Synergy between scout/swordsage?

[bradywan]

  I need a cohort for my newly 9th level wizard.  In my head a dual kukri wielding scout/swordsage sounds cool. My leadership score is 12, and "for the most part" I'll have total control on the build.  I have never used the Tome of Battle, but the warblade in our group is straight up laying waste to this campaign and I feel inspired lol. Should be able to make a tasty twf, skirmish build?

 Any WotC source should be acceptable, so what are some cool things I can do with this? Are there cool things I can do?

[Rebel7284]

If you are a level 9 Wizard and a Warblade is clearly dominating, you need to evaluate what you're doing wrong.  Read TreantMonk's Guide and post for help with YOUR build and spell choices.

Besides that, blood in the water stance (edit: or what was that stance that gave you a free attack on a crit) + keen kukris are all the combo you really need.  Haven't checked on the stance level.  Scout seems useless.  Skirmish requires you to move and TWF requires you to full attack.  You CAN do both with Lion Totem Barbarian or a dip into cleric, but it's suboptimal.

[bradywan]

  Thank you, I'll look into that stance.  Good point about skirmish and twf, I guess these two classes don't really go together.

[RobbyPants]

Well, there's the Dervish PrC which lets you full attack while moving.  I'm not sure I'd suggest this route for a cohort, though.  Your cohort will be two levels lower, so designing them for melee is dangerous.

I'd suggest either another caster to flesh yourself out, or some type of solid debuffer to make your saves land easier.  Hexblade can be a decent start.  If you don't mind your cohort being evil, Hexblade 4/Paladin of Tyranny 3 can give a single guy -6 to saves simply by standing within 10 feet of him and spending a free action.  Add in Brutal Strike from PHBII and wield a maul to potentially add another -2 to saves while attacking.  You could have your cohort charge and potentially set the guy at -8 on his saves before you even act.

[skydragonknight]

Here's a sample TWFer Scout/ToBer. It's basically lots of the usual junk tossed together in a blender...to make a blender. Chose Warblade for Tiger Claw and White Raven for the best pounce synergy.

Race: Fire Elf (+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma)
Desired Stats:
15 Dex (13+ before race)
14+ Str
16+ Int (14+ before race)
12+ Con (14+ before race...thank you d12 and d10 hit dice for all but 5 levels)
10 Wis (maybe)
Dump Cha
= 25 PB minimum. No problem.

[spoiler]Barbarian 1 Pounce Two-weapon Fighting
Ranger 1 Track
Scout 1 Skirmish +1d6 Weapon Focus(any)
Scout 2 Battle Fortitude+1
Scout 3 Skirmish +1d6/+1
Scout 4 Skirmish+4d6/+3 (20 ft) Swift Hunter,  Improved Skirmish
Warblade 1 Battle Clarity(Reflex)
Warblade 2 Uncanny Dodge
Warblade 3 Battle Ardor(Critical Confirmation)Ironheart Aura
Warblade 4
Warblade 5 Stormguard Warrior
Eternal Blade 1 Blade Guide Eternal TrainingMartial Study(Dancing Mongoose)
Eternal Blade 2 Guided Strike
Eternal Blade 3 Armored Uncanny Dodge
Eternal Blade 4 Eternal Knowledge Knowledge Devotion
Eternal Blade 5
Eternal Blade 6 Defensive Insight
Eternal Blade 7 Martial Study(Raging Mongoose)
Eternal Blade 8 Tactical Insight
Eternal Blade 9[/spoiler]

Maneuvers:
[spoiler]ECL IL   Maneuver Gained/Swapped
7     4   (Iron Heart X), Moment of Perfect Mind, Battle Leader's Charge, Leading the Charge
8     5   Iron Heart Surge
9     6   White Raven Tactics
10   7    (Iron Heart X -> Tiger Claw X), Absolute Steel
11   8    (Devoted Spirit X)
12   9 *-  Radiant Charge, (Devoted Spirit X->Revitalizing Strike?)  Dancing Mongoose(Feat, Qualify with item)
14   11 *- Ironheart Endurance?, (Battle Leader's Charge -> War Leader's Charge)
16   13 *- (Diamond Mind X), (Swap), Aura of Triumph
18   15 *- Diamond Defense, (Diamond Mind X -> Quicksilver Motion), Raging Mongoose(Feat, Qualify with item)
20   17 *- Time Stands Still (Qualify with item), (War Leader's Charge -> Warmaster's Charge, Qualify with item)

Highest Maneuvers and Prerequisites:
Aura of Triumph: Radiant Charge, Revitalizing Strike?
Iron Heart Endurance: Iron Heart Surge, Absolute Steel
Time Stands Still: Diamond Defense, Quicksilver Motion, Moment of Perfect Mind, (Item)
Raging Mongoose: Dancing Mongoose, (Item), (Generic Tiger law Maneuver)
Warmaster's Charge: Leading the Charge, War Leader's Charge, White Raven Tactics, (Item)[/spoiler]

Magic Items:
Gloves of the Balanced Hand for ITWF.
Ring of Evasion because your reflex save will be insane with Dex/Int and the Ranger/Scout levels.
Novice Tiger Claws /Crown of the White Raven / Ring of Diamond Mind for some prereqs.

Tactics:
[spoiler]Level 7-10: Skirmish Pouncing! Leading the Charge, Battle Leader's Charge, and support maneuvers!
11: When you can't charge, use Stormguard Warrior's Combat Rhythm (at LEAST with the iterative attacks) and finish them next round with a full attack/pounce
12: Dancing Mongoose makes Two-Weapon Fighting better! Combine with pouncing or Stormguard for great times. Eternal Training helps you fight battles that are mostly one creature type.
14: War Leader's Charge makes charging even better.
15: Eternal Knowledge and Knowledge Devotion...can we say more free +'s to attack/damage? If you have flaws, Oversized TWF+Power Attack might be a good use for all the attack bonuses. Alternatively, Martial Study+Stone Power is a nice defensive way to go (and even works with light weapons!).
16: If your fine with your damage output without Leading the Charge, you can regen like crazy (provided you're fighting evil) with Aura of Triumph. Your teammates benefit as well.
18: We meet Dancing Mongoose's big brother, Raging Mongoose! That's 10 attacks between main and offhand including the attack with the gloves of the balanced hand. Diamond Defense counter for a 95% chance of surviving anything with a save.
20: One level shy of Island in Time, but wow have we got goodies to hold us over. Two full attacks or a group charge that deals +50 damage (+25 for allies)? You can't go wrong![/spoiler]

Analysis: real fun to write up, though all the scout/ranger dip did was +14(4d6) damage and some skill points. Guessing slightly inferior to a single Barbarian dip, though Skirmish and Combat Rhythm compliment each other well in that you can almost always use one or the other.

[Catty Nebulart]

Petal (from mm3) combined with marshal for some neat auras and crusader for some white raven love.

I took my original inspiration from Carnivore's Trixie, but a Petal has an +2 LA instead of the +4 LA on a pixie. Unfortunately my builds are not yet ready, carnivore is a hard act to top.

Motivate dex as the default for the nice init bonus, and Motivate Cha for when you need to talk to people.
best combines with a caster class or weapons that ignore their wielders size if you want a meleer.