Quote Originally Posted by Eldariel View Post
SS also gets an ungodly amount of maneuvers known and readied, making them by far the most versatile offensively and defensively of the bunch. They also get Wis to AC + armor giving them the highest potential armor class of the 3, and they can use Wis to damage and otherwise just be more SAD than the others. Oh, and more skill points, a very decent capstone and access to simply larger number of schools, no matter which.

No, there are plenty of reasons to play an SS even if others have access to Shadow Hand. Hell, Shadow Hand isn't THAT impressive; best SS school is probably Diamond Mind anyways. And Tiger Claw and Setting Sun are quite strong too. Point being, I don't see losing exclusivity of Shadow Hand really hurting SSs much at all. On the contrary, gaining White Raven is a huge boon for them. Who really misses some bloody Stone Dragon?


But if you really consider that an issue, make SH the exclusive SS school over DW. Given DW is eminently agreed upon to be comparatively rather weak, seems straight-forward enough.
I find that while Shadow Hand may not be very offensively strong, it is great for both versatility, movement and defense. (also IMO they have the best stances) I think that both it and desert wind should be swordsage specific, as they are both the most overtly supernatural and SH just feels so right for a swordsage (more stealth and versatility focused)