College of Skalds

Artisans of the honored tradition known as flyting, the ability to fillet a man with but a line of devastating poetry, skalds value their voice as the tool of their trade. 

Inheritors to the sacred stories of their people, skalds are blessed with a wide range of knowledge and magic, filled with the histories they carry with them.

Experienced in the ways of battle and strategy, and trained in the hearty armors of their people, skalds are keen manipulators on the battlefield and in a duel.

 

Ferocious Flyter

You are a champion of the time-honored, well-worn tradition of flyting, the art of rhythmic insult and poetic joust. When you choose this subclass, you gain the ability to use your bardic inspiration die to offset and belittle your opponents. As an action you can attempt to flyt a creature that can hear you, which must make a wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, roll your bardic inspiration die and reduce either their AC, hit point maximum, or an ability score of your choosing. On a successful save, the target is unaffected and becomes visibly engaged, suffering the same affects as described in the compelled duel spell, except there is no concentration required and the duration is two turns.

Creatures who are unable to hear, deafened, lack a shared language, or possessing less than 8 intelligence or wisdom are all immune to the affect, and immediately succeede their saving throws without becoming compelled. Additionally, you are unable to use this ability if you are silenced, gagged, or otherwise muted in any capacity. A creature that has been successfully flyted by you is unable to be flyted by you again until the end of combat. 

Voice of Heroes

Your voice is filled with the magic of story and song, resonating with the very tune of creation. When casting a bard spell you no longer need to be wielding a focus, and can ignore all material and somatic components of the spell. 

You are incapable of casting any bard spells while silenced.

Sharpened Tongue

Your words carry power, and your insults hold more. You learn the Vicious Mockery cantrip, replacing it with another from the bard spell list if you already know it, and it doesn't count against the number of bard cantrips you know. Furthermore, whenever you cast Vicious Mockery, you double your proficiency bonus when calculating the spell save DC.

Songs of the Sagas

History flows throught your song like an icy river, the knowledge of stories you have accumulated a match for any mages spellbook. Whenever you take a short rest, you can spend one of your hit die to learn a spell from the bard spell list, or an enchantment or abjuration spell from any spell list. If you use this feature, you are unable to spend any more hit die during the ongoing rest, and you lose access to the spell the next time you take a short rest. 

Infallible Insults

Your insulting prowess knows no bounds, the skills you have acquired in scorn able to overcome even the strongest of wills. Whenever a creature that you attempted to flyt succeeded their saving throw, you can choose to make them fail instead.

You can only use this ability once per long rest.