I'm all for melee-ranged spellsword skills. What comes to mind is FFXIII's way they did things, like flamestrike or icestrike.

Only problem I see is they'd have to give them their own special kind of swords to fit into the armory system.
I say orbs that turn to swords in active mode and turn back to orbs in passive mode.
Make Alchemist/Goldsmith make them, and bam, profit!