College of Colliers

Bards of the College of Colliers are, in truth, closer to wizards than bards-- members of the college concern themselves with the study of music and magic as twin arts, focused on theory and refinement of technique moreso than performance. In fact, many bards from the College of Colliers lose themselves so completely in a life of academic rigor that they end up never leaving the theoretical behind for real performance.

However, those bards that do take their talents into the wider world offer songs and spells unlike any others. The well-honed intuition and extensive training of a College of Colliers bard gives them an ingenuity in magic and music that can astound other spellcasters. This ingenuity, buoyed by the amiable and exuberant nature most members of the college seem to have, makes them well-regarded among fellow adventurers and musicians.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Colliers at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with two skills and three additional musical instruments of your choice.

Musical Wunderkind

Also at 3rd level, you gain a deeper understanding of the innate musicality of the world around you, and grow deeply familiar with your instruments. You can equip, unequip, and change between musical instruments you are carrying at will, as a free action.

Additionally, when wielding a musical instrument with which you are proficient, you gain the following benefits:

• Using the musical instrument to cast spells functions as both verbal and somatic components (in addition to acting as a spell focus).
• You do not suffer disadvantage when making spell attacks while prone.
• When making a Charisma (Performance) check, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.

Learn By Ear

At 6th level, you gain the capacity to learn magic, like music, "by ear"-- witnessing its performance and intuiting its casting. 

Once per day, when a creature you can see within 120 feet of you casts a spell you don't already know, you can use your action to temporarily learn that spell. That spell is added to the list of spells you know, and counts as a bard spell. If a spell learned in this way is of a higher level than your highest-level spell slot, it requires the use of your highest-level spell slot to cast.

You can only learn one spell in this way at a time. Learning a new spell discards the old one.

Harmonious Echo

Starting at 14th level, your sense of music and magic deepen, and you reflexively imitate the melody of spells cast around you. Once per round, when a creature you can see within 120 feet of you successfully casts a spell, you may use your Reaction & expend a use of Bardic Inspiration to also cast the same spell, as an echo. You ignore material component when casting an echoed spell in this way. You use your Charisma modifier and proficiency bonus to calculate the spell attack or spell save DC of the echoed spell, as you would when casting spells regularly. You retain no memory of the spell after casting.

You always cast the echoed spell at the same level as the original casting, and must expend a spell slot to cast the echoed spell. You may use a higher-level spell slot to cast the echoed spell, but gain no benefits from doing so, even if the original spell would benefit in this way. If you have no expendable spell slots at the same or higher level(s) than the echoed spell, gain one level of Exhaustion.