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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ashrym" data-source="post: 7841647" data-attributes="member: 6750235">Bardic inspiration was already comparable to battle master maneuvers because 5th level for font of inspiration isn't a high bar.  Inspiration is available earlier but maneuvers recover on a short rest sooner.  The only real difference is inspiration is used on others unless a subclass moves it to the bard.  Swords just makes the comparison more direct.It's not those features that makes a sword bard weaker or stronger than a battle master in the levels mentioned.  Battle masters aren't also bumping up a caster stat to get more dice.  Battle masters have more hit points, better armor options, better weapon options, more feats, more attacks, and are typically better suited to front line combat.Bards are major spell casters.  Bardic inspiration plus spells is better than battle master maneuvers.  Front line combat laying out the damage along with the maneuvers is what the battle master does.  They have different strengths altogether and those dice are just a small piece of the final character.As for 14th level and dropping to d6's, that's a nice ability but I think battle magic still beats it.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  I would argue that all fighters at 11th level are capable of swapping out from 3 attacks for the shove action to knock prone or push for some combos beyond swords bards regardless of dice, and at 15th level battle masters are always guaranteed a full die in any given encounter.  Defensive flourish doesn't have an equivalent in the battle master maneuvers, but parry is still an option if needed and disarming attack can situationally prevent more damage than the AC bonus (especially on an archer disarming a spell focus with a bow shot -- shot to disarm, shot to push the focus out of reach, extra shot in case either misses or damage attack).The other thing to note is the swords bard is allowed 1 flourish per turn.  Using it for AC all the time shuts out the other options.  Maneuvers or ki (the other short rest combat pool) don't have that restriction.  A battle master can choose to "nova" his superiority dice between 3 attacks and an action surge.  That 3rd attack and ability to use multiple maneuvers per turn is a definite advantage.</blockquote>

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