College of the Quill

Bards of the College of the Quill believe that stories are not merely told, but set down, preserved against the erosion of time. These bards wander the world as chroniclers, historians, investigators, and scholars, recording deeds of heroism and catastrophe alike. Where other bards sway hearts with song or speech, a quill bard wields ink, memory, and careful study, shaping reality through what is written and what is remembered.

Members of this college are often found in libraries, scriptoriums, and ancient ruins, piecing together fragmented truths. To them, every adventure is a chapter, every battle a paragraph, and every life a story worth telling.

Scholar's Casting

Your magic is drawn not from performance and presence, but from study, analysis, and recorded lore. When you join the College of the Quill, Intelligence becomes your spellcasting ability for your bard spells instead of Charisma. You use Intelligence whenever a bard feature refers to your spellcasting ability, including for spell save DCs, spell attack rolls, and Bardic Inspiration effects. In addition, you can now use a book as your spellcasting focus instead.

Tools of the Wordsmith

Your meticulous handwriting and careful notation allow you to create written works that are clear, durable, and difficult to misinterpret. You gain proficiency with calligrapher’s supplies. In addition, you learn one language of your choice. If you are already proficient with this tool, you gain proficiency with one other tool of your choice.

Cutting Words

Also at 3rd level, you learn how to use your wit to distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature’s roll. You can choose to use this feature after the creature makes its roll, but before the GM determines whether the attack roll or ability check succeeds or fails, or before the creature deals its damage. The creature is immune if it can’t hear you or if it’s immune to being charmed.

Textual Insight

Your experience with texts allows you to extract meaning even from damaged, obscure, or poorly written sources. When you make an Intelligence (Investigation) or Intelligence (History) check to examine a book, scroll, journal, map, or other written text, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.

This benefit applies only when the check is directly related to interpreting, analyzing, or recalling written material.

Polyglot Reader

Your exposure to countless scripts and alphabets has taught you to read meaning even when the words are unfamiliar. You can understand the literal meaning of any written language you see, provided the text is not encoded, ciphered, deliberately obscured, or hidden by magic. This feature does not allow you to bypass magical protections such as illusory script, nor does it allow you to decipher codes, cants, or encrypted writings.

Practiced Hand

You gain proficiency with the forgery kit. When using a forgery kit to replicate handwriting, documents, or official records, you may add your Intelligence modifier to the check in addition to any other modifiers. If you are already proficient with this tool, you gain proficiency with one other tool of your choice.

Additionally, you always have the illusory script spell prepared. 

Unfinished Chapter

You have learned that not every story should end when the ink runs red. When a creature you can see within 60 feet of you is reduced to 0 hit points, you may use your reaction to intervene, preserving the final line of their tale. That creature is instead reduced to 1 hit point, and it immediately gains one Bardic Inspiration die.

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