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Somnus Domina: The Sword Saint (5e Class)

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Sword saints are warriors who walk the path already taken by another, looking to achieve such legendary skill that they, too, will be remembered by history. The true sword saints of the past were figures who achieved a level of skill beyond mastery in their craft. Though modern practitioners call themselves sword saints, this is only to draw a parallel between themselves and these heroes.

In practice, they would usually only call themselves warriors, fighters, samurai, or otherwise. It is unbecoming for them to address themselves as sword saints unless they are arrogant, but this does not always stop them. ‘Phantom saint’ is a term they commonly use, describing their emulation of an ancient swordmaster’s lifestyle, combat skills, and practices until they come truly into their own.

As a class the sword saint relies heavily on their resource, focus points, to perform a variety of techniques that help them to adapt to any situation. They rely on focus techniques, which each path of devotion features unique versions and variants of. 

The subclasses for the sword saint are based upon legendary mythological fighters who were the prolific swordsman or warriors of their time. There are a total of seven subclasses based on figures like Miyamoto Musashi, Tomoe Gozen, Honda Tadakatsu, and more. 

If you're a player who values versatility and is looking for a samurai-lite flavor to your character this class is absolutely for you. It will receive support in the future, with more subclasses, items, NPCs, etc being developed for future releases to work with the class.

Additional Paths of Devotion are available: 

Paths of Devotion I - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/349467/Somnus-Domina-Paths-of-Devotion-I-5e-Path-of-Devotion

Paths of Devotion II - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/374963/Somnus-Domina-Paths-of-Devotion-II-5e-Paths-of-Devotion--Artifacts

Way of the Progenitor - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/347608/Somnus-Domina-Way-of-the-Progenitor-5e-Path-of-Devotion

Sword Saint Bundle - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/384401/The-Sword-Saint-BUNDLE

(The sword saint class was made for the Nat19: Vestige of Ophiuchus D&d 5E stream on Twitch, streamed every Saturday at 1 PM PST on the Nat19Official channel. Come join us if you'd like to see it in action!) 

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Reviews (2)
Discussions (15)
Customer avatar
Mason R December 07, 2023 4:23 pm UTC
PURCHASER
So I have a few questions about some of the Way of Yamato subclass's features. Firstly with the One Thousand Cuts feature if I have a character with a dexterity modifier of three and I use the feature would I roll weapon damage plus strength mod three times or just the weapon's damage dice three times then add my strength mod? Secondly, does the extra weapon die from the Judgement Cut feature stack repeatedly, so by the third attack a sword saint could make would I roll three weapon die on a hit or not? My last question is how does Judgement Cut and One Thousand Cuts features interact together assuming that they do?
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Customer avatar
Logan L December 10, 2023 9:52 am UTC
PUBLISHER
About Thousand Cuts - as if you're hit them with an attack with the weapon three times. Full damage reach time as if an attack had been rolled and resolved in a success.

Judgement Cut - Correct. By the third hit against a third creature you would add three extra damage dice.

