I'm currently playing a Sword Bard with a two level dip into Hexblade. Seven levels in Bard so far.
He's a half-elf, starting stats 8/16/14/10/10/17 and took the Elven Accuracy feat at level 4 to bring his charisma to 18.
He also picked up a +2 longsword by praying at a shrine to Lathander.
I started with the Entertainer background but dropped the instrument proficiency for thieves' tools and performance for deception. Starting proficiencies Stealth, Perception, Investigation, Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation, Acrobatics. I added expertise to Perception and Persuasion when those became available.
Waiting till the seventh level for extra attack was annoying, but now I have that he's a veritable machine in combat. I took the Dueling fighting style because it means I can sword and board more effectively (I'm the primary melee fighter in our campaign). With his longsword he's +10 to hit and +8 to damage. The defensive flourish means his AC jumps from 18 to 19-26, and I have Shield on top of that if I need it. Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast is very nice, and although I have a breastplate and shield I took the Armor of Shadows as his second invocation because Mage Armor isn't on the Bard spell list, and it's potentially helpful if I'm sans armour for some reason.
Currently I don't need any more levels in Hexblade, but if I do I'll take Pact of the Blade and make my sword my pact weapon. Being unable to be truly disarmed seems good.
I don't think there's any one 'best' build for sword bard, or any bard for that matter. Bard is set up as a pretty good chassis in general. You don't have to start out with a +CHA race to be a good bard. And also you have to ask yourself how you hope to play as a sword bard; T1 and T2 you can do a lot more in melee than in T3 and T4.
For my AL sword bard I didn't multiclass at all. He's currently a level 10 drow sword bard.
10/18/14/8/10/18
Feats: Elven accuracy +1 Dex)
ASI: +2 CHA
Level 10 magical secrets: Shadow blade, steel wind strike, although holy weapon and destructive wave are also very enticing magical secrets for a frontline fighting bard.
I've debated taking 3 levels in rogue to go swashbuckler for the fancy footwork ability and the charisma boost to initiative, but I also don't want to lose spell progression. At higher levels a sword bard, just like a bladesinger, will be in front line combat less and less. The higher spells become more battlefield control and combat support and that will require being less in the thick of it.
I'd imagine that Shadowblade really changes the feel of the sword bard. Usually I feel pretty 'meh' towards the sword bard (even though I liked the original blade bard in 2e), but looking at shadowblade on your list o magical secrets gets my attention.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Sword Bard is my favourite. Defensive flourish is great at any fight. At high levels you can get 18AC+d12+6Shield, without any magical items.
Im building a sword bard for a Gladiator style challenge with my friend. This is what I know of countless hours mixing at matching the build:
2 levels of War Mage Wizard: gives you Arcane deflection, an amazing no spell slot mini shield, or even helping to pass a save instead of using absorb elements. But being a mage, you can pick both shield and absorb elements as a backup. The +4save should also apply to concentration checks as they are just a constitution save. And lastly Intellect mod on initiative really starts stacking nicely with jack of trades.
2 levels of Paladin: gives you burst damage with divine smites (No explanation needed there). Extra fighting style, of which I picked protection +1AC.
3 levels of Hexblade(which I did not use in my build): Now we all know the Charisma based attacks is nice. However I was going for dual wielding, and I couldn’t afford the 3 levels required to mechanically satisfy using both weapons with Charisma. If you didn’t care for divine smite then yes, 3 hexblade levels would accomplish everything else by giving you a free mage armour that’s equivalent to studded leather + 1AC defensive fighting style. Also, a couple of 2nd level slots on short rest is always nice, but I’d push it up to 5 levels for the 3rd level slots to use for haste every short rest.
All in all the dual wielding build attacks 3 times a turn, with flourishes on every attack once you hit 14th Bard. The ability states you can only use one type of flourish, and nothing stops you from spamming the same flourish, keeping the highest AC roll from the 3 defensive flourishes you do.
Sword Bard is my favourite. Defensive flourish is great at any fight. At high levels you can get 18AC+d12+6Shield, without any magical items.
Im building a sword bard for a Gladiator style challenge with my friend. This is what I know of countless hours mixing at matching the build:
2 levels of War Mage Wizard: gives you Arcane deflection, an amazing no spell slot mini shield, or even helping to pass a save instead of using absorb elements. But being a mage, you can pick both shield and absorb elements as a backup. The +4save should also apply to concentration checks as they are just a constitution save. And lastly Intellect mod on initiative really starts stacking nicely with jack of trades.
