College of Journalism

Bards of the College of Journalism know the power of the spoken and written word. They also know the value of being the first to jump on a story, which lets them set the narrative. Whether you have a professional career or are a freelance writer, you've got the know-how to find and follow a good story.

Journalists who end up becoming adventurers are oftent he sort to focus on investigative pieces rather than the fluff and feel-good ones. They tend to crave the showstopping story that will define their careers, and they put their skills to the test in getting there.

Morgue Skimmer

3rd-level College of Journalism feature

You've spent a lot of time skimming through old papers and working with weird kinds of texts, so you're pretty adept at cutting through to what's important. When reading any form of nonmagical text, such as a newspaper or novel, you can read through it at twice the normal rate. Additionally, you are able to accurately recall any information that you have read within a past number of months equal to your Intelligence or Charisma modifiers, whichever is higher.

In addition, if you spend 1 minute analyzing a text that you can not read, you can identify what language it is written in or if it is under a magical effect that makes it unreadable.

Tricks of the Trade

3rd-level College of Journalism feature

You've got experience under your belt, and can sniff out a story in a heartbeat. You gain proficiency with the Insight and Investigation skills.

Additionally, you learn the vicious mockery cantrip if you don't know it already. If you already know it, you learn another Bard cantrip of your choice. You also learn the illusory script spell if you didn't know it already, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can learn.

Muckraker

6th-level College of Journalism feature

You take your job seriously, and you pride yourself on your ability to read others for their strengths and weaknesses. If you spend at least 1 minute observing or interacting with another creature outside combat, you can learn certain information about its capabilities or defenses. The DM tells you two of the following pieces of information.

• If its Constitution score is higher than, lower than, or equal to yours
• If its Intelligence score is higher than, lower than, or equal to yours
• If its Charisma score is higher than, lower than, or equal to yours
• If its Armor Class score is higher than, lower than, or equal to yours
• Condition Immunities (if any)
• Damage Resistances (if any)
• Damage Immunities (if any)

Puff Piece

6th-level College of Journalism

You really know how to encourage your others with your work by giving them a bit of an ego boost. Whenever a creature uses one of your Bardic Inspiration dice on an ability check or saving throw, it can roll the Inspiration die twice and choose which result to take.

Editor-in-Chief

14th-level College of Journalism

You know when to hold back your pen and when to let it run wild, saving your deepest cuts for when they'll make the biggest splash. You are immune to any effects that would alter your memory, such as the modify memory spell, or that would read your thoughts, such as the detect thoughts spell.

Additionally, when you would deal damage to a creature, you may expend a Bardic Inspiration die as a reaction and roll it. You deal psychic damage to the target and a number of creatures of your choice up to your Charisma modifier within 30 feet of it equal to three times the result.