Bladesinger, Revised

The Bladesinger wizard has always been one of my favorite concepts in terms of lore. However, I believe that it is quite poorly executed in official sources.

They gain proficiency in performance, yet do not scale at all with Charisma. They get to add INT to their AC, which makes them slightly more suited to the front lines, but their d6 hit dice always leaves them vulnerable to dropping at the 5% chance of a crit. There are barely any melee wizard spells, Shadow Blade being a must for most bladesingers since it’s their best option for a weapon. However, for a class that’s supposed to:

be charismatic and flashy
scale off of intelligence

it makes no sense to give them access to nothing but a single concentration-grabbing offensive use for their spell slots which requires dexterity anyway, putting them at an awkward position of triple stat scaling if they want to play a lore-accurate bladesinger.

The speed increase from Bladesong is nice, but also does not help the concept of a bladesinger, and forcing most into a hit-and-run build with the mobile feat.

All of these reasons just make the bladesinger feel like either a worse fighter trying to play at magic and awkwardly failing, or worse, lose the grace and performant aspect of a bladesinger by splitting their scaling into constitution instead.

The Concept

I’ve always envisioned the bladesinger subclass as a stage combat character. Rather than emphasis on efficiency, bladesingers specialize in turning fighting into a show. While a fighter or rogue might exploit their surroundings or the weaknesses of their opponents, bladesingers use a constant stream of magic to augment their combat and take control of the battlefield.

The idea behind the revised bladesinger is to split among less stats by splitting into charisma instead, and give the bladesinger a larger pool of sustain and mitigation options in exchange for spell slots, as well as easier access to melee scaling outside of shadow blade and their singular extra attack.

Also a focus of this rework is leaning into the performance aspect for a more cohesive bladesong in the form of constant themed magic depending on the style of performance. Rather than a formulaic set of buffs, bladesingers now get multiple pools of choices to build their bladesong from the ground up to match a variety of styles of performance.

I welcome your balance suggestions and any criticism you might have. This is a work in progress and my first large scale homebrew project.

Bladesinger

Bladesingers master a tradition of wizardry that incorporates swordplay and performance. Originally practiced by only elves, this tradition has been adopted by non-elf practitioners, who honor and expand on the elven ways.

In combat, a bladesinger uses a series of intricate, elegant maneuvers that fend off harm and allow the bladesinger to channel magic into devastating attacks and a cunning defense. Many who have observed a bladesinger at work remember the display as one of the more beautiful experiences in their life, a glorious dance accompanied by a singing blade.

Today, the bladesinging tradition is commonly found on the stage, and passed down between performers.

Bladesong

Starting at 2nd level, you can invoke a magical aura called a Bladesong, provided that you aren’t wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield. It emulates the performance art you practice, gaining power as you gain experience.

A bladesinger’s bladesong is influenced by their performing experience.

Aura Element. Your Bladesong has an elemental theme. Choose a damage type from Cold, Lightning, and Fire. Any damage dealt by your Bladesong features will be of this type. A thematically appropriate visual effect that spans a radius of 10 feet emanates from you.

Specialty. Trained in stage combat, you specialize in one style of fighting. Choose a Bladesinger specialty:

Grace. Your time on the stage has trained you to be nimble and fast on your feet. Your movement speed increases by 5 feet, and you may now use the Dash action as a bonus action on your turns.
Coordination. You have trained for many years to fight alongside a loyal companion. You gain a familiar, as cast through the Find Familiar spell, and learn the spell if you do not possess it already. Your familiar is now capable of taking the Attack action if you use a bonus action on your turn to command it to do so. When it takes this action, it makes the roll using your spell attack modifier instead of its own attack bonus, and deals 1d6 damage of your Bladesong’s type.
Mystery. Dealing in illusions, you are proficient in disguising your surroundings to appear different than reality. You gain a +2 bonus to your AC.
Gusto. In playing many protagonists in plays, you can take the spotlight like no other. When you hit a creature, the creature is stunned for a brief moment, decreasing its movement speed by 5 feet for two rounds. You may now take the Disengage action as a bonus action on your turns.

