Bards believe the multiverse was given existence through word and sound, esoteric harmonies that continue to resound through existence: the Song of Creation. The bards of this college draw on this ancient power through performances of dance, music, or song to bring into being what they need most.  

Note of Potential

When you adopt the College of Creation at 3rd level, you can manipulate the Song of Creation to summon a floating musical note of possibility:   Whenever you give a creature a Bardic Inspiration die, you can create a Note of Potential. The note orbits within 5 feet of the creature. The note is a Tiny object that is intangible and invulnerable, and it lasts until the Bardic Inspiration die is lost. A creature with a note can use it in the following ways.   Note of Destruction. Immediately after the creature rolls the Bardic Inspiration die to add it to an attack roll, the creature can expend the note to create a burst of sound. Each other creature within 5 feet of it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or take thunder damage equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die.   Note of Protection. Immediately after the creature rolls the Bardic Inspiration die and adds it to a saving throw, the creature can expend the note to gain temporary hit points equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, provided the creature doesn't already have temporary hit points.   Note of Ingenuity. When the creature rolls the Bardic Inspiration die to add it to an ability check, the creature can expend the note to roll the Bardic Inspiration die again and choose which roll to use.  

Animating Performance

At 6th level, your mastery over the Song of Creation allows you to magically bring items to life. As an action, you can target a Large or smaller nonmagical item you can see within 30 feet of you and animate it. The animate item uses the stat block and is under your control for 1 hour or until it is reduced to 0 hit points.   In combat, the item shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or the Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, or Search action.   When you use your Bardic Inspiration feature, you can command which action your animated item takes as part of the same bonus action.   Once you animate an item with this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest or until you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher to use this feature. You can have only one item animated by this feature at a time; if you use this action and already have a dancing item from this feature, the first one immediately becomes inanimate.  

Performance of Creation

At 14th level, your performance can manipulate the magic of creation, briefly transforming the world around you. As an action, you can create one nonmagical item of your choice in an unoccupied space within 10 feet of you. The item must appear on a surface or in a liquid that can support it. The gp value of the item can’t be more than 20 times your bard level and must be Large or smaller. Tiny glimmering, intangible notes float around it, and a creature can faintly hear music when touching it.   For examples of items you can create, see the Armor, Weapons, Adventuring Gear, Tools, and Mounts and Vehicles tables in chapter 5, “Equipment,” of the Player’s Handbook.   The created item disappears at the end of your next turn, unless you use your action to maintain it. Each time you use your action in this way, the item’s duration is extended to the end of your next turn, up to a maximum of 1 minute. If you maintain the item for the full minute, it continues to exist for a number of hours equal to your bard level.   Once you create an item with this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest or until you expend a spell slot of 5th level or higher to use this feature. You can have only one item created by this feature at a time; if you use this action and already have an item from this feature, the first one immediately vanishes.

While most bards are naturally skilled musicians, singers, or storytellers, some gain their talent through more nefarious means. Known informally as the College of the Crossroads, this organization is named for the traditional location where such mortal bargains are made. An agreement with a devil, demon, or other denizen of the lower planes is but the start of such a bard's quest for personal power and fame.  

Infernal Musician

You have gained strange and sinister skills at the Crossroads. When you join this College at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Performance skill and you learn to speak, read, write, and sing in Infernal, the language of Devils.   In addition, whenever you make a Charisma (Deception), Charisma (Performance), or Charisma (Persuasion) check that incorporates Infernal speech or lyrics you gain a bonus to your roll equal to your bardic inspiration die.  

Forbidden Arcana

Your nefarious dealings with the lower planes have granted you access to dark and wicked magics. Starting at 3rd level, when you learn a bard spell you can choose the new spell from either the warlock or the bard spell list. Any spell you learn from this feature becomes a bard spell for you.  

Eldritch Recovery

Beginning at 6th level, you can draw upon the dark arts to regenerate your magical potential, much as a warlock does. When you finish a short rest, you can regain one expended bard spell slot. The level of the spell slot you recover cannot exceed your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1st-level).   If you use this feature during a short rest then both you and your allies do not gain the benefits of your Song of Rest.  

Otherworldly Virtuoso

You have come to master the Infernal power that flows within you. Beginning at 14th level, when you cast a bard spell with a verbal component you can expend a bardic inspiration to enhance the spell in one of the following ways:   Emboldening Melody. If the spell restores hit points, one target regains additional hit points equal to your Charisma modifier. All targets of the spell have advantage on the first attack roll, ability check, or saving throw they make.
Infectious Tune. If the spell requires concentration, you have advantage on the first Constitution saving throw you make to maintain concentration on the spell.
Resounding Note. If the spell deals damage, you can choose for it to become thunder damage. Large or smaller creatures effected by the spell must make an (additional) Strength saving throw. On a failed save, they fall prone.

