harder to shut down than other common methods of bonus damage; it isn’t precision damage and explicitly even works against objects. And when I was toying with build ideas, I noticed that an elven iaijutsu master (elven for Aereni Focus; I decided right off the bat that I wanted something more martial than your typical factotum and Aereni Focus was one of the best ways to get access to the skill without going down that road) naturally qualified for eternal blade, which in turn gave tons of maneuver flexibility in the lategame for any encounters where iaijutsu focus might not be ideal.
It’s nothing groundbreaking—as I’ve said, the optimization depths are well-plumbed when it comes to iaijutsu focus—but I was really pleased with our results. The build’s main focus comes online at level 1 and consistently improves, leaving you with a charismatic and hyper-mobile warblade that can put out damage numbers comparable to your typical Power Attackers without relying on damage staples like charging or sneak attack.
THE BASICS
Race: Dragonborn Elf, of whatever flavor suits your taste. Elven blood is required for Aereni Focus and eternal blade, so the elf part is non-optional. Dragonborn gives you fighter as a favored class, which prevents any multiclassing penalties. If you aren’t playing with multiclassing penalties then the dragonborn element isn’t required, but eliminating the standard Con penalty and picking up wings and a +10 racial bonus to jump checks make it a great pick regardless.
Build Stub: Warblade 9/Fighter 1/Iaijutsu Master 5/Eternal Blade 5
ACFs: Hit and run fighter, skilled city dweller (ride -> tumble).
Alignment: Any lawful and non-evil. I personally envisioned this character as lawful neutral, but there’s some room to fiddle.
Switchblade Suzie
Level
Class
Feats//Skill Tricks
Maneuvers Known
Class Features
Notes (Click to Expand)
1st
Warblade 1
Aereni Focus (iaijutsu focus)
Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, sapphire nightmare blade, hunter’s sensestance
Battle clarity (Reflex saves), weapon aptitude
Aereni Focus is a fun Eberron feat that both gives you a new class skill and the benefit of Skill Focus (which stacks with actual Skill Focus!). It’s 1st-level only and elf specific, but since you want to be an elf anyhow for eternal blade, it fits here just fine. You’re using it for iaijutsu focus, which will be a driving source of damage for you throughout this build. By RAW since you select feats after you select skills, you can still only have two ranks at this level, but that still means a +8 bonus, giving you a +1d6 damage boost on a 2 or higher (with an additional +1d6 for every 5 points beyond that). Combined with sapphire nightmare blade to trigger the flat-footed condition, that’s doing some very respectable single-target damage for the level. Carry a few cheap weapons with you so that you can draw and strike multiple times if possible. Sudden leap is always great for repositioning, and with the dragonborn’s +10 racial bonus to jump checks, you should have no trouble clearing some serious distance even at level 1. Finally, most of the level one stances don’t do much for you, but hunter’s sense provides some decent out of combat utility and can help you sniff out invisible or hidden foes.
2nd
Fighter 1
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana)
Hit-and-run tactics, bonus feat
This build is fairly feat heavy so a fighter dip should come as no surprise, and hit and run fighter is a perfect fit. In addition to the initiative boost (always essential even for non-iaijutsu fighters), this also allows you to add your Dex to damage whenever you catch an enemy flat-footed. While you aren’t fully Dex-focused you will need to have at least a positive Dex to qualify for all relevant feats, and considering that this build is all about catching foes flat-footed, this is basically free damage.
As for your feat, I always love taking EWP with my warblades, since you can use weapon aptitude to change up your proficiency every day. While I list it here as katana so that you can wield it one-handed in the classical style, once you become capable of making multiple attacks in a round you’ll always want to use weapon aptitude to swap this out for switchblade gnomish quickrazor proficiency. For those who aren’t familiar, quickrazors are the ideal iaijutsu focus weapon. They’re basically butterfly knives, light low damage weapons that are able to be drawn or sheathed as a free action. It’s that latter bit that’s special: free-action sheathing means you can trigger iaijutsu focus for every single attack in any given attack routine, assuming your opponent is flat-footed. At this level when you’re only making one attack they aren’t necessary, but feel free to abuse weapon aptitude to pick up a more useful exotic weapon as desired.
3rd
Warblade 2
Quick Draw
Moment of perfect mind
Uncanny dodge
Moment of perfect mind is a natural fit here, shoring up your weakest defense and helping keep your diamond mind maneuvers up. Quick Draw is a required feat that becomes a bit irrelevant as soon as you pick up a quickrazor, but in addition to qualifying you for iaijutsu master it also lets you pick up a couple of relevant skill tricks, so it’s not so bad. In the meantime, while you’re still mostly making single attacks, you can use it alongside a katana for some very solid IF damage.
4th
Warblade 3
Wall of blades
Battle ardor (critical confirmation)
Another solid counter. While your AC won’t be terrible, you are restricted from wearing heavy armor, so having wall of blades in your back pocket is never a bad idea.
5th
Warblade 4
Wolf fang strike -> claw at the moon, bolstering voicestance
Wolf fang strike isn’t doing much for you, and with your insanely good jump checks, you might as well replace it with claw at the moon for somewhat better damage. This swap is mostly pretty irrelevant, but there’s no reason not to take it. As for your stance, bolstering voice helps with Will saves and gives you a white raven maneuver known for qualification purposes.
6th
Warblade 5
Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (katana)
White raven tactics
Bonus feat
I said bolstering voice was going to be relevant for qualification purposes, right? Well it pays off immediately, allowing you to pick up the incomparable white raven tactics. I don’t really need to go into why this is so good. Weapon Focus comes in as a qualification for iaijutsu master, but again, don’t forget you can swap it out every morning for WF (quickrazor) instead. That’s handy, because you pick up a second attack at this level, and with a quickrazor you can draw and sheath multiple times in a single attack routine—just the thing for catching people who act after you in the initiative order (which will be fairly common, given that you have a +6 bonus to initiative just from Imp Init and hit and run fighter).
