Author Topic: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help  (Read 4411 times)

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wyldfire

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Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« on: May 17, 2010, 09:44:46 PM »
Good morning Guys

I am joining a lvl 6 gestalt game with an anime theme and my were-tiger got rejected but the GM seems happy with a Muilti Weapon Thri-kreen warblade/swordsage.

Main things that are not allowed are Incarnum and Psonics, otherwise most things are fine (except for perhaps the rarer books).

32 point creation.

Warblade 6 or Swordsage 6// Monstrous Humanoid 2/ LA +1/3 ???

The things I am trouble with is it worth goinging weapon finesse route going for lots of criticals and thusly swordsage, or focus on strength and warblade.

What Martial paths should I take, tigerclaw looks like it stacks well with muiltiattack.

Thanks alot for any help
« Last Edit: May 17, 2010, 09:56:15 PM by wyldfire »

snakeman830

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2010, 09:50:29 PM »
Tiger Claw was MADE for Thri-kreen.  Lots of benefits for multiple attacks and tons of manuvers requiring jump checks.  Gee, lookie there!  You've got a handy +30 racial bonus!  And another +4 for having a 40ft land speed!  Take every Tiger Claw manuver you can (not counting stances, only a couple of them are really worth it).
I am constantly amazed by how many DM's ban Tomb of Battle.  The book doesn't even exist!

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templer10

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2010, 10:32:30 PM »
improved Multi weapon fighting + weapon(s) with 18-20 threat range (get keen/improved crit ASAP) + blood in the water stance = Win.

wyldfire

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2010, 10:38:20 PM »
Does that mean I am better off heading towards swordsage over warblade?

Other than tiger claw what other martial paths should I consider ?

Any suggestions on how to spend my 32 point buy, Dex>Str>Wis>Con>Int>Cha ??

snakeman830

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2010, 10:49:58 PM »
Not exactly.  Warblade also gets Tiger Claw and can master all the important manuvers, so long as you only focus on one or two disciplines.  It also has bonuses to Crit confirmation (handy in Blood in the Water builds) and the higher BAB means you get those extra attacks (and qualify for Multiweapon Fighting feats) faster (at all in the case of the 4th attack).
I am constantly amazed by how many DM's ban Tomb of Battle.  The book doesn't even exist!

Quotes:[spoiler]
By yes, she means no.
That explains so much about my life.
hiicantcomeupwithacharacterthatisntaghostwhyisthatamijustretardedorsomething
Why would you even do this? It hurts my eyes and looks like you ate your keyboard before suffering an attack of explosive diarrhea.
[/spoiler]

If using Genesis to hide your phylactry, set it at -300 degrees farenheit.  See how do-gooders fare with a liquid atmosphere.

Saxony

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2010, 11:40:04 PM »
Does that mean I am better off heading towards swordsage over warblade?

Other than tiger claw what other martial paths should I consider ?

Any suggestions on how to spend my 32 point buy, Dex>Str>Wis>Con>Int>Cha ??
Both Warblade and Swordsage get Tiger Claw. One thing to consider is if you want to put all your Tiger Claw maneuvers on your Swordsage maneuver list or the Warblade list. The Swordsage recovery mechanic is uniquely horrible (spending a full round action to get back one and not attacking in that round) and the Warblade recovery mechanic is considered either the best or tied with Crusader. With Warblade, one can full attack to get back ALL of their maneuvers. A crusader doesn't have to do any particular action because its maneuvers come back on their own, but they come back randomly. I think the Warblade mechanic is the best. A sword sage can take the Adaptive Style feat so that they can spend a full round action to get back all of their maneuvers (this feat is considered Mandatory for Swordsages). A nice thing about Adaptive Style is that it refreshes Warblade, Swordsage, and Crusader lists if a character happens to have more than one list. But using it still means doing nothing in the round (which is horrible, when one could be full attacking as a Warblade or just popping off maneuvers one after another like a Crusader).