Bards of the College of Dance feel the rhythm of music course through their being and cannot help but flow with the beat of magical energy around them. Weaving exotic and expressive movements, they try to bring joy and spectacle even to the fiercest situation. Most are found in travelling troupes or surrounded by adoring crowds, they do their best to dazzle all who see them.  

Rhythm of the Weave

When you join this college at 3rd level, you learn to synchronize the flow of your movements to the flow of the Weave. You can expend 10 feet of your movement on your turn to use your body as a spellcasting focus and ignore the verbal component of your bard spells.

Aggressive Choreography

At 3rd level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, you gain the following benefits:

• Your AC 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Charisma modifier.
• You can take the Disengage action as a bonus action.
• As an action, you can choose to strike a target within 5 feet of you with your body. On a hit, your attack deals bludgeoning damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Dexterity modifier.

 

Striking Pose

Also at 3rd level, you can perform a dazzling flourish, inspiring your allies and harming your enemies. As an action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to perform a dazzling flourish. When you do so, choose one or more creature up to your proficiency bonus within 10 feet of you that can see you. Choose one of the following for each creature:

• The creature gains a Bardic Inspiration die, which expires at the start of your next turn.
• The creature must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes psychic damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and cannot take reactions until the start of your next turn. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and can still take reaction as normal.

 

Choose a Partner

At 6th level, you can focus your attention on a single opponent, drawing them into battle. You learn the compelled duel spell. It counts as a bard spell for you but doesn't count against the number of bard spells you know. You may cast compelled duel once without expending a spell slot, and you can't do so again until you finish a long rest. Whenever you cast compelled duel, you can use your bonus action to strike the target of the spell a second time with your Aggressive Choreography feature. You may only do so for the duration of the spell.  

Dancing on Air

At 14th level, your movements become more fluid and elusive. You gain the following benefits:

• You are resistant to fall damage.
• Your walking speed increases by 10 feet.
• When you jump, you can make an Acrobatics check and extend your jump by a number of feet equal to the check's total. You can make this special check once per turn.
• When you use your Striking Pose feature, creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls made against you until the start of your next turn.

Bards of the College of Discord yearn to take their performances to the next level. While some artists feel the need to prepare or learn progressions within a harmonic framework, the extemporaneous nature of the bard’s study encourages inventing variations in their musical repertoire mid-performance. This practice usually bleeds into their outlook on life and, whether with accompaniment or solo, these bards are excited to delve into the unknown, no matter the vibe.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Discord at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor and one additional musical instrument.  

Melodic Mayhem

Beginning at 3rd level, you gain the ability to use your musical instruments effectively in martial combat. When you wield your musical instrument in one or two hands, and no other weapons, it becomes a weapon that deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage and has the versatile (1d8) property. When used in one hand, it gains the finesse property. Wielded with two hands, your Armor Class increases by 2.  

Battaglia

Also at 3rd level, you're able to anticipate the rhythm of battle and adjust to disrupt the flow of your enemies. As a bonus action on your turn, you can choose to teleport to an unoccupied square adjacent to any number of creatures you can see within 30 feet of you. Any Large or smaller creature within 5 feet of your new location must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. At 6th level, the radius of this effect increases to 10 feet, and to 15 feet at 14th level.   You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all expended uses after you finish a short or long rest.   As part of this bonus action, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and adding the number rolled to the save DC. You can choose to use this feature after the creature makes its roll but before the DM announces if it succeeds or fails.  

Encore

At 6th level, every success fuels your performance. When you succeed on a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw in combat, you gain advantage on the next ability check, saving throw, or attack roll you make before the end of your next turn.   Additionally, your attacks with your musical instruments count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.  

Pandemonium

At 14th level, your music can stir peace into flailing chaos, goading your allies to hasten their attacks while slowing the minds of your enemies. As an action, you can create a field of discordant noise that reverberates out from you in a 15-foot radius for 1 minute, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell). The dysphonic chaos of your music is audible within 300 feet of you.   For the duration, friendly creatures within the field gain a +2 bonus to AC, have advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and gain an additional action on each turn. That action can be used only to take the Attack (one weapon attack only), Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action. A creature can only benefit from one such effect at a time. While you concentrate on this effect, your speed is 0, and you can only make melee attacks against creatures within 5 feet of you. If you have a fly speed, or are held in place my magical means, you can hover in place.   Additionally, when a hostile creature starts its turn within the field, or moves there for the first time, it must make a Wisdom saving throw or be affected for the duration. An affected creature’s speed is halved, it takes a –2 penalty to AC and Dexterity saving throws, and can’t use reactions. On an affected creature’s turn, it can use either an action or a bonus action, not both. Regardless of the creature’s abilities or magic items, it can’t make more than one melee or ranged attack during its turn.   If the creature attempts to cast a spell with a casting time of 1 action, roll a d20. On an 11 or higher, the spell doesn’t take effect until the creature’s next turn, and the creature must use its action on that turn to complete the spell. If it can’t, the spell is wasted. If an affected creature exits the field, the effect ends for it at the start of its next turn.   When you stop concentrating on this effect, you can’t move or take actions until after your next turn, as a wave of exhaustion sweeps over you. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.