Oh, and you also get some limited flight from your wings at this level, too. You can only fly a few rounds at a time right now, but native flight is always useful for a melee character, and it’ll improve as your levels progress.
7th
Iaijutsu Master 1
Weapon finesse, canny defense
Into iaijutsu master. The first level doesn’t offer much, especially since you’re more likely to wield a quickrazor on any given day than a katana.
8th
Iaijutsu Master 2
Hidden blade skill trick
Lightning blade
Now there’s a nice bonus. Initiative is incredibly important to you, since one of the most reliable ways to catch someone flat-footed is to act before they do in the initiative order. With your heavy Charisma focus, getting +Cha to initiative on top of the +6 bonus you get from hit and run fighter and Improved Initiative should make this a very common occurrence.
Also, the reason I recommended you cross-class sleight of hand in the skills section is that it unlocks a couple of nice skill tricks. Hidden blade gives you yet another way to activate iaijutsu focus. It’s only for a single attack, but it can definitely come in handy.
9th
Iaijutsu Master 3
Two-Weapon Fighting
Quickrazors are light weapons, meaning they’re easy to dual wield, and since you want to attack as much as possible when you’re up against a flat-footed foe, Two-Weapon Fighting is a natural fit. Dual wielding is also essential for the mongoose maneuvers, which will become very important to you. (In a campaign with easy access to magic items this feat can be replaced entirely with gloves of the balanced hand; in that case Martial Study can be taken here to nab death from above, which is a strict step up from sapphire nightmare blade.)
10th
Iaijutsu Master 4
Skill Focus (iaijutsu focus), acrobatic backstab skill trick
Bonus feat
A free bonus feat off of a limited list comes on here. Most of the list isn’t of much interest, but a +3 to iaijutsu focus that stacks with Aereni Focus will certainly never be unwelcome. And acrobatic backstab is probably the most reliable skill trick for activating iaijutsu focus, allowing you to make a foe flat-footed for one attack by tumbling through their space. It’s especially nice because it works with strikes, and with tumble as a class skill your whole career there’s no reason not to pick it up.
11th
Iaijutsu Master 5
Strike from the void
And here’s the real reason you took this class. Strike from the void means you add your Charisma modifier to each extra damage die gained from using the iaijutsu focus skill. You’ve got around a +23 bonus to IF before items, and with level-appropriate items this check should be more in the neighborhood of +33. That means you’re dealing +6d6 damage per attack on a 2, and with a good roll could be dealing the max of +9d6 damage. Even if you haven’t managed to get your hands on a cloak of charisma yet, your Charisma should be at least 18 by this point, meaning that with the addition of strike from the void you’re more than doubling your average damage output from each IF strike.
12th
Warblade 6
Martial Study (foehammer)
Claw at the moon -> dancing mongoose
Improved uncanny dodge
Back into warblade for a bit. Dancing mongoose is great for any dual wielder, giving you two extra attacks as a swift action. Meanwhile, foehammer comes in to fulfill pre-reqs for when we start taking eternal blade levels. This can be crusader’s strike if you prefer to add on some minor healing, but foehammer can come in handy against high-DR foes.
13th
Warblade 7
White raven strike
Battle cunning (damage)
White raven strike is another great way to make your opponents flat-footed, with a solid damage rider and no save. But wait, doesn’t it only last until the start of their next turn, making it nice for your allies but useless for you? Well, that’s where dancing mongoose comes in. With dancing mongoose, you can white raven strike to make your foe flat-footed, then dancing mongoose to immediately make two attacks that both trigger iaijutsu focus.
14th
Warblade 8
Sudden draw skill trick
Wall of blades -> moment of alacrity
Moment of alacrity is one of my favorite maneuvers in general, and it’s especially good here. In particular, it combos well with white raven strike. Against any enemy that moves before you in the initiative order (whether because they rolled high or because you delayed), you’ve got a very powerful combo at your fingertips: white raven strike to make them flat-footed, then use moment of alacrity as a swift action to shuffle yourself up ahead of them in the initiative order. That leaves you with a full round of actions while your enemy is still flat-footed, letting you go to town with your impressive iaijutsu focus.
Oh, and with sudden draw, you get something fairly unique: the ability to deal out iaijutsu focus damage on an attack of opportunity. You’re not an AoO-focused build, but it’s still a cute trick that can make moving through your threatened area particularly deadly.
15th
Warblade 9
Iron Will, Hardened Criminal
Greater insightful strike
Bonus feat
Warblade picks up another bonus feat here, which is perfect timing: use it to grab Iron Will, the pre-req for Hardened Criminal. Hardened Criminal is a fun little feat from City of Stormreach that allows you to take 10 on a selected skill. You’ll pick iaijutsu focus, of course; why risk a low roll when you can just take 10? With some fairly straightforward items (nothing more than a cloak of Charisma, +5 item and masterwork tool) this means an automatic iaijutsu focus check of 48, for a guaranteed +8d6+(Cha x 8) damage.
If you’re playing in a game where magical locations are available, I’d recommend obtaining Iron Will via the Otyugh Hole instead. In that case, move Hardened Criminal to level 12 and bump Martial Study (foehammer) to here instead. For an alternative bonus feat, I like Blind-fight or Great Fortitude: Blind-fight works well alongside scent from your hunter’s sense stance to take on hidden foes, while Great Fortitude can help power immortal fortitude.
As for your maneuver, greater insightful strike’s damage on its own is going to be lower than what iaijutsu focus can give you, but it’s reliable and you need one more diamond mind maneuver to qualify for time stands still down the road. Feel free to replace this with any other diamond mind option that suits you, such as rapid counter.