So that'd would make you think you should put all your Tiger Claw maneuvers on the Swordsage list. However, there are a lot of good maneuvers in the Tiger Claw discipline. There are a few maneuvers which basically do the same thing (Dancing Mongoose/Pouncing Charge for instance) or are just upgraded versions of lower level maneuvers, so one will not have to use the Swordsage recovery mechanic because one won't "run out" of good maneuvers to use if one is focused on Tiger Claw maneuvers. This works if Swordsage focuses heavily on the Tiger Claw school, but it would take up every Warblade maneuver known to learn an equal amount of Tiger Claw maneuvers. And Warblades have really good defensive/buff type maneuvers which a Swordsage just can't learn, or a Swordsage and Warblade can both learn (Like Iron Heart Surge (IH 3), White Raven Tactics (WR 3), Moment of Alacrity (Diamond 6), Diamond Defense (Diam 8), Moment of Perfect Mind (Diam 1), Action before Thought (Diam 2), White Raven Hammer (WR 8), Time Stands Still (Diam 9), Iron Heart Focus (IH 5) ). So those maneuvers are pretty much mandatory for Warblades to learn because they are so good, but a Swordsage can't learn most some of them (Swordsages can't learn the ones which aren't Diamond Mind). Since you can't fit all of the "mandatory" Warblade maneuvers on the Warblade list and still be able to fit all of the good Tiger Claw manevuers on there, too, you might as well put all the Tiger Claw on the Swordsage list.

Also, there's no limitation stating that Swordsages must be Dexterity based and Warblades must be Strength based. There is the Shadow Blade feat, which gives Dexterity to damage while one is in a Shadow Hand stance and using a Shadow Hand weapon (Dagger, short sword, sai, siangam, unarmed strike, or spiked chain). When combined with Weapon Finesse, one can dump Strength and only use Dexterity as a melee character. However, one can still use Warblade maneuvers and do Warblade type stuff (like being the Tank) and make use of the Shadow Blade feat. There are a few maneuvers that require a good Strength score to give a high DC to resist, but those are in Tiger Claw or Stone Dragon, which are known by both Swordsages and Warblades. The Setting Sun throwing manevuers can be used wit either Dexterity or Strength. I don't remember anything in Shadow Hand calling for a good Dexterity score (only a good Wisdom score to raise DCs to resist the maneuvers).

I pretty much told you what maneuvers to get with Warblade. The ones I mentioned will pretty much take up 1/2 of your Warblade Maneuvers Known. Remember that with the Diamond Mind maneuvers which deal with Saving Throws (Diamond Defense (Diam 8), Moment of Perfect Mind (Diam 1), Action before Thought (Diam 2), and Mind over Body (Diam 3) ), Diamond Defense covers every Saving Throw, while the other ones only cover one saving throw. The difference between the two is that Diamond Defense gives +Initiator Level to a save while the lower level three *replace* a saving throw with a concentration check. It is difficult to find items which boost concentration checks, so one is pretty much limited to (character level+3) Ranks + (Constitution modifier) as a Concentration modifier. However, Diamon Defense adds to an existing Saving Throw modifier instead of replacing it. Thus, it will give a better modifier to your d20 roll than the lower level three.

A vanilla Warblade generally has bad Reflex Saves and Will Saves, so Moment of Perfect Mind and Action Before Thought are pretty much mandatory if the Warblade wants to ever make a Reflex or Will Save. But as a gestalt Warblade/Swordsage, one has good Fortitude, Reflex, AND Will saves. So the lower level ones aren't as necessary to shore up holes in defense.