Adherents of the College of Eloquence master the art of oratory. Persuasion is regarded as a high art, and a well-reasoned, well-spoken argument often proves more powerful than objective truth. These bards wield a blend of logic and theatrical wordplay, winning over skeptics and detractors with logical arguments, and plucking at heartstrings to appeal to the emotions of entire audiences.  

Silver Tongue

Beginning at 3rd level, you are a master at saying the right thing at the right time. When you make a Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Deception) check, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.  

Unsettling Words

Also at 3rd level, you can spin words laced with magic that unsettle a creature and cause it to doubt itself. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration and choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. Roll the Bardic Inspiration die. The creature must subtract the number rolled from the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn.  

Unfailing Inspiration

At 6th level, your inspiring words are so persuasive that others feel driven to succeed. When a creature adds one of your Bardic Inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the roll fails, the creature can keep the Bardic Inspiration die.  

Universal Speech

Also 6th level, you have gained the ability to make your speech intelligible to any creature. As an action, choose one or more creatures within 60 feet of you, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one creature). The chosen creatures can magically understand you, regardless of the language you speak, for 1 hour. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot to use it again.  

Infectious Inspiration

At 14th level, when you successfully inspire someone, the power of your eloquence can now spread to someone else. When a creature within 60 feet of you adds one of your Bardic Inspiration dice to its ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and the roll succeeds, you can use your reaction to encourage a different creature (other than yourself) that can hear you within 60 feet of you, giving it a Bardic Inspiration die without expending any of your Bardic Inspiration uses.   You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

The College of Glamour is the home of bards who mastered their craft in the vibrant realm of the Feywild or under the tutelage of someone who dwelled there. Tutored by satyrs, eladrin, and other fey, these bards learn to use their magic to delight and captivate others.   The bards of this college are regarded with a mixture of awe and fear. Their performances are the stuff of legend. These bards are so eloquent that a speech or song that one of them performs can cause captors to release the bard unharmed and can lull a furious dragon into complacency. The same magic that allows them to quell beasts can also bend minds. Villainous bards of this college can leech off a community for weeks, misusing their magic to turn their hosts into thralls. Heroic bards of this college instead use this power to gladden the downtrodden and undermine oppressors.  

Mantle of Inspiration

When you join the College of Glamour at 3rd level, you gain the ability to weave a song of fey magic that imbues your allies with vigor and speed.   As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to grant yourself a wondrous appearance. When you do so, choose a number of creatures you can see and that can see you within 60 feet of you, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Each of them gains 5 temporary hit points. When a creature gains these temporary hit points, it can immediately use its reaction to move up to its speed, without provoking opportunity attacks.   The number of temporary hit points increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 8 at 5th level, 11 at 10th level, and 14 at 15th level.  

Enthralling Performance

Starting at 3rd level, you can charge your performance with seductive, fey magic.   If you perform for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to inspire wonder in your audience by singing, reciting a poem, or dancing. At the end of the performance, choose a number of humanoids within 60 feet of you who watched and listened to all of it, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you. While charmed in this way, the target idolizes you, it speaks glowingly of you to anyone who talks to it, and it hinders anyone who opposes you, although it avoids violence unless it was already inclined to fight on your behalf. This effect ends on a target after 1 hour, if it takes any damage, if you attack it, or if it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies.   If a target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to charm it.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.  

Mantle of Majesty

At 6th level, you gain the ability to cloak yourself in a fey magic that makes others want to serve you. As a bonus action, you cast command, without expending a spell slot, and you take on an appearance of unearthly beauty for 1 minute or until your concentration ends (as if you were concentrating on a spell). During this time, you can cast command as a bonus action on each of your turns, without expending a spell slot.   Any creature charmed by you automatically fails its saving throw against the command you cast with this feature.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.  

Unbreakable Majesty

At 14th level, your appearance permanently gains an otherworldly aspect that makes you look more lovely and fierce.   In addition, as a bonus action, you can assume a magically majestic presence for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated. For the duration, whenever any creature tries to attack you for the first time on a turn, the attacker must make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it can’t attack you on this turn, and it must choose a new target for its attack or the attack is wasted. On a successful save, it can attack you on this turn, but it has disadvantage on any saving throw it makes against your spells on your next turn.   Once you assume this majestic presence, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Bards of the College of Lore know something about most things, collecting bits of knowledge from sources as diverse as scholarly tomes and peasant tales. Whether singing folk ballads in taverns or elaborate compositions in royal courts, these bards use their gifts to hold audiences spellbound. When the applause dies down, the audience members might find themselves questioning everything they held to be true, from their faith in the priesthood of the local temple to their loyalty to the king.   The loyalty of these bards lies in the pursuit of beauty and truth, not in fealty to a monarch or following the tenets of a deity. A noble who keeps such a bard as a herald or advisor knows that the bard would rather be honest than politic.   The college’s members gather in libraries and sometimes in actual colleges, complete with classrooms and dormitories, to share their lore with one another. They also meet at festivals or affairs of state, where they can expose corruption, unravel lies, and poke fun at self-important figures of authority.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Lore at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with three skills of your choice.  

