Swordsman

Swordsmen are the second most common type of fighter in the world. Their sharp skills and in a lot of cases, sharper weapons allow them a position in the front lines with the other main fighters. Despite how a sword might seem to only be a close range weapon at first glance a true swordsman can push past that. The breath of all things allows for swinging past the end of your weapon. Their abilities are chosen by them based on what style of swordsmanship they’d like to pursue. Holding a single blade gives them the ability to tap into the One Sword Style path, wielding other specific weapons give the same thing just for those specific weapons.

Becoming a swordsman means being an immensely customizable frontline fighter who can handle close quarters combat and ranged engagements. If you want intense combat power without the restriction of a single style then it’s time to get cutting, slice the competition to pieces and become a swordsman.

Class Overview

LevelProficiency BonusFeaturesSuperiority Die
1+2Breath of All Things, Archetype Technique0
2+2N/A0
3+3Champion's Clash, Archetype Technique4
4+3Stat Increase5
5+4Archetype Technique6
6+4Stat Increase7
7+5Archetype Technique8
8+5Stat Increase9
9+6N/A10
10+6Stat Increase, Archetype Technique11

Class Features

Hit Points

  • Hit Dice: 1d10 per level for first three levels, then 2d10 per level.
  • Hit Points at First Level: 10 + Your Con mod
  • Hit Points at Higher Levels: 10 + Your Con mod until level 3, then 20 + Your Con mod.

Proficiencies

  • Armor: Light, Medium, and Heavy Armor
  • Weapons: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons
  • Saving Throws: Str + Dex
  • Skills: Athletics, Acrobatics/Intimidation (choose one), Perception, Survival

Equipment

  • (a) 2 One-Handed Martial Weapons or (b) 1 Two-Handed Martial Weapon
  • (a) 3 Light One-Handed Martial Weapons or (b) 3 of any Simple Weapon
  • an Explorer’s Pack and 1 Dagger

Level 1 Abilities

Breath of All Things

The breath grants you access to extend your blade’s capability beyond the tip of the sword by sending pressurized air careening towards your target.

The increased distance goes up by 5 ft every Swordsman level, starting at 10 ft.

Level 1 Options

1 Sword Style: Unyielding

You gain the ability to push your limits beyond your conditions. Once per short or long rest, you can choose to end any condition affecting you. It only works on one condition at a time, and one exhaustion level counts as a condition.

2 Sword Style: Determinant Surge

You have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to your Con mod d6 + your swordsman level.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

3 Sword Style: Wall of Iron

You are adept at defending with your many swords. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to increase your AC by your Con Mod + Swordsman Level. This benefit goes away once a creature hits your AC while it is active.

You can only do this once per short rest or long rest.

Axe Style: Berserker

As a bonus action, you gain the ability to make every Swordsman attack that you land increases the amount of times you can do your melee weapon attack on your turn by one until you miss half (rounded down) or get hit.

You can only do this once per short rest.

Blunt Style: Warming Up

As a bonus action, you begin to warm up, meaning every blunt attack increases the knockback of the next blunt attack by 5 feet. This only ends once you are hit, and you can only do this once per short rest.

Spear Style: Centurion

As a bonus action, you gain the ability to make every Swordsman attack increase the range of all Swordsman attacks by 5 feet until you get hit. You can only do this once per short rest.

Level 3 Abilities

Champion's Clash

As a reaction to a melee attack, you swing your sword out against the creature attacking. You roll to hit and if your roll is higher than the creature’s against you, you deal your Unarmed Strike damage and push back the creature back 5 x Your Level feet. If you fail the save, you take the damage as normal and are pushed back 20 feet.

Level 3 Options

1 Sword Style Maneuvers

You have four superiority dice, which are d6s, and one more every level. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. 

Your Maneuver save DC = 10 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier.

As an action, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die and dash 15 feet. Any creature between where you started and where you ended takes 3d10 +str mod slashing damage.

As an action, you can expend one use of your superiority die and make a melee attack. You add your roll on the superiority die to your attack and damage, and you shoot out a wind slash through the creature in a 15 foot line from the creature you just hit dealing 1d10+Superiority die damage.

