En Garde! Fencer Builds in DnD 5e
The fencer or duelist is an enduring archetype in pop culture and an iconic part of history. There are countless examples of this type of character, from The Princess Bride to Pirates of the Caribbean to some of the more dextrous fighters in Game of Thrones. While many classes and subclasses can use a fencing sword, few really excel at making the archetype feel right. Here’s how to build a fencer.
What Makes a Fencer? (And the History of Fencing)
In modern sports and pop culture, fencing uses light blades and a fast, agile fighting style. In both, fencing revolves around the duel: two fighters facing off against each other, whether for sport or to the death. Older Medieval films and books might have duels with larger swords, but those swords were mostly used for war. In sports and pop culture, fencing weapons exist for duels.
In DnD terms, this means using a finesse weapon. Finesse weapons can be used with either Strength or Dexterity (whichever is higher), making a Dexterity-based swordsman perfectly viable. Daggers, short swords, and scimitars are finesse weapons, but a fencer character would probably use a rapier. If you’re a high-Dexterity character using a rapier, congratulations—you’re halfway there.
The rapier became popular at the end of the 15th Century in Europe not as a weapon of war, but as a civilian weapon. The swords were lighter, meaning even inexperienced swordsmen could use them to defend themselves (or, at least, far more easily than with larger swords). But as dueling became popular, there was an incentive for some people to hone their skills with rapiers. Out of the duel rose the sport of fencing, which sees many practitioners today.
Though fencing as a sport uses a variety of blades, fencing in DnD focuses exclusively on stabbing, making it piercing damage. If you want to be a saber fencer, talk to your DM about flavoring a rapier as a saber—the only difference would be it would deal slashing as opposed to piercing damage. You could also use a scimitar, but these tend to work better with two-weapon fighting.
The Skald - College of Swords Bard
Bards are full casters that aren’t known for being strong martial characters, but the Swords Bard has some unique features that make it effective in this role. They get a fighting style at level 3, and the best option here is the dueling fighting style, which gives you more damage with your rapier. Swords Bards also get an extra attack at level 6, helping them keep up with martial classes at mid-levels.
One great feature they have is the ability to use their inspiration dice—normally used for buffing your teammates—to pull off blade flourishes. These all do extra damage, but they can also increase your defense, hit an additional opponent, or make you more mobile for a turn—all great things for a fencer.
One major benefit the Swords Bard has over all the others on this list is its impressive assortment of spells. Useful Bard spells for a fencer include Faerie Fire and Kinetic Jaunt, but many spells can make you a major threat on the battlefield. While Bards are often support casters, their control magic abilities can wreck an enemy party and leave you to pick off the survivors.
As a melee Bard, your Dexterity and Charisma should be as high as possible. Swords Bards get proficiency in medium armor, although if you’re a fencer, you’ll want to max Dexterity and use light armor anyway. Charisma powers your spells, so don’t neglect that. Constitution is also important for any melee character, but doubly so for Bards so that they can maintain their concentration on powerful spells.
A College of Swords Bard is a versatile option for a fencer and can fill just about any necessary role in a party. One thing to be aware of is that you won’t be as support-focused as other Bards since your inspiration dice, a Bard staple for buffing a party, will probably go toward your attacks. If you go this route, be aware that there will be turns when you’re not fighting at all because your magic will be more potent. That said, your dueling capabilities are still formidable and can make you a threat even without your magic.
The Master Swordsman - Battle Master Fighter
There are many possible concepts for a fencer or duelist, but if you want to be the absolute best swordsman, the Battle Master Fighter is your best option. All Fighters are formidable melee characters with multiple attacks, proficiency with shields and all weapons, and a fighting style to make you more powerful (the dueling fighting style is a great option, but defense and protection can be valuable). Fighters also get more stat increases than any other class, allowing you to add more feats to your build.
The Battle Master brings all that up a notch and adds powerful maneuvers that increase damage and add useful effects. You can knock an opponent down, push them back, knock the weapon out of their hand, aid your allies, or even move characters around the battlefield. Some features are pretty straightforward, but some can make battles more like a game of chess.
Battle Masters (and most Fighters) have the advantage of not needing anything except Dexterity, giving you some freedom in what mental stat you want to increase. You can be a tactical genius with high Intelligence, a calm warrior who doesn’t miss much with high Wisdom, or a field commander with high Charisma. A high Constitution also helps any fencer character, but Fighters get more hit points per level than others on this list and can use shields, so this is less important than for other options on this list.
The Battle Master is a strong contender for best fencer with great survivability and damage, and maneuvers that give Battle Masters many options that help it feel more like a mage than a martial character. If you want to be strong and strategic, or you just want the fantasy of being the best swordsman, the Battle Master might be for you.