Cutting Words

Also at 3rd level, you learn how to use your wit to distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature’s roll. You can choose to use this feature after the creature makes its roll, but before the DM determines whether the attack roll or ability check succeeds or fails, or before the creature deals its damage. The creature is immune if it can’t hear you or if it’s immune to being charmed.  

Additional Magical Secrets

At 6th level, you learn two spells of your choice from any class. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip. The chosen spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count against the number of bard spells you know.  

Peerless Skill

Starting at 14th level, when you make an ability check, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration. Roll a Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to your ability check. You can choose to do so after you roll the die for the ability check, but before the DM tells you whether you succeed or fail.

Bards in the College of Masks (the masters of masks, as they have come to be called) are virtuoso performers who practice becoming the figure they portray, rather than merely imitating them. Bards who join in this college come to believe that all life is performed, rather than lived, and that to become an actor in this Great Play requires that one merely put on the metaphorical mask of another. To engage in this great stage drama, a master of masks carries with him a number of masks, each a potent magical artifact of a specific archetypal character or creature to allow them to better enter those roles.  

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Masks at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Performance skill and the Disguise Kit.  

Persona Masks

Also at 3rd level, you learn to craft potent magical masks, each of which allows you to take on a different persona and gain some aspect of that archetypal character. You gain two Persona Masks of your choice. You gain an additional mask at 6th level (3 masks) and another one at 14th level (4 masks). You can exchange a mask you have for another mask whenever you gain a level in this class. If one of your masks is lost or stolen, you can remake the mask with 8 hours of work and 100 gp in materials.   You can put on a mask or switch masks as a bonus action. Only you can gain the effects of your Persona Masks.   Beginning at 6th level, some of your persona masks improve and gain additional abilities.  

Masks

The following masks are listed alphabetically.   Angel. An alluring, serene face gazes out of this mask of flawless alabaster. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal additional radiant damage to the target equal to the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier.
Archmage. This clay mask bears exaggerated wrinkles and the scowl of a cantankerous old man. You know the fire bolt cantrip, as well as the spells shown on the table below. As you gain higher levels in this class, you know additional spells while wearing the mask. These spells count as bard spells for you, but don't count against the total number of spells you know.   Devil. The obsidian mask grins with the fangs and horns of a handsome fiend. As a reaction, when you take damage from a creature you can see within 5 feet of you, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal fire damage equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die to the creature.
Dragon. Painted cloth forms the scales, horns, eyes, flowing whiskers, and teeth of a multihued dragon's head. While you wear this mask, you can use your action and expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to exhale destructive energy. Each creature in a 15-foot cone must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC. A creature takes fire damage equal to three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Faceless. Two perfectly round eyeholes stare out of this otherwise featureless porcelain mask. While you wear this mask, you can cast the spell disguise self without expending a spell slot or material components.
Fool. This porcelain mask of a grinning jester is adorned with bells, ribbons, and vibrant checkerboard paints. While you wear this mask, your walking speed increases by 10 feet. Additionally, you can take the Disengage action as a bonus action. Improvement. Beginning at 6th level, you can take the Dash action as a bonus action.
Gladiator. This grim metal helm, pockmarked and scratched, conceals the entire face. While you wear this mask, you have proficiency with martial weapons and shields. Improvement. Beginning at 6th level, you can add your Charisma modifier to your melee weapon damage rolls.
High Priest. In lieu of a face, this bronze mask bears the image of a holy symbol, with the barest of slits to see out of. You know the Sacred Flame cantrip, as well as the spells shown on the table below. As you gain higher levels in this class, you know additional spells while wearing the mask. These spells count as bard spells for you, but don't count against the total number of spells you know.   Lord. This gleaming silver mask bears a golden, jeweled diadem instead of eyes. When a creature rolls one of your Bardic Inspiration dice and rolls a 1 while you wear this mask, it can reroll the die and must use the new roll. Improvement. Starting at 6th level, the creature can reroll the Bardic Inspiration die when it rolls a 1 or 2, and must use the new roll.
Spirit. This white fabric mask conceals the face as a funeral shroud, with two gold coins sewn over the eyes. You become invisible if you do not speak, move, or take any actions for 1 minute. You remain invisible for up to 10 minutes or until you remove this mask, take damage, make an attack, or cast a spell. While invisible, you can become half visible as a ghostly image or return to invisibility as a bonus action. Improvement. Starting at 6th level, while invisible, you levitate an inch above the ground, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain and make no noise while moving.  

Hidden Persona

By 6th level, you wear the masks of others wherever you go, even when others can't see it. You can use your bonus action to cause a mask you are wearing to become invisible or return to visibility.  

