(3.5) Planning my Warblade maneuvers

[Grumman]

I'm trying to work out what maneuvers and stances my character should learn as she levels up.

Current maneuvers: Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Steel Wind, Sudden Leap
Current stances: Punishing Stance

Due to her placement of levels, she can learn new maneuvers at or below the following levels:

{table=head]Maximum level|New maneuvers|Replaced maneuvers|Stances
1 (see above)|3||1
2|
3|1
4|1
5|1|1|1
6|
7||1[/table]

She's only got access to the normal five schools (Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw and White Raven). Stone Dragon stances aren't really appropriate as she'll be getting +2 to AC and +1d6 damage as long as she's mobile. And she'll have the Spring Attack series of feats, so boosts and counters are probably more useful than strikes.

[Rad]

It would help to have the rest of your build. I understand that you're using skirmish?

[Mongoose87]

It would help tp have the rest of your build. I understand that you're using skirmish?

And, if you are, indeed, Charging Pounce, I think it's called, could be nice for you.

[Haven]

Absolute Steel Stance might be worthwhile. IIRC, it's +2 AC and +10 feet movement.

There's one Iron Heart counter that lets you reroll a missed attack with a +2 bonus. And of course, there's Iron Heart Surge.

[crazedloon]

do not get the spring attack series of feats. They are a trap you can not do a maneuver than move as that is not an attack action that is a standard action. Thats all I got

[Grumman]

It's a gestalt gish build, consisting mainly of Wu Jen, Warblade, Swiftblade and Flux Adept. Since I'm entering Swiftblade anyway for the great big pile of extraordinary abilities, I'll have Spring Attack and Bounding Assault anyway, and can pick up Rapid Blitz at level 18, if the game gets that far.

Absolute Steel Stance's bonus to move speed wouldn't stack with the bonuses from Swiftblade or Haste, so it's not as good as it would normally be.

[Rad]

Hummm... interesting. Do you see this character as a caster or as a melee oriented type? Will you spend your standard actions casting spells or attacking? Do you want maneuvers that can help a spellcaster or that could greatly benefit from spells?

[Grumman]

So far she has been using buffs and utility spells rather than blasting or SoDs. I'll be wanting to pick up a few blasting spells eventually but I'll mainly be fighting in melee.

[Eldariel]

Dip 1 level of Barbarian and shoot for Bounding Assault from Diamond Mind. That's the ultimate in mobility and absolutely incredible for a skirmisher. Also note that Sudden Leap requires one Tiger Claw maneuver to pick, so you don't strictly speaking qualify yet.

It may be worth shooting for Mountain Hammer [Stone Dragon] as an "open anything"-device and Wall of Blades for...obvious reasons.

[Grumman]

I've already got a 1 level dip in Barbarian for the +10 foot speed increase. And two of the other party members have already taken Mountain Hammer, so there shouldn't be any pressing need for a third trapbreaker any time soon.

Thanks for the heads-up about Sudden Leap, though: I hadn't even noticed that the Tiger Claw school had prerequisites for even 1st level maneuvers. I haven't benefited from my mistake yet, so the DM should be okay with me changing it.

[Eldariel]

I do suggest trading the speed increase for Pounce. Speed increase is nice and all, but Pounce truly empowers a subset of your maneuvers (well, all the charges) and goes perfectly with a skirmisher skillset.

[Grumman]

I am not trading the speed increase for pounce. As I am using a counts-as dwarf to represent a human character, it is necessary to maintain a respectable human walking speed.

Keeping in mind that I am asking only about which stances and maneuvers to take and not for input regarding the rest of my build, how do these choices look:

Lvl 1 Punishing Stance, Steel Wind, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Leading the Attack
Lvl 8 White Raven Tactics
Lvl 11 Iron Heart Surge
Lvl 14 Pearl of Black Doubt, Steel Wind -> Rapid Counter
Lvl 16 Lightning Recovery
Lvl 20 Sapphire Nightmare Blade -> Moment of Alacrity

Diamond Mind: Rapid Counter, Pearl of Black Doubt, Moment of Alacrity
Iron Heart: Punishing Stance, Iron Heart Surge, Lightning Recovery
White Raven: Leading the Attack, White Raven Tactics

[AslanCross]

I'd get Bounding Assault as well, as Eldariel has recommended. It's a charge-but-not-really. It's typically underwhelming on its own, but with Skirmish it will shine.

[Eldariel]

Given the rest of your build pretty much determines which maneuvers you can make the best use of... It may help if you at least outline your build. Though those maneuvers do look decent.

[The Dark Fiddler]

If you're already getting bonuses for moving, taking that feat that gives you a stance and picking Child of Shadows might be good - Concealment as long as you move 10 feet.

Not what you were looking for, but I felt I needed to mention it.

[Grumman]

As far as the build goes, she'll have B.A.B. 19, Wu Jen casting 19, Swiftblade 8 and Flux Adept 10 (the DM has allowed us to take PrCs on both sides). She'll be equipped with the heaviest medium armour I can get and a warpike, along with a sling and harpoons for ranged combat. I wanted her to be extremely survivable and good at helping out, as well as still being able to fight effectively in an AMF or if disarmed - hence the focus on PrCs that grant extraordinary abilities.

The Dark Fiddler: Thanks for the suggestion but Swiftblade will already be giving me an extraordinary 50% miss chance vs. everything, as long as I'm Hasted.