Blade Bard as archer?

[Caelic]

Okay...is it just me, or do the Blade's flourishes work with ranged weapons?

As far as I can tell--even though a few of the Blade's abilities, like using a weapon as a focus, are limited to melee, the flourishes are NOT. They merely stipulate a "weapon attack," not a "melee weapon attack." It sure seems like the class is supposed to focus on melee, but on the other hand, the writers are usually pretty careful about being precise in such language, so...I don't know. It may be an oversight; it may not. It may get corrected, or it may not.

So: assuming this was NOT an oversight, and does not wind up errataed at some point, what possibilities does this open up?

Out of the box, a hand crossbow would be the obvious choice for the build. The bard has proficiency, and it can be used with Crossbow Expert to get the bonus attack.

Mobile Flourish seems like it has interesting potential for an archer. The knockback it can cause, particularly at higher levels, is significant. Shooting enemies off of cliffs is both fun and cinematic, and why should Warlocks have all the fun?

Slashing Flourish would just plain be weird, and is probably the strongest piece of evidence that the flourishes are meant to be melee only. Shooting someone sixty feet away and also causing damage to someone FIVE feet away from you is hard to reconcile. (I suppose you could envision it as a Legolas-style "I stab you with my arrow and then shoot your buddy with it.")

[Skyblaze]

Personally, I wouldn't allow it. Swords bard needs swords. And slashing flourish would be weird af.

[Caelic]

Yeah, that's true. On the other hand, certain ranged weapons (specifically, thrown knives) have been a part of the Blade's repertoire all the way back to the subclass's first appearance as a character kit in second edition--and, if I recall correctly, "knife throwing" is explicitly mentioned as one of the stunts a blade excels at in Xanathar's. Slashing Flourish is an argument for melee only; the fact that the writers are usually careful about such terms and the fact that the blade has always been deadly with thrown weapons are arguments against.

[Skyblaze]

Hmm that's true. I guess I wouldn't allow it with slashing flourish then?

[Caelic]

This is something that would definitely need to be adjudicated with a large grain of common sense, though. If I shoot a target on a bridge thirty feet above me and use Mobile Flourish, I wouldn't expect the DM to let me "move up to my walking speed to a spot 5 feet from the target" unless I actually had some means of flying.

[Caelic]

I could see Slashing Flourish with a thrown dagger--slash the enemy next to you, then throw.

[Easy_Lee]

Personally, I wouldn't allow it. Swords bard needs swords. And slashing flourish would be weird af.

One could say the same about the Hexblade, but they can use bows if they take the blade pact and the invocation Improved Pact Weapon.

So, you can technically make a sword-blade-blade who uses a bow.