Master of Many Faces

At 14th level, you have become a master of assuming the archetypes contained within the masks. You can wear two masks simultaneously, gaining the benefits of each.

Performers of the College of Momentum live for music - rhythmic beats, intense riffs, and powerful drops. These bards wield their songs as a weapon, not only to entertain their fans but to change minds.  

Increasing the Tempo

Starting at 3rd level, your walking speed increases by 10 feet and your movement is unaffected by nonmagical difficult terrain. Also, you gain proficiency with all vehicles.  

Adrenaline Rush

Beginning at 3rd level, you grow more aware of when a fight is about to break out, starting your music at the perfect time. When you roll initiative and are not surprised, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration, rolling the die and adding the result to your initiative roll and the initiative roll o fan ally that can hear you within 30 feet of you. You can choose to use this feature after a creature makes its roll, but you can use this feature only once per combat.  

Melody of Momentum

Starting at 6th level, your powerful melodies make them more agile. Creatures affected by your countercharm have their speed increased by 10 feet. Additionally, when you use your counter charm, its range is increased by 120 feet, and your performance lasts for 1 minute, instead of until the end of your next turn.  

Beat Drop

Also at 6th level, your songs begin to grow and build to climatic drops. When you use your countercharm, you can choose to also start an instrumental build up, which lasts until your countercharm ends. This build up, as well as your countercharm, ends early if your turn starts and you or any of your allies have not attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage from a hostile creature since then.   Your build up is represented by a pool of dice, each of which having an equal size to your Bardic Inspiration die. Your build up pool starts with two of such dice and gains two more dice at the end of each of your turns.   When you or a friendly creature within 30 feet of you that can hear you deals damage with an attack or spell while you are in build up, you can use your reaction to end your countercharm in a destructive drop. Roll all of the dice in your build up pool, adding it as extra thunder damage against one target of the attack or spell. When a target takes this damage, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your bard spell save DC or be pushed 5 feet away from the attacker for each build up die rolled and fall prone.   Once you end your build up this way, you can't start it again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher to start it again.  

Exhilarating Beats

When you reach 14th level, you master the art of musical momentum. You gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move. Creatures affected by your countercharm also share this ability.   Also, when a creature rolls a Bardic Inspiration die that you granted to them, they can use their reaction to move up to half their speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Some bards have a way of becoming the center of attention wherever they go. They enjoy the after parties more than their performances, and it is rare that they turn down an invitation for a good time. From formal of banquets of royalty to the harvest celebrations of small farming towns, Revelry bards live for parties and hedonistic gatherings of all kinds.  

Charming Presence

Upon joining the College of Revelry at 3rd level, your natural charisma makes other people uniquely comfortable around you. You gain proficiency in the Persuasion skill. If you are already proficient in Persuasion you instead gain proficiency in your choice of Deception, Performance, or Sleight of Hand.   If you are currently carousing with a creature, you have advantage on any Deception, Performance, Persuasion, or Sleight of Hand checks you make directed at that creature. For the purposes of this feature, carousing could be any of the following activities: drinking, dancing, feasting, partying, gambling, and any other activity that lowers inhibitions.  

Depraved Enchantments

Starting at 3rd level, your very voice drips with debilitating pleasure and weakens the mental resolve of your foes. When you cast an enchantment spell of 1st-level or higher that has a verbal component, you can expend a use of bardic inspiration to impose disadvantage on the target's saving throw.  

Stirring Performance

Your presence during rests enlivens your allies and assuages their worries. Beginning at 6th level, creatures that benefit from your Song of Rest during a short rest regain additional hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).   Also, any creature that benefits from your Song of Rest during a short rest has advantage on the first ability check, attack roll, or saving throw they make after their short rest.  

Hedonistic Trance

Your words and songs send creatures into a state of ecstasy. Starting at 14th level, you can use your action to expend a Bardic Inspiration and force a creature that can hear you within 30 feet to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is stunned for one minute. If the creature takes damage, they may immediately repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success. If the creature's saving throw is successful, or the effect ends for it, it is immune to the effects of your Hedonistic Trance for the next 24 hours.   While stunned, the creature is in state of pure ecstasy of your choosing. It could be a drunken stupor, uncontrollable laughter, sensual hallucinations, or overwhelming pleasure.   When you use this feature, you can choose to expend an additional use of bardic inspiration to impose disadvantage on the target's initial saving throw.

Stories of the past are powerful; they hold lessons of history, philosophy, and magic. Bards of the College of Spirits seek the stories of those from beyond the material plane. Using gaming sets, they reach out to hear their stories, but the bards have no control over what story they find.  

Guiding Whispers

Starting at 3rd level you can reach out to spirits to guide you and others. You learn the guidance cantrip, which doesn’t count against the number of bard cantrips you know. For you, it has a range of 60 feet when you cast it.  

Spiritual Focus

Also at 3rd level, your practice of contacting spirits can employ special tools. You can use the following objects as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells: a candle, a crystal ball, a talking board, a tarokka deck, or a skull.   At 6th level, when you cast a bard spell that deals damage or restores hit points through the Spiritual Focus, roll a d6, and you gain a bonus to one roll of the spell equal to the number rolled.  

