Devoted Spirit
The Devoted Spirit style is the crusader's unique school. It has a lot of awesome in it but many people assume that it only does healing.... they are wrong.
Devoted Spirit Manuvers and Stances:Aura of Chaos (** usually ***** if used with a gimick)
Its a nice ability but the problem is that it becomes less effective as you use larger weapons, if you want most use out of it you need to use a gauntlet or a dagger. And that sucks unless you go for a specific combination of feats.
Aura of Perfect Order (***)
The ability to take 11 on attack rolls is nice but not that good, the ability to take 11 on skill checks while you are out of combat is nicer, the ability to take 11 on saves is awesome goodness as if you have decent saves you will likley never be affected by anything that requires a save. Sucks that it is 1/round though.
Aura of Triumph (**)
4hp of healing to you and an ally every time you attack is nice, having to hit an evil enemy for it is not
Aura of Tyranny (*)
Deal 2 damage to an ally within 10 foot to gain 1hp, possibly nice if you managed to come up with a decent tanking build as it might save you for a round but in a normal party you can get a max of about 5hp out of this...
Castigating Strike (****)
+8d6 damage is nice, Fort save or take a penalty on attack is also nice (though the DC might be a bit low) 5d6 damage to every enemy within 30ft (who fails their fort save) and debuff them is unprecedented with melee characters. Only reason this isn't 5 stars is that the fort save is generally going to be too low and as an 8th level manuver 5d6 damage is pretty underwhelming. -2 to attack rolls for anyone who fails their fort save is ok...
Crusader's Strike (***)
Pretty nice, in combat healing usually sucks but this (and its bigger brothers) are the reason crusaders are considered the only viable choice for it.
Daunting Stike (***)
Will save based on the damage you inflict could be awesome or really bad depending, shaken is a nice enough status though but i would have to heavily consider my options for a level 5 manuver. Combines sort of well with intimidate to push people into frightened.
Defensive Rebuke (**)
It would be an Ok tanking skill exept that you have to hit the enemy before hand to "mark" them, which means that unless you are cleaving its not likley to be more than 1. Thicket of Blades is strictly better if you want to do this sort of thing and dosent take your swift action and a manuver slot.
Divine Surge (*****)
My favorite manuver, period. +8d8 damage. If you are a crusader you take this at level 7.
Divine Surge, Greater (* with no way to remove ability damage, ***** with. )
A souped up version of the original, or at least that is the idea. Does less (!) damage normally but you can take Con damage to increase your attack and add an extra 2d8 to the damage. Technically the most damaging maneuver in the game at level 20... but then you take 20 points of Con Damage for +20 to the attack roll and +46d6 damage. Good if you have some way of healing all the Con Damage you take while doing it (Such as Strike of Rightious Vitality).
Doom Charge (***)
+6d6 damage Dr 10/- if you hit a good enemy, would be good if good aligned enemies were all that common.
Entangling Blade (****)
-20ft move speed, works well with Thicket of Blades if you hit a gnome or halfling with it or in conjunction with your wizards BFC spells (Especially with Mettle and Aura of Perfect Order).
Foehammer (***)
Ignore DR and deal 2d6 extra damage, not spectacular but what do you expect from a level 2 manuver.
Immortal Fortitude (****)
You cant die. Seriously, no dying from HP damage if you can pass a fort save. Nice but it only lasts for 3 attacks after you hit 0hp, if you find some way of healing all the damage (Strike of Rightious Vitality?) you could just reinitiate the stance as a swift action (Dont do this when you are at 0hp though).
Iron Guard's Glare (****)
For a level 1 character -4 to attack rolls is enormous, it means that you are going to recieve a beating though as it dosent affect you.
Law bearer (***)
Only works against chaotic enemies, nice to have if you know you are going to the abyss or something... Anyway large bonus to attack rolls and a little extra damage is nice enough. The real gem here is the +5 to AC(meh) and Saves(!).
Martial Spirit (*** to ***** depending on DM)
Some in combat healing, not bad but not all that awesome either. At level 1 2hp an attack is epic though. If your DM lets you randomly attack the furnature in a room you can fully heal your party after a fight with this.
Radient Charge (****)
Like Doom Charge, only it works against evil enemies. This is strictly better as you will be fighting a lot more of these.
Rallying Strike (****)
More in combat healing, this time for the whole party. Heals at least 3d6+11 damage from every party member within 30'. Solid but it is a level 6 manuver.
Revitalizing Strike (****)
In combat healing again. 3d6+level healing to one party member within 10ft. At level 5 this is pretty potent though it does get worse as you go along.
Shield Block (***)
Add your Shields bonus +4 to an allies AC if they are adjacent to you... maxes about +8 unless you invest in a heavily enchanted shield. The upside is that sword and board isnt actually all that bad for a crusader so you might actually have a shield.
Shield Counter (* to ****)
If you are heavily built to shield bash this is pretty good, immediate action attacks are always going to be solid. Makes your opponents attack miss too. One thing should be noted is that this can be done against any enemy you threaten (not necesarity threaten with your shield) so if you have a shuriken and the ranged threat feat (Dragon 350) or have some one handed weapon with reach you can do this at a range (Don't expect your DM to buy into this, unless they are a captain america fan and you have a returning shield or something).
Strike of Rightious Vitality (*****)
As a level 9 strike it had better be good, and it is. This is the King of in combat healing and works as a Heal Spell. Combines well with some other divine spirit stances and anything that deals you ability damage to use.
Thicket of Blades (*****)
This is the stance you want if you are going to tank. Enemies provoke AoOs from you with 5ft steps and cant use the withdraw action. This is a core component of a crusader's lockdown build. Plus as a 3rd level stance you can have it at level 8 (or 10 if you fix the crusader's stance progression) or level 6 if you take a feat for it.
Tide of Chaos (****)
Like Law Bearer, nice if you are going to hell. Big attack boost and a decent damage boost. However this completely beats Law Bearer in its bonus aspect. You gain Total Concealment! against all attacks. This is not negated by true seeing!
Vanguard Strike (****)
Nice at level 1, +4 bonus for all allies attacks is rediculous at that point. Still nice later on but not quite so much.
