Sword Saint

Sword Saints dedicate their lives to mastering the blade, honing their swordplay through countless battles and becoming one with their weapon. As part of their training, Sword Saints undergo an ancient ritual past down within a select group of powerful swordsmen that wander the world as hermits, and by doing so magically resonate with their weapons allowing them to create projections of them forged from their will. With these projections at their command, Sword Saints fight with a seemingly endless amount of blades using various forms to strike up close, create a flawless defense, or strike at a distance in a flurry of steel. 

Spectral Blades

At 3rd level, you can use a bonus action to manifest three floating, spectral blades that remain hovering behind you and follow your movements and commands. The blades are magical, glowing projections of your willpower, and they last until they're dismissed (no action required), until you manifest new blades, or until you're incapacitated. The size of the blades are that of longswords. You can choose the appearance of the blades (their appearance does not affect their usage), and the amount of spectral blades you can manifest at once increases to four at the 5th level, five at the 11th level, and six at the 20th level. You can use this feature a number of time equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. 

You can mentally command these blades to assist you in offense and defense via Swordplay forms, which are performed at the expenditure of spectral blades. You start knowing three such forms: First Form: Slash, Second Form: Impale, and Third Form: Deflect. You learn more Swordplay forms as you gain levels in this subclass. Damage dealt with the spectral blades is magical.

Some of your Swordplay forms require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature's effect. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Swordplay save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier 

When you expend a spectral blade, it does not reappear until you manifest new spectral blades. 

• First Form: Slash: Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can expend one of your spectral blades to command it to attack your target, dealing an additional 1d6 slashing damage. If a ranged weapon is used for the attack, the blade flies alongside the projectile to strike the target. 
• Second Form: Impale: You can command the blades to swiftly strike opponents from afar. As an action, you can make a ranged attack with a normal range of 60 feet, sending a spectral blade flying at the target at the expenditure of the blade. On hit, the spectral blade deals 1d6 piercing damage plus your proficiency bonus. You make this attack with proficiency and using Charisma as the damage modifier, and the spectral blade ignores half cover. If the attack misses, the spectral blade vanishes immediately.
• Third Form: Deflect: You command your blades to emit an aura of force and form a barrier in the direction of danger, intercepting attacks targeted at you. As a reaction, you can expend all of your manifested spectral blades to protect you from harm and reduce the damage taken from an attack, the blades quickly positioning themselves in the path of the attack. For every blade expended from this, the damage is reduced by 1d6. If the damage is reduced to 0, and the creature that attacked is within reach of your weapon, you can make a melee attack against the creature as part of the same reaction. 

Sharpened Mind

Additionally, your path to mastering the sword means learning the very foundations of weaponry that would you face in battle in order to learn every match-up and adapt to every situation. You have advantage on Intelligence (Insight) checks to inspect weapons and deduce their properties, as well as Intelligence (History) checks to recall historical information such as a weapon's origins and it's primary primary wielders. 

Weaving Steel

Starting at the 7th level, your immense experience with blades of your own and against others makes you able to predict fighting techniques from those who face you in combat. If a creature makes a melee attack, that creature has disadvantage on all attack rolls made against you. Additionally, if a creature makes a melee attack against you and misses, you can use your reaction to swiftly find an opening and make an attack roll against the creature with advantage. You can use your reaction this way equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regained all expended uses when you finish a long rest. 

Peerless Swordplay

Starting at the 10th level, your ability to command the spectral blades heightens and you learn how to perform additional Swordplay forms. You gain the following forms:

• Fourth Form: Whirlwind: As an action on your turn, you can expend all of your manifested spectral blades to command them to form an outward ring around you and spin rapidly, shredding everything it's vicinity. Every creature in a 10 feet radius around you takes 1d8 slashing damage plus your proficiency bonus for every blade expended as a result. Additionally, each creature within the radius of Fourth Form: Whirlwind must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or become disoriented, gaining disadvantage on all saving throws until the end of your next turn. Once you use this form, you can't perform it again until you finish a long rest. 
• Fifth Form: Displace: As an action on your turn, you can expend all of your manifested spectral blades to command them to emit an aura of force and form an arrangement of crossed blades to push your enemies around the battlefield. Choose a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed 15 feet in the direction you are currently facing and be knocked prone. If Fifth Form: Displace is used while only one spectral blade is manifested, then the target has advantage on the saving throw. If four or more blades are manifested at the time, then the target has disadvantage on the saving throw.  

Perfected Fundamentals

At the 15th level, you revisit the fundamentals of swordsmanship and learn the sword all over again, gaining a crucial new perspective on how to wield swords and increasing the strength of your spectral blades. Your first three Swordplay forms grow stronger in the following ways:

• First Form: Slash: The damage of First Form: Slash increases to 1d8, and you can now add your proficiency bonus to the damage roll of this form.
• Second Form: Impale: The damage of Second Form: Impale increases to 2d6, and if the attack misses the spectral blade teleports back to you instead of being expended. 
• Third Form: Deflect: The damage reduction of Third Form: Deflect increases to 1d8, and when you use this form against an attack you gain resistance against the attack's damage type until the end of your next turn. 

One with the sword

At the 18th level you gain full mastery over your spectral blades, which now move as an extension of your body. You gain two additional swordplay forms, and you can use these forms without expending your blades. When you use these forms, you manifest spectral blades up to the maximum amount available to you, if you don't already have the maximum amount of blades manifested.

• Sixth Form: Storm: As an action, you can command your blades to soar into the sky and multiply into countless blades, raining down destruction over an area. Choose a point within 90 feet of you. The spectral blades soar into the sky and descend at blinding speed in a 30-foot radius, and each creature within their radius must make a Dexterity saving throw. A target takes 6d10 on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The spectral blades created by this form disappear after the form as been used, and the blades you had manifested when the form was initially used instantly teleport back to you.
• Seventh Form: Finale: Immediately after you take the attack action on your turn, you can command your blades to converge and pierce your target in a sudden flash. The target takes an additional 1d12 damage for every spectral blade manifested when you use this form. 

You can only perform one of these forms per usage of the feature, and once you use this feature you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.