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.

Level 3: Bonus Proficiencies

You gain proficiency with three skills of your choice.

Level 3: Cutting Words

You learn to use your wit to supernaturally distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of yourself makes a damage roll or succeeds on an ability check or attack roll, you can take a Reaction to expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration; roll your Bardic Inspiration die, and subtract the number rolled from the creature’s roll, reducing the damage or potentially turning the success into a failure.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Swords at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor and the scimitar.

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 particular 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 you later get to 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.

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

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.

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

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, expending a use of bardic inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit, equalling the number you roll on the bardic inspiration die.  

Defensive Flourish: Attack defensively, increasing your AC by 4 on hit until the start of the next turn.

Slashing Flourish: Attack up to 2 enemies at once

Moblie Flourish: Thrust your weapon with enough force to push the target back 20 ft. Afterwards, you can Teleport to the target. 

Level 6: Magical Discoveries

You learn two spells of your choice. These spells can come from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list or any combination thereof. A spell you choose must be a cantrip or a spell for which you have spell slots, as shown in the Bard Features table.

You always have the chosen spells prepared, and whenever you gain a Bard level, you can replace one of the spells with another spell that meets these requirements.

Extra Attack

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

Level 14: Peerless Skill

When you make an ability check or attack roll and fail, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration; roll the Bardic Inspiration die, and add the number rolled to the d20, potentially turning a failure into a success. On a failure, the Bardic Inspiration isn’t expended.