16th
Eternal Blade 1
Daunting strike
Blade guide, eternal training 1/day
Into eternal blade! As a Diamond Mind-focused elf who already has weapon focus, you auto-qualify for this prestige class. There are two things in particular that this grants you: access to the devoted spirit line of maneuvers and eternal training. (It also helps with your stance timing, allowing you to pick up an 8th-level stance without spending another feat.) Eternal training is just outrageously flexible, letting you pick up your highest level maneuvers on the fly. At this level that means nabbing, say, avalanche of blades, which can be more effective than a standard TWF attack against low-AC foes. Having eternal training also means you can comfortably spend your maneuvers known collecting devoted spirit maneuvers so that you can get to the good stuff down the road. Daunting strike isn’t game-breaking, but with some fearsome armor and a maxed out intimidate check it can lead to some decent fear-stacking if that’s what you’re into.
17th
Eternal Blade 2
Guided strike
Bypassing DR as a swift action is always handy.
18th
Eternal Blade 3
Martial Study (raging mongoose)
Castigating strike
Armored uncanny dodge, eternal training 2/day
8th-level maneuvers have a lot of great options. Castigating strike gives you area damage, something this build has lacked up to this point, with a minor debuff rider. Again, though, the real draw is getting enough maneuvers to qualify for immortal fortitude and strike of righteous vitality. More importantly, you pick up raging mongoose via feat here, letting you make four attacks as a swift action after white raven strike makes one of your foes flat-footed. And with another use of eternal training, you can pick up powerful options like diamond nightmare blade or greater divine surge as needed.
19th
Eternal Blade 4
Eternal knowledge
Eternal knowledge is cute but doesn’t add much to the build at this point. Nice flavor, though.
20th
Eternal Blade 5
Time stands still, immortal fortitudestance
Eternal training 3/day
Ah, here we go. For your final capstone you end with what is arguably the best maneuver in ToB, as well as one of the best stances around. Time stands still hardly needs any introduction; use it early on when your opponents are still flat-footed for an incredibly potent killing blow or use the white raven strike + moment of alacrity shuffle to activate it. And with your excellent Fort save, immortal fortitude gives you an absolutely incredible amount of longevity. Oh, and speaking of longevity, you also get another eternal training, which you can use to pick up powerful maneuvers like strike of righteous vitality.
Maneuvers known:
1- Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, sapphire nightmare blade, moment of perfect mind, hunter’s sensestance, bolstering voicestance
2- Wall of blades, claw at the moon, foehammer
3- White raven tactics
4- White raven strike
5- Dancing mongoose, daunting strike
6- Moment of alacrity, greater insightful strike
7- Castigating strike
8- Raging mongoose, immortal fortitudestance
9- Time stands still
Oddly enough for a warblade, your main stat will be Charisma, followed by Strength. Strength is still relevant for you as a melee character, though the fact that you have full BAB and you aren’t two-handing weapons means it’s not absolutely vital. Charisma boosts your initiative, powers your main damage engine and will come in handy if you decide to dabble in any social skills.
You’ll also need a Dex of at least 15 by level 9 for TWF. However, in a campaign with easy access to items, there are two ways you can alleviate this particular requirement. The first is to ignore it entirely and replace the TWF feat with gloves of the balanced hand (see the level 9 build notes for an alternative feat if you go that route). The second option is to obtain feycraft quickrazors, which will let you get away with focusing hard on Dexterity and more or less ignoring Strength. Feycraft quickrazors can be used as though you have the Weapon Finesse feat, and since hit and run fighter gives you +Dex to damage against flat-footed foes, you won’t see any real drop in damage output. However, feycraft weapons are a bit pricey until the mid-levels, clocking in at around 1500gp a pop. Still, this is a pretty decent direction to go if they’re an option, and can allow you to run a higher Dexterity and even invest a bit into Int for your warblade abilities.
SAMPLE STAT ARRAY:
28-point buy: Str 14/Dex 14/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 8/Cha 16
32-point buy: Str 14/Dex 15/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 16
Iaijutsu focus is obviously a must, since it drives this build’s main damage engine. Jump and tumble are also quite useful, both for mobility purposes and for abilities like sudden leap and the acrobatic backstab skill trick. I also highly recommend cross-classing sleight of hand to get it to at least 8 ranks for the hidden blade and sudden draw skill tricks. Neither of them are essential, but having more ways to activate IF in a pinch is never a bad idea. But beyond iaijutsu focus, skill requirements for this build are fairly minimal. You’ll have a great Charisma and intimidate and diplomacy as a skill for much of your career, so investing a bit in the social skills might not be a bad choice.
You’ll definitely want a pair of gnomish quickrazors and the best set of light armor you can afford, as well as the standard stat boosters. As a hyper-mobile character who flies, jumps and tumbles, avoid anything too clunky. Skill boosters for iaijutsu focus are always welcome, and can help you hit that DC 50 check even earlier.
You can free up some feats with a few cheap magic items and/or magical locations if they’re available: gloves of the balanced hand for TWF and the otyugh hole for Iron Will. I’m always a bit hesitant to make a build absolutely need a particular item to function, so the main writeup doesn’t assume this, but it’s something to keep in mind. Also, if you can get your hands on feycraft quickrazors, you can run a much more comfortable point buy spread that focuses on Dex and Charisma and mostly ignores Strength.
BUILD SUMMARY
Let’s take stock of what you have. With +20 BAB and 9th-level maneuvers, including the outrageous flexibility of eternal training to allow you to pick up maneuvers on demand, it should be no surprise that you can do great things in combat. While you’re mostly focused on a mix of diamond mind and tiger claw maneuvers (with a dash of white raven sprinkled in), eternal blade does open up the devoted spirit line, giving you some serious longevity thanks to the immortal fortitude stance and strike of righteous vitality.