2 levels of Paladin: gives you burst damage with divine smites (No explanation needed there). Extra fighting style, of which I picked protection +1AC.
3 levels of Hexblade(which I did not use in my build): Now we all know the Charisma based attacks is nice. However I was going for dual wielding, and I couldn’t afford the 3 levels required to mechanically satisfy using both weapons with Charisma. If you didn’t care for divine smite then yes, 3 hexblade levels would accomplish everything else by giving you a free mage armour that’s equivalent to studded leather + 1AC defensive fighting style. Also, a couple of 2nd level slots on short rest is always nice, but I’d push it up to 5 levels for the 3rd level slots to use for haste every short rest.
All in all the dual wielding build attacks 3 times a turn, with flourishes on every attack once you hit 14th Bard. The ability states you can only use one type of flourish, and nothing stops you from spamming the same flourish, keeping the highest AC roll from the 3 defensive flourishes you do.
Wizard/paladin/warlock/bard? You'll be very MAD right out of the gate to meet multiclassing level requirements. What level do you plan on doing this build, because that effects where your bardic inspiration dice will be at. At max you'll get a D10, not a D12.
Honestly, for what you want to do with that build taking 2 of the 4 classes out would make it more optimal. Anything you get from those multiclasses you can get from feats or magical secrets, save for the extra fighting style and divine smites.
Quote from Ogelthorpe>>>>Wizard/paladin/warlock/bard? You'll be very MAD right out of the gate to meet multiclassing level requirements. What level do you plan on doing this build, because that effects where your bardic inspiration dice will be at. At max you'll get a D10, not a D12.
Honestly, for what you want to do with that build taking 2 of the 4 classes out would make it more optimal. Anything you get from those multiclasses you can get from feats or magical secrets, save for the extra fighting style and divine smites.
I did state I didn’t use the warlock levels. It’s 16 Bard, 2 Paladin, 2 Wizard.
I am quite surprised about the ability. It was written very clearly, I hadn’t thought to look for a sage advice. Even more surprised it’s not stated as a RAW vs RAI argument either. But that hardly makes this type of feature useless for me.
“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. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn.”
This could have easily said “You can use only one Blade Flourish per turn”. Omitting the Option.
I should point out this isn’t for a campaign. There are certain restrictions you don’t need to worry about when you get to build a character at level 20. If it was for a campaign I’d definitely reconsider running 3 classes as your progression lags.
If you're going just straight Bard, I usually enjoy just doing dual scimitars...you can even mix it up with scimitar & dagger, if you like, just to be able to toss a dagger with a Flourish on occasion.
An unusual build, if one decides to boost Strength in some manner...is a Quarterstaff.
Granted, this would only be one-handed, and with the "Dueling" Fighting Style...but with just the "Polearm Master" feat, you get a bonus-action attack that adds your Strength-modifier, and you can use a Reaction when an enemy enters your melee space to whack them again...and this Reaction could use ANOTHER "Flourish".
Use a "Defensive Flourish" on your normal attack, and then perhaps a "Mobile Flourish" on your Reaction to really send a message for the enemy to stay away.
Plus, Bards get a "Staff of Charming" quarterstaff that really suits this playstyle.
You have to take the attack action and you still only can one time.
You can't even flourish on your bonus action to attack.
Is it turn, or round?
That'd be important for Reactions.
If not, I stand corrected.
"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. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn."
It is per turn. It doesn't work on opportunity attacks in the same way that a sneak attack or divine smite opportunity attack does.
You have to take the attack action and you still only can one time.
You can't even flourish on your bonus action to attack.
Is it turn, or round?
That'd be important for Reactions.
If not, I stand corrected.
"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. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn."
It is per turn. It doesn't work on opportunity attacks in the same way that a sneak attack or divine smite opportunity attack does.
Eh?
I'm totally alright if I'm incorrect in thinking this...but aren't Reactions considered to be their own turn?
The same way Reaction spells can be cast, even if the spellcaster has already cast a spell on their turn...and, of course, the Rogue "Sneak Attacks" and Paladin "Smites" on their Reactions.
If it was "round", then yes, the Sword Bard would be left out in the cold...I just find it odd that the other classes get to add their damage die through Reaction-based attacks, but the Sword Bard cannot add their paltry damage die through such means...
EDIT: Aye, you're right...!
Nowhere in the description for opportunity attacks does it state anything about it being its own turn...so no stacking Flourishes.
You have to take the attack action and you still only can one time.
