Need Help with Equipping a Retrained Crusader

[Bromley20]

My current character was a healer who lost their casting from disjunction at level 6. After talking with my DM about options about how to proceed, he is allowing me to start retraining my healer levels into crusader once we make it back to town. I can swap 2 levels out every time we level up so I will be full crusader at level 9. Because I sacrificed my casting, he is also allowing me to grab the Saint template. Now I just need to find equipment that would work with my stats. I wasn't planning on relying on mundane fighting when I built the character so my stats aren't the best for it. I used to use spells like Radiant Burst, Celestial Aspect, and Luminous Armor to contribute damage in a fight when I wasn't buffing, removing debuffs, or healing. Now I'm trying to find some gear that would help me continue to act as a meat shield/buffer/off healer for the party. I plan on taking a few Devoted Spirit Maneuvers and Stances to provide some healing and White Raven for buffs and general teamwork.


Race: Strongheart Halfling (w/ Saint template)
Classes: Healer 4, Crusader 3
Str: 13
Dex: 15
Con: 21
Int: 16
Wis: 20
Cha: 20

Feats:
Strongheart bonus: Least Dragonmark of Healing (Lesser Restoration)
Flaw 1 Bonus: Nimbus of Light
Flaw 2 Bonus: Stigmata
1: Holy Radiance or Intuitive Attack
Healer 2: Skill Focus (Heal) (gone by level 9)
3: Draconic Aura - Vigor
6: Leadership
B: Least Legacy for founding custom legacy item

Party Members:
Cloistered Cleric, Beguiler, Bard, Sorcerer, Fighter

When it comes to weapons, I'm kind of lost. Since my strength is so low, the 1.5x STR from 2 handed weapons doesn't seem to have any benefit over 1 handed weapons for me. They still may be useful if I dedicate myself to a Power Attack build but it seems like I would need to retrain almost all of my feats to do that now. Since I am also small size, I don't think I can easily pull off a tripping, disarming, bull rushing, or Stand Still build. Because of that, I was thinking about eventually grabbing something 1 handed that still has decent damage. I've looked through a ton of handbooks for crusader, paladin, fighter, sword and board, and hammers but the only weapon that has stuck out to me is the war mace. An alchemical gold/platinum warmace with maneuvers like the Mountain Hammer or Foehammer should make up for my lack of strength and small size right? A Spinning Sword would be useful since it has reach but the overall damage output would be very low. I would need even more damage boosts or DR ignoring maneuvers to contribute any meaningful damage with it in a fight. If I can't find anything better, I'll stick with a basic morningstar and take Intuitive attack to land hits more often and hope the maneuvers make up for my lack of damage. I may also grab some wands for quick damage buffs like Greater Mighty Wallop, Magic Weapon, or Fell the Greatest Foe. I can always UMD them if I need to but our sorcerer and cleric have said they would use them if they are on their respective lists.

The armor and shield situation a bit easier since I don't really need to worry about max dex as long as I make it out of mithril. I am just going to get a set of mithril fullplate and a shield to maximize AC while also cutting the overall weight down a bit since my strength is low. If I do end up using a 2 handed weapon, I'll drop the shield from the list. I'm currently thinking about taking a shield so I can make use of the Shield Block Maneuvers to protect our Fighter. She uses 2 handed weapons and a chain shirt so her AC isn't the best.

Since I have Leadership and an Artificer cohort to do some crafting for the party, I may have them add the Valiant Defense heraldic crest to my shield to soak up damage for someone in the party. I need to see if I can find any other methods of getting Shield Other type effects to tank for more members of the party. I would be the only one with permanent fast healing in the party and I get bonuses from taking damage thanks to the crusader's features so it seems like a nice trick.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

As a Saint, you'll be adding your substantial Wis bonus to your AC. Your Protective Aura can further boost your AC, and it benefits nearby allies as well. You also get +2 to all your DCs, which doesn't really benefit a Crusader, but would have been amazing if you'd gone with Ardent.

Intuitive Attack with a Morningstar should be plenty good enough. Be sure to pick up Extra Granted Maneuver at some point so you can use your best maneuvers more often. Get your weapon made +1 with Sudden Stunning in DMG2, it uses your Cha bonus and your +2 to DCs from Saint should also apply to that. Consider also including the Valorous property in UE, it costs a +1 and makes it deal double damage on a charge attack. With Battle Leader's Charge and eventually War Leader's Charge you'll hit extremely hard.