Instead of focusing on typical damage boosters like Power Attack, you focus on iaijutsu focus. With the ability to take ten on your checks, you are guaranteed to hit the DC 50 required for maximum damage, and with strike from the void that damage ceiling is quite high: with a Charisma of 30, we’re talking about a guaranteed +9d6+90 bonus damage from IF. Remember, this is NOT precision damage, meaning it cannot get shut down in the same way things like sneak attack can. Heck, it even works against objects. If you can catch your foe flat-footed, you can trigger it.
And you have lots of ways to do just that. The first and most obvious method is simply acting before your foes, and with an initiative bonus of +16 before you add in your Dex and any item-based initiative boosters, that should be a common occurrence. This is especially potent because as a dual wielder with TWF and access to time stands still, you can make a lot of attacks before your opponents ever have a chance to move. You also have several ways of making single target attacks deal IF damage, including sapphire nightmare blade, acrobatic backstab, hidden blade and sudden draw.
But the real money shot is white raven strike. This is a fairly straightforward strike meant to boost your allies: hit someone, make them flat-footed until the start of their next turn. However, you’ve got several ways to abuse this. The easiest method is to smack them with WRS and then activate raging mongoose for four juicy IF-boosted attacks at your highest bonus; if all four attacks hit, you’re likely to immediately drop most level-appropriate foes. If that’s not enough for you, though, you have an even stronger option. Delay until after your foe attacks, then on your turn hit them with WRS to make them flat-footed and activate moment of alacrity. This will give you an instant +20 in the initiative order, shuffling you back up ahead of your foe and letting you get a full round’s worth of actions before they act again. With max BAB and TWF and time stands still, that should be more than enough to take out even the burliest of foes.
VARIANTS
For a few minor variants, check out the level by level notes. In particular, there are a few minor variations you can make depending on certain item availability (for example, dropping TWF in favor of gloves of the balanced hand, which lets you run a higher Strength and also gives you a spare feat that you can use to nab death from above).
For a more dramatic change, we also built a version without iaijutsu master that finishes out eternal blade. It’s nothing too complicated, just a straightforward Warblade 8/Hit and Run Fighter 2/Eternal Blade 10. While it lacks the sheer damage potential of iaijutsu master’s strike from the void ability, it does have some things going for it: Dex-SAD (or close to it), significantly more freedom in feat selection, more readied maneuvers and uses of eternal training and the absolutely fantastic island in time. The damage potential is a good bit lower, although it closes the gap a little bit by using aura of chaos to take advantage of the fact that you will be rolling dozens of d6s most turns.
I’ve also been toying with a Cha-SAD version of the build, a bard 4/warblade 10/iaijutsu master 5/exemplar 1 with Snowflake Wardance to lean hard into the Charisma focus of strike from the void. It misses out on 9th-level maneuvers, meaning no time stands still, and it matures a bit later than this build, but it does at least manage to pick up raging mongoose. I’m not completely happy with any of the build stubs I’ve come up with yet, but I’ll keep poking at the idea.
SOURCES
Iaijutsu focus skill, iaijutsu master: Oriental Adventures
Dragonborn of Bahamut: Races of the Dragon
Warblade, eternal blade, Martial Study, maneuvers: Tome of Battle
Hit and run fighter ACF: Drow of the Underdark
Skilled city dweller ACF: Cityscape web enhancement
Aereni Focus: Player’s Guide to Eberron
Hardened Criminal: City of Stormreach
Skill tricks: Complete Scoundrel
Gnome quickrazor: Races of Stone
***
And that’s that! Please let us know what you think in the comments, and what you’d like to see for future showcases!
With more than a decade and a half of toying around with 3.5, I’ve accumulated a lot of spare builds and ideas. While I don’t have an active game going right now, I still like to pop open my builds folder and try to refine things. Recently I decided to make a dedicated effort to flesh out some of these builds into full write-ups, and reached out to some friends in the CO community who might be interested in doing the same. In the spirit of Tempest Stormwind’s Weekly Optimization Showcase (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?), I thought I’d showcase the end results here.
The goal is (usually) not to show off any fancy new TO trick, but to showcase effective, playable builds and spur discussion. While each of us has a different build philosophy, in general the intent is to create something that can be played in most groups from level 1 to level 20. Again, the goal is discussion, so feel free to discuss the build, talk about other options, make suggestions or tear it all to shreds. Also, feel free to use anything showcased here in any of your campaigns—and let us know how they work out if you do!
Right now the group consists of myself, the Viscount, Akal Saris, Venger and WhamBamSam, with a couple of other folks hopefully on their way. Typically one of us writes up the build concept and possibly a stub, the others share feedback on Discord or in some of the shared documents we have, and together we refine things until we’re happy with the final product. I’ll list the build’s main author whenever I showcase a particular build.
Buffsader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559259-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Buffsader) (ToB/Gish/Party Support)
The Utility Belt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560988-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Utility-Belt) (Psionics/Stealth/Utility)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569004-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Eternal-Sunshine-of-the-Spotless-War-Mind) (ToB/Psionics/Melee Damage)
The Melding Pot (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?579458-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Melding-Pot) (Incarnum/Utility)
That’s So Raven (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581950-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-That%92s-So-Raven) (Gish/Ranged/Debuff)
Dancing in the Dark (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582528-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Dancing-in-the-Dark) (ToB/Stealth/Lock-down)
Gladys Knight and the Pips (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583657-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Gladys-Knight-and-the-Pips) (Arcane/Face/Utility)
Zen in the Art of Archery (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584417-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Zen-in-the-Art-of-Archery)
I Choose You! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588818-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-I-Choose-You!) (Divine/Summmoning)
Cold World (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589769-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Cold-World) (Divine/Summmoning/Lockdown)
Holy Roller and His Holy Boulders (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?591809-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Holy-Roller-and-His-Holy-Boulders) (Ranged/Wild Shape/Exalted)
Big Brother is Watching (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?593033-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Big-Brother-is-Watching) (Scrying/Arcane/Party Support)
The White Elephant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?600206-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-White-Elephant) (Arcane/Debuff/BFC)
Tales From the Crypt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?601739-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Tales-From-the-Crypt) (Halloween Spooktacular)
For this showcase, we’ll look at an initiator with a flair for edged weapons: Switchblade Suzie!
https://filmfreedonia.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/kickass06.jpg?w=696
Switchblade Suzie
”Where’d you get that?”
