College of Swords
Turn Combat Mastery into a Performance
Bards of the College of Swords are called blades. They turn martial prowess into spectacle, captivating audiences with graceful duels, knife tricks, and theatrical combat. Their flair for performance hides deadly precision, making them as dangerous as they are dazzling.
Many blades walk a fine line between entertainer and operative. Some use their talents to fight injustice or pursue secret agendas, while others chase coin and chaos. Whether in the spotlight or the shadows, a blade is always performing.
Level 3: Martial Training
Your training in martial combat has granted you training with Medium Armour and proficiency with Melee weapons that has the Finesse or Light property (e.g. Estocs, Rapiers, Sabres, Shortswords, Scimitars). You can use those weapons as a spellcasting focus for your Bard spells.
Level 3: Fighting Style
You have honed your martial prowess and gain a Fighting Style feat of your choice (those feats have this feature as a prerequisite).
Whenever you gain a Bard level, you can replace the feat you chose with a different Fighting Style feat.
Level 3: Blade Flourish
Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, your walking speed increases by 10 feet until the end of the turn, and if a weapon attack that you make as part of this action hits a creature, you can use one of the following Blade Flourish options of your choice. Each option costs 1 Bardic Die and you can use only one Blade Flourish option per attack.
- Defensive Flourish
- The attack deals extra damage equals to one roll of your Bardic Die. You also add the number rolled to your AC until the start of your next turn.
- Slashing Flourish
- The attack deals extra damage equals to one roll of your Bardic Die. Moreover, each creature of your choice within 5 feet of you also take damage equals one roll of your Bardic Die. The damage type is the same of type of the attack.
- Mobile Flourish
- The attack deals extra damage equals to one roll of your Bardic Die. You can also push the target up to a number of feet equal to three times the number you roll on that die, rounded to the nearest 5 foot increment. You can then immediately Teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the target.
Level 6: Extra Attack
You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Level 6: Weapon Mastery
Your training with weapons allows you to use the mastery properties of two kinds of weapons of your choice with which you have proficiency, such as Daggers and Shortbows.
Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can change the kinds of weapons you chose. For example, you could switch to using the mastery properties of Scimitars and Shortswords.
Level 6: Expanded Weapon Mastery (Optional)
This new feature expands your base class Weapon Mastery feature. You gain the following option when you use Weapon Mastery.
Replace Weapon Mastery When selecting weapons for Weapon Mastery, you can also replace the Mastery property of any weapon you are using with another eligible property. For example, you could change a Longsword’s Sap property to Flex.
Multiple Mastery on One Weapon When selecting weapons for Weapon Mastery, you can instead assign an additional eligible Mastery property to a weapon you already chose. A weapon can have no more than four mastery properties at a time. If a weapon has multiple mastery properties, you can only use one of them per attack. You must choose which mastery property you're using before making the attack.
Level 14: Master's Flourish
Whenever you use a Blade Flourish option, you can roll a d6 and use it instead of expending a Bardic Die. When you do, the Blade Flourishes uses the d6 instead of scaling with your Bardic Die.