Maneuvers against high AC

[Albanymusicfund]

Dear Gianttip Members,

I hope you are doing very well today. I wanted to ask what a Maneuver user could do against someone with an extremely high. I've made two characters: a Warblade7/Crusader3/Eternal Blade 4 against a Fighter 2/Paladin 3/Kensai 9 character. Now this Kensai (after his Improved Combat Expertise, Defensive Weapon enhancement, and Armor) has an AC of 53 with a Touch AC of 33. The downside is that his BAB is now a whopping +10/+5/+0. I do not understand a way for this Warblade (let us assume he can get access to any magic items you so desire) to hit with his +29/+24/+19 attack rolls against this without massive help.

The only solution that comes to my mind is to use the Emerald Razor Maneuver repeatedly and hope I can hit him many more times before the Kensai whittles the Warblade down.

Do you have any suggestions on a Maneuver user can overcome such incredibly high AC?

Thank you in advance,
AlbanyMusicFund

[H_H_F_F]

First solution is to ignore him. That guy does very little damage, and if you have wall of blades you can negate the rare hit from him. Let the spellcasters deal with that guy, or just outrun him - he's in heavier armor, after all.

But if we're talking about a duel or something to that effect, where the 2 have to fight - I'd go for sundering his weapon first. It's usually a bad tactic because of the loot loss, but a kensai's weapon (we're talking CW kensai, right?) has no value to other people. He uses improved combat expertise, so his opposed roll is really bad. Smash his weapon, and then kill him as slowly as you need to.

[Gorthawar]

Doing great thanks a lot. Aside from killing him with boredom due to the wet noodle fight you're about to start with neither of the characters managing to hit I've got one suggestion aside from emerald razor.

Get him flatfooted. This will make him lose both his Dex bonus and the massive dodge bonus from combat expertise. Sapphire Nightmare blade achieves that with a concentration check that should be doable with a custom item of +concentration for example. Or you could become invisible with cloak of deception. Or just throw some marbles.

[Maat Mons]

Depending of the terrain, you could kite him. Combat Expertise requires taking the attack action or the full-attack action. That means it's incompatible with charging or double-moving. Get far enough away from him that he can't do a melee attack without charging, and he loses all that AC. Then charge on in yourself.

Or you could just swing for the fences. If you already only hit on a natural 20, you may as well Power Attack for full. And with as low as the Kensai's attack bonus is, he may also only be hitting you on natural 20s too. If you're both hitting with the same frequency, it's down to who hits harder.