You can't even flourish on your bonus action to attack.
Is it turn, or round?
That'd be important for Reactions.
If not, I stand corrected.
"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. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn."
It is per turn. It doesn't work on opportunity attacks in the same way that a sneak attack or divine smite opportunity attack does.
Eh?
I'm totally alright if I'm incorrect in thinking this...but aren't Reactions considered to be their own turn?
The same way Reaction spells can be cast, even if the spellcaster has already cast a spell on their turn...and, of course, the Rogue "Sneak Attacks" and Paladin "Smites" on their Reactions.
If it was "round", then yes, the Sword Bard would be left out in the cold...I just find it odd that the other classes get to add their damage die through Reaction-based attacks, but the Sword Bard cannot add their paltry damage die through such means...
EDIT: Aye, you're right...!
Nowhere in the description for opportunity attacks does it state anything about it being its own turn...so no stacking Flourishes.
Ah, well...the Bard still has the most style. ; )
It would be incorrect thinking. A reaction can be made on your turn such as using an opportunity attack on an opponent fleeing from dissonant whispers. Taking an opportunity attack isn't the same as taking the Attack action (capitol A) however.
This may have been the game designers making this so that the balance isn't broken by a sword bard with sentinel flourishing on their opponents' turn and boosting their AC, but it really isn't any different than a battlemaster doing the same. Paladins can smite on every melee attack, battlemasters can throw superiority die on every attack and those are finite resources. Why not allow sword bards to do the same?
I'm playing with an idea of a half-elf sword bard who, being raised as a second class citizen in an elven society, is being used as a personal assassin by their elven parent and in a struggle to become the very best assassin to gain status makes a pact with a hexblade. So in short, 6 levels of sword bard, three or four levels of hexblade and then just more bard levels.
You have to take the attack action and you still only can one time.
You can't even flourish on your bonus action to attack.
Is it turn, or round?
That'd be important for Reactions.
If not, I stand corrected.
"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. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn."
It is per turn. It doesn't work on opportunity attacks in the same way that a sneak attack or divine smite opportunity attack does.
Eh?
I'm totally alright if I'm incorrect in thinking this...but aren't Reactions considered to be their own turn?
The same way Reaction spells can be cast, even if the spellcaster has already cast a spell on their turn...and, of course, the Rogue "Sneak Attacks" and Paladin "Smites" on their Reactions.
If it was "round", then yes, the Sword Bard would be left out in the cold...I just find it odd that the other classes get to add their damage die through Reaction-based attacks, but the Sword Bard cannot add their paltry damage die through such means...
EDIT: Aye, you're right...!
Nowhere in the description for opportunity attacks does it state anything about it being its own turn...so no stacking Flourishes.
Ah, well...the Bard still has the most style. ; )
It would be incorrect thinking. A reaction can be made on your turn such as using an opportunity attack on an opponent fleeing from dissonant whispers. Taking an opportunity attack isn't the same as taking the Attack action (capitol A) however.
This may have been the game designers making this so that the balance isn't broken by a sword bard with sentinel flourishing on their opponents' turn and boosting their AC, but it really isn't any different than a battlemaster doing the same. Paladins can smite on every melee attack, battlemasters can throw superiority die on every attack and those are finite resources. Why not allow sword bards to do the same?
It was something that got stuck in my head during a session at our table...one player was curious why the spellcaster could cast "Feather Fall" or " Shield" as a Reaction, since they "already" cast a damage spell that turn.
Someone said that the Reaction spells functioned essentially "on their own turn", which doesn't interfere with using their normal Action to cast a spell.
After that, I incorrectly associated Reactions as their own mini-turn.
how do you define best, honestly? Swords bard is a bard archetype that I /want/ to like, but completely fail to see the value in on paper. It's obviously got a melee flavor, but TWF isn't very strong, nor is light armor with d8 hit die as a standard melee combatant. Sadly, swords looks /best/ as an archery based character. I'd probably go with crossbow expert and a hand crossbow so I can get 3 shots a round once I get by bonus attack online. It's cheesy, but I don't think that playing something like this, on the frontlines where it looks to be obviously intended to be...would be all that great.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
i have taken interest in swords bards, and I was curious what sword bard build are the best
I think most people will say dip one level into hexblade which is a solution to most builds.
Fighter 3 can be good for action surge a second fighting style and maybe maneuvers.
Paladin 2 gives a second style as well as smites with all those sweet bard spell slots.
Rogue 3 as a swashbuckler can give some extra damage dice as well as the mobile feat and charisma bonus to initiative.
