3.5e Warforged character help!

[RandomAction]

Hello and thanks for your time.

Also, I hope this is the right place for this. If not I am sorry and please point me in the right direction.

I am going to be in a game this weekend and I need some help with my character. We are playing in Eberron and the starting level is 10th. I am the second tank in the group.

My stats are:
Str-17
Dex-16
Con-17
Int-14
Wis-10
Cha-8

So far I have the following:
L-1. Warblade 1, Adamant Body feat
L-2. Warblade 2
L-3. Fighter 1, EWP-2bladed sword & TWF
L-4. Warblade 3, +1 to Str
L-5. Fighter 2, Point Blank Shot feat
L-6. Warblade 4, Weapon Focus feat
L-7. Exotic Weapon Master 1
L-8. Bloodstorm Blade 1, +1 to Dex
L-9. Bloodstorm Blade 2, Improved TWF feat
L-10. Bloodstorm Blade 3, Weapon Specialization feat

Now the hard part, which manuevers should I take? How is my feat selection? What improvement does it need? What would my best weapon enchantments spending no more than 17k? With the adamant body feat my speed is 20', what ways would be easiest to increase it?

Thanks for any and all help.

~RA~

[Keld Denar]

Yea, this is the place to ask for help!

I'm gonna come out and start with the semi-bad news. You are TWFing without a very good source of bonus damage. While Warblade makes this much better, its still not terribly great at your level. Would you consider switching to a more 2handed PA friendly build? There are lots of ways to do it that will probably provide much better returns on your investment than TWFing will.

That out of the way:
I'm assuming you picked up Flurry of Strikes for your EWM trick? If you hadn't planned it, plan on it. Its the best trick for you.

Any chance you can get 4 full levels of Bloodstorm Blade in there? Level 4 gives the best ability. Sacrifice a level of Warblade if you have to.

Best weapon you could probably get would be an an Adamantine +1/+1 TBS with a Lesser Energy Assault Crystal plugged into it. I'd use Acid for it to avoid most energy resistances.

Also, why is your int so high? Are you really using all of those skill points? I don't see Combat Expertese. If not, consider swapping it for Wisdom which gives you a much nicer +2 to will saves. Otherwise leave as is.

As far as maneuvers, you are gonna probably draw most heavily from Tiger Claw and White Raven with a bit of Iron Heart. If you keep your build the same, I'd probably start like this:

Warblade1
Wolf Fang Strike (TC1)
Sudden Leap (TC1)
Steel Wind (IH1)
Punising Stance (IH1)

Warblade2
Leading the Attack (WR1)

Warblade3
Mountain Hammer (SD2)

Warblade4
Swap Leading the Attack for White Raven Tactics (WR3)
Tactics of the Wolf (WR3)

This nets you +1d6 damage per hit from Punishing Stance while attacking normally, or shift into Tactics of the Wolf while flanking. Steel Wind gives you 2 attacks as a standard action, and Sudden Leap lets you move short distances as a swift action. Mountain Hammer is your DR cracker. When you use MH, swing your TWS as a 2handed weapon instead of a double weapon to get better use out of your str. White Raven Tactics is amazingly good, use it on your allies as much as possible to skip their turns up to yours, which is especially good when your allies go before you, because then they get 2 turns in one round.

Obviously this will change a bit of you end up taking 1 more BSB level which would knock off 1 of your Warblade levels.

Oh, and I'd change your order to War1/Ftr2/War2-3. That gets you slightly ahead on ILs and allows you to grab better 2nd level maneuvers on your 2nd Warblade level. It might matter.

[The Rose Dragon]

Also, I suggest not having Two-Bladed Sword. You spend a feat, one of your most precious finite resources, on what amounts to +1 damage some of time (assuming your alternate is long sword and short sword).

If you really want EWM, I suggest you at least pick a bastard sword. It's still a useless increase (+1), but at least it will be with your good hand and for more attacks.

((Now, I haven't opened my Magic Item Compendium in a long time, so I don't know if crystals are per weapon or per side like enhancements. If the former, then having a 2b sword can actually be a viable choice.))