BACKGROUND
Early on in 3.5’s history, I feel like everyone was always looking at ways to optimize iaijutsu focus. A holdover from 3.0 that never received an official update, the idea of a skill-based way to add bonus damage was always a captivating one, and the whole concept lends itself to a lot of fun flavor.
Over time, though, it fell out of favor. It’s still commonly referenced as a way for factotums to contribute in combat, and it’s definitely not rare (and for two excellent takes on an iaijutsu-focused character check out the original Op Showcase’s Always on Edge and Assassin’s Speed). But in general, leaning too hard into iaijutsu focus feels like a lot of work for minimal returns. There’s the immediate problem of getting access to the skill, something that only a handful of classes can do, and it requires significant investment and focus on what is usually a dump stat to produce decent damage numbers. Triggering it also requires jumping through several hoops, as there are only a few ways to guarantee that your opponent is flat-footed. I’m also personally not a big fan of two of the most commonly suggested methods of triggering it (bags of marbles and wands of grease); both are fun ways to mess with the enemy but I find them unreliable as methods of consistently triggering your main combat method.
So no one was more surprised than myself when I found myself poking around with various iaijutsu focus-related builds. I’m not sure why I decided I wanted to build one. I was thinking about non-Power Attack based methods of melee damage in general, and ways to build off of them, and somehow landed on the old classic. For all of its foibles, if you can make the damage numbers high enough to compete with melee staples like PA and find a way to consistently trigger it, there are some very nice aspects to the skill. It’s a lot harder to shut down than other common methods of bonus damage; it isn’t precision damage and explicitly even works against objects. And when I was toying with build ideas, I noticed that an elven iaijutsu master (elven for Aereni Focus; I decided right off the bat that I wanted something more martial than your typical factotum and Aereni Focus was one of the best ways to get access to the skill without going down that road) naturally qualified for eternal blade, which in turn gave tons of maneuver flexibility in the lategame for any encounters where iaijutsu focus might not be ideal.
It’s nothing groundbreaking—as I’ve said, the optimization depths are well-plumbed when it comes to iaijutsu focus—but I was really pleased with our results. The build’s main focus comes online at level 1 and consistently improves, leaving you with a charismatic and hyper-mobile warblade that can put out damage numbers comparable to your typical Power Attackers without relying on damage staples like charging or sneak attack.
THE BASICS
Race: Dragonborn Elf, of whatever flavor suits your taste. Elven blood is required for Aereni Focus and eternal blade, so the elf part is non-optional. Dragonborn gives you fighter as a favored class, which prevents any multiclassing penalties. If you aren’t playing with multiclassing penalties then the dragonborn element isn’t required, but eliminating the standard Con penalty and picking up wings and a +10 racial bonus to jump checks make it a great pick regardless.
Build Stub: Warblade 9/Fighter 1/Iaijutsu Master 5/Eternal Blade 5
ACFs: Hit and run fighter, skilled city dweller (ride -> tumble).
Alignment: Any lawful and non-evil. I personally envisioned this character as lawful neutral, but there’s some room to fiddle.
Switchblade Suzie
Level
Class
Feats//Skill Tricks
Maneuvers Known
Class Features
Notes (Click to Expand)
1st
Warblade 1
Aereni Focus (iaijutsu focus)
Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, sapphire nightmare blade, hunter’s sensestance
Battle clarity (Reflex saves), weapon aptitude
Aereni Focus is a fun Eberron feat that both gives you a new class skill and the benefit of Skill Focus (which stacks with actual Skill Focus!). It’s 1st-level only and elf specific, but since you want to be an elf anyhow for eternal blade, it fits here just fine. You’re using it for iaijutsu focus, which will be a driving source of damage for you throughout this build. By RAW since you select feats after you select skills, you can still only have two ranks at this level, but that still means a +8 bonus, giving you a +1d6 damage boost on a 2 or higher (with an additional +1d6 for every 5 points beyond that). Combined with sapphire nightmare blade to trigger the flat-footed condition, that’s doing some very respectable single-target damage for the level. Carry a few cheap weapons with you so that you can draw and strike multiple times if possible. Sudden leap is always great for repositioning, and with the dragonborn’s +10 racial bonus to jump checks, you should have no trouble clearing some serious distance even at level 1. Finally, most of the level one stances don’t do much for you, but hunter’s sense provides some decent out of combat utility and can help you sniff out invisible or hidden foes.
2nd
Fighter 1
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana)
Hit-and-run tactics, bonus feat
This build is fairly feat heavy so a fighter dip should come as no surprise, and hit and run fighter is a perfect fit. In addition to the initiative boost (always essential even for non-iaijutsu fighters), this also allows you to add your Dex to damage whenever you catch an enemy flat-footed. While you aren’t fully Dex-focused you will need to have at least a positive Dex to qualify for all relevant feats, and considering that this build is all about catching foes flat-footed, this is basically free damage.
