College of Bladesong

Bards who belong to the College of Bladesong have studied the ancient elven art of bladesinging but adapted it, paid homage to it for their own means. In combat, a Song Blade as members of the college are known use a series of intricate, elegant manoeuvres that fend off harm and allow the Songblade to channel magic into devastating attacks and a cunning defence. Many who have observed a Songblade at work remember the display as one of the more beautiful experiences in their life, a glorious dance accompanied by a singing blade.

The College of Bladesong is a more martial order than many other colleges. Song blades are bards who have completely dedicated themselves to sword mastery and performance. Their magic is channelled through their weapons as they perform and its centred on enhancing their signature blades. These blades known as Arias are specifically designed to cut through the air creating beautiful, inspiring or mournful melodies as they do. The rhythm of a Songblade in full performance is the rhythm of battle, it ebbs and flows from fast staccato beats as the blade attacks to a fluid sweeping cadence as you defend and then a burst of complex accents as they channel magic through their blades.

The College of Bladesong is so obsessed with the rhythms of war that they do not gain access to magical secrets as other colleges do. Instead they train their members to be consummate warriors relying on blade and song to carry them through. Some may laugh at this single minded focus, especially in a bard a profession known for its constant dabbling, but such laughter dies on an observers lips when they see a Songblade at work.  As such a Songblade cannot cast spells in a normal manner, only to fuel its rhythms.

Their talent with weapons inspires many Songblades 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. Song blades are known to forgo the typical mystical teachings of a bard in favour of more martial skills and can often be found adventuring or wandering in an effort to hone and test the edge of their blades.

 

Spellblade

Songblades are far more martial than other bards. The have a limited selection of spells and do not gain the Magical secrets skill at levels 10, 14 and 18.

Instead Song blades receive a more melee based set of skills.

Their spells are limited to those below and are cast as part of your rhythms.

SPELL LEVEL	SPELLS
1st	shield, absorb elements, hunter's mark, protection from evil and good,
2nd	flame blade, shadow blade,
3rd	haste, pulse wave,
4th	freedom of movement,
5th	steel wind strike, destructive wave,

Rhythms of Battle

The first rhythms the College of the Bladesong teaches are the rhythms of the blade and the rhythms of the shield. A Songblade works these rhythms into a single dance of endless motion. Each Songblade has a swords known as an Aria, slightly curved of Elvish design with no guard and an opposingly curved handle just the length of the blade. They are beautifully crafted and each Songblade prizes them for they are their instruments. This blade counts as the Songblade's spell casting foci and can conduct magic like a lightning rod.

This blade counts as light and when a Songblade makes an attack with one they can complete the rhythm with a bonus action attack. These blades deal 1d8 + your Dexterity modifier. and contain inherent magic that builds as the performance of the Songblade builds in intensity.

A Songblade cannot wear armour but is so adept at fluid, defensive movements your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Charisma modifier.

 Blade Rhythm.

You start combat in a Blade Rhythm, while in this rhythm you gain the following benefits:

• Your walking speed increases by 10 feet.
• You have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.
• You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls.
• When you attack a creature that creature cannot take opportunity attacks against you.

You can change to Shield Rhythm as a bonus action and back to Blade Rhythm with a bonus action, alternatively you can use a bardic inspiration. 

Shield Rhythm.

• You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1).
• You gain a bonus to any Constitution saving throw you make to maintain your concentration on a spell. The bonus equals your Charisma modifier.
• As a reaction you can expend a 1st level spell slot or higher to cast Shield or Absorb Elements.

Your Shield spell is different to others, for each additional spell slot you gain an additional +1 to your AC.

Grace Notes

At 3rd level, you learn to perform impressive displays of martial prowess and speed, fuelled by Grace notes (Spell Slots) and Bardic inspirations.

Songblades unlike other bards are part of a martial order, an order that specialises in focusing its magic into into its bladesong. As such the spells they can cast are very limited, but being so focused has its benefits.

Grace Notes.

• When a Songblade casts either Shadow Blade or Flame Blade as a bonus action, they do not manifest a blade. The spell becomes part of the Aria they wield, they can add their Charisma modifier to the damage roll. Instead of making a spell attack roll you make a melee attack roll, that gains the benefit of the Aria's attack bonus when they receive it. This spellblade does not work with your bonus attack as the magic flare and banks when you perform your main attack.
• You can use a Grace Note to funnel magic and music into your strikes, as you strike a cacophony of noise strikes your opponent's mind. For a 1st level spell slot you deal additional 1d6 psychic damage. This damage increases in damage for every 2 additional spell slots, so 3d6 for a 3rd level spell slot and 5d6 for a 5th level slot and so on. 
• When you cast haste on yourself you do not suffer the round of lethargy, as you are used to constant shifts in tempo.
• You can expend a first level spell slot to give yourself +1 to attack and damage rolls, a 3nd level slot to add +2 and a 5th level slot to add+3. This effect lasts until your next long rest.

Bardic Inspirations.

• You can use a bardic inspiration instead of a bonus action to shift from Blade Rhythm to Shield Rhythm or vice versa.
• You can use a bardic inspiration to cast shield as a reaction.
• You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the 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.
• You can use a Bardic inspiration die to change the damage type of your strikes in any form.

Rhythm of Grace

You learn the  Rhythm of Grace, this rhythm allows for subtler movements making the over all Bladesong seem more like one movement.

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

Additionally your blades count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Possibly most importantly you can now switch between Blade and Song rhythms as part of you actions. As part of the attack action or as part of a bonus attack you can switch between rhythms.

Finally you learn how to vibrate sound through your Aria. As you swing the blade you can manifest these vibrations into an arc of razor sharp force. You can fire these acoustic razors from your blade. These acoustic blades deal the same damage as your un-enspelled Aria You gain a range of 60ft with your Aria attacks as these barely visible arcs of sound cut through the air to their targets. This range increases to 120ft at 10th level.

The Rhythms of War

You become a master at manipulating the Rhythms of War, each battlefield is your stage and each fight you performance.

In place of your magical secrets you gain additional Rhythms: 

• At 10th level you weave complex rhythms together at will allowing you to use both the Blade and Shield Rhythms at the same time.

• At 14th level you gain an additional attack as part of the attack action for a total of 3, you become a blur of parries and strikes as you flow in-between rhythms striking and counter-striking and you score a critical hit on a 19-20.

• At 14th level you gain the Rhythm of Magic, when you cast a spell as a bonus action you can still make an attack as a bonus action.

• At 18th level you gain the Rhythm of War, when you score a critical hit you regain a spell slot of 3rd level or lower.

• At 18th level you can use a bardic inspiration to make an additional bonus attack for a total of 2.
• At 18th level when you cast a spell as an action you can make a single attack as part of that action.