College of Intrigue

Bards of the College of Intrigue exploit trust to open doors that force cannot. They understand that truth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and that sapient beings are, above all, social creatures, preoccupied with status. Empires may rise and empires may fall, but fortunes are made, more often than not, through connections rather than diligence.

Intriguers, as members of this bardic college are known, position themselves at the heart of it all. Avid players of social and political dragonchess, they see the world as a game board and its inhabitants as the pieces. Leaning close to royal ears, bluffing adroitly at Three-Dragon Ante, whispering sweet nothings to wealthy heirs, they apply their talents to gather secrets and spread rumors—always with the twin objectives of gaining access and manipulating others.

Some work as spies, diplomats, or courtiers; others as confidence artists. Whether weaving their way through courts or private chambers, they treat every conversation as a performance and every relationship as a source of leverage.

Beguiling Ruse

When you join the College of Intrigue at 3rd level, you gain the ability to distract foes with your wiles or trick them into underestimating you. You might divert attention, feign reluctance to fight, appear less threatening, offer to surrender, or otherwise lull an opponent into lowering its guard.

When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal an extra 2d6 damage to the target. The extra damage is of the same type dealt by the weapon. You can do so only once per round on your turn.

The extra damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class: to 3d6 at 5th level, to 5d6 at 10th level, and to 8d6 at 15th level.

A creature is immune to this effect if it can’t see or hear you.

Winning Confidence

Also at 3rd level, you become adept at seeming friendly and trustworthy—even when you are not.

If you speak to a humanoid that can hear and understand you for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to win its confidence. At the end of the conversation, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you.

While charmed, the target regards you as a friendly and trustworthy acquaintance, but the effect doesn’t compel the target to obey you or reveal information that it wouldn’t reveal to someone it trusts.

The target is charmed in this way for 1 hour, until you or one of your allies attacks or damages it, or until it witnesses you or one of your allies attacking or damaging one of its allies.

If the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to charm it. When the effect ends, the target is unaware that it was magically influenced by you.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Artful Enchantment

At 6th level, you can weave enchantment magic into seemingly ordinary speech. When you cast a bard enchantment spell, you can cast it without somatic components or material components that lack a cost and aren’t consumed by the spell. If the spell has a verbal component, the words you speak can serve as that component. Unless a creature perceives some other evidence of the casting, your speech gives no obvious indication that you are casting a spell.

You learn the suggestion spell if you don’t already know it. It doesn’t count against the number of bard spells you know, and you can cast suggestion without expending a spell slot. When you cast it in this way, a creature charmed by you has disadvantage on its saving throw against the spell. Once you cast suggestion in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Web of Lies

At 14th level, as an action, you are able to magically lodge a falsehood into the mind of one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The falsehood must be limited to a sentence or two, and it can’t be obviously impossible or contradict something the target knows to be true.

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. On a successful saving throw, the falsehood fails to take hold, but the target has no hint that you tried to influence it.

On a failed save, the target is charmed by you for 8 hours. While charmed, it believes the falsehood to be true and rationalizes any evidence to the contrary. The target isn’t compelled to obey your commands, act against its nature, or knowingly place itself in obvious danger.

If confronted with proof that the falsehood is untrue, the target can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success. The effect also ends if you or one of your allies attacks or damages the target.

When the effect ends, the target doesn’t know that it was magically influenced by you.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.