NOTE: I'm not an optimizer. Two-Bladed Sword sucks whichever you cut it, at least in Core and Complete Warrior.

[Keld Denar]

NOTE: I'm not an optimizer. Two-Bladed Sword sucks whichever you cut it, at least in Core and Complete Warrior.

The trick with any double weapon, is that you don't actually USE it as a double weapon. You use it like a 2handed weapon to get 2:1 PA and 1.5x str, and then take a level of EWM to gain Flurry of Strikes which increase your damage geometrically for a tiny tiny tiny -2 penalty. I actually have a Dwarven Urgrosh build based around it, but it benefits more from the fact that Dwarves basically get free EWP: Urgrosh. You could also do it with Gnomes and Hooked Hammers, but Dwarves > Gnomes 9/10 times (Shadowcraft Mage is that 1 time!)

Bastard Sword wouldn't be a totally lost choice either. You can still take an EWM level, but you get Uncanny Blow instead of Flurry of Strikes. This nets you 2x +str bonus to damage instead of the normal 1.5x +str bonus while 2handing your Bastard Sword. For most characters, this is only a bump of 1-2 damage, but if you can spike your Str high enough, it turns into more like 6-8 damage per hit.

[Eighth_Seraph]

*GASP*

You could do everything that Keld Denar and The Rose Dragon said (which is very good advice, overall)...

OR you could use this! A tanking sublime adamantine warforged, which seems to be right up your alley. If you're really dead set on going into Bloodstorm Blade, then go ahead and have some fun. But this is my favorite homebrewed PrC ever. Just lettin' ya know.

[The Rose Dragon]

The trick with any double weapon, is that you don't actually USE it as a double weapon. You use it like a 2handed weapon to get 2:1 PA and 1.5x str, and then take a level of EWM to gain Flurry of Strikes which increase your damage geometrically for a tiny tiny tiny -2 penalty. I actually have a Dwarven Urgrosh build based around it, but it benefits more from the fact that Dwarves basically get free EWP: Urgrosh. You could also do it with Gnomes and Hooked Hammers, but Dwarves > Gnomes 9/10 times (Shadowcraft Mage is that 1 time!)

Yeah, like I said, not an optimizer.

Still, the image is incredibly silly. Wouldn't you rather prefer your Warforged wield a gigantic (note: also don't buy Monkey Grip, since it's still not worth a feat) greathammer and bash down your enemies?

Gnomes > Dwarves. Well, Whisper Gnomes. Any other Gnome is not considered a viable option in my games (except for my homebrew gnomes).

NOTE 2: My favorite fighter build is, in fact, the trip-monkey, but with a much different visual (weighted wuxia clothes (which magically extends!) instead of a spiked chain).

[RandomAction]

I like some of the ideas you all have given me. And yes I was planning on taking the flurry of strikes with the level of EWM. The maneuver selection, I am away from books, looks good. As for the fourth level of bloodstorm blade, I will add it to the build.
The two-bladed sword is for coolness factor. I know that it does suck terribly, but a great sword or similar weapon spinning through the air doesn't give me the image of horrible death that it does. My image was two-bladed sword = Darth Maul, Darth Maul + Bloodstorm Blade = death from a dozen directions.
I do need to add in some sources of extra damage if the TWF is going to work. PrC's are the easiest way to do this, without sacrificing my BAB. But this leaves me with taking levels in ranger to meet many of the hide/move requirments.
I have played a warforged who used a greathammer/maul, but he was a cleric. Had a wonderful time playing him. I do like to optimize or pimp my builds, but I stay away from pun-pun.
Any ways, keep the ideas coming.

[gabado]

Try not using a weapon, take the feat that let's you do lethal damage with your fists and then get the supirior unarmed strike feat (yes I know you have to take some feats to qualify for it, boo-frikin-hoo it opens up for the setting sun disiplin manuvers and it does more damage than any sword) (exept full blades at levels one through three) pluss you can then make yourself silver and not have to pay anything! That's a deal!