College of Tradition

Keepers of the Arts

Bards that follow the College of Tradition are keepers of their ancestry and the traditions that their family have kept for generations. Often tutored by the elders of their individual families (or perhaps the families of others), these bards learn to use their magic to enlighten others, pass on important decades old lessons through stories, songs and poetry and keep alive the spark of cultures nearly lost to time.

The bards of this college are regarded as the keepers of lost arts. Their performances are seeped in the old ways, not many of their performances are ever written for times in the current day. As kingdoms rise and fall or gods gain and lose worship, the college of tradition bards take note of all forms of art that may have arisen from between these times. No matter how widely accepted, practised or remembered a piece may be from these times there will always be a college of Tradition bard that knows how it's done.

Bards from this college will often perform at festivals celebrating the old traditions of the lands they know, eager to pass on the knowledge and teach the next generation so that traditions can live on.

Old Stories, New Lessons

When you join the College of Tradition at 3rd level, you gain expertise in History, gain proficiency in one artisan tool and you also learn one language of your choice.

Book of Traditions

Also at 3rd level, you can choose up to 3 spells of 2nd level or lower, from any class to add to your book of traditions. Your book of traditions allows you to cast the spells in it as rituals, regardless of it having the ritual tag. When casting rituals this way, it only takes 1 minute of extra casting time instead of 10 minutes. The chosen spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count against the number of bard spells you know.

You may add spells to your book of traditions if another spell caster teaches you the spell. Learning a spell this way takes an hour long lesson and requires a successful History check against the spell save DC of the caster you are learning from. Transcribing the spell into your book of Traditions costs 25gp. The cost represents material components you expend as you write the knowledge of the spell into your book of traditions and the lesson given to learn the spell. Spells you learn this way must be of level you can cast.

Spells transcribed in your Book of Traditions can only be cast as rituals unless they are on the Bard spell list.

Teacher of the Old Ways

At 6th level you learn to pass on your teachings to others.  Whenever you cast a spell of first level or higher you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to allow an ally you can see within 30 ft. of you that can also see/hear you to copy the spell you just cast. The effect lasts for a minute and can only be used to cast the spell once (when the spell is cast it still keeps its regular duration). Your ally doesn't need to know how to cast spells but still uses their own CHA stat as the spell casting modifier. Only one spell can be given to an ally at a time.

Continued Legacy

Starting at 14th level, whenever you use your Teacher of the old ways feature, you and the ally you target gain additional benefits. You no longer require the use of a Bardic Inspiration when using this feature. The effect lasts until the spell is cast instead of 1 minute, any spell that your ally casts using this feature uses your CHA spell casting modifier instead of their own.