For a Swordsage, the teleporting maneuvers are always boss (Shadow Jaunt (Shadow 2), Shadow Stride (Shadow 5), and Shadow Blink (Shadow 7). Shadow Blink lets you move 50 ft as a swift action. Say hello to moving around and still full attacking. Combine that with Raging Mongoose and you have a potent combination. Remember that Raging Mongoose, Dancing Mongoose, and Pouncing Charge don't just give you a full attack with a few more attacks added in. They make ALL of your attacks at FULL BAB. This is pretty much incredible. It means your last few attacks that would otherwise be at -10 or even -15 are given a huge accuracy boost. Those maneuvers are really deadly. (There's another 3 maneuver suggestions). Consider using Dancing Mongoose and then Raging Mongoose the round after. Its like using the same maneuver twice (you evade having to use Adaptive Style). The Tiger Claw jumping maneuvers are good, but you replace the lower level ones with higher level ones, so that's only maybe 4 more maneuvers. Girallon Windmill Flesh Rip is awesome with Thri-Kreen and (Greater) Multi-Weapon Fighting. You only need to land 8 hits to get +20d6 extra damage. A Thri-Kreen gets 13 attacks with Greater Multi-Weapon Fighting, so no problem. 20d6 is 70 damage on average. Burning Blade (Desert 1), Searing Blade (Desert 4), Inferno Blade (Desert 7) apply bonus damage to each of your attacks. A Thri-Kreen gets a lot of attacks. At level 20, Inferno Blade adds ~30 damage to each attack (3d6+20 is 30.5 damage on average). A Thri-Kreen gets 13 attacks with Greater Multi-Weapon Fighting naturally. Combine Inferno Blade with Time Stands Stille (Diam 9) to get two full attacks (26 attacks)  to get +780 fire damage if every attack hits or Raging Mongoose (13+4 attacks all at full BAB) to get +510 fire damage if every attack hits. There's another 3 maneuver suggestions. Cloak of Deception (Shadow Hand 2) is an awesome boost. It gives one Greater Invisibility, which means even if they attack, the invisibility won't go away. This only lasts for one round, but if you're invisible, every attack you make against foes which cannot see you is against their Flat-footed AC. That's a huge accuracy boost if they don't have much Armor or Natural Armor and are relying on a high Dexterity. Especially at level 20 or so-- a foe could have 30 AC just from dexterity and dodge bonuses (if they are Rogue type). Mountain Hammer is a maneuver which bypasses Hardness and DR. If a character knows it, they can't be held in any kind of prison (even if the cage or whatever has Hardness 40), because they can just bash through the hardness in ~10 rounds and escape. Always handy to have known. Because your character is a Thri-Kreen, I wouldn't recommend even readying Ancient Mountain Hammer (+12d6 damage on one attack and bypass hardness and DR) in combat, because using it would take away all of your extra attacks.

That's all I got for now. What I would suggest is to look at every single maneuver of level 7+. Read each description and try to think of combinations with Stances or what would work well with your character. You will eventually have to read every maneuver to *really* in order to know your option and be good at optimizing Tome of Battle characters, but you might as well just start with the ones which are the best. In particular, look at boosts or maneuvers which give you a full attack. Your character has a lot of attacks (13 with Greater Multi-Weapon Fighting), so any bonus damage x13 is going to be a huge number. With any maneuver which gives you a full attack or works with a full attack, compare it to Time Stands Still (Diam 9) as a baseline. Time Stands Still gives you 2 full attacks in one round. If a maneuver is as good as that (or even better, can combine with Time Stands Still like Inferno Blade), its a good "full attack" maneuver.

Also, go into the Eternal Blade prestige class (Tome of Battle page 109). This isn't a suggestion. Unless you can find something better than Eternal Blade, go Eternal Blade. It technically requires one to be an elf, but no one cares about stupid racial restrictions like that, anyway. It can only be entered at level 11 and and is 10 levels long (finishes at level 20). Its last ability (Island in Time) which is gained character level 20 is completely insane. It allows one an extra turn as an immediate action once per encounter. Immediate actions can be taken even when it's someone else turn. Have you ever felt like you could use another turn in response to what someone did (perhaps to stop them or just kill them, get into the correct position, etc.) or just wanted another full attack? Island in Time gives you just that. If the enemy mage is casting a nuke spell and you want to interrupt their casting, use Island in Time, Shadow Blink, and Raging Mongoose to either kill them or make it impossible for them to use spells because of the damage provoked Concentration check. Is the enemy fighter charging your squishy wizard? Use Island in Time to block them and take the beating instead. Need just a few more attacks to take out the boss? Use Island in Time and Time Stands Still to get two more full attacks. The possibilities for Island in Time are endless (because it just gives you another turn). Eternal Blade also advances maneuvers known and readied as a Warblade and has access to Devoted Spirit, Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, and White Raven (the best schools available to a Warblade along wit Devoted Spirit). Devoted Spirit has a few really good maneuvers (Like Strike of Righteous Vitality (Devoted 9), which grants a Heal Spell), but you wouldn't want to go Crusader just for those few good ones. Eternal Blade is like going Crusader and Warblade at the same time and being better than both combined.

Not exactly.  Warblade also gets Tiger Claw and can master all the important manuvers, so long as you only focus on one or two disciplines.  It also has bonuses to Crit confirmation (handy in Blood in the Water builds) and the higher BAB means you get those extra attacks (and qualify for Multiweapon Fighting feats) faster (at all in the case of the 4th attack).

As a gestalt Warblade/Swordsage, one gets Full BAB, anyway.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2010, 12:27:03 PM by Saxony »
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snakeman830

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2010, 11:42:27 PM »
Swordsages do have access to Diamond Mind.  They don't get Iron Heart.