Instrument of Performance. Upon activating your bladesong, you create a weapon in your hands. It takes the form of your choosing, except its attack bonuses and damage rolls add your Intelligence modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity. Your weapon also attunes you to your Bladesong. While wielding only your Instrument of Performance, you gain an amount of temporary HP equal to your Charisma modifier times your Wizard level. This temporary HP lasts until the end of your Bladesong.

Defensive Action. As a Bonus Action on any of your turns, you may expend a spell slot and restore a number of temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier times the level of the spell slot. Upon losing HP, you may also expend a spell slot to add your Charisma modifier to the concentration check made to maintain concentration on any spells that you may be concentrating on at the time.

Song of Valor

Starting at 6th level, your Bladesong performs a coordinated attack with the first attack you make in a round with your Instrument of Performance. If your attack hits, the Bladesong deals 1d8 damage of its chosen element. This damage increases to 2d8 at 7th level, 3d8 at 11th level, 4d8 at 15th level, and 5d8 at 19th level.

Your Bladesong also improves, with your increasing skill. Choose one of the following enhancements:

Observant. When you are about to make an attack roll, you may choose to make it with Advantage. You may do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier.
Bonded. (Prerequisite: Coordination Specialty) When your Familiar makes an attack, the Bladesong performs a coordinated attack dealing 1d8 damage. When you activate your Bladesong, if your familiar is present, it melds into the Bladesong and cannot be targeted by any attack or effect. The familiar returns to a space within 5 feet of you when the Bladesong ends.
Cloak of Cold. (Prerequisite: Cold Element) When an enemy enters your Bladesong for the first time this round or starts its turn in its range, it takes 1d4 Cold damage, and you can choose for its remaining movement to be reduced by 5 ft. If the creature does not have 5 ft of movement to lose, it falls prone. You can cause this additional effect a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier.
Cloak of Lightning. (Prerequisite: Lightning Element) When an enemy enters your Bladesong for the first time this round or starts its turn in its range, it takes 1d4 Lightning damage. When an ally makes an attack against an enemy in range of your Bladesong, you can expend your reaction to allow them to reroll the attack and use the higher roll. You can cause this reroll a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier.
Cloak of Flames. (Prerequisite: Fire Element) When an enemy enters your Bladesong for the first time this round or starts its turn in its range, it takes 1d4 Fire damage. At the start of its next turn, you can choose for it to take an additional 1d4 damage. You can cause this additional damage a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier.

Song of Sanctuary

Starting at 10th level, your Defensive Actions become more powerful. Whenever you use this action to recover HP, roll a number of d4s equal to the level of the spell slot expended and restore that quantity of HP in addition to the base HP recovered.

Your Bladesong also becomes more in tune with your specialization. Choose one of the following enhancements:

Desperado. As a Reaction when you are targetted by an attack that is about to hit, you can choose to increase your AC by an amount equal to your Intelligence modifier until the start of your next turn. If this will cause the triggering attack to miss, it does so.
Vengeance. (Prerequisite: Coordination Specialty) As a Reaction when you are targetted by an attack that is about to hit, you can choose to impose disadvantage on the attack. If this causes the attack to miss, you can then make a spell attack with your familiar against the target that initiated the attack.
Temple of Cold. (Prerequisite: Cold Element) You can use your reaction to halve one instance of damage after you take it.
Temple of Lightning. (Prerequisite: Lightning Element) When you take a hit, you suffer the effects of the hit, and may then use your Reaction to teleport to a space up to 30 feet away that you can see.
Temple of Flames. (Prerequisite: Fire Element) When you are hit by an attack, you can use your Reaction to reduce the damage inflicted by 1d8 and deal the same amount of Fire damage to the attacker.

You may use the Reactions provided by this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier.

Song of Will

Starting at 14th level, you may now add your Charisma modifier to your AC.

Your Bladesong also becomes more in tune with your specialization. Choose any one enhancement that you do not already have from any of the options provided in the 2nd, 6th, or 10th level options, provided you meet any prerequisites required to choose it.