I have a problem with ToB:
TOO many standard action strikes, too few full-attack options. I guess having more Full-attack strikes would be a bit over the top, but still, ONE level of Lion-Totem Barb invalidates entire lists of tactics that usually make initiators good.
Of course there are the obvious exceptions:
Sudden Leap + Battle Jump shenanigans, however, the wacky requirements of Battle Jump make those DM dependant. I am wary to do this.
Charge Maneuvers + Pouncing, obviously. These are quite good. But are they worth more than a dip into Warblade? Clearly THE best charge maneuver is Bounding Assault. You now have ALL the flexibility of a double move + a charge at the end. Quite nice, all in all, but it seems that that's the best you can get.
Most well-rounded dipping melee builds have the problem of never getting ninth level maneuvers. At least, mine have. So no Time Stands Still, and in any case, it's too late to matter much. Of course, if you get it, it sure rocks.
So what am I missing? How do I make maneuvers keep up with Pouncing? (And I DO understand that you can't always charge, but mostly when you can't, you can just full-attack, which is also almost always better than maneuvers.)
The main reason for my question: I have a pouncing melee char (the "BC charger") at Level 10 (almost 11), and at level 11 he'll have an Initiator level of 7, and have Bounding Assault, which is the main maneuver I still want. After that I have two options: Gish or more Warblade. And I can't for the life of me decide. The build is Goliath1/Crasher2/Warblade2/Crusader1/Lion Totem1/Warblade+1/Monk2/Warblade+1, in that order. He'll have his 4th Warblade level at 11.The Goliath LA level doesn't count for IL, and I can't buy it back, but I did get 2+Con HP, one good save and 2+Int skills from it, so it's not all lost. I've got Martial Spirit, Stonefoot Stance, Thicket of Blades and Pearl of Black Doubt as stances.
I had one more level of Barb planned for Improved Trip (nice with Shocktrooper, not for native tripping), but I'm not sure yet whether I will take that.
What maneuvers could he take from then on to surpass what taking Conjurer1/Abjurant Champion5/JPM3 could get me? I'm talking about Abrupt Jaunt, Wraithstrike, a +9AC shield or even Luminous Armour, etc. These are all things that are quite compelling, and I'm having trouble finding maneuvers that are better. There is already another gish in the party, and I really don't want to tread on his turf, but it just seems better to do so, after all.
The maneuvers I have considered taking from here on out:
Covering Strike (although a possible retraining candidate. Protecting my teammates from AoOs seems rather situational.)
Disrupting Blow (this one is quite good)
Elder Mountain Hammer, I only have this one because it's nice to ready a big-damage strike once in a while against a teleporting bad guy
Irresistable Mountain Strike, well, this one is ok, action loss is always good, even though it has a save
Crushing Vise, no moving without a save seems nice, as a means to stop beefy guys from going around. the trouble is, mostly it would be better to just beat them dead, anyway. AND I would be getting Stand Still, too.
War Leader's Charge... ho hum. It's a charge, it does more damage. It's nice, but not more than that.
Avalanche of Blades, now where talking, but, as was written somewhere on this or another forum, it might be a trap. Possibly nice without power attack, but if I can get only one more attack in than normal+haste then I'd rather power-attack.
Scything Blade, this also seems quite nice, as it's a one-more-attack on a full-attack, and that's always good.
Mithral Tornado and Adamantine Hurricane just don't work, read as written, because they don't work with reach weapons. No reach weapons = bad. For that same reason I'm not using Leap Attack. Damn "adjacent" terminology.
I've also got one more stance coming in, which could be a 7th level stance - if they existed, but will have to end up as a fourth level stance, once again. I also have no way of delaying it until 8th level maneuvers become available. So Stance of Alacrity is out, and I probably won't ever get it.
So, is there anything I have missed? Any combos I should be aware of? I'm really bad with combos. Please help me out. Assume I can use mostly anything by RAW, the DM is quite lenient.