Bards of the College of Art seek to express their magic through visual media rather than song or storytelling. Whether it be via painting, sculpture or even fashion, they develop ways to weave the threads of magic into their craft, and practice to unleash it onto unsuspecting targets at the most opportune times.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Art at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in either the Perception or Insight skill.

In addition, you gain proficiency with your choice of one of the following sets of artisan's tools: calligrapher's tools, cobbler's tools, jeweler's tools, glassblower's tools, leatherworker's tools, mason's tools, painter's tools, potter's tools, smith's tools, weaver's tools, or woodcarver's tools.

Personal Sigil

Also at 3rd level, you develop your own personal sigil which you can use as a signature, or to mark items. Whenever you spend at least one minute to draw, paint, etch or otherwise place your sigil onto an object or surface, you may also spend a Bardic Inspiration die to infuse the sigil with abjuration magic, which remains until dispelled or until the sigil is defaced (both of which causes the sigil to vanish.)

When you cast a spell that targets a single creature or object, or one that targets an area, then if you can see one of your infused sigils within 30 feet of you, you may choose to redirect the spell to the sigil. If the spell affects an area, the spell's area becomes centered on the sigil. If the spell targets a creature or object, then any creature wearing or carrying the object marked with the sigil becomes the target; if no one is, then the marked object becomes the target.

If the spell would normally require an attack roll, it no longer does and the spell automatically hits; but any damage that occurs does not crit.

You may have a total number of active sigils equal to your Charisma modifier. Any created beyond that dispel the magic from the oldest active sigil, causing it to vanish. An active sigil can be "refreshed" by re-creating it on the same surface, effectively making it the newest one.

Empowered Artwork

At 6th level, you gain the ability to infuse enchantment magic into your artwork, providing a passive benefit to anyone wearing or carrying the piece who has attuned to it. When you spend at least an hour using artisan's tools to create a piece of art, you can spend a Bardic Inspiration die to infuse the artwork with magic, which remains until dispelled or until the artwork is destroyed. Only one benefit can be infused into the piece; attempting to infuse new magic automatically dispels any previously-infused magic.

When you infuse the artwork, choose one of the following artistic influences to impart in order to grant a specific benefit to the holder/wearer of the piece:

Novelty - A +1 bonus to all attack rolls.

Comfort - Automatic stabilization when reduced to 0 hit points.

Inspiration - Advantage on Insight, Investigation and Perception checks.

Reverence - Resistance to radiant or necrotic damage (chosen when the piece is infused,) and to psychic damage.

Contemplation - Advantage on saving throws for one specific ability (chosen when the piece is infused.)

Titillation - A +2 to all damage rolls, and a -1 to all ability checks and to AC.

Note that a wearer/holder of your artwork can only benefit from one particular artistic influence at a time, and that benefits do not stack regardless of the number of pieces of art worn/held that carry that influence.

Creatures attempting to wear/hold art with different influences will find that the influences cancel each other out, and none of the benefits of any of the artwork is realized.

You may have a total number of empowered artworks equal to your Charisma modifier; any created beyond that dispel the magic from the oldest artwork.

Artistic Masterpiece

Starting at 14th level, when you spend at least 8 hours using artisan's tools to create a piece of art, you can infuse the artwork with the magic of a spell that you know, so that the spell is activated at a later time. You must cast the spell during the process of creating the artwork, taking the usual casting time to do so and expending the appropriate material components and spell slot, although the spell will have no immediate effect when cast in this way. The spell must have a single target, or must target an area.

You decide what triggers the spell's activation when you create the artwork. Typical triggers include touching the artwork, moving it, holding onto it, or approaching within a certain distance of it.

You can further refine the trigger so the spell activates only under certain circumstances or according to physical characteristics (such as height or weight), creature kind (for example, the ward could be set to affect aberrations or drow), or alignment. You can also set conditions for creatures that don’t trigger the spell, such as those who say a certain password.

When the artwork is triggered, the stored spell is cast. If the spell has a target, it targets the creature that triggered the spell. If the spell affects an area, the area is centered on that creature. If the spell summons hostile creatures or creates harmful objects or traps, they appear as close as possible to the creature and attack it. If the spell requires concentration, it lasts until the end of its full duration; if the option is available, you decide in advance whether this results in a permanent effect or not (as with Wall of Stone.)

Whenever you create a new artistic masterpiece, any previous masterpieces you made all have their magic immediately dispelled. The magic infused into a masterpiece remains until the stored spell is cast, until the magic is dispelled, or until the masterpiece is destroyed.