Swordmage

Swordmages apply the arcane arts to melee combat. The combat skills they possess are enhanced by the magic they wield. The flourish of a swordmage's blade not only bites with steel, but also with fire, lightning, or other powerful forces.

You studied and practiced for years to master your skills. You mastered the fundamentals of arcane magic and combined this academic study with endless hours of physical training. You might be a young eladrin in search of your fortune, a stranger to the wider world outside the seclusion of your homeland; a self-trained genasi sellsword, gifted with an affinity for elemental magic; the scion of a disgraced noble human family, taught by the finest tutors in your youth but now a footloose expatriate; or a half-elf arcane champion, rigorously trained in a war magic academy to serve in the armies of your homeland.

Magical barriers of force swirl around you, protecting you from harm. The blade you carry is an extension of your being, both body and mind. It pulses with eldritch energy as you prepare to defend your allies and unleash magical fury against your foes.

Swordmage Overview

Characteristics

Your melee skills are most important, but you also have attacks that can hit multiple creatures or injure creatures at range. Your defensive powers can protect your allies and yourself.

Religion

Swordmages favor deities of magic or skill. Corellon, Selûne, Torm, and Tymora are common among swordmages of good heart. Swordmages of a darker bent often revere Shar, regarding their unusual skills as a secret art to be kept hidden from the uninitiated.

Races

Genasi from Returned Abeir are the archetypal assault swordmages. Humans and eladrin are the main practitioners of the shielding swordmage style. Githyanki are also known to practice their own swordmage tradition, which is similar to the shielding swordmage.

Class Traits

Role: Defender. You are a melee combatant who uses spells to fight better.
Power Source: Arcane. You study ancient magical traditions and practice swordplay, developing arcane powers that work well with your physical attacks.
Key Abilities: Intelligence, Strength, Constitution

Armor Proficiencies: Leather.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, falchion, greatsword, longsword, scimitar, short sword, simple ranged.
Implement: Any light blade or heavy blade
Bonus to Defense: +2 Will.

Hit Points at 1st Level: 15 + Constitution Score.
Hit Points per Level Gained: 6
Healing Surges per Day: 8 + Constitution Modifier.

Trained Skills: Arcana. From the class skills list below, choose 4 more trained skills at 1st level.
Class Skills: Arcana (Int), Athletics (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Endurance (Con), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Intimidate (Cha).

Build Options: Assault Swordmage, Shielding Swordmage.
Class Features: Swordbond, Swordmage Aegis, Swordmage Warding.

Creating a Swordmage

The swordmage has two builds: assault swordmage and shielding swordmage. Intelligence plays into all your attacks, but you might emphasize either Strength or Constitution for added benefits.

Assault Swordmage

Your style of combat focuses on flashy attacks that call up elemental forces and throw your opponents around the battlefield. This method of aggressive swordmage combat spread from Returned Abeir to Toril through the heritage of the anarchs of Shyr. Your attacks use Intelligence, so that should be your primary ability score. Strength should be your second-best ability score, since it enhances your assault powers and keeps your base attack bonus high. Constitution helps your survivability and can be useful if you want to try some shielding swordmage powers. Most assault swordmages use a two-handed weapon (such as a greatsword or a falchion) to deal more damage, though they have a lower AC as a result.

Feat: Escalating Assault (Human feat: Weapon Focus)
Skills: Arcana, Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidate
At-Will Powers: greenflame blade, sword burst
Encounter Power: flame cyclone
Daily Power: burning blade

Shielding Swordmage

You protect your allies with magical shields of force—and by keeping enemies away from them. This heritage is embodied by the Coronal Guard tradition, a discipline that can be traced over a thousand years to the armathors, the elite guards of the coronal of Myth Drannor. Intelligence powers your attacks, so it should be your highest ability score. Constitution applies added effects to many of your attacks, so it should be your second-highest score. A good Strength lets you take advantage of assault swordmage powers (giving you some added offense) and keeps your basic attack decent. You’ll want to keep a hand free to get your AC bonus from Swordmage Warding class feature, so you should use a one-handed weapon such as a longsword or a scimitar.

Feat: Retributive Shield (Human Feat: Student of Sword Magic)
Skills: Arcana, Diplomacy, History, Insight
At-Will Powers: booming blade, lightning lure
Encounter Power: chilling blow
Daily Power: frost backlash

Swordmage Class Features

Swordmages are smart, strong bastions of defense whose art is embodied by their swords. All swordmages have the class features described below.

Swordbond

By spending 1 hour of meditation with a chosen light or heavy blade, you forge a special bond with the weapon. As a standard action, you can call your bonded weapon to your hand from up to 10 squares away.

You can forge a bond with a different blade using the same meditation process (for instance, if you acquire a new blade that has magical abilities). If you forge a bond with a different blade, the old bond dissipates.

If your bonded weapon is broken or damaged, you can spend 1 hour of meditation to recreate the weapon from a fragment. (This process automatically destroys any other fragments of the weapon in existence, so you can’t use it to create multiple copies of a broken weapon.)

Swordmage Aegis

You can place a magical warding upon a foe, allowing you to respond to the foe’s attacks against your allies with a counterassault or a timely protection. Choose one of the following Aegis and gain its benefit: Aegis of Assault, Aegis of Shielding.

Aegis of Assault

You can use the Aegis of Assault power to teleport to the side of of the attacker and respond with an attack of your own.

Aegis of Shielding

You can use the Aegis of Shielding power to deflect some of the damage of an incoming attack.

Swordmage Warding

While you are conscious and wielding either a light blade or a heavy blade, you maintain a field of magical force around you.

This field provides a +1 bonus to AC, or a +3 bonus if you are wielding a blade in one hand and have your other hand free (not carrying a shield, an off-hand weapon, a two-handed weapon, or anything else).

If you become unconscious, your Swordmage Warding benefit disappears. You can restore it by taking a short rest or an extended rest.

Implements

Your blade adds its enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls and any extra damage granted by a property (if applicable) when used as an implement. You do not gain your weapon proficiency bonus to the attack roll when using your blade as an implement.

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Setting-Specific Artificer (Eberron Player's Guide) ✦ Swordmage (Forgotten Realms Player's Guide)
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