Tales From Beyond

Finally, when you adopt this college at 3rd level, you reach out to spirits who tell their tales through you. While you are holding your Spiritual Focus, you can use a bonus action to expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration and roll on the Spirits’ Tales table using your Bardic Inspiration die to determine the tale told. You retain the tale in mind until you bestow the tale’s effect or you finish a short or long rest.   You can use an action to choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you (this can be you) to be the target of the tale’s effect. Once you do so, you can’t bestow the tale’s effect again until you roll it again.   You can retain only one of these tales in mind at a time, and rolling on the Spirits’ Tales table immediately ends the effect of the previous tale. If the tale requires a saving throw, the DC equals your spell save DC.  

Spirit Session

At 6th level, you can channel spirits to gain insights into magic. You can conduct an hour-long ritual channeling spirits (which can be done during a short or long rest) using your Spiritual Focus.   You can conduct the ritual with a number of creatures equal to your proficiency bonus (including yourself). At the end of the ritual, you temporarily learn one spell of your choice from any class.   The spell you choose must be of a level equal to the number of creatures that conducted the ritual or less, the spell must of a level you can cast, and it must be in the school of divination or necromancy. The chosen spell counts as a bard spell for you but doesn’t count against the number of bard spells you know.   Once you perform the ritual, you can’t do so again until you start a long rest, and you know the chosen spell until you start a long rest.  

Mystical Connection

At 14th level, your connection to spirits has become semi-permanent. Whenever you use your Tales from Beyond feature, you can roll a d6 and use it instead of expending a Bardic Inspiration die. You still use your Bardic Inspiration die for the tale’s effect, without expending it.

Bards of the College of Swords are called blades, and they entertain through daring feats of weapon prowess. Blades perform stunts such as sword swallowing, knife throwing and juggling, and mock combats. Though they use their weapons to entertain, they are also highly trained and skilled warriors in their own right.   Their talent with weapons inspires many blades to lead double lives. One blade might use a circus troupe as cover for nefarious deeds such as assassination, robbery, and blackmail. Other blades strike at the wicked, bringing justice to bear against the cruel and powerful. Most troupes are happy to accept a blade’s talent for the excitement it adds to a performance, but few entertainers fully trust a blade in their ranks.   Blades who abandon their lives as entertainers have often run into trouble that makes maintaining their secret activities impossible. A blade caught stealing or engaging in vigilante justice is too great a liability for most troupes. With their weapon skills and magic, these blades either take up work as enforcers for thieves’ guilds or strike out on their own as adventurers.  

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Swords at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor and the scimitar.   If you’re proficient with a simple or martial melee weapon, you can use it as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.  

Fighting Style

At 3rd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if something in the game lets you choose again.   Classical Swordplay. While wielding a finesse weapon and no other weapons, you gain a +1 bonus to your attack rolls and a +1 to your Armor Class so long as you are not using heavy armor or a shield.   Dual Wielding. When you take the Attack action while two-weapon fighting, you can make a single additional attack with your off-hand weapon as part of your action instead of your bonus action, adding your ability modifier to the damage of this attack.   Dueling When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.  

Blade Flourish

At 3rd level, you learn to perform impressive displays of martial prowess and speed.   Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, your walking speed increases by 10 feet until the end of the turn, and if a weapon attack that you make as part of this action hits a creature, you can use one of the following Blade Flourish options of your choice. You can use only one Blade Flourish option per turn.   Defensive Flourish. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You also add the number rolled to your AC until the start of your next turn.   Slashing Flourish. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit and to any other creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die.   Mobile Flourish. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target you hit. The damage equals the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You can also push the target up to 5 feet away from you, plus a number of feet equal to the number you roll on that die. You can then immediately use your reaction to move up to your walking speed to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the target.  

Extra Attack

Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.  

Master’s Flourish

Starting at 14th level, whenever you use a Blade Flourish option, you can roll a d6 and use it instead of expending a Bardic Inspiration die.

Some Bards seek companionship in the form of trained beasts that live and perform alongside. Together they form an unstoppable duo. The methods used by such bards are time and tested traditions known only to devotees as The Three Rings.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Three Rings at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Animal Handling skill as well as with whips and nets.

Creature Trainer

Starting at 3rd level, you can be accompanied by a trained companion creature. Your starting creature can be any creature that is: a beast, dragon, or monstrosity; Medium or smaller in size; has 3 or fewer hit dice, and has an Intelligence score of 6 or less. Common starting companions are apes, brown bears, boars, giant badgers, giant crabs, giant frogs, giant wolf spiders, panthers, and wolves As you gain levels or when your current companion dies, you can elect to choose a new one. You can only have one companion at any time. If you do so your companion must meet the same prerequisites and must have hit dice equal to or less than your bard level.