These are the most common ones I have seen.
I'm currently playing a Sword Bard with a two level dip into Hexblade. Seven levels in Bard so far.
He's a half-elf, starting stats 8/16/14/10/10/17 and took the Elven Accuracy feat at level 4 to bring his charisma to 18.
He also picked up a +2 longsword by praying at a shrine to Lathander.
I started with the Entertainer background but dropped the instrument proficiency for thieves' tools and performance for deception. Starting proficiencies Stealth, Perception, Investigation, Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation, Acrobatics. I added expertise to Perception and Persuasion when those became available.
Waiting till the seventh level for extra attack was annoying, but now I have that he's a veritable machine in combat. I took the Dueling fighting style because it means I can sword and board more effectively (I'm the primary melee fighter in our campaign). With his longsword he's +10 to hit and +8 to damage. The defensive flourish means his AC jumps from 18 to 19-26, and I have Shield on top of that if I need it. Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast is very nice, and although I have a breastplate and shield I took the Armor of Shadows as his second invocation because Mage Armor isn't on the Bard spell list, and it's potentially helpful if I'm sans armour for some reason.
Currently I don't need any more levels in Hexblade, but if I do I'll take Pact of the Blade and make my sword my pact weapon. Being unable to be truly disarmed seems good.
I don't think there's any one 'best' build for sword bard, or any bard for that matter. Bard is set up as a pretty good chassis in general. You don't have to start out with a +CHA race to be a good bard. And also you have to ask yourself how you hope to play as a sword bard; T1 and T2 you can do a lot more in melee than in T3 and T4.
For my AL sword bard I didn't multiclass at all. He's currently a level 10 drow sword bard.
10/18/14/8/10/18
Feats: Elven accuracy +1 Dex)
ASI: +2 CHA
Level 10 magical secrets: Shadow blade, steel wind strike, although holy weapon and destructive wave are also very enticing magical secrets for a frontline fighting bard.
I've debated taking 3 levels in rogue to go swashbuckler for the fancy footwork ability and the charisma boost to initiative, but I also don't want to lose spell progression. At higher levels a sword bard, just like a bladesinger, will be in front line combat less and less. The higher spells become more battlefield control and combat support and that will require being less in the thick of it.
I'd imagine that Shadowblade really changes the feel of the sword bard. Usually I feel pretty 'meh' towards the sword bard (even though I liked the original blade bard in 2e), but looking at shadowblade on your list o magical secrets gets my attention.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Sword Bard is my favourite. Defensive flourish is great at any fight. At high levels you can get 18AC+d12+6Shield, without any magical items.
Im building a sword bard for a Gladiator style challenge with my friend. This is what I know of countless hours mixing at matching the build:
2 levels of War Mage Wizard: gives you Arcane deflection, an amazing no spell slot mini shield, or even helping to pass a save instead of using absorb elements. But being a mage, you can pick both shield and absorb elements as a backup. The +4save should also apply to concentration checks as they are just a constitution save. And lastly Intellect mod on initiative really starts stacking nicely with jack of trades.
2 levels of Paladin: gives you burst damage with divine smites (No explanation needed there). Extra fighting style, of which I picked protection +1AC.
3 levels of Hexblade(which I did not use in my build): Now we all know the Charisma based attacks is nice. However I was going for dual wielding, and I couldn’t afford the 3 levels required to mechanically satisfy using both weapons with Charisma. If you didn’t care for divine smite then yes, 3 hexblade levels would accomplish everything else by giving you a free mage armour that’s equivalent to studded leather + 1AC defensive fighting style. Also, a couple of 2nd level slots on short rest is always nice, but I’d push it up to 5 levels for the 3rd level slots to use for haste every short rest.
All in all the dual wielding build attacks 3 times a turn, with flourishes on every attack once you hit 14th Bard. The ability states you can only use one type of flourish, and nothing stops you from spamming the same flourish, keeping the highest AC roll from the 3 defensive flourishes you do.
Wizard/paladin/warlock/bard? You'll be very MAD right out of the gate to meet multiclassing level requirements. What level do you plan on doing this build, because that effects where your bardic inspiration dice will be at. At max you'll get a D10, not a D12.
Honestly, for what you want to do with that build taking 2 of the 4 classes out would make it more optimal. Anything you get from those multiclasses you can get from feats or magical secrets, save for the extra fighting style and divine smites.
EDIT: You can only flourish once per turn, as per Jeremy Crawford. Not multiple times.
