Heavy Armor swordsages?

[Skyserpent]

Is there anything to stop a Swordsage from using any of his Martial Maneuvers in Heavy Armor? I find it rather odd that fighting styles like Desert Wind or Setting Sun, are unaffected by wearing heavy armor or the like... does anyone know the ruling on this?

[MisterSaturnine]

Well, they wouldn't get their Wisdom-to-AC bonus from heavy armor, and Desert Wind relies on the Tumble skill which is effected by armor check penalty.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Well, they wouldn't get their Wisdom-to-AC bonus from heavy armor, and Desert Wind relies on the Tumble skill which is effected by armor check penalty.

Mithral Fullplate. Only a -3 check penalty. +8 armor bonus to AC, Max ex bonus of +3. Unless you're having to worry about touch attacks, that's a hell of a lot of AC, you'd need an awsometastical Wis score to pull that off...

...

or a Mithral Chain Shirt for +4 armor bonus and a Wis of 18...

...

And if your dex is over 17, you're better off with the Chain Shirt

So really, if he wants to be sub-optimal, let him...

[dman11235]

OR.....you could just tell him to be a warblade or crusader.

[Jack_Simth]

Mithral Fullplate. Only a -3 check penalty. +8 armor bonus to AC, Max ex bonus of +3. Unless you're having to worry about touch attacks, that's a hell of a lot of AC, you'd need an awsometastical Wis score to pull that off...

...

or a Mithral Chain Shirt for +4 armor bonus and a Wis of 18...

...

And if your dex is over 17, you're better off with the Chain Shirt

So really, if he wants to be sub-optimal, let him...
Mithral Breastplate, +5 armor, counts as Light. Max Dex +5, ACP -1. And you still save 5,000 gp relative to the mithral fullplate. Needs a Wis of 16 for the breastplate to be better than the Full Plate. Plus you can probably enchant your breastplate +1 or +2 higher with the money saved.

[ladditude]

I really wish I could use better armor for my Swordsage.
Why?
A Goliath Swordsage.

The Powerful Build stacks so well with Swordsage, but since I'm obviously using Str as a major stat, I kind of get screwed on armor.

[AslanCross]

OR.....you could just tell him to be a warblade or crusader.

That's what I was thinking. If someone wants to play a Martial Adept who's good at tanking, play a Crusader.

[RTGoodman]

Is there anything to stop a Swordsage from using any of his Martial Maneuvers in Heavy Armor? I find it rather odd that fighting styles like Desert Wind or Setting Sun, are unaffected by wearing heavy armor or the like... does anyone know the ruling on this?

I don't think there's anything that says he can't use his maneuvers in heavy armor, but he wouldn't be proficient in it without dipping another class that has heavy armor proficiency or wasting feats on it. If you try to go without proficiency, you'll take armor check penalties on all attack rolls, so that'd probably put a damper on any maneuvers and, you know, your ability to hurt things.

[Cuddly]

There's an armor enchantment (+3 or +4, I think) that makes any armor count as light armor.

[Bag_of_Holding]

Don't feel too pressured to optimise your character. If you think that is what you want to play, then play it!

[Reel On, Love]

I really wish I could use better armor for my Swordsage.
Why?
A Goliath Swordsage.

The Powerful Build stacks so well with Swordsage, but since I'm obviously using Str as a major stat, I kind of get screwed on armor.
16 DEX/14 WIS or vice versa will make up the difference between a chain shirt and full plate, since Swordsages get WIS to AC.

Use Child of Shadow stance to get concealment.

[ladditude]

Yeah, but 16 Dex means putting an 18 in that stat. However, functioning as a large creature is just to awesome when combined with setting sun.

[ColdBrew]

Don't feel too pressured to optimise your character. If you think that is what you want to play, then play it!
Don't feel pressured to make your character suck, either. Having a character concept is great and all, but if your idea is actually crippling under D&D mechanics, then he shouldn't be out adventuring. That is, unless everyone else at the table agrees to carry that burden for some reason.