Many bards tell stories to inspire, teach, and entertain. Bards of the College of Fables, however, draw upon the inherent magic of story itself. While their abilities can bring a legend to life before their audience's eyes, these bards know the real power of a good story is a far greater magic than any spellcaster could ever wield. A story can linger in the reader's mind for as long as they live, it can cut through their defenses and cause them to examine their own soul in a way they might not have otherwise. Stories shape how history is remembered, and are the very lifeblood of culture.

These bards spend nearly as much time in libraries and bookshops as wizardly mages or their bookish colleagues in the College of Lore, though rather than pouring over tomes of arcane knowledge, you will most often find them perusing shelves of fiction or narrative history.

Bards of the College of Fables are often curators of collections of myths, novels, or historical texts. They work to preserve and impart the tales and lessons of the past and present in the hopes that these legends may continue to inspire future generations. Many also write stories of their own, such as satires or dramas to help make sense of a world that is often confusing and frightening, delightful fairytales to help children learn how to read, grand epics to recount the deeds of mythic heroes, or humorous fables to teach virtues such as compassion and courage.

Literary Focus

3rd-level College of Fables feature

Your abilities as a storyteller allow you to channel your magic through the tales you read. You can use any written work of fiction or history as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells, so long as it is written in a language you can speak. This might be a book of fairytales, a scroll containing a historical account, or even pages from your own not-quite-finished epic.

When you read aloud from this Literary Focus, you can create harmless, illusory effects in a 15-foot-radius around you to help depict the story you are reading. These effects have neither substance nor sound, are obviously illusory, and end when you stop reading. Your knowledge of myths and lore grants you proficiency in History checks, or another skill if you are already proficient in History.

Additionally, you learn the guidance cantrip, which doesn’t count against the number of bard cantrips you know. This cantrip has a range of 60 feet when you cast it while holding your Literary Focus.

Spellbound Tales

3rd-level College of Fables feature

You are so connected to the magic of stories that you can draw power from narrative itself. When you finish a long rest, roll two times on the Spellbound Tales table using your Bardic Inspiration die to determine which two powers you have access to, and what sort of story you might use to call upon them. Reroll any duplicate results. When you reach 10th level in this class, you have access to three powers, rolling for each one as before.

You hold the power of these stories within your Literary Focus until the end of your next long rest, at which point you roll again on the Spellbound Tales table.

While holding your Literary Focus, you can use an action to expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration and target one creature within 30 feet of you that can hear you (you can choose yourself) with the power of one of the tales you rolled. You may use each power multiple times, but only one effect can be active at a time, and using this action again immediately ends any ongoing effect of its previous use. If a power requires a saving throw, the DC equals your spell save DC.

Spellbound Tales

Bardic Insp. Die	The Tale that Empowers You
1	A Tale of Beloved Companions. The target and another creature of its choice it can see within 30 feet of it gain a +2 bonus to AC. The effect ends if the creatures are not within 30 feet of each other.
2	A Tale of Valiant Rescue. For 1 minute, any creature that hits the target with a melee attack takes radiant damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die.
3	A Tale of Clever Wit. For the next 10 minutes, whenever the target makes an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma check, the target can roll an extra die of the same type as your Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to the check. A creature targeted by this effect cannot benefit from it again until it finishes a long rest.
4	A Tale of Inspiring Courage. The target gains temporary hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your bard level. While it has these temporary hit points, the target cannot be charmed or frightened, and the target’s allies have advantage on melee attack rolls against creatures within 5 feet of the target.
5	A Tale of Thrilling Combat. Until the end of your next turn, the target’s weapon attacks deal additional damage equal to two of your Bardic Inspiration dice.
6	A Tale of Daring Escapes. The target can immediately use its reaction to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see. When it teleports, the target can also choose a number of creatures it can see within 10 feet of it up to your Charisma modifier to immediately use the same reaction.
7	A Tale of Deadly Mystery. The target becomes invisible until the end of its next turn. If the target hits a creature with a melee attack during this invisibility, the attack deals additional necrotic damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die, the invisibility ends, and the target can immediately teleport to an unoccupied space it can see within 15 feet.
8	A Tale of Foolish Pride. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be trapped inside visions of their most selfish desires for 1 minute or until it takes damage. While trapped in this vision, the target is blinded, deafened, and incapacitated. A creature targeted by this effect cannot be targeted by it again for 24 hours.
9	A Tale of Dreadful Horror. The target forces a number of creatures it can see within 30 feet of it up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, these creatures become frightened of the target until the start of your next turn, drop whatever they are holding, and must use their reaction, if available, to move as far away from the target as their speed allows by the safest possible route.
10	A Tale of Poignant Tragedy. The next time the target takes damage, you may roll a number of dice up to half your bard level (rounded down) of the same type as your Bardic Inspiration die. The target immediately either regains hit points or takes force damage equal to the number rolled (your choice), and you take force damage equal to half the number rolled.
11	A Tale of Enduring Hope. The target regains hit points equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and you end one condition from the following list affecting the target: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, petrified, or poisoned.
12	A Tale of Unlikely Heroes. The target and a number of creatures that it chooses up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 0) gain temporary hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die. Each creature that gains these temporary hit points can immediately use its reaction to make a single weapon attack or cast a spell of 3rd level or lower with a casting time of 1 action.

Living Words

6th-level College of Fables feature

You can summon allies and events from your fables into reality. You can perform a 1-hour ritual, which you spend reading aloud from your Literary Focus. This ritual can be done as a part of a short or long rest, and may also count as your Song of Rest.

At the end of this ritual, you temporarily learn one spell of your choice from the school of conjuration. This conjuration spell can be from any class, but its level must be less than or equal to your Charisma modifier, and of a level you can cast.

You know this spell until you perform this ritual again. Any effect created by a spell learned with this feature ends when you finish your next long rest or conduct the ritual again.

Plot Armor

14th-level College of Fables feature

At level 14, your devotion to narrative allows you to understand tales from across many cultures. You can read all writing, though you gain no special ability to read coded or magically obscured messages.

In addition, as a bonus action, you can use the might of your stories to twist the very strings of fate. For 1 minute or until you are incapacitated, you gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1). If a creature hits you with an attack while you have this bonus, you may use your reaction to cause attack rolls against that creature to be made with advantage until the start of its next turn.

Once you use this bonus action, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.