As for your feat, I always love taking EWP with my warblades, since you can use weapon aptitude to change up your proficiency every day. While I list it here as katana so that you can wield it one-handed in the classical style, once you become capable of making multiple attacks in a round you’ll always want to use weapon aptitude to swap this out for switchblade gnomish quickrazor proficiency. For those who aren’t familiar, quickrazors are the ideal iaijutsu focus weapon. They’re basically butterfly knives, light low damage weapons that are able to be drawn or sheathed as a free action. It’s that latter bit that’s special: free-action sheathing means you can trigger iaijutsu focus for every single attack in any given attack routine, assuming your opponent is flat-footed. At this level when you’re only making one attack they aren’t necessary, but feel free to abuse weapon aptitude to pick up a more useful exotic weapon as desired.
3rd
Warblade 2
Quick Draw
Moment of perfect mind
Uncanny dodge
Moment of perfect mind is a natural fit here, shoring up your weakest defense and helping keep your diamond mind maneuvers up. Quick Draw is a required feat that becomes a bit irrelevant as soon as you pick up a quickrazor, but in addition to qualifying you for iaijutsu master it also lets you pick up a couple of relevant skill tricks, so it’s not so bad. In the meantime, while you’re still mostly making single attacks, you can use it alongside a katana for some very solid IF damage.
4th
Warblade 3
Wall of blades
Battle ardor (critical confirmation)
Another solid counter. While your AC won’t be terrible, you are restricted from wearing heavy armor, so having wall of blades in your back pocket is never a bad idea.
5th
Warblade 4
Wolf fang strike -> claw at the moon, bolstering voicestance
Wolf fang strike isn’t doing much for you, and with your insanely good jump checks, you might as well replace it with claw at the moon for somewhat better damage. This swap is mostly pretty irrelevant, but there’s no reason not to take it. As for your stance, bolstering voice helps with Will saves and gives you a white raven maneuver known for qualification purposes.
6th
Warblade 5
Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (katana)
White raven tactics
Bonus feat
I said bolstering voice was going to be relevant for qualification purposes, right? Well it pays off immediately, allowing you to pick up the incomparable white raven tactics. I don’t really need to go into why this is so good. Weapon Focus comes in as a qualification for iaijutsu master, but again, don’t forget you can swap it out every morning for WF (quickrazor) instead. That’s handy, because you pick up a second attack at this level, and with a quickrazor you can draw and sheath multiple times in a single attack routine—just the thing for catching people who act after you in the initiative order (which will be fairly common, given that you have a +6 bonus to initiative just from Imp Init and hit and run fighter).
Oh, and you also get some limited flight from your wings at this level, too. You can only fly a few rounds at a time right now, but native flight is always useful for a melee character, and it’ll improve as your levels progress.
7th
Iaijutsu Master 1
Weapon finesse, canny defense
Into iaijutsu master. The first level doesn’t offer much, especially since you’re more likely to wield a quickrazor on any given day than a katana.
8th
Iaijutsu Master 2
Hidden blade skill trick
Lightning blade
Now there’s a nice bonus. Initiative is incredibly important to you, since one of the most reliable ways to catch someone flat-footed is to act before they do in the initiative order. With your heavy Charisma focus, getting +Cha to initiative on top of the +6 bonus you get from hit and run fighter and Improved Initiative should make this a very common occurrence.
Also, the reason I recommended you cross-class sleight of hand in the skills section is that it unlocks a couple of nice skill tricks. Hidden blade gives you yet another way to activate iaijutsu focus. It’s only for a single attack, but it can definitely come in handy.
9th
Iaijutsu Master 3
Two-Weapon Fighting
Quickrazors are light weapons, meaning they’re easy to dual wield, and since you want to attack as much as possible when you’re up against a flat-footed foe, Two-Weapon Fighting is a natural fit. Dual wielding is also essential for the mongoose maneuvers, which will become very important to you. (In a campaign with easy access to magic items this feat can be replaced entirely with gloves of the balanced hand; in that case Martial Study can be taken here to nab death from above, which is a strict step up from sapphire nightmare blade.)
10th
Iaijutsu Master 4
Skill Focus (iaijutsu focus), acrobatic backstab skill trick
Bonus feat
A free bonus feat off of a limited list comes on here. Most of the list isn’t of much interest, but a +3 to iaijutsu focus that stacks with Aereni Focus will certainly never be unwelcome. And acrobatic backstab is probably the most reliable skill trick for activating iaijutsu focus, allowing you to make a foe flat-footed for one attack by tumbling through their space. It’s especially nice because it works with strikes, and with tumble as a class skill your whole career there’s no reason not to pick it up.
11th
Iaijutsu Master 5
Strike from the void
And here’s the real reason you took this class. Strike from the void means you add your Charisma modifier to each extra damage die gained from using the iaijutsu focus skill. You’ve got around a +23 bonus to IF before items, and with level-appropriate items this check should be more in the neighborhood of +33. That means you’re dealing +6d6 damage per attack on a 2, and with a good roll could be dealing the max of +9d6 damage. Even if you haven’t managed to get your hands on a cloak of charisma yet, your Charisma should be at least 18 by this point, meaning that with the addition of strike from the void you’re more than doubling your average damage output from each IF strike.
12th
Warblade 6
Martial Study (foehammer)
Claw at the moon -> dancing mongoose
Improved uncanny dodge
Back into warblade for a bit. Dancing mongoose is great for any dual wielder, giving you two extra attacks as a swift action. Meanwhile, foehammer comes in to fulfill pre-reqs for when we start taking eternal blade levels. This can be crusader’s strike if you prefer to add on some minor healing, but foehammer can come in handy against high-DR foes.
13th
Warblade 7
White raven strike
Battle cunning (damage)
White raven strike is another great way to make your opponents flat-footed, with a solid damage rider and no save. But wait, doesn’t it only last until the start of their next turn, making it nice for your allies but useless for you? Well, that’s where dancing mongoose comes in. With dancing mongoose, you can white raven strike to make your foe flat-footed, then dancing mongoose to immediately make two attacks that both trigger iaijutsu focus.
