College of Fine Arts

Unlike typical bards, members of the College of Fine Arts are visual creators.  Their "song" is their creation, whether it be drawing, painting, sculpting, or other media art. Through long practice, Fine Arts bards have developed their talent and skill to perfection, not only able to bring their creative works to stunning quality but also to do so within minutes or even seconds. They have mastered the art of creating much with little, imbuing minimalist art with lifelike quality.

Beyond the simple act of physical creation, however, bards of the College of Fine Arts have learned to augment their artwork with illusion, using magic to enhance and extend their minimalist art to fully robust images or objects. Masters of the college have developed this ability to the point of being able to enchant, inspire, and enthrall those who witness their acts of creation.

Artist

Upon taking this subclass at 3rd level, you get proficiency in one type of artist's tools: drawing, painting, or sculpting. Work with your DM if your character needs another tool with which to create.

Drawing Kit

You receive proficiency in the Drawing Kit.  This kit includes a variety of drawing supplies appropriate to your preference: pastels, charcoal, graphite or lead pencils, pen and ink, etc. Paper, vellum, or other medium must be purchased separately.

Painter's Kit

You receive proficiency in the Painter's Kit.  This kit includes a variety of brushes and paints appropriate to your preference: oils, watercolors, inks, or other pigments, a palette.  Canvas or other medium must be purchased separately.

Sculpter's Kit

You receive proficiency in the Sculpter's Kit.  This kit includes a variety of sculpting tools appropriate to your preference - stone carving, wood carving, clay, etc. Clay, stone, wood, or other medium must be purchased separately.

Fast Hands

3rd-level College of Fine Arts feature

Your skill and practice at producing fine art at a blazing pace improves your speed and manual dexterity at other tasks as well. When you make a Charisma (Performance) to create a work of art, or any Dexterity(Sleight of Hand) check, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.

Essence of Inspiration

3rd-level College of Fine Arts feature

You are able to create an item imbued with inspiring magic, specifically created for an individual. This may be a small painting or drawing, a sculpted figurine, or any other tangible expression of art that can be given to another. This item takes one minute to create and expends one use of your Bardic Inspiration. The intended recipient must witness its creation for the entire process. The item must be used by the person who witnessed its creation. It does not expire, and though any individual may only possess one of these Essences at a time, it also does not count against standard Bardic Inspiration, though both the Essence of Inspiration and a standard Bardic Inspiration may not both be used in the same round.

Using the Essence takes a bonus action to destroy it. It may be broken, crushed, torn, disintegrated, burned - as appropriate to its construction. (For example, a clay statue probably couldn't be destroyed by fire.) The user then must use its benefit in the same round or it is lost. This benefit allows the recipient to add an extra die to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes like an ordinary Bardic Inspiration. However, the item confers a die one category higher than standard. That is, instead of a d6 it would confer a d8. The die becomes a d10 at 5th level, a d12 at 10th level, and a 2d8 at 15th level.

Lifelike Creation

6th-level College of Fine Arts feature

You can conduct an hour-long ritual creating an extraordinarily realistic work of art (which can be done during a short or long rest). At the end of the ritual, the drawing, painting, sculpture, or other media-based artwork is so realistic that just a touch of bardic magic causes it to become animated. Immediately upon animating, the construct binds to you or you may designate another willing creature to bind it to. The form of the Lifelike Creation can be of any CR0 creature. This animate construct lasts until destroyed (reduced to 0 HP) or until you create a new one.  All such creations share the following traits and attributes in addition to what is printed in their published stat blocks:

Tiny Construct. All Lifelike Creations have the type "Tiny Construct" instead of what is listed.

Arcane Conduit. If the Lifelike Creation is bound to someone other than you, you may channel Touch spells through it to target its bound creature.  The construct does not need to physically touch the bound creature, but it must be within 30' of it, and both must be within 120' of you.

Shared Mind. A Lifelike Creation knows everything its bound creature knows, including all the languages the they can speak and read. Likewise, everything the construct senses is known to its master, even over great distances, provided both are on the same plane.  The converse is not true, however, and if a command takes the Lifelike Creation greater than 100' away, the creation cannot receive communications from its bound creature through their Shared Mind or Telepathic Bond, though it can be the target of a spell like Sending to receive new commands.

Obedient Independence. A Lifelike Creation acts independently of the creature to whom it is bound, but it always obeys their commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn.

Telepathic Bond. A Lifelike Creation is within 100' of the creature to whom it is bound, they can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, they can see through the construct's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of their next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the creation has.

Enchanting Masterpiece

14th-level College of Fine Arts feature

You may perform an act of ultimate creation, producing a masterwork of art that enchants all those who view it.  Creating the work takes a full day, and upon completion you expend a spell slot to place any spell you can cast from the Enchantment school into the work.  When imbued with your spell, for a period of time, anyone who views your artwork (including you, though you make any saves at advantage) for more than a passing glance is affected by the spell as if it had been cast directly on them.  The power of this enchantment lasts a number of days (24 hours) equal to 10 minus the spell slot used - so a 9th level spell would only last 24 hours, while a first level spell would last 9 days. Once an individual creature is either affected by or passes a saving throw against this effect, it cannot be affected again for the remainder of the day - but can be re-affected on subsequent days.  All durations, effects, resistances, and immunities apply as if the spell had been cast.