Feats for a Warforged Warblade?

[Kosjsjach]

Hey playgrounders. The title pretty much says it all: I want to plan out a Warforged Warblade but don't really know what direction to go in. I originally statted him as a dungeon-crashing Warforged Juggernaut with Warblade as just a dip, but then decided I wanted to progress his maneuvers and stances faster.

Here's tentatively what I have so far.

Warforged Warblade 1/ Fighter 1/ Barbarian (lion totem, whirling frenzy) 1/ Warblade +X

Feats: (HD1) Adamantine Body, (Ftr1) Power Attack

Maneuvers:
Boost: Moment of Perfect Mind (DM1)
Strike: Charging Minotaur (SD1), Steel Wind (IH1)
Stance: Punishing Stance (IH1)

At 4th level (Warblade 2) he'll take Emerald Razor for Power-Attacking goodness. I'm considering the Extra Rage feat at 3rd level, though I'm eager to hear what you people think.

A design goal of this guy is to be effective at all levels of play. I've seen/ put together too many characters that only reach usefulness around ECL 12.

Anyway. Are there any juicy feats or options that I'd feel stupid later on for not noticing?

[Tinydwarfman]

What do ypu want him to be doing in combat? Shock Trooper never lets me down, regardless of style. (unless trip/AoO focused of course)

[unre9istered]

Is the Lion Totem's pounce limited to Medium or Light Armor like the speed it replaces is? If so you'll regret that Adamantine Body. If not then never mind.

If you push Fighter back to your 6th level rather than your second you can take power attack as your 3HD feat, Leap attack as your 6HD feat and Shock Trooper as your fighter feat. Never mind, you need to work Improved Bull Rush in there for that.

Take Improved Bull Rush at 3HD Shock Trooper at 6HD and Leap Attack at 9HD. Add Another level of fighter to get all this done by 6th. Assuming your going for an Uber Charger that is.

[Runestar]

I assume the DM is waiving the xp penalties for multiclassing? Since warblade is not a warforged's favoured class.

You could replace fighter with a lv in dragon shaman. The basic build stub would be warforged warblade1/barb1/shaman1/warblade+X. The auras should provide quite a bit of utility for your party, especially the healing one.

Power attack can probably wait until 6th lv. Stick with adamantine body at 1st lv and extra rage at 3rd. Tack on the dragonborn template if you can, the loss of composite plating is no big deal.

[Tinydwarfman]

I assume the DM is waiving the xp penalties for multiclassing? Since warblade is not a warforged's favoured class.

You could replace fighter with a lv in dragon shaman. The basic build stub would be warforged warblade1/barb1/shaman1/warblade+X. The auras should provide quite a bit of utility for your party, especially the healing one.

Power attack can probably wait until 6th lv. Stick with adamantine body at 1st lv and extra rage at 3rd. Tack on the dragonborn template if you can, the loss of composite plating is no big deal.

Um, what? Dragon Shaman's auras are utter crap. The only one that's remotely worth it is vigor, and then just have a healer take healing touch. He gains nothing from taking that one level. He is actually better off taking the feat draconic aura if he really wants an aura.

[Kosjsjach]

What do ypu want him to be doing in combat? Shock Trooper never lets me down, regardless of style. (unless trip/AoO focused of course)

So you think I should just go the Power Attack > Imp. Bull Rush > Shock Trooper route? It'd certainly be easy enough, and it's what I was going to do originally (before deciding to focus on Warblade). I wonder if I'd miss the dungeon-crashing juggernaut synergy too much.

I don't really have a specific design goal in mind; that is, I don't want to make an übercharger or a lockdown-focused build or a super-tank, but someone who can do whatever the situation calls for (inasmuch as this is accomplishable by a full-melee build). I'm looking for warforged-specific feats, perhaps, or something of great benefit to Warblades.

[Optimystik]

I assume the DM is waiving the xp penalties for multiclassing? Since warblade is not a warforged's favoured class.

Does anyone actually use that rule? It just seems like unnecessary bookkeeping to me.

[Runestar]

Does anyone actually use that rule? It just seems like unnecessary bookkeeping to me.

You may not, but I dare not speak for everyone. I just had to be sure.

1 lv in dragon shaman does grant +2fort/will at the expense of +1bab. At lower lvs, I find the auras aren't that bad. +1 initiative at the start of combat, then granting everyone +1damage, finally switching to fast-healing after combat. Yes, the bonuses tend to be quite small and inconsequential (and may lead to extra book-keeping), but I feel they are welcome nonetheless.

[Kosjsjach]

Woo, replies!

Is the Lion Totem's pounce limited to Medium or Light Armor like the speed it replaces is? If so you'll regret that Adamantine Body. If not then never mind.

Adamantine Body does prevent me from gaining the benefit of fast movement, but all the Spiritual Totem ACF does is trade out the class feature, so nothing is lost! Also, warforged are immune to fatigue, so he doesn't even have to worry about that when raging (or whirling frenzy-ing), however minor the drawback may be.

