College of the Shadow Blade

Life on the streets is tough, and you learned at a young age to be stealthy, quick, and deadly. As a student of the College of the Shadow Blade you combine the best of what it is to be a Bard, with your stealth and fighting abilities. 

Cloak of Shadows

When you join the College of the Shadow Blade at 3rd level, you gain the ability to weave your a dark song of shadow allowing you to be more effective in melee combat. 

As a bonus action when you successfully attack an opponent, spend one use of Bardic Inspiration to dawn a cloak of shadows which envelops you. This makes your movements much harder to see and judge allowing you to strike your opponent more effectively. You may then add your Bardic Inspiration Dice to your damage on the Target.

If your target dies as a result of this attack, you regain your expended use of Bardic Inspiration.

Deceitful Retreat

Also at 3rd level your ability to weave your music with the shadows grants you the ability to employ a mirror image of yourself to escape combat.

One per short or long rest, you use your bonus action to weave your words into an illusion that takes your place, and you may disengage without provoking an opportunity of attack. Once you have finished your movement and ended your turn, or use an action to attack, the illusion fades instantly. 

At 10th level you can use this ability twice per short or long rest.

Aura of Cunning Shadows

At 6th level you gain the Aura of Cunning Shadows that hastens your actions and senses. 

You can attack twice, instead of once. You may use your second attack to strike with a weapon, or use a touch spell that is at least level 1 and one level lower than your current spell casting level. If the touch spell you are casting is a cantrip, it must be cast at level 1 or higher. (At 6th level you can cast 3rd level spells, so the highest spell level you could use for second attack is a 2nd level spell)

This uses a spell slot as per normal spell casting.

Dark Gift

At 6th level you learn the Chill Touch and Shocking Grasp spells. These do not count against your number of known spells.

Shadowstep Mantra

At 16th level you learn the Shadowstep Mantra, a powerful battle chant that allows you to blend into the shadows and move swiftly for a short distance.

Upon using your first attack to damage a target successfully with a melee weapon, you can use your bonus action to shadowstep up to 15ft away without provoking an attack of opportunity and appear behind another target. Using your secondary attack, you attack the new target with your weapon having the element of surprise, gaining advantage on the attack and doing an additional  2d10+ bardic inspiration dice in damage to the target. Using this mantra consumes a use of Bardic Inspiration.