The Skirmisher - Way of the Kensei Monk
Sometimes, rather than someone who stands there and exchanges blows, you want someone with a lightning-fast acrobatic style who can slip in, hit vulnerable targets, and get out. Agile swordsmen like Ling from Fullmetal Alchemist and Ahsoka Tano from The Clone Wars are a unique and great basis for a fencer, and the Kensei Monk is the best class and subclass for this build.
Monks are highly mobile and have a devastating stun attack that can render foes helpless for an entire round. Rather than fight on the front lines, they excel at running right around the front line and attacking the wizards and archers in the enemies’ back line. For a build like this, it helps to have another character holding the front line in place so the Monk doesn’t get caught up in that.
But wait—Monks are known for punching and kicking. How do you get a fencer? The Way of the Kensei subclass allows the Monk to specialize in other weapons and gives some unique benefits while using these weapons. Picking a Kensei weapon allows you to use Dexterity instead of Strength with that weapon, meaning you can now fight with a longsword or warpick as a finesse weapon, allowing for some more variety in weapons than other options on this list.
Kensei Monks can choose between using their weapon for a more powerful attack or using it defensively. (If you don’t use your weapon, you can still make unarmed attacks that turn.) This feature gives you a strategic choice to focus on offense or defense.
A Monk fencer gives several unique benefits over others on this list because of the large toolkit Monks have in DnD. Stunning Strike is a powerful option, but Monks get extra defensive features like Rogues and superior mobility, letting them reach almost any foe on the battlefield. They can also make one or two unarmed attacks as a bonus action, giving them up to four attacks per turn, which is fantastic for breaking an enemy mage’s concentration.
Monks need Dexterity and Wisdom to be as high as possible with Constitution close behind, so pretty much all your stat increases will be tied up in increasing these stats. This leaves little room for feats in this build. On the flip side, having high Dexterity and Wisdom makes you an excellent scout, giving you good scores in both Perception and Stealth—two vital skills.
Monks may not have the sword skills of a Battle Master or the magical talents of others on this list, but they make excellent mage killers or combatants who can run circles around an enemy party. The Kensei Monk is a great fit if you want to be the fastest swordsman.
The Duelist - Swashbuckler Rogue
True to its name, the Swashbuckler Rogue channels the spirit of Errol Flynn’s classic characters, The Princess Bride’s Wesley and Inigo Montoya, and Shrek’s Puss in Boots. Unlike a Fighter, who gets many attacks, the Swashbuckler gets one (or possibly two) per round. This may seem like a big negative, but Rogues can get a sneak attack on unsuspecting foes for one devastating attack. Rogues also have several class abilities to avoid damage and skill proficiencies and expertise, making for talented and resilient characters.
Though most fencers on this list do best with a rapier, the Swashbuckler may want to look at two smaller weapons, like short swords. With most of a Rogue’s damage coming from sneak attack, missing an attack means no damage that turn. With two smaller weapons, you now have a chance to take another stab at an opponent that you miss. Rogues have many things to do with their bonus action, so you’ll probably only use the bonus action attack if you miss, but it’s good insurance for dealing all the damage you can.
Rogues normally only get a sneak attack if they have advantage on the attack roll or if an ally is standing within 5 feet of their target. Swashbucklers get another way to get sneak attacks: if no one is within 5 feet of you, you can land a sneak attack. This feature makes the Swashbuckler amazing at 1-on-1 fights. Swashbucklers can also slip in for an attack and slip away without inviting an opportunity attack and get a bonus to their initiative based on Charisma—all useful abilities for a duelist character.
Rogues need to max Dexterity as soon as possible. Charisma is important too, with Swashbucklers getting bonuses based on their Charisma stat. Constitution is less important for Rogues, who aren’t supposed to be sitting on the front line exchanging blows. Like Monks, Rogues need to get in, make their hit, and get out without drawing too much attention. That said, don’t neglect Constitution entirely.
Looking at fictional and real fencers, they’re most famous for their duels. The Swashbuckler is a build that excels at 1-on-1 fights, making the best duelist on this list. Having a high Charisma score and proficiency (or expertise) in social skills makes them great at both boasting and swordplay.
The Spellsword - Bladesinging Wizard
If a magic swordsman is your wish and the Swords Bards can’t blow things up like you want them to, the Bladesinging Wizard might be the best pick for you. Bladesingers are full casters, but unlike the Swords Bard, they have powerful utility and blasting spells. Their sword skills are not to be underestimated, though.
