College of Skaldic Poetry

Bards who study Skaldic Poetry are known as skalds. Skalds are as much at home with a weapon in their hand as an instrument. They can demoralize their enemies with insult poetry known as flyting, and can inspire their allies to make bold and vicious attacks. Later, you can regale your companions with stories of mythic heroes, instilling them with the stuff of legends.

Skalds are most often found amongst dragonborn, dwarves, and humans, races which hold special reverence for their heroes, and often skalds who retire from the battlefield find themselves a position in a noble court where they can recount their glory days.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Skaldic Poetry at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor and shields.

If you’re proficient with a simple or martial melee weapon, you can use it as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells.

Flyting

At 3rd level, you learn how to perform a kind of insult poetry known as flyting, enabling you to harm a creature's reputation. You learn the vicious mockery cantrip, if you don't already know it. When you cast vicious mockery, the psychic damage you deal is 1d6, which increases the number of damage dice at certain levels as normal. In addition to the spell's normal effects, the next attack roll against the target creature is made with advantage.

Reckless Inspiration

Starting at 3rd level, you can inspire others to attempt heroic, if foolish, feats in battle. A creature with your Bardic Inspiration die can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When the creature makes its first attack on its turn, it can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives it advantage on melee weapon attack rolls during this turn, but attack rolls against the inspired creature have advantage until its next turn.

If the inspired creature hits with a reckless attack, it can choose to roll the Bardic Inspiration die and add the result to the attacks damage. If the attack is a critical hit, add double the result. The die can only be added to a damage roll once.

Extra Attack

Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Song of Heroes

At 14th level, you sing or recite a legendary tale of great heroes who managed to win victory under worse conditions than your current situation, reassuring and bolstering your allies. As an action, you can grant yourself and allied creatures within 60 feet that can hear you one of the following benefits for one minute. You concentrate on this song like you would a spell, and a creature loses the benefit if it cannot hear you or the song ends early.

Ballad of Battle. Once per turn, an allied creature can add psychic damage equal to your Charisma modifier when they hit with an attack roll.

Lay of the Survivors. When you start the song, allied creatures that hear you gain temporary hit points equal to your bard level. 

The Thane's Refrain. Allied creatures who hear your tale have advantage on ability checks and on saving throws against charm and fear effects.