@Runestar, concerning Dragon Shaman:
I'll admit it's an option I hadn't considered, but that's partly because one of my goals is to finally make a full-BAB PC - something I haven't really done before.

[Tinydwarfman]

So you think I should just go the Power Attack > Imp. Bull Rush > Shock Trooper route? It'd certainly be easy enough, and it's what I was going to do originally (before deciding to focus on Warblade). I wonder if I'd miss the dungeon-crashing juggernaut synergy too much.

I don't really have a specific design goal in mind; that is, I don't want to make an übercharger or a lockdown-focused build or a super-tank, but someone who can do whatever the situation calls for (inasmuch as this is accomplishable by a full-melee build). I'm looking for warforged-specific feats, perhaps, or something of great benefit to Warblades.

General purpose? I'd recommend Swordsage w/ Adaptive Style. tons of maneuvers that you can swtch up in one round. So you're set on full BaB eh? Unfortunately you generally have to specialize in something to be really good, even if that something is as simple as TH/TWF.

[quiet1mi]

Personally I love the Idea of taking the following feats...

Power Attack
Imp. Bull Rush
Imp. Overrun
Shock Trooper

The above 4 feats give you a lot of utility during combat as you can push enemies off allies, into a flanking position, into a wall(with dungeon crasher). In addition knocking someone Prone is really handy as well as effectively moving through people, Shock trooper gives the added bonus of a strong initial attack followed by domino rushing opponents.

They are not flashy but with a quick overview of combat and a tactical mind you can shine.

[LichPrinceAlim]

to those who defend Dragon Shaman, I point you to Marshall. Full BAB and auras. Chew on that for a second y'all

[AtwasAwamps]

to those who defend Dragon Shaman, I point you to Marshall. Full BAB and auras. Chew on that for a second y'all

If I am correct, Marshal does not have full BAB:


http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b

[Gorilla2038]

Marshall doesnt, but theres a real simple homebrew fix to make it not suck.

Give it d12 HD, a Full BAB and move up the major auras to first. Give it dragon shaman-like progression of auras. Call it a day.

[Seffbasilisk]

I'd recommend a second level of Fighter for Dungeon Crasher, then go Imp. Bullrush into Warforged Juggernaut. That, mixed with White Raven and a few other maneuvers can be quite fun.

[Cieyrin]

This may be a bit different than what you're aiming for but why not go for a Dungeon Crasher Fighter build, as Warforged Juggernaut synergizes fairly well with that.

From there, you could go Warblade and take advantage of the other class levels to start with a higher IL so you can start with higher level maneuvers to play with so you don't have to worry quite as much about removing those 1st level maneuvers for better ones as you go along.

Them's my 2 coppers. Take as you will.

[absolmorph]

Marshall doesnt, but theres a real simple homebrew fix to make it not suck.

Give it d12 HD, a Full BAB and move up the major auras to first. Give it dragon shaman-like progression of auras. Call it a day.

I don't see how the marshal sucks.
Giving people your Charisma bonus to their Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha checks is pretty awesome. And it applies to you, too.
Question: Does Motivate Strength apply to melee attack rolls? If so, you can give your Cha to attack rolls.

[Tinydwarfman]

I don't see how the marshal sucks.
Giving people your Charisma bonus to their Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha checks is pretty awesome. And it applies to you, too.
Question: Does Motivate Strength apply to melee attack rolls? If so, you can give your Cha to attack rolls.

Because it has even worse aura progression than a Dragon Shaman, and Dragon Shaman sucks? Seriously, Charisma bonus to skill checks is not good. And no, an attack is not a strength check. Motivate attack boosts your attacks rolls by +1 per 7 levels, and is a major aura.

[Sinfire Titan]

I don't see how the marshal sucks.
Giving people your Charisma bonus to their Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha checks is pretty awesome. And it applies to you, too.
Question: Does Motivate Strength apply to melee attack rolls? If so, you can give your Cha to attack rolls.

Except the class is literally a level long. There's no reason to stay in for more than that because the Minor auras provide more bonuses than the Major ones.



@OP: Have you considered Stone Power+Adamantine Body? That, coupled with a 2-level Dip into Crusader makes you very durable.

[Master_Rahl22]

One very cool feat for a Warblade is Exotic Weapon Proficiency. With Weapon Aptitude, you are now proficient with every Exotic Weapon that exists, provided you only want to use one per day. Stormguard Warrior is an amazing tactical feat, and is best gotten into as a Warblade since it requires Iron Heart maneuvers. You use one of the options to turn regular attacks into melee touch attacks that give you a +5 bonus to damage each on your next turn, and one of them lets you give up AoOs for +4 to attack and damage on your next turn. Combo with Karmic Strike/Robilar's Gambit for insane bonuses.