College of Heartwood

Bards in the College of Heartwood know that music is an expression of the interconnectedness of all living things. To nurture and affirm that connection, they perform a special ritual known as the Rite of Revealing to call forth instruments from living wood. These heartwood instruments are more than just tools, but living partners in the creation of music, life, and light. 

Heartwood Instrument

At 3rd level, you are initiated into the College of Heartwood, and taught the Rite of Revealing to bring forth living instruments from living wood. You learn the druidcraft cantrip. You perform the rite over the course of 8 hours, during which time you must be touching a living tree large enough for the musical instrument you wish to create to fit inside of it. Once you finish the rite, you produce a musical instrument primarily made of wood that is your Heartwood Instrument, and suffer one level of exhaustion. Your Heartwood Instrument is considered a magic item in terms of hit points, durability, and damage resistance. When you attempt the Rite of Revealing, any Heartwood Instrument(s) you have previously created cease to be Heartwood Instruments, and become mundane versions of the same instruments.

You gain a bonus to Charisma (Performance) checks using your Heartwood Instrument equal to your Wisdom modifier.

You may use your Heartwood Instrument as an arcane focus for your bard spells. Whenever you cast a bard spell using your Heartwood instrument as a focus, you gain temporary hit points equal to twice the spell’s level. Additionally, when you cast a bard spell that requires a creature to make a saving throw using your Heartwood Instrument as a focus, you may increase the DC by an amount equal to your Wisdom modifier for one creature targeted by the spell within 60 feet of you. Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you complete a short rest or a long rest.

You can cast animal friendship and locate animals or plants using your Heartwood Instrument as a focus. You may cast each spell once this way, and regain all uses each dawn.

Awakened Instrument

At 6th level, you learn to awaken not just the soul of your instrument, but its mind as well. Your Heartwood Instrument becomes a sentient creature friendly to you and your companions. See its game statistics in the accompanying Heartwood Instrument stat block, which utilizes your proficiency bonus (PB) in several places.

In combat, the Heartwood Instrument shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It cannot move, but can take actions and reactions on its own. The only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action must be one in its stat block. If you are incapacitated, the Heartwood instrument can take any action of its choice, as long as it meets the prerequisites.

If the Heartwood Instrument is reduced to 0 hit points, it is broken and in need of repair. In this state, it functions neither as an instrument nor as a spell focus, but automatically stabilizes at the beginning of each of your turns. You can repair your Heartwood Instrument over the course of 1 hour, allowing it to spend hit dice to regain hit points. If your Heartwood Instrument has at least 1 hit point, it regains hit points and hit dice during a long rest.

The instrument learns one spell from the druid spell list, which it can cast by expending your spell slots. The level of the spell cannot exceed your proficiency bonus. When you reach 14th level, the Heartwood instrument learns a second spell. Each time you gain a new bard level, you may switch one of the Heartwood Instrument’s spells for another spell on the druid spell list of an appropriate level. 

Heartwood Instrument COMPANION

Tiny Plant

Armor Class 16 + PB (natural armor)

Hit Points 5 + five times your bard level (the instrument has a number of Hit Dice [d8s] equal to your bard level)

Speed 0 ft.

Saving Throws Dex -3 plus PB, Wis +3 plus PB, Cha +1 plus PB

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing; spells

Senses darkvision 60 ft. (nothing beyond this), passive Perception 13

Languages Sylvan, Telepathy (touch), plus all your languages

Challenge — Proficiency Bonus (PB) equals your bonus

Magic Item Resistance. The Heartwood Instrument has advantage on saving throws.

Spellcasting. The Heartwood instrument knows one spell from the druid spell list of 3rd level or lower. It does not have spell slots, but can expend yours to cast spells. It uses your spell attack modifier, spell save DC, and spellcasting ability. At 14th level, it learns a second spell from the druid spell list up to 5th level.

Vigilant. While within 30 feet of you, neither you nor the Heartwood Instrument can be surprised as long as you aren’t incapacitated.

Actions

Cast a Spell (must be held by you). The Heartwood Instrument casts a spell it knows, expending one of your spell slots to do so.

Healing Song (must be held by you). The Heartwood instrument expends one of your spell slots to heal a creature it can see within 30 feet a number of hit points equal to 1d6 x the spell slot level plus PB.

Supportive Song. One creature the Heartwood Instrument can see within 30 feet gains advantage on their next ability check or saving throw before the start of your next turn.

Reactions

Heartsong Ward (14th level). When you would die, the Heartwood Instrument offers itself up instead, destroying itself completely and rolling all of its Hit Dice. You heal an amount of hit points equal to the total rolled.

Heartsong Bond

At 14th level, your connection with your instrument reaches its apotheosis, the two of your souls intertwined. Your Heartwood instrument gains the following reaction:

Heartsong Ward. When you would die, the Heartwood Instrument offers itself up instead, destroying itself completely and rolling all of its Hit Dice. You heal an amount of hit points equal to the total rolled.

While holding your Heartwood instrument, you gain the following benefits:

• You gain advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• You can cast commune with nature through your instrument as a ritual.
• When your Heartwood Instrument would be reduced to 0 hp, you may expend any number of your Hit Dice as a reaction to roll those Hit Dice to heal your instrument an amount of hit points equal to the total rolled. Once you do so, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.