14th
Warblade 8
Sudden draw skill trick
Wall of blades -> moment of alacrity
Moment of alacrity is one of my favorite maneuvers in general, and it’s especially good here. In particular, it combos well with white raven strike. Against any enemy that moves before you in the initiative order (whether because they rolled high or because you delayed), you’ve got a very powerful combo at your fingertips: white raven strike to make them flat-footed, then use moment of alacrity as a swift action to shuffle yourself up ahead of them in the initiative order. That leaves you with a full round of actions while your enemy is still flat-footed, letting you go to town with your impressive iaijutsu focus.
Oh, and with sudden draw, you get something fairly unique: the ability to deal out iaijutsu focus damage on an attack of opportunity. You’re not an AoO-focused build, but it’s still a cute trick that can make moving through your threatened area particularly deadly.
15th
Warblade 9
Iron Will, Hardened Criminal
Greater insightful strike
Bonus feat
Warblade picks up another bonus feat here, which is perfect timing: use it to grab Iron Will, the pre-req for Hardened Criminal. Hardened Criminal is a fun little feat from City of Stormreach that allows you to take 10 on a selected skill. You’ll pick iaijutsu focus, of course; why risk a low roll when you can just take 10? With some fairly straightforward items (nothing more than a cloak of Charisma, +5 item and masterwork tool) this means an automatic iaijutsu focus check of 48, for a guaranteed +8d6+(Cha x 8) damage.
If you’re playing in a game where magical locations are available, I’d recommend obtaining Iron Will via the Otyugh Hole instead. In that case, move Hardened Criminal to level 12 and bump Martial Study (foehammer) to here instead. For an alternative bonus feat, I like Blind-fight or Great Fortitude: Blind-fight works well alongside scent from your hunter’s sense stance to take on hidden foes, while Great Fortitude can help power immortal fortitude.
As for your maneuver, greater insightful strike’s damage on its own is going to be lower than what iaijutsu focus can give you, but it’s reliable and you need one more diamond mind maneuver to qualify for time stands still down the road. Feel free to replace this with any other diamond mind option that suits you, such as rapid counter.
16th
Eternal Blade 1
Daunting strike
Blade guide, eternal training 1/day
Into eternal blade! As a Diamond Mind-focused elf who already has weapon focus, you auto-qualify for this prestige class. There are two things in particular that this grants you: access to the devoted spirit line of maneuvers and eternal training. (It also helps with your stance timing, allowing you to pick up an 8th-level stance without spending another feat.) Eternal training is just outrageously flexible, letting you pick up your highest level maneuvers on the fly. At this level that means nabbing, say, avalanche of blades, which can be more effective than a standard TWF attack against low-AC foes. Having eternal training also means you can comfortably spend your maneuvers known collecting devoted spirit maneuvers so that you can get to the good stuff down the road. Daunting strike isn’t game-breaking, but with some fearsome armor and a maxed out intimidate check it can lead to some decent fear-stacking if that’s what you’re into.
17th
Eternal Blade 2
Guided strike
Bypassing DR as a swift action is always handy.
18th
Eternal Blade 3
Martial Study (raging mongoose)
Castigating strike
Armored uncanny dodge, eternal training 2/day
8th-level maneuvers have a lot of great options. Castigating strike gives you area damage, something this build has lacked up to this point, with a minor debuff rider. Again, though, the real draw is getting enough maneuvers to qualify for immortal fortitude and strike of righteous vitality. More importantly, you pick up raging mongoose via feat here, letting you make four attacks as a swift action after white raven strike makes one of your foes flat-footed. And with another use of eternal training, you can pick up powerful options like diamond nightmare blade or greater divine surge as needed.
19th
Eternal Blade 4
Eternal knowledge
Eternal knowledge is cute but doesn’t add much to the build at this point. Nice flavor, though.
20th
Eternal Blade 5
Time stands still, immortal fortitudestance
Eternal training 3/day
Ah, here we go. For your final capstone you end with what is arguably the best maneuver in ToB, as well as one of the best stances around. Time stands still hardly needs any introduction; use it early on when your opponents are still flat-footed for an incredibly potent killing blow or use the white raven strike + moment of alacrity shuffle to activate it. And with your excellent Fort save, immortal fortitude gives you an absolutely incredible amount of longevity. Oh, and speaking of longevity, you also get another eternal training, which you can use to pick up powerful maneuvers like strike of righteous vitality.
Maneuvers known:
1- Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, sapphire nightmare blade, moment of perfect mind, hunter’s sensestance, bolstering voicestance
2- Wall of blades, claw at the moon, foehammer
3- White raven tactics
4- White raven strike
5- Dancing mongoose, daunting strike
6- Moment of alacrity, greater insightful strike
7- Castigating strike
8- Raging mongoose, immortal fortitudestance
9- Time stands still
Oddly enough for a warblade, your main stat will be Charisma, followed by Strength. Strength is still relevant for you as a melee character, though the fact that you have full BAB and you aren’t two-handing weapons means it’s not absolutely vital. Charisma boosts your initiative, powers your main damage engine and will come in handy if you decide to dabble in any social skills.
You’ll also need a Dex of at least 15 by level 9 for TWF. However, in a campaign with easy access to items, there are two ways you can alleviate this particular requirement. The first is to ignore it entirely and replace the TWF feat with gloves of the balanced hand (see the level 9 build notes for an alternative feat if you go that route). The second option is to obtain feycraft quickrazors, which will let you get away with focusing hard on Dexterity and more or less ignoring Strength. Feycraft quickrazors can be used as though you have the Weapon Finesse feat, and since hit and run fighter gives you +Dex to damage against flat-footed foes, you won’t see any real drop in damage output. However, feycraft weapons are a bit pricey until the mid-levels, clocking in at around 1500gp a pop. Still, this is a pretty decent direction to go if they’re an option, and can allow you to run a higher Dexterity and even invest a bit into Int for your warblade abilities.
