Master of Nine?

[Stam]

As fairly new to the Tome of Battle as I am, I'm nonetheless considering a ToB build for a 13th-level game. Specifically, the idea of the Master of Nine, someone who's studied so many varied sword styles, working on perfection of self, and totally unpredictable in battle.

Sort of like Sokka's Master, for those of you who watch Avatar. A warrior based on intelligence and cunning, with Int and Wis higher than both Str and Dex.

Is that doable, and how would people recommend I go about it?

[cupkeyk]

As fairly new to the Tome of Battle as I am, I'm nonetheless considering a ToB build for a 13th-level game. Specifically, the idea of the Master of Nine, someone who's studied so many varied sword styles, working on perfection of self, and totally unpredictable in battle.

Sort of like Sokka's Master, for those of you who watch Avatar. A warrior based on intelligence and cunning, with Int and Wis higher than both Str and Dex.

Is that doable, and how would people recommend I go about it?

Contrary to the idea that a swordsage, having access to six disciplines can get to master of nine faster than most other martial adepts, it is actually the warblade with his bonus feats who will access Mo9 by level 9.

[Dhavaer]

Warblade 3/Swordsage 2/Warblade 2/Master of Nine 1/Warblade 1/Master of Nine 1/Warblade 3

I don't remember why the levels should be in that order, other than that it lets you get a level 3 stance from Warblade.

[Darrin]

Is that doable, and how would people recommend I go about it?

A SwordSage can get into MoN at about ECL 8, particularly the unarmed variant that gets Imp. Unarmed Strike for free.

Warblades have a bit tougher time, mostly because they need to take Martial Study on top of the other five useless feats for MoN. You can grab several of those feats by dipping Fighter, Barbarian (Dragon Totem starts with Blindfight, I think), Monk (particularly with variant fighting styles in UA), or Cleric (Darkness domain gets you BlindFight, Time domain gets you Improved Initiative).

In general, unless you need it to qualify for some kind of UberCombo, MoN isn't worth the number of useless feats you need to pick up. You're better off going with a straight SwordSage or Warblade. It sounds like SwordSage fits your concept best, and if you really need to pick up a maneuver outside of the six disciplines they have access to, Martial Study works just fine.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Indeed. Mot9 is very crappy, since it doesn't give new super abilities, and hinders a char. If you want it, you could ask a DM to make some new maneuvers for you. It'll help, since the buffs would be much worse than special Mot9 only maneuvers.

[Jack Mann]

Interestingly, the class that uses Master of Nine best is Crusader. Remember, each new maneuver readied is also a new maneuver granted. Dip a couple of levels of unarmed swordsage, and go into Master of Nine starting at level 16.

[Azerian Kelimon]

IF you get it from 16 to 20, of course. If you don't go fully through it, Mot9 is one of the worst PrC's out there.

[Catch]

Forgive me if I echo those above me, but the Swordsage can suit your needs as it stands. With access to six of the nine disciplines, you already have a broad variety of sword styles available to you. Taking Master of Nine lets you take what, a few Devoted Spirit, Iron Heart and White Raven maneuvers? Not worth it, if you ask me. Stick with a vanilla Swordsage; it stands pretty well as a "Mystic Swordsman" type without having to add a PrC.

[Ramza00]

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=897344
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=846133

[Jack Mann]

IF you get it from 16 to 20, of course. If you don't go fully through it, Mot9 is one of the worst PrC's out there.

You can get into it earlier with this route. The only reason you delay it until 16 to 20 is that you want those higher level maneuvers. It's still an excellent prestige class for a crusader, because of the maneuvers immediately granted.