College of Gambling

As a Bard you have had many travels and visited many taverns where you have engaged in gambling. Over the years you have developed much greater skill in this and may have even found yourself in a loose following to a luck-based deity. You have embraced the essence of chance and feed off of the uncertainty of outcomes.

Game Expertise

When you choose this Bard College at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in 3 gaming sets. (listed under “Tools” in the Player’s Handbook). Also, whenever you roll an Intelligence (History) check or Intelligence check related to games or gambling you may add your proficiency bonus to the roll in addition to what you would normally add.

Press Your Luck

Starting at 3rd level, you can expend a use of Bardic Inspiration to press your luck in a tough situation. Once per day when you are about to make an ability check, spend a use of your Bardic Inspiration and pick a number between 1 - 6. Tell the group the number then roll a d6. If the die lands on your number, the DM will roll a d6 in secret and lower the DC by that amount. If the die doesn’t land on your number, the DM will roll a d6 in secret and add it to the DC.

Poker Face Master

You have developed a strong poker face through your years of gambling making it hard for others to read you. But you have also learned how to better see through other’s poker face. You gain proficiency in Charisma (Deception) and Wisdom (Insight) checks. If you are already proficient in either skill, add twice your proficiency bonus to ability checks made with that skill instead of the regular bonus granted by proficiency.

Luck of the Draw

NOTE: For this ability you will need a standard 52 card deck of cards + 2 jokers out of game, and you must pay 100 GP to have a deck of cards enchanted in game.

Starting at 14th level, you can take a chance using your enchanted deck of cards in hopes of gaining powerful boons in times of need. As an action, spend a use of your Bardic Inspiration. Your DM will then shuffle a deck of cards (visibly) and deal out the top 5 cards. Each type of card combination you get is worth a certain number of points that can be spent according to the chart below; however, if you don’t get any card combinations you take 5d10 psychic damage. If a Joker is dealt, you can choose to have it represent any card that remains in the deck, but using the Joker results in a point of exhaustion. You may spend additional uses of your Bardic Inspiration to swap out a card for a new one. Just choose a number of cards equal to the number of additional Bardic Inspiration spent, discard them, and the DM will deal new cards to replace them. You may not choose to swap more than once per use of this ability. Once you use this ability, you may not use it again until the next dawn.

Pair: 2 cards of the same rank
2 pair: 2 different pairs
Three of a kind: three cards of the same rank
Straight: 5 cards in a sequence but not of the same suit
Flush: 5 cards of the same suit, but not in a sequence
Full House: three of a kind and a pair
Four of a kind: 4 cards of the same rank
Straight Flush: 5 cards of the same suit in sequence
Royal flush: A, K, Q, J, 10 all in the same suit

Combination	Point Value
Pair	1
Two Pair	2
Three of a Kind	3
Straight	4
Flush	5
Full House	6
Four of a Kind	7
Straight Flush	8
Royal Flush	9

 

You can use your points to do any combination of the following:

• Heal: spend points to heal 2d8 Hit Points per point spent
• Regain Spell Slots: spend points to regain a combination of spell slots equal to the number of points spent (2 points can get one 2nd level slot or two 1st level slots). You may not gain spell slots that you do not have access to or that you already have your maximum of.
• Advantage: Spend 1 point to get advantage on the next ability check, attack roll, or saving throw you make. Alternatively, spend 9 points to gain advantage on all ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws you make within the next hour.
• Increase Ability Score: Spend 4 points to increase an ability score by 1 (to a maximum of 20).
• End Effect: Spend a point to end any effect that is currently affecting you. This can be Frightened, Poisoned, Blinded, or Deafened. Spend 2 points to remove a level of exhaustion.