College of Pages

"The final battle for Ebberon approaches. As the gnomish bard wrote her final thoughts and wishes down, the friends around her celebrate one last meal with each other. The bard recalls the twists and turns of their journey, laughing and smiling at their past mischief as well as their heroics. The pages of her journal filled to the brim with a lifetime of memories and turning the pages to possibly make a final one."
- Excerpt from the Narrative Biography of Allini Ticklick.

Around the world, stories are told through ink and incantations. The College of Pages learned how to sculpt these stories and heroic tales, guiding them into reality. A bard from this college never lacks a quill or pen, allowing them to capture new moments of storytelling as they wander through life. Lore Bards often look to this college as caretakers of history, separated from the world's opinion as they put their quills to the page. Every story has a beginning as well as an end, and the Pages Bard writes the in-between.

Set The Scene

When you join the College of Pages at 3rd level, your hand can influence the writing of history and what is to come. When entering initiative, you can use your reaction to expend and give a Bardic Inspiration die to a number of creatures up to your remaining Inspirations. They can use this immediately as part of your reaction to add the roll to their initiative or hold it instead.

Writing Prowess

When you join the College of Pages at 3rd level, you gain the ability to look into other's motives, and to write the stories behind those motives. You learn the Message cantrip, which doesn’t count against the number of Bard cantrips you know.

You also gain proficiency in Calligrapher's Supplies and can use them as a spellcasting focus. When using the Calligrapher's Supplies as a spellcasting focus, you can replace any vocal component required with a somatic one. You must still provide a vocal component if a somatic one is already required.

A College of Pages bard also receives a magical book when joining this subclass. The book is enchanted with a magic related to your Message cantrip. Using the Message cantrip, you can write on the separate pages remotely, so long as the pages are within 1 mile of you. You can have a number of pages removed from the book equal to your proficiency bonus. At higher Bard levels, the range of your writing increases. At 8th level, you can write on a page that is anywhere on the same plane of existence as you. At 14th level, your writing can reach across planes of existence.

Plot Twist

At 6th Level, you've learned to shift and twist reality to affect the hearts of those who communicate with you. You can use an action to enchant a creature that you can see within 30 feet. They make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. You can also choose to expend and roll a Bardic Inspiration die when using this feature. If you do, the creature must subtract the roll of the Bardic die from its Wisdom saving throw. If they fail, they suffer from one of two magical effects affecting their attitude towards you (your choice). You must concentrate on this effect similar to if you were concentrating a spell and has a duration of 1 minute or until your concentration ends:

• They become frightened. The frightened creature drops whatever it is holding and must take the Dash action to move away from you by the safest available route on each of its turns, unless there is nowhere to move. If the creature ends its turn in a location where it doesn't have line of sight to you, the creature can make another Wisdom saving throw. On a successful save, they are no longer frightened. It also fails if it can’t see you or if it’s immune to being frightened.
• They become charmed. The charmed creature is friendly to you. If you or another creature friendly to you do anything harmful to it, the effect ends. When the effect ends, the creature knows it was charmed by you. It also fails if the creature can’t hear you or if it’s immune to being charmed.

You can use this effect any number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Muse of Inspiration

At 14th Level, as an action, you can choose a number of willing creatures equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) to be your muses. For the next hour, as long as you and a muse are in sight of each other, you both have advantage on all Charisma and Wisdom saving throws. When you enter initiative, the muses also gain a Bardic Inspiration without spending one of your own. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Words To Build Upon

At 14th Level, your words can influence people to shape their destinies in the moment. When a character rolls one of your Bardic Inspiration dice (before knowing if their roll succeeds or fails), you can use your reaction to have it roll the maximum amount. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.