College of Songbirds

The melodists of the College of Songbirds make their fortune as minstrels who compose songs for themselves and others, even being sought after as standard bearers for companies embarking on the most dangerous of exploits. They are known far and wide; their ability to fuse music with the weave is so artful and adroit that even the parchment they pen their harmonies upon becomes infused with their magic.

Mark of the Songbird

A member of the College of Songbirds has the ability to call upon various birds to aid them in and out of combat. Gaining the aid of such an animal requires an hour of meditation and song to call them to you in a wilderness area, such as forests, grasslands, deserts or even mountains. At your DM's discretion you may be unable to call upon a songbird familiar in certain circumstances.

Your songbird familiar can be given a command using a Bonus Action on your turn, it acts independently of you and always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A songbird familiar can attack and may take other actions as normal. If you use Mark of the Songbird while you already have a familiar from this feature the new one will replace it. This feature can only be used once per long rest.

The creatures you can summon vary based on your Bard level. At level 3 you can summon an Owl, Hawk or Eagle. At level 6 you can summon a Blood Hawk or Raven. At level 14 you can now summon a Vulture.

Encyclopedia Rhythmica

Each bard of the College of Songbirds is gifted a small, thick handbook with an emblem of a bird on the cover. This book contains basic information on every type of spell bards can normally learn, as well as a section of pages where ritual spells can be transcribed.
This book is required for your ritual casting and scribing spellsongs with the Scribe Spellsong ability.

Level 3

Ritual spells gained at Bard level 3.

Level 5

Ritual spells gained at Bard level 5.

Level 7

Ritual spells gained at Bard level 7.

Level 9

Ritual spells gained at Bard level 9.

Scribe Spellsongs

The skills taught by the College of Songbirds include the ability to bend the weave in such a way as to infuse parchment or paper with very power of a bard's magic. Upon reaching level 6 as a bard you now have the ability to scribe a Spellsong; a type of Spell Scroll unique to the College of Songbirds.

Using a Spellsong.

A Spellsong bears the words of a single spell, written in a form of a short song, poem or piece of music. As a bard you can read the spellsong and cast the spell it contains by expending a point of bardic inspiration. If you attempt to use a spellsong as a class other than a bard the attempt fails unless you currently have bardic inspiration granted to you, this can be expended to activate the spellsong.

Casting a spell by reading the spellsong requires the spell’s normal Casting Time and does not require any material Components. Once the spell is successfully cast, the words on the spellsong fade and it vanishes in a swirl of magical energy. If the casting is interrupted, such as by the effect of Counterspell, the spellsong is not lost but the bardic inspiration is still spent.

If the spell is of a higher level than you can normally cast, you cannot use the spellsong. 

The level of the spell on the spellsong determines the spell’s saving throw DC and Attack bonus, as well as the scroll’s rarity, as shown in the Spellsong table.

Creating a Spellsong

Creating a spellsong requires you to choose any spell of your current spellcasting level from the Bard Spells list, you do not need to know the spell provided you have access to your Encyclopedia Rythmica. Once you have chosen the spell you must then spend the amount of downtime and gold listed on the Spellsong Table, 1 sheet of good quality parchment. You must have the material components the spell would require, though these can be substituted using a component pouch unless they would normally be consumed by the spell. (At DM's discretion you could also be required to write a small poem or song verse for flavor.) The material components are not consumed unless the chosen spell says so. Once a spellsong is created the enchantment on the parchment lasts until used, and the spellsong cannot be destroyed unless burned by magical fire.

 Spellsong Table

Spell Level	Level Rarity	Downtime To Create	Save DC	Attack Bonus	Creation Cost
Cantrip	Common	1 day	13	+5	50gp
1st	Common	2 days	13	+5	100gp
2nd	Uncommon	4 days	13	+5	200gp
3rd	Uncommon	6 days	15	+7	500gp
4th	Rare	8 days	15	+7	1250gp
5th	Rare	10 days	17	+9	3000gp
6th	Very Rare	12 days	17	+9	5000gp
7th	Very Rare	14 days	18	+10	7500gp
8th	Very Rare	16 days	18	+10	12500gp
9th	Legendary	18 days	19	+11	25000gp

 

 Example Spellsong

 A Spellsong of Resurrection would be a renamed Spell Scroll (7th Level). It would require 14 days of downtime and 7,500gp to craft. As per the spells listed components it would also require a diamond worth at least 1000gp which would be consumed when the spellsong is complete.

A Spellsong of Polymorph would be a renamed Spell Scroll (4th Level). It would require 8 days of downtime and 1.250gp to craft. As per the spells listed components it would also require a caterpillar cocoon which would not be consumed when the spellsong is complete.

Battle Inspiration

At 14th level your prowess in battle can greatly inspire your allies. Your bardic inspiration now lasts twice as long. Also, when granting bardic inspiration to an ally, you can choose to spend an extra point and grant that ally temporary hit points equal to your Charisma score.