College of Divine Worship

A bard may devote themselves to a deity, drawing on divine power. These bards form the Colleges of Divine Worship, which are as diverse and numerous as the various faiths themselves.

Some Colleges of Divine Worship are inclusive, representing alliances between allied gods and their worshippers. Others are secretive, excluding all but the most dedicated bards for their particular god. The college may be structured and hierarchical, with clearly defined duties and expectations, or it may be chaotic, merely a loosely affiliated group of bards connected by their faith.

The role a bard plays in service to their college varies greatly. Bards dedicated to justice may uplift noble causes with song and skill. Those who venerate knowledge may seek rare tomes or artifacts that have been lost for centuries. Worshippers of death gods may serve as dirgesingers, spreading sorrow and grief. Followers of nature gods may play music for animals, druids, and peoples of the wild.

Some bards may have started as choir singers in temples before seeking to sing of their faith far and wide. Others may seek out new converts with music, parables, and tales of divine glory. Whatever their reasons or motives, bards in Colleges of Divine Worship have heeded the call of their god, much like a paladin or a cleric.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Divine Worship at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in Religion, medium armor and shields. You may use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus and can read and understand holy books or religious texts regardless of the language they are written in. You also learn the Thaumaturgy cantrip.

Canticle Initiate

At 3rd level, your faith in your deity's power over their domain lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a bard spell. This list is identical to the cleric domain spell list for your chosen domain. You can choose two spells from your domain-specific spell table, which counts towards your total number of spells known. Like a paladin or cleric, your domain spells are considered prepared spells, as they come from your divine favor. During one minute of prayer, you can change the two domain spells that you know to different spells in the domain table. The domain spell must be at a spell slot level that you can already cast. Your domain spells are considered to be bard spells and use Charisma as your spellcasting ability.

Inspirational Vigor

At 3rd level, your deity begins to bless those you choose to inspire. When a creature rolls a Bardic Inspiration die that came from you, it gains temporary hit points equal to the number rolled. 

Inspiring Hymn

Starting at 6th level, you can use an action to produce a stirring, divine song that flows out to the creature around you. Choose a number of creatures other than yourself within 60 feet of you that can hear you, up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of two). Each of those creatures gains a Bardic Inspiration die. Using this feature does not count against the number of times you can use your Bardic Inspiration feature. Before requiring a short or long rest, you may use this action twice at 6th level, thrice at 10th level, quadrice at 14th level, and quintice at 20th level.

Everlasting Sermon

At 14th level, your words stick in the peoples' minds for eternity, providing influence long after they have been heard. All Bardic Inspiration dice received from you never expire. In addition, you may give NPCs Bardic Inspiration die. These die can only be used on saving throws, must be used on the next saving throw, and provide a penalty to that throw equal to the number rolled on the dice. 

Divine Clairvoyance

Also at 14th level, you can call up visions of the past that relate to an object you hold or your immediate surroundings. You spend at least 1 minute in meditation and prayer, then receive dreamlike, shadowy glimpses of recent events. You can meditate in this way for a number of minutes equal to your Intelligence score and must maintain concentration during that time, as if you were casting a spell. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Object Reading. Holding an object as you meditate, you can see visions of the object's previous owner. After meditating for 1 minute, you learn how the owner acquired and lost the object, as well as the most recent significant event involving the object and that owner. If the object was owned by another creature in the recent past (within a number of days equal to your Intelligence score), you can spend 1 additional minute for each owner to learn the same information about that creature.

Area Reading. As you meditate, you see visions of recent events in your immediate vicinity (a room, street, tunnel, clearing, or the like, up to a 50-foot cube), going back a number of days equal to your Intelligence score. For each minute you meditate, you learn about one significant event, beginning with the most recent. Significant events typically involve powerful emotions, such as battles and betrayals, marriages and murders, births and funerals. However, they might also include more mundane events that are nevertheless important in your current situation.