Wizards are quintessential mages with access to more spells than any other class. While they’re not great at healing, they can do anything else from blasting to summoning to controlling the battlefield. Intelligence should be their highest stat, as that powers their spells.
Bladesingers make this casting class more martial-friendly. They gain proficiency with light armor and one weapon of choice (which should be a rapier). Also, they can invoke the bladesong—their battle mode—where they get increased defense and speed and a bonus to maintain concentration on spells. Bladesingers are full wizards who can also fight on the front lines. They get an extra attack to keep up with other martials, can reduce the damage they take, and can eventually get extra weapon damage based on their Intelligence stat.
If this all sounds too good to be true, there are some drawbacks. Wizards get fewer hit points per level than almost any class, so their health tends to be lower. They need a high Intelligence and Dexterity stat, with a high Constitution to offset their low hit points. Also, as Wizards get more powerful, you will find it tempting to ignore your sword altogether and just cast powerful spells. Nonetheless, the Bladesinging Wizard does offer both magical and martial options.
Bladesinging Wizards are a unique and powerful build, although it can be tricky to balance all of their options. If you want more versatility and magic power than any other swordsman, though, there’s no better choice.
Not-Quite-Fencers
Several good sword-fighting classes didn’t make the list for one reason or another. Those include:
- College of Valor Bard - Good fencers for many of the same reasons a College of Swords Bard is. While Swords Bards are more focused on doing damage with their melee attacks, Valor Bards can make the whole team stronger. They can still make good fencers, although they’re not as focused on sword-fighting as a Swords Bard.
- Cavalier Fighter - An excellent challenger swordsman who pulls an enemy into an irresistible duel. Cavaliers make great defender characters, but some of their abilities require a good Strength stat, making them hard to recommend as dextrous fencers. The Cavalier can be great if you’re open to a Strength-based swordsman.
- Champion Fighter - While the flavor of the Champion fits a fencer, the mechanics of the Champion are more effective when paired with a large weapon that does high damage, like a greatsword. With the Piercer feat, this becomes a lot more viable. If you want a basic swordsman that focuses on extensive physical and martial training, though, this could fit.
- Any Paladin build - Paladins can be built with Dexterity and are just as effective as Strength-based Paladins. While they’re strong, none of the subclasses have abilities that play into the fencer archetype.
- Inquisitive Rogue - Inquisitive is a seriously underrated subclass for Rogue. They can study opponents to land free sneak attacks and have some detective-themed skills as well. While they could make good fencers, their class fantasy is more geared toward a Sherlock Holmes-type investigator character.
Best Feats for a Fencer
Fighting Initiate
If you don’t have the Dueling fighting style, that can help you get more damage. This is less useful for the Swashbuckler Rogue since they only get one attack per turn, and most of their damage comes from Sneak Attack. The Battle Master Fighter and Swords Bard both get a fighting style, so this is only useful for the Kensei Monk or Bladesinging Wizard.
Defensive Duelist
This feat seems made specifically for fencer characters. If an opponent attacks you while you’re using a finesse weapon, you can use your reaction to boost your defense for that attack. Useful as long as you don’t have something better to do with your reaction or have a similar class feature. Rogues get the Uncanny Dodge feature and Wizards get the Shield spell, so this is less useful for them. Swords Bards, Battle Master Fighters, and Kensei Monks may find this useful.
Medium Armor Master
This feat has two main benefits. First, it allows characters in medium armor to be more sneaky, as high-Dexterity characters are good sneakers. Second, it allows you to add more of the Dexterity modifier to your AC from medium armor. The best light and medium armor (studded leather and half plate) are tied when you max out the Dexterity requirement. Plate armor (heavy armor) is 1 AC higher, which may not sound like much but can make a difference in a fight. Medium Armor Master puts half plate on par with plate mail, assuming you have 16 Dexterity (which a fencer would, easily).
Piercer
This does give you +1 Dexterity, which can be handy for rounding out an odd score. This gives you two benefits. It allows you to reroll one damage die from your weapon once per turn—a modest but fun-to-have benefit. It also improves your critical hit damage, which can make a Champion Fighter seem far more tempting.
Poisoner
Who said you had to play fair? Poisoner allows you to make potent poisons that you can apply to your blade. The enemy can sometimes avoid the damage with a good Constitution save, but when it hits, it’s basically free damage. Read more about a poisoner character here.
About the Author
Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a web developer and writer in the Kansas City area. He's been playing TTRPGs since 2020 and is involved in the disability-related TTRPG podcast Tales from the Crips. He's into classic movies, mental health, and, of course, DnD. Also, he's in a band. One time, they rocked so hard it killed a man.