The Knife Dancer

A Knife Dancer is a humanoid trained tin the ability to bond with a small blade magically and have it become an extension of themselves. This turns the wielder not only into a deadly fighter, but also a graceful artist. Knife Dancer's have the ability to magically control their bound blades with their minds, letting it flow and spin around them in graceful arches or launching it at their enemies before returning it to their hands. Battle Dancers connect with their blades and hone the ability to either curve a single dagger through the battle field to hit one or multiple targets, or bond with blade after blade until they have an army of weaponry at thier disposal to throw around. Notable masters in this profession have even been known to arrange thier knives along a cloak or in place of one, creating a deadly looking curtain of blades that protects them at all times.

Blade Mystic

3rd-level Knife Dancer feature

You gain Performance Points to help fuel your blades. The number of points you gain is equal to 2 times your proficiency bonus. You regain use of these performance points after taking a short rest. You can also spend a bonus action to regain one point., but you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest. You have the following uses for your performance points:

Honed Edge Blades. As an action you can infuse your bonded blades at once, making them strike true. The next time you make an attack with each of these weapons within the next 10 minutes., roll a dice equal to the damage die of the weapon and add it to the attack roll. The weapon then loses this property until you spend another point on this ability. Then the blade returns to you.

Bladed Defense. As part of your bonus action to throw out your bonded blades, you can spend a performance point to infuse them to aid in deflecting damage. When a creature within 5 ft. of a blade is hit with a melee or ranged attack, you can choose to have a blade flash into motion and deflect part of the blow, reducing the damage by the weapons damage dice. Then the blade returns to you.

You also learn two of the below cantrips of your choice. You can use Intelligence, Charisma, or Wisdom as your spell modifier for these spells (your choice.) at 10th level, you may select a third cantrip option.

• Blade Ward
• Booming Blade
• Green Flame Blade
• Sword Burst.

You gain access to cast the spells below at certain levels. Regardless of the spell's description (such as limits on the Cordon of Arrows spell or the description in Melf's Minute Meteors) you use your bonded daggers for these spells. To cast these spells, you must spend Performance points equal to the level of the spell. If you cannot spend enough points for the spell, you cannot cast it. In addition, once you have cast a spell of 1st level or higher with performance points, you cannot do so again until you finish a short rest (for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level spells) or a long rest (for spells of 4th level and above.)

Knife Dancer Spells

ROGUE LEVEL	SPELLS
3rd	ensnaring strike, hail of thorns, zephyr strike, jump, longstrider, ice knife
7th	flame blade, cloud of daggers, cordon of arrows (Usable by daggers and knives)
13th	conjure barrage, Melf’s minute meteors
15th	animate objects, steel wind strike

Starting at 17th level, the number of blades you can bond with becomes equal to your proficiency bonus X your rogue level instead.

Bonded Blade

3rd-level Knife Dancer feature

You can spend one hour sharpening a dagger or knife while mentally focusing on it to bond with it. Once completed, you are able to control the blade with your thoughts and cause it to telekinetically move around, though the blade itself is still considered a standard weapon and does not become magical. As long as you are within range of your dagger (100 fee X your rogue level} you can use a bonus action to command your blade to come to you. The blade can travel 60 feet per round and your connection with it is so strong that it will weave around obstacles until it arrives in your hand, if it can find a path.

You can bond with a number of blades equal to your proficiency bonus + your rogue level. You can command a number of bonded blades at once with a bonus action equal to your proficiency bonus.

As a bonus action, you can either throw a number of blades equal to your proficiency bonus to unoccupied squares within 60 feet of you that you can see, or recall a number of bonded blades equal to your proficiency bonus to you (This includes any bonded blade you threw at a creature as part of an attack action.) When you recall a blade, each creature in the blade's space and along in a 5 ft line between the blade and your character must make a saving throw with a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. On a failed save, the creature takes 1d4+Int slashing damage.

Starting at 6th level, each blade you are bonded with is considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

On the Knife's Edge

9th-level Knife Dancer feature

At 9th level, you can use your bonus action to teleport to the location of one of your bonded blades within 40 ft. of you. If the blade's square is occupied, you teleport to within 5 ft. of that space instead. When you do, you can choose one of the options below:

• You swap places with your blade, leaving it behind to strike a foe. You may make an immediate melee weapon attack against a creature within 5 ft. of the space you occupied. You have advantage on this attack. Once this attack has been made, the blade magically returns to your location.
• You teleport directly to a bonded blade and strike an enemy within range. Make a melee weapon attack against a creature within 5 ft. of your new location. You gain advantage on this attack.

 

Dancer's Grace

13th-level Knife Dancer feature

At 13th level, you gain additional options for your performance points.

Dancer's Rebuke. When you are hit with a melee attack, you may use your reaction and spend up to 3 performance points to strike back at your foe. For each point spent, the target must succeed on a dexterity saving throw vs your spell save DC or take 2d6 slashing damage from your bonded weapon.

Dancer's Defense. As a bonus action on your turn, you may spend 2 performance points to cause your blades to whirl around you rapidly, potentially blocking strikes. Any melee or ranged weapon attack against you has disadvantage until your next turn and if a target within 5 ft. of you misses an attack against you it takes 1d6 slashing damage from your bonded weapon.

Dancer's Guile. When you roll a deception, performance, intimidation, or persuasion check, you may immediately spend 1 performance point to gain advantage on the roll.

Thundering Steel. You may spend 2 performance points to rattle enemies around you. Choose a bonded weapon within sonorous tone that is heard by creatures up to 150 ft. away. Each creature of your choice within 20 ft. of the struck blade must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure they take 2d6 thunder damage and are knocked prone, or half as much on a successful save and are not knocked prone. Regardless of if they make their save, each creature affected in the are is deafened until the end of your next turn.

Perfected Bond

17th-level Knife Dancer feature

At 17th level, your ability to bond with your blades of choice becomes absolute. You only need to spend 10 minutes bonding with a weapon, instead of 1 hour, and you may choose one of your blades to become your Prime Weapon. You gain additional features with this prime weapon outside of your normal blade.

• A prime weapon is considered to be a +2 magical weapon., if it is not already. The weapon deals 1d8 damage instead of its normal damage and ignores all resistances and immunities to slashing and piercing damage.
• You may control a prime weapon from any distance, rather than the usual limitations on feet, so long as you are on the same plane of existence.
• When you cast a spell using performance points, you may use your prime weapon's space as the origin for that spell, provided it is within 100 feet of you.

Swarm of Steel. As a bonus action, you may command your blade to become a deadly vortex of metal. When you use this feature and as a bonus action on each of your turns, you may command the blade to move up to 20 ft. in a straight line of your choice. Any space occupied by one of your bonded blades that your prime weapon passes over becomes a part of this swarm (up to a maximum of six additional bonded blades.) The first creature that occupies a square the swarm moves through must make a dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure they take 1d8+2 slashing damage, plus an additional 1d4 slashing damage per bonded blade in the swarm, and half as much on a successful one. Any creature that starts its turn in the Swarm of Steel's space or moves into it on their turn must make this saving throw as well. A creature can only take this damage once per turn. The swarm lasts for 10 minutes, or until you dismiss it. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest. 

Unconscious Command. Your prime weapon can keep fighting even if you cannot. If you are incapacitated at the start of your turn, your blade may immediately move 20 ft. in a straight line as if it were under the effect of the Swarm of Steel, even if it has already been used. Each blade picked up by the prime weapon during this move drops to the ground at the end of this movement, unable to be used until you are able to take actions again.