Bards of the College of Trickery master the art of deception, misdirection, and manipulation. They blend the Bard's natural charm and spellcasting with divine tricks and illusions often associated with gods of mischief or shadows. These bards are as adept at disappearing into the darkness as they are at weaving elaborate illusions to confuse and beguile their enemies. They thrive in the borderlands of light and shadow, where they use their talents to deceive foes, protect allies, and unravel secrets.

Many who follow this path serve trickster deities, shadowy patrons, or ideals of balance between light and dark. Their performances often have an eerie, otherworldly quality, combining illusions with whispers that linger in the minds of their audience.

Psychic Blades

When you join the College of Trickery 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.

Blessing of the Trickster

As a Magic action, you can choose yourself or a willing creature within 30 feet of yourself to have Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. This blessing lasts until you finish a Long Rest or you use this feature again.

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.

Invoke Duplicity

As a Bonus Action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspirations to create a perfect visual illusion of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet of yourself. The illusion is intangible and doesn’t occupy its space. It lasts for 1 minute, but it ends early if you dismiss it (no action required) or have the Incapacitated condition. The illusion is animated and mimics your expressions and gestures. While it persists, you gain the following benefits.

Cast Spells. You can cast spells as though you were in the illusion’s space, but you must use your own senses.

Distract. When both you and your illusion are within 5 feet of a creature that can see the illusion, you have Advantage on attack rolls against that creature, given how distracting the illusion is to the target.

Move. As a Bonus Action, you can move the illusion up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is within 120 feet of yourself.

Trickster’s Transposition

Whenever you take the Bonus Action to create or move the illusion of your Invoke Duplicity, you can teleport, swapping places with the illusion.

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.