And he wasn't talking about going Swordsage||Warblade, although that is what I would do in this case.  Go Warblade 20 and RHD,LA, Swordsage on the other side.  Dual Stance is much, much better than Dual Boost.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2010, 11:44:12 PM by snakeman830 »
I am constantly amazed by how many DM's ban Tomb of Battle.  The book doesn't even exist!

Quotes:[spoiler]
By yes, she means no.
That explains so much about my life.
hiicantcomeupwithacharacterthatisntaghostwhyisthatamijustretardedorsomething
Why would you even do this? It hurts my eyes and looks like you ate your keyboard before suffering an attack of explosive diarrhea.
[/spoiler]

If using Genesis to hide your phylactry, set it at -300 degrees farenheit.  See how do-gooders fare with a liquid atmosphere.

Saxony

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2010, 12:23:39 AM »
Swordsages do have access to Diamond Mind.  They don't get Iron Heart.

And he wasn't talking about going Swordsage||Warblade, although that is what I would do in this case.  Go Warblade 20 and RHD,LA, Swordsage on the other side.  Dual Stance is much, much better than Dual Boost.
Ah, I see what you mean now.

Dual Stance is indeed much better than Dual Boost. I would suggest going Eternal Blade, though, anyway. Island in Time is really nice. If I had to choose between Dual Stance, Dual Boost, or Island in Time, I would always go for Island in Time.
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snakeman830

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2010, 12:43:46 AM »
Swordsages do have access to Diamond Mind.  They don't get Iron Heart.

And he wasn't talking about going Swordsage||Warblade, although that is what I would do in this case.  Go Warblade 20 and RHD,LA, Swordsage on the other side.  Dual Stance is much, much better than Dual Boost.
Ah, I see what you mean now.

Dual Stance is indeed much better than Dual Boost. I would suggest going Eternal Blade, though, anyway. Island in Time is really nice. If I had to choose between Dual Stance, Dual Boost, or Island in Time, I would always go for Island in Time.
Thri-kreen.  Eternal Blade and Deepstone Setinel are both out.

Although I do have to wonder what would happen if you hit Warblade 20 and Master of Nine 10.  Would you be able to maintain three stances at once?
I am constantly amazed by how many DM's ban Tomb of Battle.  The book doesn't even exist!

Quotes:[spoiler]
By yes, she means no.
That explains so much about my life.
hiicantcomeupwithacharacterthatisntaghostwhyisthatamijustretardedorsomething
Why would you even do this? It hurts my eyes and looks like you ate your keyboard before suffering an attack of explosive diarrhea.
[/spoiler]

If using Genesis to hide your phylactry, set it at -300 degrees farenheit.  See how do-gooders fare with a liquid atmosphere.

wyldfire

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2010, 01:36:15 AM »
Hmmm the GM is not a fan of having both Swordsage and Warblade so I will have to choose one or another, and from what I understand from Gestalt I will be only able to get Initator levels from one side.



Saxony

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2010, 03:14:54 AM »
Hmmm the GM is not a fan of having both Swordsage and Warblade so I will have to choose one or another, and from what I understand from Gestalt I will be only able to get Initator levels from one side.



Swordsage Initiator levels are separate from Warblade Initiator levels. So you won't get 40 Initiator levels, anyway. If you went Warblade 20/Swordsage 20, you would have IL 20 when using Warblade maneuvers and IL 20 when using Swordsage maneuvers.

Politely remind your GM that you easily just go Warblade/Wizard and be much, much more powerful and versatile. Swordsage and Warblade combined is not overpowered in comparison. Whatever your GM's hangup is about not liking Warblade and Swordsage together, there are tons more broken/more powerful combinations to play and all of them are considered fair play in gestalt.

If your GM still doesn't like it, just go Warblade/Wizard. Or Warblade/Any Spellcaster, really. In my opinion, your GM is making an incorrect call. It's not like Cleric/Druid is out or Sorcerer/Wizard is out. Unless those options are out (Taking two classes which use the same system and a very similar), then Warblade/Swordsage should not be out. Plus, those options are insanely powerful.

Swordsages do have access to Diamond Mind.  They don't get Iron Heart.

And he wasn't talking about going Swordsage||Warblade, although that is what I would do in this case.  Go Warblade 20 and RHD,LA, Swordsage on the other side.  Dual Stance is much, much better than Dual Boost.
Ah, I see what you mean now.

