Path of the Bladelord (5e Subclass)
Path of the Bladelord
A tall and slender Half-Elf is led through a small procession of humans, with two flanking her on either side and holding her arms in their grip as her forearms are bound in chains. As they come to stand before the executioner, the Half-Elf lets out an enraged roar, as she shatters her bonds and frees herself of her captors' grip, holding their heads in her hands as a sudden stream of blue energy surges out from her arms, piercing through their skulls in a blur with a blood-curdling hiss.
Standing in a darkened cave, a Half-Orc launches his arm forward, embedding his blade in the chest of his victim as he hoists them into the air. Their body spasms with their final death throes as the victim's life is ripped from their body, and their thoughts torn from their mind and channelled into that of his killer. With a re-invigorated exhale, he drops his victim to the floor as his blades glow even brighter than before, and the power that runs along their edges becomes far more untamed. Turning to face the rest of his enemies, the Half-Orc charges forward with a bloodthirst that remains unquenched.
As he begins to slash at his foe with a pair of glowing azure blades, a Dragonborn with weathered bronze scales pulls away as he notices the little effect his attacks are having. With a loud growl of fury, the azure weapons briefly shift into a pair of spheres with which he blocks the oncoming onslaught of arrows - before leaping back into the fray with a pair of twin hammers of the same colouration as his prior weapons in either hand, bellowing out a battlecry as he begins to shatter the armour of his enemy.
The Path of the Bladelord is an subclass option for the Barbarian, though unlike the rest of their kind, Bladelords channel their rage inward until it becomes so strong it unlocks a vast well of untouched power within themselves. Bladelord Barbarians have anger and hatred so focused, that it becomes tangible, as Psionic energy that flows outwards from themselves and interacts with the very world in which they live. Their fury is tempered into blades of hatred that burn brightly with their wielder's rage - carving a path of untold retribution in their enemies.
| 3rd | | align="left" | Warlord Blades (1d6) |
| 6th | | align="left" | Mind Forge, Warlord Blades Damage (1d8) |
| 10th | | align="left" | Focused Fury |
| 12th | | align="left" | Warlord Blades Damage (1d10) |
| 14th | | align="left" | Psionic Shielding |
| 18th | | align="left" | Warlord Blades Damage (1d12) |
- Warlord Blades
When you choose this path at 3rd level, when you enter a rage you begin to channel your psionic energy into twin blades of destruction, known as Warlord Blades, that flow outwards from both of your hands. You have two Warlord Blades, which count as martial weapons with the "Light" property, and they emit Dim Light in a radius of 5 feet. They each deal 1d6 Psychic damage, plus your Rage damage modifier. When summoned, you drop all items currently in your hands if their size exceeds 1 foot in any dimension - though you still have use of your hands and can grab items that are within the aforementioned limit. Your Warlord Blades are automatically summoned and dispelled when you enter and exit your rage respectively, though they can be dispelled and re-summoned on a bonus action during your rage. You may not have only a single Warlord Blade active at any one time, as they are summoned and dispelled simultaneously. Unlike standard Two-Weapon Fighting, you gain a Multiattack feature exclusive to the Warlord Blades, allowing you to attack with each blade once on a single action, though you must roll for attack and damage separately for each. Because of this, you cannot use your bonus action to make an Attack with your second weapon as per regular Two-Weapon Fighting, and your Warlord Blades also have a unique interaction with the Extra Attack option granted by the Barbarian class and other classes. The Multiattack can be used to attack twice with the Warlord Blades and will still trigger Extra Attack on the same turn, but the Attack action granted by Extra Attack will not be a Multiattack action.
The damage die of each of your Warlord Blades increases to 1d8 at 6th level, 1d10 at 12th level, and 1d12 at 18th level
- Mind Forge
Beginning at 6th Level your prowess with your mind allows you to create sharper edges, blunter faces and pointier spikes. As a bonus action, You can re-shape your Warlord Blades into the shape of any single-handed weapon (though it is not required to have the "Light" property), and depending on your selected type you can choose to deal either Bludgeoning or Piercing or Slashing damage instead of the Psychic damage that is standard for Warlord Blades. Both Blades take these properties, though your Rage Damage Bonus still deals Psychic Damage regardless of your selected Damage Type. The shape of your Warlord Blades only effects it's damage type, and makes no change to it's actual damage dice or bonus.
In addition, you can use your reaction to shape your Warlord Blades into small shield bubbles when an attack is rolled against you, granting you +2 to your AC until you use your Bonus Action to re-shape them into weaponry. You can still use your Unarmed Strike action whilst your Warlord Blades are in Shield Form.
- Psionic Shielding
Starting at 10th Level, your Psionic Energies coalesce into a protective barrier around you as you Rage. At the start of each of your turns for the duration of your Rage, you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your Barbarian Level divided by two, rounded up. These Temporary Hit Points are lost once your Rage ends.
- Focused Fury
Upon reaching 14th level, your blades grow in strength when an enemy dies near you, as they rip their minds from their corpse. This mental energy empowers you, and whenever an enemy dies within 10 feet of you whilst you are Raging, you gain a +2 to your Rage Damage for the current duration of your Rage. The limit to how much damage you can gain from this feature is equal to your Barbarian level rounded down to the nearest even integer, and your accumulated bonus Rage damage is lost once your Rage ends.
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