Bard College of Blade Dancing?

[Hiro Quester]

My Bard 1/Warlock 5 is going back to progressing bard levels now I have thirsting blade and eldrich smite.

I have been intending to take College of Swords, and was considering just refluffing blade flourishes as a form of sword dance. I'd like to role-play the character as practicing blade dance forms similar to those in Wuxia films.

He already has magical silks that flow beautifully when he dances (and grant +2 AC when unarmored). His at-will mage armor is a magically animated cloak (like Dr. Strange's) that dances with him and helps distract or deflect blows.

But perhaps someone has found or created a home-brewed college of blade dancing or college of dance with a martial-oriented flavor, that has been playtested and is reasonably balanced?

I have found a few out there, but they seem a bit fanciful and many are poorly worded or overly powerful. This one seems perhaps reasonable: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Lt8T8jlLmg-ie-vvZu-

Are there others of a similar or better nature that might be reasonable to propose to my DM for consideration?

Or does anyone want to help me perhaps create such a subclass?

[kosh49]

For Eldritch Smite, remember that because of the way it is phrased you can only use your warlock spell slots for this, not your bard spell slots. This is one of the few things that has that type of specificity, normally if you can use a spell slot to do something you can use any spell slot you have (of the appropriate level), but that is not the case here.

Thirsting Blade only gives two attacks on your turn if you use your pact weapon for both of them, which is not a big deal because that is probably what you would be using anyway. If you take College of Swords, at 6th level you will get Extra Attack which will make Thirsting Blade redundant. At that point you may want to take 1 more level of warlock so you can trade Thirsting Blade for something that will actually be useful going forward.

College of Dance looks interesting. With 6 choices of effects at level 3 and 3 choices of effects at level 6 it has a lot of versatility. It feels a bit on the strong side to me. A few things I would change:
Specify that the each of the Dance Styles require you to expend the Bardic Inspiration die to use them (currently you roll the die, but it does not say you expend it or even need to have an unexpended use).
Entrancing Waltz should allow affected creatures to repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns to end the effect.
I would probably cut the 2 level 14 features and replace them with a feature that let you roll a d6 without expending a Bardic Inspiration die to use your Dance Styles (similar to College of Swords).
Regardless, I would talk to your DM about it before committing to this subclass. An advantage of this subclass for your current build is that it does not include Extra Attack so Thirsting Blade will remain useful for your whole career.

[Hiro Quester]

Thanks. Yes, I planned on this combination of bard and pact of the blade warlock (DM created home-brewed patron) for the combination of pact slots and bardic inspiration that all refresh on a short rest. The 6th level ability is rather good (sacrifice two hit dice to regain a spent pact slot, and regain a hit dice by killing an opponent), so I'll be returning for that and to swap out invocations.

After poking around more, I have adapted a different home-brew that I found on D&D Beyond (by Extef), that itself was based on the College of Swords. The original had some features that were a little overpowered, and thematically some of the Dance Steps and abilities were redundant or not my character's style; e.g. nominating another party member as a “Dance Partner".

The suggestion below has Sword Dances with the same effects as Swords Blade Flourishes.

It also trades out the College of Swords' fighting style, use of a weapon for spellcasting focus, and scimitar proficiency for unarmored AC, proficiency in acrobatics and performance, and a few extra options for Sword Dances (including some at 7th and 9th levels that enable a disengage, deflect an attack, a hypnotic Hold Person effect, or using a perform check to replace a failed concentration check).

What do you think?


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College of Sword Dance

The practitioners of this Bardic College train in graceful and elegant forms that blend together movements of the dancer's body and weapon into a fluid and deadly sword dance. Sword dancers are elegant performers of these forms for entertainment, and beguiling and fearsome martial artists whose sword dances enable them to evade attacks, distract opponents, and blend with and even redirect their movements and attacks.


Acrobatic Dancer
When you join the College of Dance at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in Acrobatics and Performance. If you already have proficiency in either or both of these skills, double your proficiency bonus for any ability check you make that uses Acrobatics or Performance. If you already have expertise in either of these skills, you gain proficiency in a different skill.


Unarmored Sword Dancer
Beginning at 3rd level, your ability to perform graceful dances and deflect blows with your sword improves your base AC . While you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield and wielding a bladed light or finesse weapon, your base AC equals 10 + your Charisma modifier + your Dexterity modifier.


Sword Dances
At 3rd level, you learn to perform impressive and deadly Sword Dance maneuvers while unarmored, not wielding a shield, and wielding a bladed light or finesse weapon.

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 Sword Dance options of your choice. You can use only one Sword Dance option per turn.

Water Dance. Your Sword Dance flows like water, enabling you to dodge around and under blows that might otherwise hit. 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 on the Bardic Inspiration die to your AC until the start of your next turn.

Sword Dance of the Viper. Your dance enables you to strike in a way that also evades a nearby enemy’s defenses. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit and to any other creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you. The extra damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die.

Pushing Sword Dance. Your dance blends your movements with those of your opponent, to push them off balance and force movement in a direction you choose. 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. While striking, you dance through your opponent’s space briefly and blend your movement with theirs, and then redirect their movement to knock them off balance, forcing them up to 5 feet away from where they were, plus a number of feet equal to the number you rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die (rounded up to the nearest 5 ft). You can then immediately use your reaction to move up to your walking speed to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of them.

Sword Dance of Diversion. (7th level) Beginning at 7th level in this class, your Sword Dance can divert your opponent’s attention, enabling you to slip away and evade attacks of opportunity. 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. During this turn you can begin to move away from the opponent, enabling them to use their reaction to make an attack of opportunity, but then pivot elegantly into a different direction. You can add the result of the Bardic Inspiration die as a bonus to your deception skill check, opposed by the opponent's insight check. If you succeed then the Opportunity Attack misses and you can disengage.

Sword Dance of Deflection. (7th level). Beginning at 7th level in this class, your Sword Dance can deflect an attack onto a different target. When you are hit with an attack, you can expend one use of your bardic inspiration as a reaction to use your blade and movements to deflect the attack and cause it to instead hit another target with extra damage. The target must be within reach of the attacker if it is a melee attack, or within 30 ft of you if it is a ranged attack or ranged spell attack. The extra damage is equal to the attacker's damage plus one roll of your bardic inspiration die.

Beguiling Sword Dance (9th level). Beginning at 9th level in this class, you can forgo one of your attacks to expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to move your body and sword in a hypnotic way that temporarily stuns your opponent. The target must succeed on Wisdom save equal to your spell save DC plus the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. On a successful save the target is immune to this effect for 24hrs. On a failed save the target is under the effect of a Hold Person spell until the end of your next turn, or until after they take damage from you or one of your allies. They can repeat this saving throw at the end of their turn to end this effect.

Sword Dance of Determination (9th level). Beginning at 9th level in this class, when you are concentrating on a spell effect and fail a concentration check to maintain the effect, you can use your reaction to expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to perform a Dance of Determination. Make a Perform (dance) skill check, adding the result of the Bardic Inspiration die as a bonus to the result, and use this skill check to replace result of the concentration check. If this dance succeeds then you can maintain concentration on the spell effect.


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


Dance Master
Starting at 14th level, whenever you use a Sword Dance option, you can roll a d6 and use it instead of expending a Bardic Inspiration die. In addition, the additional damage from using a Sword Dance becomes radiant damage.