SAMPLE STAT ARRAY:
28-point buy: Str 14/Dex 14/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 8/Cha 16
32-point buy: Str 14/Dex 15/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 16
Iaijutsu focus is obviously a must, since it drives this build’s main damage engine. Jump and tumble are also quite useful, both for mobility purposes and for abilities like sudden leap and the acrobatic backstab skill trick. I also highly recommend cross-classing sleight of hand to get it to at least 8 ranks for the hidden blade and sudden draw skill tricks. Neither of them are essential, but having more ways to activate IF in a pinch is never a bad idea. But beyond iaijutsu focus, skill requirements for this build are fairly minimal. You’ll have a great Charisma and intimidate and diplomacy as a skill for much of your career, so investing a bit in the social skills might not be a bad choice.
You’ll definitely want a pair of gnomish quickrazors and the best set of light armor you can afford, as well as the standard stat boosters. As a hyper-mobile character who flies, jumps and tumbles, avoid anything too clunky. Skill boosters for iaijutsu focus are always welcome, and can help you hit that DC 50 check even earlier.
You can free up some feats with a few cheap magic items and/or magical locations if they’re available: gloves of the balanced hand for TWF and the otyugh hole for Iron Will. I’m always a bit hesitant to make a build absolutely need a particular item to function, so the main writeup doesn’t assume this, but it’s something to keep in mind. Also, if you can get your hands on feycraft quickrazors, you can run a much more comfortable point buy spread that focuses on Dex and Charisma and mostly ignores Strength.
BUILD SUMMARY
Let’s take stock of what you have. With +20 BAB and 9th-level maneuvers, including the outrageous flexibility of eternal training to allow you to pick up maneuvers on demand, it should be no surprise that you can do great things in combat. While you’re mostly focused on a mix of diamond mind and tiger claw maneuvers (with a dash of white raven sprinkled in), eternal blade does open up the devoted spirit line, giving you some serious longevity thanks to the immortal fortitude stance and strike of righteous vitality.
Instead of focusing on typical damage boosters like Power Attack, you focus on iaijutsu focus. With the ability to take ten on your checks, you are guaranteed to hit the DC 50 required for maximum damage, and with strike from the void that damage ceiling is quite high: with a Charisma of 30, we’re talking about a guaranteed +9d6+90 bonus damage from IF. Remember, this is NOT precision damage, meaning it cannot get shut down in the same way things like sneak attack can. Heck, it even works against objects. If you can catch your foe flat-footed, you can trigger it.
And you have lots of ways to do just that. The first and most obvious method is simply acting before your foes, and with an initiative bonus of +16 before you add in your Dex and any item-based initiative boosters, that should be a common occurrence. This is especially potent because as a dual wielder with TWF and access to time stands still, you can make a lot of attacks before your opponents ever have a chance to move. You also have several ways of making single target attacks deal IF damage, including sapphire nightmare blade, acrobatic backstab, hidden blade and sudden draw.
But the real money shot is white raven strike. This is a fairly straightforward strike meant to boost your allies: hit someone, make them flat-footed until the start of their next turn. However, you’ve got several ways to abuse this. The easiest method is to smack them with WRS and then activate raging mongoose for four juicy IF-boosted attacks at your highest bonus; if all four attacks hit, you’re likely to immediately drop most level-appropriate foes. If that’s not enough for you, though, you have an even stronger option. Delay until after your foe attacks, then on your turn hit them with WRS to make them flat-footed and activate moment of alacrity. This will give you an instant +20 in the initiative order, shuffling you back up ahead of your foe and letting you get a full round’s worth of actions before they act again. With max BAB and TWF and time stands still, that should be more than enough to take out even the burliest of foes.
VARIANTS
For a few minor variants, check out the level by level notes. In particular, there are a few minor variations you can make depending on certain item availability (for example, dropping TWF in favor of gloves of the balanced hand, which lets you run a higher Strength and also gives you a spare feat that you can use to nab death from above).
For a more dramatic change, we also built a version without iaijutsu master that finishes out eternal blade. It’s nothing too complicated, just a straightforward Warblade 8/Hit and Run Fighter 2/Eternal Blade 10. While it lacks the sheer damage potential of iaijutsu master’s strike from the void ability, it does have some things going for it: Dex-SAD (or close to it), significantly more freedom in feat selection, more readied maneuvers and uses of eternal training and the absolutely fantastic island in time. The damage potential is a good bit lower, although it closes the gap a little bit by using aura of chaos to take advantage of the fact that you will be rolling dozens of d6s most turns.
I’ve also been toying with a Cha-SAD version of the build, a bard 4/warblade 10/iaijutsu master 5/exemplar 1 with Snowflake Wardance to lean hard into the Charisma focus of strike from the void. It misses out on 9th-level maneuvers, meaning no time stands still, and it matures a bit later than this build, but it does at least manage to pick up raging mongoose. I’m not completely happy with any of the build stubs I’ve come up with yet, but I’ll keep poking at the idea.
SOURCES
Iaijutsu focus skill, iaijutsu master: Oriental Adventures
Dragonborn of Bahamut: Races of the Dragon
Warblade, eternal blade, Martial Study, maneuvers: Tome of Battle
Hit and run fighter ACF: Drow of the Underdark
Skilled city dweller ACF: Cityscape web enhancement
Aereni Focus: Player’s Guide to Eberron
Hardened Criminal: City of Stormreach
Skill tricks: Complete Scoundrel
Gnome quickrazor: Races of Stone
***
And that’s that! Please let us know what you think in the comments, and what you’d like to see for future showcases!