Companion's Bond

The companion obeys your commands as best it can. Your companion acts on your initiative and you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own. Your companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, a companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and its damage rolls.   Your companion gains proficiency in Performance and one skill of your choice. It also becomes proficient in all saving throws. Your companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one. If your companion has few hit dies than your bard level, it gains additional hit die and hit points appropriate until it matches your bard level.

Positive Reinforcement

At 6th level, your training technique has advanced further. A beast, dragon, or monstrosity granted Bardic Inspiration by you can roll that die and add the number rolled to a damage roll. Additionally, any time your companion uses an inspiration die on an ability check or saving throw, it adds an additional die of the same size to that roll.

Death Defying

At 14th level, when your companion uses an inspiration die granted by you, it rolls two dice of that type and adds both to the result of the roll. In addition, whenever your companion would be reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to expend and roll an inspiration die. Your companion has hit points equal to the result of that roll instead of 0.

Master of the Big Top

Starting at 14th level, you can now have beasts, dragons, or monstrosity companions of Large or smaller size with hit dice equal to or lower than your bard level and an Intelligence of 6 or lower.

Not all grand stories conclude in triumphant victory. Many tales end with death and despair, and bards of the College of Tragedy know that sorrow and pathos are emotions just as potent as joy and delight. These bards specialize in the power of tragic storytelling, weaving words and spells together to dramatic and devastating effect.  

Poetry of Misery

When you join the College of Tragedy at 3rd level, you learn to harness the beauty in failure, finding inspiration in even the direst twists of fate. Whenever you or an ally within 30 feet of you rolls a 1 on the d20 for an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can use your reaction to soliloquize and regain one expended use of your Bardic Inspiration feature.  

Sorrowful Fate

Starting at 3rd level, you exploit a foe's peril to instill deep feelings of sorrow and doom. When you or an ally you can see forces a creature to make a saving throw, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to change the type of saving throw to a Charisma save instead.   If the target fails this save, roll a Bardic Inspiration die. The target takes psychic damage equal to the result, and is plagued with regret for 1 minute. If the target is reduced to 0 hit points during this time and can speak, they are magically compelled to utter darkly poetic final words before succumbing to their injuries.   Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.  

Tale of Hubris

At 6th level, you learn to weave a magical narrative that draws out the fatal arrogance of your foes. When a creature scores a critical hit against you or an ally within 60 feet of you that you can see, you can use your reaction and expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to target the attacking creature and evoke the story of their downfall. For 1 minute or until the target suffers a critical hit, any weapon attack against the target scores a critical hit on a roll of 18–20.   At 14th level, the critical hit range of this feature increases to 17–20.  

Impending Misfortune

Also at 6th level, your words can twist the power of fate to create triumph from the promise of future despair. When you make an attack roll or a saving throw, you can gain a +10 bonus to the roll, but the next attack roll or saving throw you make takes a −10 penalty. If not used, this penalty disappears when you finish a short or long rest.   You can't use this feature again until you finish a short or long rest, or until you are reduced to 0 hit points.  

Nimbus of Pathos

Upon reaching 14th level, you can touch a willing creature as an action and empower it with tragic heroism. For 1 minute, the creature is surrounded by mournful music and ghostly singing, granting it the following benefits and drawbacks:

• The creature has a +4 bonus to AC.
• It has advantage on attack rolls and saving throws.
• When the creature hits a target with a weapon attack or spell attack, that target takes an extra 1d10 radiant damage.
• Any weapon attack against the creature scores a critical hit on a roll of 18–20.
  When this effect ends, the creature immediately drops to 0 hit points and is dying. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Bards of the College of Valor are daring skalds whose tales keep alive the memory of the great heroes of the past, and thereby inspire a new generation of heroes. These bards gather in mead halls or around great bonfires to sing the deeds of the mighty, both past and present. They travel the land to witness great events firsthand and to ensure that the memory of those events doesn't pass from the world. With their songs, they inspire others to reach the same heights of accomplishment as the heroes of old.  

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Valor at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.  

Combat Inspiration

Also at 3rd level, you learn to inspire others in battle. A creature that has a Bardic Inspiration die from you can roll that die and add the number rolled to a weapon damage roll it just made. Alternatively, when an attack roll is made against the creature, it can use its reaction to roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to its AC against that attack, after seeing the roll but before knowing whether it hits or misses.  

Extra Attack

Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.  

Battle Magic

At 14th level, you have mastered the art of weaving spellcasting and weapon use into a single harmonious act. When you use your action to cast a bard spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.

Most folk are happy to welcome a bard into their midst. Bards of the College of Whispers use this to their advantage. They appear to be like other bards, sharing news, singing songs, and telling tales to the audiences they gather. In truth, the College of Whispers teaches its students that they are wolves among sheep. These bards use their knowledge and magic to uncover secrets and turn them against others through extortion and threats.   Many other bards hate the College of Whispers, viewing it as a parasite that uses a bard’s reputation to acquire wealth and power. For this reason, members of this college rarely reveal their true nature. They typically claim to follow some other college, or they keep their actual calling secret in order to infiltrate and exploit royal courts and other settings of power.  

