College of Swords Retempered

Bards of the College of Swords are called blades, and they entertain through daring feats of weapon prowess. Blades perform stunts such as sword swallowing, knife throwing and juggling, and mock combats. Though they use their weapons to entertain, they are also highly trained and skilled warriors in their own right.

Their talent with weapons inspires many blades to lead double lives. One blade might use a circus troupe as cover for nefarious deeds such as assassination, robbery, and blackmail. Other blades strike at the wicked, bringing justice to bear against the cruel and powerful. Most troupes are happy to accept a blade’s talent for the excitement it adds to a performance, but few entertainers fully trust a blade in their ranks.

Blades who abandon their lives as entertainers have often run into trouble that makes maintaining their secret activities impossible. A blade caught stealing or engaging in vigilante justice is too great a liability for most troupes. With their weapon skills and magic, these blades either take up work as enforcers for thieves’ guilds or strike out on their own as adventurers.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Swords at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and one melee martial weapon of your choice.

If you’re proficient with a simple or martial melee weapon, you can use it as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.

Fighting Style

At 3rd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if something in the game lets you choose again.

Dueling

When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Great Weapon Fighting

When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

Two-Weapon Fighting

When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Blade Flourish

At 3rd level, you learn to perform impressive displays of martial prowess and speed.

Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, your walking speed increases by 10 feet until the end of the turn. In addition, you learn three Blade Flourishes of your choice. You can use only one Flourish per turn. You learn an additional flourish of your choice at 6th, 10th, and 14th level. Each time you learn a new flourish, you can also replace one flourish you know with a different one.

 

Assailing Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You can make another attack with your weapon against the same or different target.

Defensive Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You also add the number rolled to your AC until the start of your next turn.

Goading Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against 10 + your Proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus. On a failed save, the target has disadvantage on attacking targets other than you until the end of your next turn.

Intimidating Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. The target also needs to succeed on a Wisdom save DC 10 + your Proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Intrusive Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You can also push the target up to 5 feet away from you, plus a number of feet equal to the number you roll on that die. You can then immediately use your reaction to move up to half your walking speed to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the target.

Mobile Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You can immediately move anywhere within 10ft of the struck target without drawing opportunity attacks.

Pinning Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. The target must immediately succeed on a Dexterity save against 10 + your Proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus or have their speed reduced to zero until the start of your next turn.

Quipping Flourish

You can spend your bonus action to cast Vicious Mockery as a 1st level caster as part of your attack.

Slashing Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit and to any other creature of your choice that you can see within 5ft of you. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die.

Unbalancing Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. The target also needs to immediately succeed on an Athletics check against a DC of 10 + your Proficiency bonus + your Charisma bonus or be knocked prone.

Violent Flourish

You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage to a target you hit. The damage equals twice the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die.

Extra Attack

Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Flourishing Fury

At 14th level, you are an undisputed master with your blade. When you use a Flourish and manage to hit a second time your turn, you can make a second Flourish against the same target you struck. Alternatively, you can grant your Bardic Inspiration as a free action to an ally.