Base Class: Ranger
Being a blade dancer is not something you chose, it is something that chooses you in the strangest of ways. For when people see the dancing leaf moving toward them in the strangest of ways, only those who can learn from the leaf movement and agility can ever hope to be a blade dancer. It is an eternal and exhausting endeavor to seek perfection from the harmony of nature itself in the most artistic way, yet you know that this endeavor will never seize to persistently overwhelm you. Only when you acknowledge that this perfection is beyond any reach, then you will indeed reach that harmony you seek with nature and art together. The path to become a blade dancer means preferring finesse over brute strength. It means dodging and diving through waves of foes, slicing each one down. It means acrobatically dancing around a giant's punches before felling it. It means wielding two blades at the same time.
Agile Fighter
Your fighting style looks more like a dance than a battle. You move nimbly between enemies, avoiding their strikes. Starting at 3rd level, you gain the following benefits:
- -You gain the Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style, and gain proficiency in the Acrobatics skill, if you don't already have it.
- -When you are targeted by a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested against the attacker's attack roll. If the result of your check beats their attack roll, you gain a +2 bonus to your AC.
- -You may draw a number of weapons (up to your proficiency bonus) you're proficient with as additional free weapon interaction actions.
- -Any weapon you have proficiency in is considered a Finesse weapon.
Advanced Two Weapon Fighting
At 7th level, While you wield two of your weapons, you also defend with them. You gain +2 AC while dual wielding, advantage on all acrobatics checks (unless disadvantage is imposed on you).
Master of the Dance
You truly understand the meaning of the Blade Dance. At 11th level, You have learned to maneuver around ranged attacks including some Spells. When an enemy makes a ranged attack, or ranged attack spell against you, you may make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If the result of your check beats their attack roll, you may use your reaction and give a +2 bonus to your AC. In addition, you gain expertise with acrobatics checks.
Dual Blade Mastery
At 15th level, You wield two weapons with the same ease that others can wield only one. You gain one of the following:
Evader. When you are dealt damage made by a melee attack, you can take the Disengage action to 10 feet in the opposite direction of the attack.
Smiter. You can use your bonus action to make your offhand attack deals an extra 3d6 damage to targets with half of their hit points or fewer, once per encounter.
Reflector. Before rolling your Acrobatics check against the attacker's attack roll, you can decide to exchange the AC bonus, to reflect half the damage (rounded up) back to the attacker. (This only can be done If you make your Acrobatics ability check with disadvantage, and still beat their attack roll.) On a failed check you take an extra half the damage (rounded up).
Grand Finale
After years of training as a Blade Dancer, you have now created you most deadly, finesse attacks that not even the target would even see how fast and quick your blades had already hit them six times.Using an action, the ranger would need to be in melee-ranged against a single target. The character would be seen almost like dancing right at it enemy in incredible speed and grace, spinning around and ends by leaping into the air, doing three flips and land back on the ground perfectly posed. However, in reality the character has just done their special attack, "Grand Finale". In slow motion, the player would strike at the center of the body with a slash from the left, while a slash on the right. Then they would go for an horizontal slash and vertical slash on the body simultaneously , and finish by doing an X-cross attack, leaping into the air and landing back on the ground. The enemy would then be deal with the total of 9d8 slashing damages. This move would be used again, till gaining a long rest.
Im not even going to mention the grand finale, but every weapon youre proficient in is finesse? as a ranger, you have proficiency in every weapon. if you multiclass into rogue, polearm master + sentinel + great weapon master + wielding a glaive.
They forgot to add, "Nothing personal," while smirking, to the Grand Finale.
I don't mean to be rude. But who let a 7 year old anime fan write that last part. Everything else seems mostly fine, a little over-tuned, sure, but fine. That last part is just meh.
Just take some levels in fighter for battle master instead of getting Grand Finale and regretting it.
Grand Finale
After years of training as a Blade Dancer, you have now created you most deadly, finesse attacks that not even the target would even see how fast and quick your blades had already hit them six times.Using an action, the ranger would need to be in melee-ranged against a single target. The character would be seen almost like dancing right at it enemy in incredible speed and grace, spinning around and ends by leaping into the air, doing three flips and land back on the ground perfectly posed. However, in reality the character has just done their special attack, "Grand Finale". In slow motion, the player would strike at the center of the body with a slash from the left, while a slash on the right. Then they would go for an horizontal slash and vertical slash on the body simultaneously , and finish by doing an X-cross attack, leaping into the air and landing back on the ground. The enemy would then be deal with the total of 9d8 slashing damages. This move would be used again, till gaining a long rest.
What. On. Earth. It's like a completely different author decided to write out the last ability here. You don't need to tell us how our characters make the attack, that's up to the players to decide. Simply say "Your character makes a flurry of dancing slash attacks, dealing 9d8 slashing damage. Once used, this ability cannot be used again until it recharges on a Long Rest."
Holy shit. That last thing is poorly written. On top of that, it doesnt say what level it is at. It also doesnt say how you roll to hit.. Like is it a dex save for the enemy? Do they take half or no dmg? Or is it just your weapon roll to hit? All that is more important than the poorly written flavor.
Ok so right of the bat at 3rd lvl you give two weapon fighting style but at 2nd lvl that is a class option, so what, you can have two diffrent fighting styles? The next part about drawing weapons equal to your proficiency bonus as a free action makes little since, unless you are throwing knives or hand axes and have multiple attacks to use them in, except for the subclass feat you give that has +2 to a.c. when duel wielding. And then you give that every weapon you have proficiency with has finesse, but that only allows you to use your dex stat for plus to hit/dmg, it doesn't mean you can duel wield 2 long swords or 2 battle axes. Any weapon that doesn't have the light property can't be duel wielded, except if you have the feat duel wielder. It seems that's what your trying to give here but flavored to be more powerful.
I like the idea of the subclass. Some of these features aren't calculated correctly in the Character builder.
For example:
I seem to get way too much Acrobatics score (base number x2 plus proficiency) making it 12 at level 4.
Two-Weapon Fighting shouldn't be available to choose from the Ranger fighting style options.
The Finesse trait for proficient weapons isn't showing.
i think it is ment to get past the whole draw and stow annoyance that you can get into like you can only draw and stow 1 weapon without the feat 2 with
yeah I'm confused about that too
I’m confused can you wield 6 swords with a +5 with profiency
I like the concept for this subclass, however, I think there are places where it can be improved.
With Agile Fighter, you can say "If you succeed," instead of "If the result of your check beats their attack roll". Also wielding a great sword as a finesse weapon feels dumb, perhaps limit it to only one handed weapons?
Advanced Two Weapon Fighting is missing an "and" between the two benefits.
Master of the Dance is poorly worded, it sounds like if you succeed an acrobatics check you gain expertise in acrobatics. Also, consider putting the reaction before the check.
I think Reflector shouldn't be rolled at disadvantage.
I don't like Grand Finale. Mostly because you tell me what happens. If you look at most official material, there is no specified way anything looks. Allowing the player to describe their grand finale would be one of the joys of that feature, it's far more fun that way.
I also feel that this subclass should feel like a whirlwind of blades and right now, a character is only doing 3 attacks, one with their offhand. Perhaps allow the player to make two attacks with their offhanded blade or give them a third attack?
I agree it is not fair, the custom things people make does not really belong to them, it belongs to the person who made it.
why must D&D Beyond make us pay just to use other peoples homebrew's.