Psychic Blades

When you join the College of Whispers at 3rd level, you gain the ability to make your weapon attacks magically toxic to a creature’s mind.   When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal an extra 2d6 psychic damage to that target. You can do so only once per round on your turn.   The psychic damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 3d6 at 5th level, 5d6 at 10th level, and 8d6 at 15th level.  

Words of Terror

At 3rd level, you learn to infuse innocent-seeming words with an insidious magic that can inspire terror.   If you speak to a humanoid alone for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to seed paranoia in its mind. At the end of the conversation, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be frightened of you or another creature of your choice. The target is frightened in this way for 1 hour, until it is attacked or damaged, or until it witnesses its allies being attacked or damaged.   If the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to frighten it.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.  

Mantle of Whispers

At 6th level, you gain the ability to adopt a humanoid’s persona. When a humanoid dies within 30 feet of you, you can magically capture its shadow using your reaction. You retain this shadow until you use it or you finish a long rest.   You can use the shadow as an action. When you do so, it vanishes, magically transforming into a disguise that appears on you. You now look like the dead person, but healthy and alive. This disguise lasts for 1 hour or until you end it as a bonus action.   While you’re in the disguise, you gain access to all information that the humanoid would freely share with a casual acquaintance. Such information includes general details on its background and personal life, but doesn’t include secrets. The information is enough that you can pass yourself off as the person by drawing on its memories.   Another creature can see through this disguise by succeeding on a Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check. You gain a +5 bonus to your check.   Once you capture a shadow with this feature, you can’t capture another one with it until you finish a short or long rest.  

Shadow Lore

At 14th level, you gain the ability to weave dark magic into your words and tap into a creature’s deepest fears.   As an action, you magically whisper a phrase that only one creature of your choice within 30 feet of you can hear. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. It automatically succeeds if it doesn’t share a language with you or if it can’t hear you. On a successful saving throw, your whisper sounds like unintelligible mumbling and has no effect.   On a failed saving throw, the target is charmed by you for the next 8 hours or until you or your allies attack it, damage it, or force it to make a saving throw. It interprets the whispers as a description of its most mortifying secret. You gain no knowledge of this secret, but the target is convinced you know it.   The charmed creature obeys your commands for fear that you will reveal its secret. It won’t risk its life for you or fight for you, unless it was already inclined to do so. It grants you favors and gifts it would offer to a close friend.   When the effect ends, the creature has no understanding of why it held you in such fear.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

A bard may devote themself to a deity, drawing on divine power. These bards belong to Colleges of Worship, which are as diverse and numerous as the various faiths themselves.   Some Colleges of Worship are inclusive, representing alliances between allied gods and their worshippers. Others are secretive, excluding all except the most dedicated of bards for their particular god. The college may be structured and hierarchical, with clearly defined duties and expectations. Or it may be chaotic, merely a loosely affiliated group of bards connected by their faith.   The role of a bard plays in service to their college varies greatly. Bards dedicated to justice may uplift noble causes with song and skill. Those who venerate knowledge may seek rare tomes or artifacts that have been for centuries. Others may serve as dirgesingers, spreading sorrow and grief.   Some bards may have started as choir singers in temples before seeking adventure. Some may act as agents or spies. Others may seek out new converts for their faith. Whatever their reasons or motives, bards in Colleges of Worship have heeded the call of their god, much like a paladin or cleric.  

Call of the Faithful

At 3rd level, you gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Arcana, History, Medicine, or Religion. Additionally, you learn the thaumaturgy cantrip and it counts as a bard cantrip for you but does not count against your number of cantrips known. You can also a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.  

Divine Inspiration

At the 3rd level, your faith has granted you the following abilities:   Elegy for the Departed. You can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration to sing a lamenting elegy. As an action, choose one or more undead creature within 30 feet of you, up to your proficiency bonus. Each undead creature must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed saving throw, a creature takes radiant damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and its speed is reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and its speed is not reduced.   Sacred Hymn. You can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration to intone sacred words of your deity. As an action, choose a number of creatures that can hear you within 60 feet of you up to your proficiency bonus regain hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier (minimum +1).  

Holy Magic

At 6th level, you learn additional spells from your deity. Choose one Divine Domain from the Cleric class, appropriate for your deity. You learn two spells of your choice from the list of Domain Spells, and one cantrip of your choice from the cleric spell list. Each spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table. The chosen spells count as bard spells for you, but they don't count against the number of bard spells you know.   Whenever you reach a level in this class that grants the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can replace one spell you learned from this feature with another spell from the Domain Spell list.  

Deux ex Machina

Starting at 14th level, you can implore your god to directly intervene in the affairs of mortals. Immediately after a creature uses your Bardic Inspiration on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw and fails, you can use your reaction to allow divine energy to flow through you, granting the creature a +10 bonus to the roll.   Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.