Swordmage is an arcane defender class in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons.[FRPG:24]
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: Cloth, Leather
- Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, military light blades, military heavy blades, simple ranged
- Implement Proficiencies: Any light blade or heavy blade. 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.
- Bonus to Defense: +2 Will
- Hit Points at 1st Level: 15 + Constitution
- Hit Points per Level Gained: 6
- Healing Surges per Day: 8 + Constitution modifier
- Build Options: Assault swordmage, shielding swordmage, Ensnaring swordmage[AP:50]
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 Features[]
Class skills[]
Swordmages are all trained in the skill Arcana (Int). From the class skills list below, choose three more trained skills at 1st level
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[]
The Swordmage Aegis class feature grants one of three at-will powers, aegis of assault, aegis of ensnarement, or aegis of shielding. Each of these three powers marks a target, and allows the swordmage to take an immediate action triggered when the target hits with an attack that did not include the swordmage as a target. The choice between these powers also affects some other class powers.
- Aegis of assault allows the swordmage to teleport to the target and make a melee basic attack against it. This option is associated with a striker secondary role.
- Aegis of ensnarement allows the swordmage to teleport the target into an adjacent square and make it grant combat advantage. This option is associated with a controller secondary role.
- Aegis of shielding reduces the triggering attack's damage against one creature by an amount equal to the swordmage's Constitution modifier plus 5 per tier. This option is associated with a leader secondary role.
Swordmage Warding[]
The Swordmage Warding class feature grants the swordmage a +1 bonus to AC while conscious and wielding either a light blade or a heavy blade. This bonus increases to +3 if the swordmage is wielding the blade in one hand, and has the other hand free, that is, not carrying a shield, an off-hand weapon, a two-handed weapon, or anything else.
Prior to the November 2009 update, when the swordmage became unconscious, Swordmage Warding's bonus to AC was lost until taking a short or extended rest. The November 2009 update removed that restriction, since it put swordmages at a disadvantage compared to other defender classes.[U :11/2009]
Swordmage powers[]
Swordmage powers, having an arcane power source, are also called spells.
Swordmage feats[]
These feats have the swordmage class, or hybrid/multiclass swordmage, as a prerequisite. Additional prerequisites are noted.
Swordmage items[]
- Commandant Lathiel's Subduing Technique - Alternative reward, reduced targets marked by aegis of ensnarement to 0 hp if they fall below 10 hp per tier.
Multiclass swordmages[]
Characters who did not start as swordmages and who do not already have a multiclass feat of a type other than multiclass swordmage may multiclass as swordmages by taking one of the following entry feats.
| Swordmage entry feat | Prerequisites | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Blade Initiate [FRPG:139] | Int 13 | The character becomes trained in Arcana. Once per day, while wielding a light blade or heavy blade, the character can take a minor action to benefit from the Swordmage Warding class feature until the end of the encounter.[U :1/2009] |
| Heart of the Blade [AP:136] | Con 13 Int 13 |
The character becomes trained in either Athletics or Endurance. The character gains the Swordbond swordmage class feature. |
In addition, each swordmage entry feat grants all of the following benefits:
- The character counts as a swordmage, in addition to his or her original class, for the purpose of meeting prerequisites for feats, paragon paths, etc.
- The character gains implement proficiency with swordmage implements, such as light blades and heavy blades.[U :1/2009][U :11/2009]
- The character may take Novice Power, Acolyte Power, and Adept Power feats to exchange powers for swordmage powers.
- If the character takes a multiclass encounter, a multiclass utility, and a multiclass daily feat (such as Novice, Acolyte, and Adept Power), the character can paragon multiclass in swordmage instead of taking a paragon path. Paragon multiclassed swordmages select additional swordmage powers instead of paragon path powers, and may take the Arcane Aegis[AP:149] feat to gain the ability to choose aegis of assault, aegis of ensnarement, or aegis of shielding, and gain the ability to use the chosen power once per encounter.
Hybrid swordmages[]
A character may be created as a hybrid of swordmage and another class other than swordmage. The hybrid swordmage bonus to defense is +1 Will. The hybrid's swordmage class features are Swordbond, and Swordmage Aegis (hybrid), which is the same as Swordmage Aegis except that aegis of assault, aegis of ensnarement, or aegis of shielding can be used only once per encounter, and the hybrid swordmage regains the power's use if its previous target drops to 0 hit points or if its mark is superseded by another mark.
When a hybrid swordmage gains the Hybrid Talent feat, he or she chooses one hybrid talent option from either of his or her hybrid classes. The swordmage hybrid talent option is:
- Swordmage Warding
- The hybrid swordmage gains the Swordmage Warding swordmage class feature.[PH3:152]