As a reaction, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die to roll a strength check when an incoming melee attack is about to hit you. If your roll is higher than the opponent’s roll to hit you, you take no damage.

As an action, you expend 1 superiority die to fill your slash with terror. You make an attack against a creature in range, adding your Superiority Die to attack and damage. If you hit, you deal 2d10 + Str mod slashing damage, and the creature is Frightened of you. If they are a Logia user, they cannot reform until the end of their next turn.

As an action, you send out a Breath of All Things slash that resembles the shape of a blue dragon. You add your Superiority Die to attack and damage. If you hit, you deal your normal slashing damage, but you also light the creature on blue fire, dealing 5d6 fire damage initially and 3d6 fire damage on the start of every turn until they take their action to put it out.

2 Sword Style Maneuvers

You have four superiority dice, which are d8s, and one more every level. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. 

Your Maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier.

As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your superiority die and make a melee attack. You add your roll on the superiority die to your attack and damage, and you shoot out a wind slash through the creature in a 30 foot line from the creature you just hit dealing 2d10+Superiority die damage.

As a reaction, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die to roll a strength check when an incoming attack is about to hit you. If your roll is higher than the opponent’s roll to hit you, you take no damage. You can extend another superiority die to reflect the parried attack back and deal half its damage.

As an action, you can expend one use of your superiority die and slam both your swords down with brutal force. If you are on the ground, you create a large shockwave, adding your Superiority Die to attack and damage, forcing every creature within 10 feet to make a Con saving throw or take 2d10 + Str force damage. If you are in the air, you can use this as a reaction to propel yourself 25 feet upward or take no falling damage when you land.

As an action, you expend 1 superiority die to hit and deal damage to a creature in range as normal, however they are carried the length of your Breath of All Things distance. If they land on an occupied space, each creature takes 2d10 and gets pushed 5 feet.

As a bonus action, you expend 2 superiority die to gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, and fire damage, as well as a temporary +2 to Str, Dex, and Con mods for 3 turns. At the end of the third turn, everything goes back to normal and you gain a level of exhaustion. Every time you do this, you gain another level of exhaustion. You can only have one Last Stand active at a time.

3 Sword Style Maneuvers

You have four superiority dice, which are d10s, and one more every level. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. 

Your Maneuver save DC = 6 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier.

As an action, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die to spin your swords around and dash 10 feet forward with ferocity. Any creature between where you started and where you ended must make a Dex saving throw or take 4d10 + str mod slashing damage.

As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your superiority die and make a melee attack. You add your roll on the superiority die to your attack and damage, and you shoot out a wind slash through the creature in a 45 foot line from the creature you just hit dealing 1d6+Superiority die damage.

As a reaction, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die to roll a strength check when an incoming attack is about to hit you. If your roll is higher than the opponent’s roll to hit you, you take no damage. If you expend another superiority die to reflect the full damage of the attack.

As an action, you expend a number of superiority die equal to the creatures you want to cut. Your first cut must be a creature within 5 feet of you, but if there is another hostile creature within 15 feet of the previous one you cut, you can run to them in the blink of an eye and cut them. You can chain this a number of times equal to the amount of superiority die you used.

If this maneuver is used on the environment, it can cut through things 25 feet in diameter.

As a bonus action, you expend 2 superiority die to channel the Breath of All Things into a full tornado of air slashes. It has a range of 20 feet in diameter. Creatures caught within it must make a dex saving throw or take 4d8 + Str slashing damage. This is concentration to keep up.

Axe Style Maneuvers

You have four superiority dice, which are d8s, and one more every level. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. 

Your Maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier.

As a reaction, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die to roll a strength check when an incoming melee attack is about to hit you. If your roll is higher than the opponent’s roll to hit you, you take no damage.

As an action, you can expend 1 use of your superiority die to swing your axe down from above onto a creature within range of your axe. You roll to hit as normal, but add your superiority die to damage and knock the creature prone until the end of their next turn.

As a bonus action, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die to make three quick horizontal slashes. A creature within your Axe’s range must make a dex saving throw or take 3d10 + Str slashing damage, or half as much on a successful save.

