General question: can you take RHD and LA on one side of the gestalt? Gestalt makes these options vastly more powerful than normal.
No; I'll have to split them along both sides. Better than normal, but still suboptimal, especially since it would automatically cost me an Initiator Level and thus prevent me from obtaining level 8 maneuvers and stances.
I've tried many ToB based gestalt builds, and decided that master of nine is very much suboptimal. It's attractive, yes, (and when else can you take it if you don't take it in gestalt?) but what you miss out on is more important. I'd recommend a two level dip into warblade for Uncanny Dodge and Wall of Blades instead. Also, you must take a level of Lion Totem Barbarian for pounce. Pouncing charge is no replacement for bounding assault with pounce, which is so much better in an arena I can't ever go back in my bulds.
I dunno - I'll have Shadow Blink anyways, so I'm not sure if Pounce will be such a problem, not to mention I'm Wildshaping, so there should be forms with Pounce available. Also, since I'll have plenty of excess Wildshape-uses, I could take that whatchacallit Wildshape-feat that gives me Pounce for a turn/Wildshape use. I prefer a feat to a level, especially when one side needs a strict progression and other one has strong class features on every level.
The reason I wanted Master of the Nine is mostly Dual Stance and Counter Stance - should make me much more able to utilize the variety of Stances I'll have as a Swordsage/MotN. Note that since it's level 15, I need straight advancement on one side to get level 8 maneuvers, and that's why I really wanted MotN too - it gives me access to all schools (Wall of Blades, Iron Heart Surge, COVERING STRIKE (PvP melee arena - I expect more than a few AoO-builds), Devoted Spirit Auras and whatever I wanna go for - I'll need to work out exact maneuver progression for this) without giving up level 8 maneuvers or forcing me to cut to the Wildshape-side.
Fist of the Forest 1. If you're unarmoured anyway, you have to take it. Con to AC in a wild shape build? It boosts your unarmed damage, even. Easy to qualify for your build. Costs one feat.
I really want to, actually, but I just can't seem to fit it. Do I give up Warshaper? Two levels of it seems like the least painful - MoMF 7 gives me Extraordinary Abilities of my Wildshape Forms (and Huge Wildshape), Ranger 5 is needed to even HAVE Wildshape and I need a straight Martial Adept-progression for level 8 Stances and Maneuvers. But the third level would be really awesome too, and I don't think I can give up Warshaper 1 lest I open myself up to all sorts of Stunning nonsense (and Crits accidentially ending encounters). And Warshaper 2 gives me very relevant stat buffs and Warshaper 3 increases my natural reach. Blaaaaah.
For a MoMF, TWF is simple. Take forms with multiple arms and take multiweapon fighting instead. One feat instead of three, and it's outright better. And with bloodclaw master, you'll be doing full strength to damage each attack and have no to-hit penalties.
Hmm, but the wording on Multi-Weapon Fighting doesn't say I'd get iteratives with the secondary weapons, and there're no Improved versions of it in 3.5 (at least not in the books listed). Also, if I'm using my Natural Attacks as secondary with Unarmed Strike as primary, do I even need a TWF-feat? I don't think I could fight as my Unarmed Strikes both primary and Secondary in addition to Natural Attacks, and if that's so, I don't even need TWF.
Finally, I'd put a vote in for stance of alacrity. That is such a winner in arenas. Particularly when they can reach you for an alpha strike in the first round. Your first counter per round isn't an immediate action - so you can do it flat footed.
That's fairly sweet. I'll have to see if there're counters I'd need round 1. Unfortunately, I sorta need MotN to pick it up; just 1 level of Bloodclaw Master doesn't cut it and any more means Swordsage-levels don't align without additional PrCs.
Thanks for that. I've got a pretty good image of what I want now (if only I could squeeze FotF in...maybe 1 level over 3rd Warshaper? Trades Reach for Con to AC and improved Unarmed Die), and I'm fairly sure I don't actually need TWF so I've got a feat open. Contenders for now:
-Power Attack (although I fully expect everyone to have Elusive Target)
-Frozen Wildshape (if I can't come up with anything better than 12-headed Cryohydra)
-Mage Slayer->Pierce Magical Concealment (if I could magically come up with a feat somehow, I could ignore all sorts of dumb Blinks, Invisibilities and such - heck, maybe I could even go Blinking myself and profit)
-The Wildshape > Pounce feat, I suppose (although I have hard time imagining a sitiuation where Pouncing Charge/Shadow Blink wouldn't do it)