Sorry, i forgot to mention... DM has also banned the "Tome of..." series. :/
Thanks for the input so far
It's covered in the handbook, but Knowledge Devotion is always nice. Also, the Collector of Stories skill trick is nice to have.
I'm going this way, yes, and I have already (partly) convinced the DM to let me apply Collector of Stories to the check for Knowledge Devotion. It makes sense to me, since the check has exactly the same purpose.
A dip in Warblade at the right level to get Int to Reflex saves, Ironheart Surge and White Raven Tactics (not to mention weapon aptitude, d12 HP) is not a bad idea.
That Weapon Aptitude is definitely worth a look! I think i saw an improved version of it somewhere, but i believe it was homebrew, i have to check it out...
One of the reasons why i was considering a dip in Paragnostic Initiate, is that the class has Reflex as one of it's best saves, thus partially offsetting the weak save for the Duskblade.
BTW, we rolled for stats using the (4d6+dump_lowest) method and here's how my human Duskblade ended up:
STR 16, INT 16, DEX 16, CON 15, WIS 9, CHA 7
Keep'em coming! And thanks...