As a bonus action, you can expend 1 use of your superiority die to spin in a 10 foot radius circle. You roll to hit and deal 2d10 + Str slashing damage to a creature in the area. You can expend 3 uses of your superiority die to make the range of the circle your Breath of All Things range.

As an action, you expend 3 uses of your superiority to dive at a creature headfirst while spinning your axe overhead as far as half your movement in imitation of a drill. Make an attack roll against the creature and deal 4d10 + Str slashing damage. The creature must make a Str saving throw or take 1d6 bleed damage every turn until they heal or get out of combat.

Blunt Style Manuevers

You have four superiority dice, which are d8s, and one more every level. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. 

Your Maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier.

As a reaction, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die to roll a strength check when an incoming melee attack is about to hit you. If your roll is higher than the opponent’s roll to hit you, you take no damage.

As an action, you expend 2 uses of your superiority die to dash 30 feet in whatever direction you choose and swing on a creature in range of your weapon. You force the creature to make a Dex saving throw or take 4d10 + Str bludgeoning damage and be pushed back 15 feet (on top of Warming Up if applicable).This attack is unreactable.

As a bonus action, you wind up and unleash a barrage of bludgeoning swings. You can expend 3 superiority die to make another melee weapon attack with no limit on how many times you can do this. If you have Warming Up active, the knockback is stored and added until after the last hit.

As an action, expend 1 use of your superiority die and swing your weapon horizontally, and create a compressed ball of your Breath of All Things air that flies 2 times your normal range. You roll to hit as normal against a creature the ball hits, you add your superiority die to damage, and it goes through targets.

Spear Style Maneuvers

You have four superiority dice, which are d8s, and one more every level. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. 

Your Maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier.

As a reaction, you can expend 2 uses of your superiority die to roll a strength check when an incoming melee attack is about to hit you. If your roll is higher than the opponent’s roll to hit you, you take no damage.

As an action, you expend 1 use of your superiority die to spin your weapon above your head. Any creature within 10 feet of you makes a Dex saving throw or take 3d10 + Str mod slashing damage.

As a bonus action, you expend 2 uses of your superiority die and spin your Spear in a circle in front of you. Until the start of your next turn, your AC increases by half of what you rolled on the superiority die, and anyone who misses an attack against you takes 2d10 + Str slashing damage.

As an action, you expend 1 superiority die and add it to attack and damage. If you hit a creature, you knock them prone.

Level 5 Ability Options

1 Sword Style: Deadly Rush

If you take all the movement you can on your turn, you can take spend 3 superiority dice as your action to move up to your entire movement and hit a creature within range with a sudden rush. You roll to hit as normal, however the damage increases by a number of d10’s equal to your Str score + Dex score. This attack is unreactable as well.

2 Sword Style: Foxfire Style

As a bonus action, you expend 3 superiority die to generate and attack with fire from your blades. Every sword attack deals an extra 4d6 fire damage, as well as being able to cut through fire. If an ally is suffering from a bleed condition, you can make an attack against them that deals no damage but cauterizes the wound, stopping the bleed. This lasts for your Con mod turns.

3 Sword Style: Onigiri

As an action, you can expend 3 superiority die to dash to a maximum of your walk speed feet. If there is a creature between you and your destination, they must make a Dex saving throw or take 6d10 + Str slashing damage. If there is more than one creature in the line, only the first one is hit.

Axe Style: Axe Symphony

As an action, you expend 3 uses of your superiority die to unleash an abundance of horizontal slashes 15 feet in diameter and going as far as your Breath of All Things range. Each creature in the range must make a Str saving throw or take 6d10 slashing damage, as well as the environment in the area being shredded.

Blunt Style: Ascendant Strike

As a bonus action, you expend 3 superiority die to dash towards a creature within your movement and make an attack roll against them. If they fail, they take damage as normal, but also get hit up directly into the air. When they first start their next turn, they are 60 feet in the air and get their turn before hitting the ground.

Spear Style: Heave Ho

As an action, you expend 3 uses of your superiority die to throw your Spear 2 times your movement feet at a creature in range. You roll to hit as normal, but add your superiority die to damage and stick your Spear were you threw it. As a bonus action, you can leap to your spear. You don’t provoke opportunity attacks while leaping.

