Crusader: what is that?

[fighter_chick]

Could some one please explain to me what a crusader is..... the ones in D&D not in real life. i have been reading about how to make my fighter stronger and i came across this. do i have to multi class to it or do i have to start over from scrach? right now, i have a 11th level human fighter with 30 AC, +1 bastard sword and 22 strength, over all the rest of my stats are in the 16 to 18 range. so if some some could help me figure that out it would be great!

[Nebo_]

Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords.

He's a holy warrior like the paladin, but without the awful code. A really great class for tanking.

[Mewtarthio]

It's a class from the much-lauded Tome of Battle. It doesn't so much "make Fighters better" as it does "kills Fighters, leaves their stuff to rot, and goes on Fighting even better" (though it certainly can be used to improve a Figher... say, by multiclassing right now and staying there).

[Skyserpent]

Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords.

that's "where" not "what"

Crusaders are Paladins that utilize the maneuver abilities of Book of Nine Swords, simply put: a Crusader is to a Paladin what a Warblade is to a fighter and what a Swordsage is to a Monk

[fighter_chick]

i dont have the book of nine swords.... is there a link or somthing i could get?

[Tokiko Mima]

Crusaders are one of threee martial adept classes from the Tome of Battle. Crusader is essentially a Paladin 2.0, with a lot of the Paladin's issues addressed. Crusaders do not recieve spells, but instead are divinely inspired to use special combat manuevers. Since manuevers are themselves quite awesome, this makes the Crusader a much better meleer than Paladin was.

Crusaders are different from other melee adepts in that they always have at least one manuever available in any given round, because each round a manuever is granted to them randomly. Crusaders also have the ability to temporarily hold off damage done to them for a short time, and deliver more damage based on how much damage they will be taking.

If you're curious Warblade is generally considered to be Fighter 2.0, and Swordsage is Monk 2.0. Their styling is similar, but they perform and adapt much better. You can actually look up Warblade on the wizards.com site.

[Matthew]

i dont have the book of nine swords.... is there a link or somthing i could get?

The War Blade is available on the Wizards Website as a preview, as are a list of Manoeuvres and their effects. The Crusader was not previewed, but it's all pretty much the same thing.

[Tokiko Mima]

i dont have the book of nine swords.... is there a link or somthing i could get?

Sure! Here's some info about Martial adepts in Forgotten Realms

Warblade class description

[Draz74]

You can download descriptions of all the maneuvers available in Tome of Battle here. That (plus the Warblade description linked above) will give you a pretty good idea of what the book is about.

[MeklorIlavator]

The Best description of the Crusader I've ever heard was to the effect of this:
The Crusader is the "Don't die ever class".


Here's a thread about getting the most out of a crusader:
Crusader

[I_Got_This_Name]

The Crusader isn't much like the Warblade, other than both being full-BAB martial adept classes built to stay on the front lines. The Warblade can do a lot of damage and (to an extent) tank, while the 'Sader mostly tanks, and does a bit of healing.

If you're looking over the maneuver cards, Crusaders use Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon, and White Raven.

[Person_Man]

Here is the Warblade, a somewhat similar class from the same book.

With Tome of Battle classes, you can use stances and maneuvers. Stances are special powers that are essentially always on, but you can only use one at a time in most cases. Maneuvers are special attacks, boosts, or counters. You can ready a certain number of maneuvers at the beginning of every combat, and once you use it you can't use it again until its recovered. Each class in the Tome of Battle has a different method of recovery, and a different lists of stances and maneuvers it can draw upon.

Here are all of them. (Although it says "Maneuvers" it actually includes both maneuvers and stances). Crusaders have access to Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon, and White Raven.

Mechanically, a well built Crusader is probably the best "tank" in 3.5 D&D.

[JaxGaret]

The Best description of the Crusader I've ever heard was to the effect of this:
The Crusader is the "Don't die ever class".

Ninja'd before I even got to the thread. Darn.

There is also Crusaders Don't Die.