Swordsage help

[Thiel]

Hi all
I'm making a lvl. 15 Swordsage and I need help choosing manoeuvres and stances. I'm aiming at fast and flashy.

Thanks in advance

[Eldariel]

Two-Weapon? Two-Handed? Stealthy? Tank? Controller? Damage dealer? Insufficient data.

[Keld Denar]

Swordsages tend to get decent numbers of maneuvers, so you can generally mix/match 3 schools and not have problems with prereqs. For fast and flashy, I'd suggest Setting Sun, Desert Wind, and Tiger Claw, and duel wield short swords or kukiris.

Another idea I've been thinking is using a spiked chain and using mostly Diamond Mind and Shadow Hand, dipping a bit into Stone Dragon.

Unarmed SS is pretty good too. Snap Kick and Xing Mongoose boosts can give you a ton of attacks per round, which can be fun.

[Mushroom Ninja]

When it comes to flashy, IMO, there's nothing like the manuvers from Tiger Claw and Setting Sun.

[Enlong]

Just play a Monk. it had to be done

[Mushroom Ninja]

Just play a Monk. it had to be done

but why did it have to be done???

[TengYt]

Unarmed Swordsage Fad.

[Xefas]

For fast and flashy, I'd suggest Setting Sun, Desert Wind, and Tiger Claw, and duel wield short swords or kukiris.

Unless your DM will let you refluff Desert Wind to deal some other kind of energy damage, don't take it at such a high level. There is a massive amount of creatures at that level that are very resistant or outright immune to fire (or cast spells or have magic items that can do those things).

Shadow Hand is good for getting miss % chances and paralyzing (essential save or die next round) strikes.

Tiger Claw is good for outright damage if you go for the Bloodclaw prestige class that gives you Two-Weapon Fighting without penalty.

Diamond Mind is good for replacing saving throws with a Skill Check that you can't auto-fail on a 1.

I've always been a fan of taking Improved Critical and dual-wielding Keen Kukris.

[Chineselegolas]

Just play a Monk. it had to be done

Win WHITE SPACE!

[Thiel]

I've always been a fan of taking Improved Critical and dual-wielding Keen Kukris.

Keen and Imp Crit doesn't stack.

[Starbuck_II]

Keen and Imp Crit doesn't stack.

Maybe he still plays in 3.0 where they did?

[sombrastewart]

I'm going to recommend a little Stone Dragon in the mix. It can really bring some hurt to a fight if you take one of the (Adjective) Mountain strikes, which saved my group on an occasion or two.

[Xefas]

Keen and Imp Crit doesn't stack.

Oh, crud, sorry. I forgot about that after recently playing in a campaign with a DM who houseruled that into 3.5. I played a kukri-wielding character just for the occasion.

I'm going to recommend a little Stone Dragon in the mix. It can really bring some hurt to a fight if you take one of the (Adjective) Mountain strikes, which saved my group on an occasion or two.

In my experience, the only thing a Swordsage really needs Stone Dragon for is if he wants to be able to cut through any door or wall that the DM doesn't explicitly state to be arbitrarily immune to damage (or made of Force or some such).

Those "ignore hardness" maneuvers can really derail a DM who isn't prepared for it.

[sombrastewart]

In my experience, the only thing a Swordsage really needs Stone Dragon for is if he wants to be able to cut through any door or wall that the DM doesn't explicitly state to be arbitrarily immune to damage (or made of Force or some such).

Those "ignore hardness" maneuvers can really derail a DM who isn't prepared for it.

Yeah, I admit, it can. It's excellent for golem-smashing, which was the particular challenge we ran into.