Both together - They don't synergize. The extra "hits" from Thousand Cuts aren't "part of the same Attack action" - they're additional hits from outside that action, though simultaneously. As described by Extra Attack, only your main two/three attacks are accounted for by that Attack action. They don't benefit from the additional damage dice described in Judgement Cut.
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Customer avatar
Mason R December 10, 2023 1:05 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you, I've been thinking over a ton of characters to play when the setting guide comes out and I wanted to be sure I understood the features correctly before playing a character with them. Thanks again for the answering my probably silly questions and have a wonderful day.
Customer avatar
Zero S August 11, 2023 7:54 am UTC
PURCHASER
Might be a dumb question but some of the subclasses involve learning more techniques. Am I correct in assuming that it means the ones on page 12.
Customer avatar
Dave L July 14, 2023 4:05 am UTC
PURCHASER
It is sad when the most basic principles of class design are missed. No classes should have 2 strong Saves (Dex, Con & Wis), all official Classes have 1 Strong and 1 Weak (Str, Int & Cha) save. This class is already on the strong end, so no reason that it should break the basic convention on save.
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Customer avatar
Logan L December 10, 2023 9:56 am UTC
PUBLISHER
They weren't missed - the decision was deliberate. Playtesting has shown it not to be game-breaking, established it as keeping pace with other classes in a similar vein (neither outpacing them nor falling behind them), and the Sword Saint being "already on the strong side" has proven to be effectively irrelevant in motion, as it has as many weaknesses when being run as it does strengths. Additional classes add new angles of play; they don't exclusively retread water - similarly, if the Paladin had been introduced as a third-party class, its Aura would be considered unbalanced as all get-out. Some things in the game are stronger on paper than in motion. This class is such, and three years of testing at various tables has solidified that.
Customer avatar
Kaleb H April 02, 2023 9:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
A flaw that I notice while reading is the in the Yamato and the musashi paths of devotion. The last ability you get in the musashi is called heartless dragon sweep. You basically attack every enemy within 10 feet of you for 6 focus points. While in the Yamato path of devotion, at third level where you unlock your first focus techniques, you get blue crescent and wind chain if you use the combination of these 2 focus techniques; for 3 focus points you can make an attack against every creature within 30 feet of you.
Can we combine focus techniques like this? Or when getting something wrong.
Also I get with the musashi you can also deal 2d12 if they fail a con save but 2d12 for 3 focus points seems sort of weak.
Customer avatar
Justin C March 23, 2023 1:30 pm UTC
I noticed in paths of devotion 2 as well as in the 2 new paths added in the kitsadria guide there are path specific artifact weapons called saint myth weapons. any chance of making myth weapons for the subclasses in the base sword saint book or any of the earlier path books?
Customer avatar
Akmal N January 11, 2023 10:55 am UTC
Love the class but would this class not completely overshadow the fighter class?
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Customer avatar
Logan L January 30, 2023 7:56 am UTC
PUBLISHER
It has key differences that keep them in their own lanes. Playtesting on all sides has shown that they don't bump heads any more than any two martial classes do.
Customer avatar
Devin M September 16, 2022 7:34 pm UTC
PURCHASER
A question about Saint Weapon Bond: If you make a magical weapon that already requires attunement your saint weapon, does the attunement required of your saint weapon apply to that already existing attunement or is it another slot?
For example, a +1 sword as your saint weapon would take 1 attunement slot, but would a flame tongue sword take 1 or 2 attunement slots to fully use as your saint weapon?
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Customer avatar
Logan L December 15, 2022 11:25 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
When you attune to a weapon, you are attuned to it. Attuning to individual effects isn't something 5E accounts for. Once attuned to an item, you gain all the benefits/detriments that come from being attuned to them regardless of the source of those effects.
Customer avatar
Kieran B April 28, 2022 2:33 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I have a question, in the latest update it says "updated ogl". I'm sorry if I'm ignorant, but I'm not sure what that means
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Customer avatar
Logan L May 02, 2022 7:59 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
It just means the legal page at the end changed. Nothing concerning how the class runs.
Customer avatar
Carlos Renato S February 15, 2022 3:31 am UTC
PURCHASER
The most fun melee class I have ever played. My half-orc sword saint (with a level in barbarian, because or in-game developments) is just delightful to play
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Customer avatar
Logan L July 25, 2022 5:56 am UTC
PUBLISHER
That's so great to hear! I'd love to hear about your fun with the class~!
Customer avatar
Andres G December 15, 2021 9:16 am UTC
PURCHASER
i have a question, were does it says the máximum number of focus tecniques that one can learn?, that along with the 20th feature confuse me(sorry for the beautiful grammar)
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Customer avatar
Logan L January 03, 2022 8:47 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
There is no maximum. You don't ever learn new ones unless a features states you do, which sets the practical limit for what you can learn. The capstone feature "Unlock Potential" teaches you three new ones, but after that doesn't ever change the number you know since you have to lose one technique to learn another.
Customer avatar
Troy H June 28, 2021 2:34 am UTC
PURCHASER
Logan, I know you did an update to the sword saint. I was wondering as someone who already bought the sword saint, will I be able to get the updated version by redownloading it from Drivethru?
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Customer avatar
Logan L July 22, 2021 9:33 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Your library on the site should have an updated document section where you can check for updated documents and download them.
Customer avatar
Bobbi B June 14, 2021 6:02 pm UTC
PURCHASER
hey logan, i was wondering when reading the 18th level ability, moment of tranquility, why did you have it so that those points couldn't be used with dragon surge?
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Customer avatar
Logan L July 22, 2021 9:36 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
As a buffer against Dragon Surge being used in every encounter regardless of resting.
Customer avatar
Thomas T April 30, 2021 6:59 am UTC
PURCHASER
love this class. my next PC will defiantly be one. 2 questions.
multiclassing into Sword Saint, the PDF doesn't mention anything about it. how many skill proficiencies would you get? one or zero? I can make an educated guess on the rest.
my favorite characters of all time is, Zorro. will there a subclass befitting of him in the future? call it The Way of The Fox?
Customer avatar
Robert B February 21, 2021 11:55 am UTC
PURCHASER
You may want to change the sword saint's saving throw profiencies. 5e's design philosiphy regarding saving throws is that every class starts out with profiency in 1 of the 3 common saves (dex, con, and wis) and 1 of the 3 uncommon saves (str, int, and cha), which is why monks and rangers are both profiecent in str and dex saves when dex and wis makes the most sense for both classes. I suggest str and wis saves it makes just as much sense for the class and is the only legal combo of saving throws that has never been used.
Customer avatar
Dario B November 24, 2020 7:33 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I love most of the class but I feel that the way it regains resources on short rest at 10th level being scarce resource is a bit too late for the feature to come up
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Customer avatar
Logan L December 01, 2020 6:01 am UTC
PUBLISHER
I don't believe the class would be made any stronger or weaker by moving that to be earlier. That will always be a relevant milestone, and it's intended to reflect the shift from 2nd to 3rd tier play. This class focuses on mostly opening up its options in mid-tier gameplay. I considered having it show up earlier, but it goes against my philosophy regarding how this class should act and the rate at which it grows. I've seen it in motion in play-testing and it does what it needs to do efficiently.

It also prevents it from entirely stepping on the toes of the monk, who functions similarly except they regain points more quickly until then. If focus points were regained too quickly too early it would outpace and out-perform fighters and monks before they got a chance to properly find their feet via class features. One class can't and shouldn't be expected to do all things.
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This title was added to our catalog on November 22, 2020.