College of Jeers

Some Bards make their living by satirizing and making fun of those in power. Jesters, fools, royal storytellers, all serve an important role in the context of a royal court; they are the only ones allowed to be honest with the rulers, and they take their duties seriously and with pride. However, in some cultures, insults and satire are considered to be so powerful that they can even cause bodily harm. Bards who join the College of Jeers fall happily into this category.

Bards of the College of Jeers have always existed, long before its formal foundation. From the earliest moments of humanoid sentience, people have always sought to tease and make fun of one another. It is a form of release, of cleansing, but also have pain and humiliation. Bards of the College of Jeers expertly ride that line. College of Jeers Bards are not often terribly popular in many circles. However, these bards wear this unpopularity as a badge of honor. If someone is meant to be the target of their barbs, then they should be offended. If they're not offended, it means that they're either clueless or the bard isn't doing their job.

Flyting

3rd-Level College of Jeers feature

The insults that you hurl are the stuff of legends. Your words cut deeper than any knife, and those who have the privilege and displeasure of being the target of your ire will never forget it. You gain the Vicious Mockery cantrip. It counts as a Bard spell for you and does not count against your number of Bard spells known. The damage die for your Vicious Mockery becomes 1d6, and you can add your Charisma modifier to the damage dealt by this spell. The damage for this spell scales up appropriately with the new damage die; (2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level).

Ad Hominem

3rd-Level College of Jeers feature

You have a talent for targeting an enemy’s greatest insecurities. If a target with disadvantage on an attack roll attempts to attack you and misses, you can, as a reaction, expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal psychic or force damage (your choice) to the target equal to the number rolled + your Charisma modifier and force them to stumble 10 feet away from you in a straight line.

Malediction

6th-Level College of Jeers feature

Your ability to stoke the fury of your target has reached a fever pitch. Targets have disadvantage on the saving throw to avoid the effects of your Vicious Mockery. If a creature fails the saving throw for the spell, as a bonus action, you can choose to force them to make an Intelligence saving throw against your Spell Save DC. On a failed save, the target must use their action on their next turn to attack you. For every attack that they miss on you while under this effect, you gain 1d8 temporary hit points until the end of your next turn. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all expended uses upon taking a long rest.

Astetic Mantle

14th-Level College of Jeers feature

Your skill with insults has reached a level that borders on transcendental. As an action, you can transform into a physical manifestation of rage and frustration (in other people) for 1 minute. While transformed in this way, if you are attacked at disadvantage, your AC is treated as 2 higher for that attack. While transformed, creatures that start or end their turn within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Spell Save DC. On a failed save, they take damage equal to the damage die of your Vicious Mockery spell (as specified by this subclass), and must use their action to attack you, at disadvantage. For each attack that misses you while transformed in this way, you regain hit points equal to 1d8 + your Charisma modifier. If your hit points are at their maximum, you gain that many temporary hit points, instead. When you transform, you can designate any number of targets to be unaffected by the ability. You can do this once per long rest.