Level 7 Ability Options

1 Sword Style: Triple Slash

As an bonus action, you expend 4 superiority dice to slash out 3 air slashes at once with a max range of 75 feet and a 15 foot diameter. Every creature within range must make a dex saving throw against your maneuver DC. They take 6d10 + Str slashing damage or half as much on a successful save.

2 Sword Style: Paradise Waterfall

As an action, you expend 4 superiority die when you make a basic sword attack against a creature. If the attack hits, you slice through the target and a plane between you and the end of the battlefield gets cut. Every creature hit by this takes an additional amount of d10’s equal to your Str mod. Any terrain between you and the end of the battlefield gets cut cleanly through.

3 Sword Style: Nine Sword Style

As a bonus action, you expend 4 superiority die to move your body so quickly that it appears you have 8 arms. If you are making a sword attack, you multiply the amount of die you are rolling by 3. This mode lasts until you use any Swordsman Skill with this ability.

Axe Style: Cleaving Boomerang

As a bonus action, you expend 4 superiority die to throw your Axe in a 15 foot radius circle around you. Every creature that the Axe hits rolls a dex saving throw or takes 6d10 + Str mod slashing damage or half as much on a successful save. It comes back to you at the start of your next turn, at which point you can throw the axe again for no superiority die cost if you do it first thing on your turn. If a creature succeeds by over 5 on the save, they catch the axe.

Blunt Style: Ragnarok

As an action, you expend 4 superiority die and leap straight up into the air and crack against the ground. Every creature within a 25 foot radius of you must make a dex saving throw or take 5d10 + Str mod bludgeoning damage or half as much on a successful save. The ground in a 35 foot radius around you is now rough terrain for all creatures that take their run speed for movement.

Spear Style: Piercing Punishment

As an action, you expend 4 superiority die and make a weapon attack against someone in your range. You add your number of superiority die to hit. If the creature is hit, you roll damage as normal and add your superiority die on top, as you stab into the creature and raise them up into the air. They are Restrained until they make a Str saving throw on their turn. If you have them in the air, you can take your bonus action to slam them into the ground, dealing 4d10 + Str bludgeoning damage and knocking the creature prone.

Level 10 Ability Options

1 Sword Style: Divine Departure

As an action, you expend 5 superiority die to run at a creature and slash at them, and they get carried with your air slash. You add your superiority die to hit and the creature takes 10d10 + Str slashing damage and is pushed 100 feet back. If there is a wall between the creature and the final spot they end up, they crash through it and take an additional 1d10 per wall.

2 Sword Style: Slayer of Goliath

As an action, you expend 5 superiority die to focus your entire being into leaping at a creature within sight and slashing them in an X shape across their body. You add your superiority die to hit and damage. You deal 9d10 + Str slashing damage and leave a lingering bleed effect. Every turn where the creature does not heal, they take an additional d8 on the start of their turn.

3 Sword Style: Trichiliocosm

As an action, you expend 5 superiority die to dash forward to a max of 3 times your movement. If a creature is between where you started and where you ended, you roll to hit and deal 8d10 + Str slashing damage. The slash deals damage as normal and you add your superiority die to hit and damage. You can add Nine Sword Style to this attack.

Axe Style: Mountain Eater

As an action, you expend 5 superiority die to cut something at nigh inhuman speed. As an action against a creature within your melee weapon attack range, you make as many swings as you want, as long as you keep hitting their AC. Every attack you successfully hit increases the damage of the next attack by your strength mod.

Blunt Style: Destroyer of Death Bagua

As an action, you expend 5 superiority die to make an incredibly powerful weapon attack. You roll to hit against a creature in range as normal and deal 8d10 + Str mod bludgeoning damage, push the creature back 50 feet, and knock the creature prone. Additionally, you can choose to not release your attack, and every turn you prepare the strike increases the damage by 2d10 and the knockback by 50 feet. There is no limit to the charge and every turn raises your to hit bonus by 2.

Spear Style: Revolving Ravager

As an action, you expend 5 superiority die and make a weapon attack against someone in range as you rotate your spear and pierce someone with it. You deal 8d10 + Str mod piercing damage and leave a lingering bleed effect. Every turn where the creature does not heal, they take an additional d8 on the start of their turn.

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