Quote Originally Posted by tyckspoon View Post
If you can get the Swordsage switch, Master of Nine should be a pretty natural move. If not, consider taking one more level of Monk (yes, yes, I know, but at Monk 4 his BAB and saves increment, his unarmed damage progression moves up a step, and he gets an initiator level for having an even-numbered level in non-ToB class[es]. If you're gonna have Monk 3, you may as well go to 4.) From there, Crusader pretty much is your prestige class; you'll do fine taking it for however many levels the game runs.
Or if you could get your first level (only) switched to swordsage, it would benefit you greatly as well. You'd get the 6+Int skillpoints (with the crazy 6x multiplier that is almost surely a misprint), an increase to your Reflex and Will saves like you'd taken 4 levels of monk and you get those Swordsage maneuvers you need. You'd keep almost everything good monk every has as well, i.e. evasion, unarmed strike progression, and two bonus feats.