Dual Stance is indeed much better than Dual Boost. I would suggest going Eternal Blade, though, anyway. Island in Time is really nice. If I had to choose between Dual Stance, Dual Boost, or Island in Time, I would always go for Island in Time.
Thri-kreen.  Eternal Blade and Deepstone Setinel are both out.

Although I do have to wonder what would happen if you hit Warblade 20 and Master of Nine 10.  Would you be able to maintain three stances at once?
I realize that Eternal Blade requires one to be an elf. I pointed out in my mega post that most DM's don't care about stupid racial restrictions like that, anyway. I've not met one, nor do I recall one restricting a non-elf character from going Arcane Archer or Eternal Blade (I am certain a couple exist). I guess people just don't think elves are that special. Other racial restrictions make sense, but the class abilities granted by the Eternal Blade have nothing to do with elves. Nor do those from Arcane Archer.

Master of the Nine only has five levels. (This mistake has been made before... I'm starting to wonder if there are incorrect copies of ToB or something). Stance Mastery and Dual Stance both specifically say "two stances", not "one additional stance". So its still 2 stances.
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wyldfire

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2010, 06:19:01 AM »
Had a go but she said she would prefer it if I didn't so I am inclined not to push the issue to much.

I was considering to dump Cha down to 8, and Leave Wis and Int about 10 so any caster is going to have some issue, I was thinking perhaps Ranger or Barb.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2010, 06:26:50 AM by wyldfire »

snakeman830

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2010, 10:26:09 AM »
I never pay much attention to Master of 9 because the entry requirements are so harsh.

If you're not going to do Warblade/Swordsage, then I would reccommend Swordsage with a full BAB class on the other side.  Ranger can be a decent choice as it adds flexibility or makes you better in melee (you've got 4 arms, the multiweapon fighting route isn't a bad way to go.  Archery provides you with capabilitiesother Swordsages just don't have).  Fighter can likewise be decent as it adds a lot of feats to play with.

On the other hand, you could forget full BAB and go Psychic Warrior.  If you think you had options before, you've seen nothing yet.
I am constantly amazed by how many DM's ban Tomb of Battle.  The book doesn't even exist!

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That explains so much about my life.
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Mixster

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2010, 11:45:12 AM »
but the class abilities granted by the Eternal Blade have nothing to do with elves. Nor do those from Arcane Archer.

I respectfully disagree, Eternal Training has wording that would imply you only get the benefits if you enter a trance, since your training happens in your trance.

I have a full respect for the DM's not thinking each and every race should be allow acces to all prestige classes, it is a limiting factor on power level.
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snakeman830

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #14 on: May 18, 2010, 12:18:14 PM »
Changelings still have access to most of them, just not all at once.
I am constantly amazed by how many DM's ban Tomb of Battle.  The book doesn't even exist!

Quotes:[spoiler]
By yes, she means no.
That explains so much about my life.
hiicantcomeupwithacharacterthatisntaghostwhyisthatamijustretardedorsomething
Why would you even do this? It hurts my eyes and looks like you ate your keyboard before suffering an attack of explosive diarrhea.
[/spoiler]

If using Genesis to hide your phylactry, set it at -300 degrees farenheit.  See how do-gooders fare with a liquid atmosphere.

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #15 on: May 18, 2010, 04:41:56 PM »
If you're going Thri-Keen focused on Tiger Claw, might as well dip 2 levels into Bloodclaw Master.  Removes your penalties for off-hand attacks AND you get full STR bonus on 'em.  Combine with Shadowblade and you'll be getting plenty of attacks with full STR & DEX to damage.  Consider something like:

01 - Thri-Keen HD 1 || Swordsage 1
02 - Thri-Keen HD 2 || Swordsage 2
03 - Thri-Keen LA 1 || Swordsage 3
04 - Thri-Keen LA 2 || Swordsage 4
05 - Thri-Keen LA 3 || Ranger 1
06 - Ranger 2 || Swordsage 5
07 - Bloodclaw Master 1 || Swordsage 6
08 - Bloodclaw Master 2 || Swordsage 7

From there on just go Ranger || Swordsage, or dip Scout and start going Swift Hunter on the left, but keep the right Swordsage.
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Rebel7284

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #16 on: May 18, 2010, 05:02:27 PM »
Where is the non-psionic tri-kreen with less LA at anyway? With your DM disallowing psionics, it may make more sense....

