Ok, so here's my situation. I'm currently preparing for Stratovarius's play-by-post game, set in his
Arhosa setting, and I'm looking for some insight in trying to pin down a solid build. I want to come out of this with a good focus on martial adept levels contributing toward Devoted Spirit maneuvers, as I like the concept of healing others by hitting my enemies, etc. (I initially thought of altering the Duskblade into a Divine character that could use healing spells immediately after a strike, at a range, instead of channeling spells through the strike, but found that Devoted Spirit does essentially the same thing).
It seems likely that the build is going to focus heavily on Crusader, and thus the likely extension of that is going for a lockdown build (I've been reading through the ToB for Dummies thread at the Wizards forums, and several lockdown threads, but the options are dizzying). Alternatively, I know that the
Sublime Way Variant Ranger can swap out access to one of its disciplines for Devoted Spirit as well.
Some might suggest just sticking with something like cleric to just have a devoted healer, but I like the flavor and mechanics of Devoted Spirit maneuvers, and the crusader seems like the best bet in this situation.
As mentioned in the title, this is for an evil-aligned party, so I'm looking for other ways to build on that with a particularly evil tank. Ways to involve poison, fear, vile or abyssal heritor feats, etc. are all encouraged.
I'm open to various races, though my initial ideas involved Changeling or Half-Drow, in order to avoid LA as much as possible, and getting in a naturally manipulative race. (Was considering some Changeling Racial Emulation cheese for qualifying for feats/PrC's, but that ended up being too MAD and feat-starved)
Rules as stated are: ECL is 4, Any race/class, content from all sources welcome (including third party and homebrew content).
32 Point Buy, 1 Flaw, no bloodlines, 1 trait, No LA buyoff, no templates above LA +1. No UA races or classes.
Leadership is delayed until around level 9-12, and is thus generally discouraged.
Optimization level: 2-3 (moderate optimization is the key - No cheesing off the DM!).
No idea how long the game will last, but I'm going to assume at least to 20 simply for build purposes.
So, this does not have to be Uber. It has to be pretty good at what it does, and suitable for other functionality as well.
I'm looking for suggestions, and will appreciate any insight you can offer! Thanks!