I did state I didn’t use the warlock levels. It’s 16 Bard, 2 Paladin, 2 Wizard.
I am quite surprised about the ability. It was written very clearly, I hadn’t thought to look for a sage advice. Even more surprised it’s not stated as a RAW vs RAI argument either. But that hardly makes this type of feature useless for me.
“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. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn.”
This could have easily said “You can use only one Blade Flourish per turn”. Omitting the Option.
I should point out this isn’t for a campaign. There are certain restrictions you don’t need to worry about when you get to build a character at level 20. If it was for a campaign I’d definitely reconsider running 3 classes as your progression lags.
If you're going just straight Bard, I usually enjoy just doing dual scimitars...you can even mix it up with scimitar & dagger, if you like, just to be able to toss a dagger with a Flourish on occasion.
An unusual build, if one decides to boost Strength in some manner...is a Quarterstaff.
Granted, this would only be one-handed, and with the "Dueling" Fighting Style...but with just the "Polearm Master" feat, you get a bonus-action attack that adds your Strength-modifier, and you can use a Reaction when an enemy enters your melee space to whack them again...and this Reaction could use ANOTHER "Flourish".
Use a "Defensive Flourish" on your normal attack, and then perhaps a "Mobile Flourish" on your Reaction to really send a message for the enemy to stay away.
Plus, Bards get a "Staff of Charming" quarterstaff that really suits this playstyle.
Remember you can only flourish once per round.
You have to take the attack action and you still only can one time.
You can't even flourish on your bonus action to attack.
Is it turn, or round?
That'd be important for Reactions.
If not, I stand corrected.
It is only when you use the attack action and says once per turn so no two weapon fighting or action surge.
A reaction lets you use a melee weapon attack so again can't be used. Even a readied action can't use a 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. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn."
It is per turn. It doesn't work on opportunity attacks in the same way that a sneak attack or divine smite opportunity attack does.
Eh?
I'm totally alright if I'm incorrect in thinking this...but aren't Reactions considered to be their own turn?
The same way Reaction spells can be cast, even if the spellcaster has already cast a spell on their turn...and, of course, the Rogue "Sneak Attacks" and Paladin "Smites" on their Reactions.
If it was "round", then yes, the Sword Bard would be left out in the cold...I just find it odd that the other classes get to add their damage die through Reaction-based attacks, but the Sword Bard cannot add their paltry damage die through such means...
EDIT: Aye, you're right...!
Nowhere in the description for opportunity attacks does it state anything about it being its own turn...so no stacking Flourishes.
Ah, well...the Bard still has the most style. ; )
It would be incorrect thinking. A reaction can be made on your turn such as using an opportunity attack on an opponent fleeing from dissonant whispers. Taking an opportunity attack isn't the same as taking the Attack action (capitol A) however.
This may have been the game designers making this so that the balance isn't broken by a sword bard with sentinel flourishing on their opponents' turn and boosting their AC, but it really isn't any different than a battlemaster doing the same. Paladins can smite on every melee attack, battlemasters can throw superiority die on every attack and those are finite resources. Why not allow sword bards to do the same?
I'm playing with an idea of a half-elf sword bard who, being raised as a second class citizen in an elven society, is being used as a personal assassin by their elven parent and in a struggle to become the very best assassin to gain status makes a pact with a hexblade. So in short, 6 levels of sword bard, three or four levels of hexblade and then just more bard levels.
It was something that got stuck in my head during a session at our table...one player was curious why the spellcaster could cast "Feather Fall" or " Shield" as a Reaction, since they "already" cast a damage spell that turn.
Someone said that the Reaction spells functioned essentially "on their own turn", which doesn't interfere with using their normal Action to cast a spell.
After that, I incorrectly associated Reactions as their own mini-turn.
how do you define best, honestly? Swords bard is a bard archetype that I /want/ to like, but completely fail to see the value in on paper. It's obviously got a melee flavor, but TWF isn't very strong, nor is light armor with d8 hit die as a standard melee combatant. Sadly, swords looks /best/ as an archery based character. I'd probably go with crossbow expert and a hand crossbow so I can get 3 shots a round once I get by bonus attack online. It's cheesy, but I don't think that playing something like this, on the frontlines where it looks to be obviously intended to be...would be all that great.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Our tables kobold Sword Bard made a surprisingly decent skirmisher... "Defensive Flourish" adds a steady amount of AC when needed.
A tiny lizard knight, going toe-to-toe with several goliaths.
I would like to hear the story of the brave kobold