Anyway, I'd try to go into master of 9 on one side.  Having assess to all schools is fun. :)
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Saxony

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #17 on: May 18, 2010, 05:11:13 PM »
but the class abilities granted by the Eternal Blade have nothing to do with elves. Nor do those from Arcane Archer.

I respectfully disagree, Eternal Training has wording that would imply you only get the benefits if you enter a trance, since your training happens in your trance.

I have a full respect for the DM's not thinking each and every race should be allow acces to all prestige classes, it is a limiting factor on power level.
You're right, I'm wrong. I stand by my opinion. There are some prestige classes that have sensible racial requirements (Drow or Orc based ones come to mind). Eternal Blade and Arcane Archer just don't seem that way to me. Other than the trance stuff, nothing seems elfish. Just fighter-y. Which isn't that elfish (Since elves' favored class is Wizard, not Fighter).

Where is the non-psionic tri-kreen with less LA at anyway? With your DM disallowing psionics, it may make more sense....

Anyway, I'd try to go into master of 9 on one side.  Having assess to all schools is fun. :)

Monster Manual 2. Its the same exact thing, but LA+1 instead of LA+2 and no psionics.
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Mixster

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #18 on: May 18, 2010, 07:51:59 PM »
but the class abilities granted by the Eternal Blade have nothing to do with elves. Nor do those from Arcane Archer.

I respectfully disagree, Eternal Training has wording that would imply you only get the benefits if you enter a trance, since your training happens in your trance.

I have a full respect for the DM's not thinking each and every race should be allow acces to all prestige classes, it is a limiting factor on power level.
You're right, I'm wrong. I stand by my opinion. There are some prestige classes that have sensible racial requirements (Drow or Orc based ones come to mind). Eternal Blade and Arcane Archer just don't seem that way to me. Other than the trance stuff, nothing seems elfish. Just fighter-y. Which isn't that elfish (Since elves' favored class is Wizard, not Fighter).

Where is the non-psionic tri-kreen with less LA at anyway? With your DM disallowing psionics, it may make more sense....

Anyway, I'd try to go into master of 9 on one side.  Having assess to all schools is fun. :)

Monster Manual 2. Its the same exact thing, but LA+1 instead of LA+2 and no psionics.

Yeah, we probably wont agree on the eternal blade issue, so lets not discuss it :).

I'd prefer warblade over swordsage for the better maneuver recovery system, and the ability to change your exotic weapon profiency (gythka) to exotic weapon profiency (kukri) or even better, exotic weapon profiency (valenar double scimitar), but that's probably pushing it.

You could easily start of like this:
Thri-Keen LA // Warblade 1
Thri-Keen 1 // Warblade 2
Thri-Keen 2 // Warblade 3
Cloistered Cleric (Travel & Knowledge Devotion as well as minor healing is huge, undeath domain for extra turning could be useful) 1 // Warblade 4
Crusader 1 // Warblade 5
Ruby Knight Vindicator 1-5// Bloodclaw Master 1-5

The crusader dip is worth it for the Martial Spirit stance, and for the Ruby Knight Vindicator which is a huge class, even if you just have 4 rebuke/turn attempts, you'll still be able to use them plenty to recharge your maneouvres.
If you can get that feat from unapproachable east (battle jump I think) where you double your damage when jumping on someone, you can go quite wacko. Blood in the water is also quite good.
Then if you can get that eternal blade talked through, you are as good as any to get there. You'll still have 5 levels left at the end of the Ruby Knight Vindicator, which could be used for master of nine if you want to, but I'm not a fan of that class. I'd rather just expand my cleric list with 5 cloistered cleric levels more. Sub one of them for Prestige Paladin if you want some more spells, and some for Contemplative, if you want the domains.

Should be plenty of effect all through the game, without breaking it totally, good utility for helping the group.
Monks are pretty much the best designed class ever.

JaronK

Meep Meep - Mixster out

Rebel7284

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Re: Thri-Kreen Gestalt Help
« Reply #19 on: May 18, 2010, 08:05:50 PM »
Ruby Knight Vindicator 1-5// Bloodclaw Master 1-5

There are SEVERAL things wrong with this.
a) Prestige classes on both sides are by default not allowed.
b) Double progression classes (RKV) are by default not allowed
Negative level on a chicken would make it a wight the next day.  Chicken the other wight meat. -borg286