I'll agree that mithral full plate and a heavy shield is the way to go, get the shield made from darkwood. Between those and Saint you'll have plenty of AC, so if you've got extra cash make them +1 but don't prioritize it. You can put a Restful Crystal (MIC) on masterwork armor, and a Crystal of Arrow Deflection is probably best for your shield.

Necessary Magic Items (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items) should be where you spend most of your gold for the foreseeable future. A Banner of the Storm's Eye that takes your cloak slot can benefit other characters as well. Consider MIC p234 if you want to get items that give a flat bonus, those should always be added to an existing item instead. A Necklace of Adaptation and a Shirt of Wraith Stalking (MIC) are probably best-in-slot even in the highest levels, and are in the right slots for many of your MIC p234 bonuses.

[Particle_Man]

Another thought is to go for all white raven maneuvers and stances. Let your party shine as you act a little like a combat bard!

[Rebel7284]

Well there is always stuff like Underfoot Combat/Confound the Big Folk for tripping things when you are small. There are some builds floating around with those involved.

You could also dip bard and go for Song of the White Raven for extra buffing. Might require an Extra Music feat and maybe other feats if you want to lean into it.

I think reach weapon and Iron Guard's glare go a long way. You disincentivize your enemies from attacking your allies, by imposing that penalty, even if your damage is not huge and mostly comes from maneuvers.

Question, initiator level usually counts half your non-initiator level. Since you are retraining, would this mean that you get higher level maneuvers too? RAW your would. That would be pretty sweet and partially make up for the few levels that you are carrying around empty HD.

[darkdragoon]

Not really applicable until later but a shield of mercy would let you burn your Crusader smite for even more healing.

[Bromley20]

I'll agree that mithral full plate and a heavy shield is the way to go, get the shield made from darkwood. Between those and Saint you'll have plenty of AC, so if you've got extra cash make them +1 but don't prioritize it. You can put a Restful Crystal (MIC) on masterwork armor, and a Crystal of Arrow Deflection is probably best for your shield.

Necessary Magic Items (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items) should be where you spend most of your gold for the foreseeable future. A Banner of the Storm's Eye that takes your cloak slot can benefit other characters as well. Consider MIC p234 if you want to get items that give a flat bonus, those should always be added to an existing item instead. A Necklace of Adaptation and a Shirt of Wraith Stalking (MIC) are probably best-in-slot even in the highest levels, and are in the right slots for many of your MIC p234 bonuses.

I was thinking about grabbing a Hide shield from Sandstorm just so I can still use it for cover when my party inevitably decides to sacrifice me and launch AoEs near me. I know tower shields aren't super popular due to the attack penalty to them and extreme ACP but the Hide shield seems like a decent replacement that still gives cover. As for the necessary magic items, is there a certain level when it is generally expected to have these effects? I will get some of them from my custom legacy item eventually but it would help to know if they will come online too late to be worth it.


Another thought is to go for all white raven maneuvers and stances. Let your party shine as you act a little like a combat bard!

This is what I plan on doing for the most part. Devoted Spirit to heal, and White Raven to boost the rest of the party. I think there are only 2-3 maneuvers that I plan on getting that don't help the party in some way or allow them to get free actions. The only ones that wouldn't directly benefit the party in some manner would be Mountain Hammer, Divine Surge, and possibly Castigating Strike. I don't plan on trying to be the main damage dealer in the party since I don't want to cause an arms race between the main damage dealing players. I want to make sure that I can deal some damage if I get cut off from the rest of the party again. Last time, I couldn't break punch through or ignore the enemies DR and was stuck flailing helplessly for 15 rounds until the party arrived. I just want to avoid that if I get separated again for some reason.

[Firechanter]

Decide which Discipline's Stances you're going to spend most of your time in, and make sure your weapon has the corresponding Discipline property. Probably Devoted Spirit. It's basically a permanent +3 to Hit for the price of a +1, and as such one of the few ways to boost your attack bonus in 3.5.

[The Glyphstone]

The bulk of Maneuver damage is usually baked into the Strike itself, so the low strength isn't as punishing as it might be in a lot of cases too. So you can Sword+Board safely and still be able to throw damage out when you need to with Stone Dragon strikes.