College of Vermin

The College of Vermin is a long-standing and ancient college for bards, pulling from tradition and tales of a legendary bard. Many stories speak of a great bard who wove his song to befriend the many vermin that roamed the streets. That song has been passed down through generations, and with it many other techniques have grown. Those who have the gift for this special song are not shunned as some might expect. What outsiders might see as a clever trick to control rats, studied bards see as a means to honor one of the greatest bards to ever live.

Song of the Swarm

Starting at 3rd level, you have learned a peculiar song that seems hypnotic to rodents, bending them to your will. As a bonus action, you may expend an Inspiration Die to summon a number of plague rats to your aid up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one) to any space(s) within 30 feet of you.

Each rat occupies a 5 foot space, but is otherwise intangible (much like spiritual weapon ) and other creatures can occupy their space. Plague rats remain for 10 minutes after they are summoned and you can have a maximum number of plague rats summoned equal to your Charisma modifier at a time. Your plague rats have 1 hit point, an Armor Class of 16, and 10 points in all ability scores for the purposes of spells, abilities, etc. that would reference an ability score.

You may use any amount of your own movement speed as a free action on your turn to move one of your rats the same distance, and any rat can be up to 100 feet away from you. You communicate with all of your plague rats telepathically. As an action and/or bonus action, you may command one of your rats to make a biting attack against a creature within its melee range. This bite attack references your spell attack bonus. The attack deals a base 1d6 acid damage.

Tunnel Runner

At 3rd level, having spent so much time with vermin through your song, you have begun to take on certain traits of your rodent companions. You gain 15 feet of burrowing and climbing speed, 15 feet of blindsight, and can now move through spaces meant for creatures one size smaller than yours.

In addition, as an action, you may exchange places with one of your summoned vermin provided you have line-of-sight to each other. You may exchange places this way a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus per long rest.

Arcane Vermin

Beginning at 6th level, your magic has begun to infuse itself into the rats that you summon to your aid. You can now cast spells using your rats as though the spell originated from you, and bite attacks inflicted by your rats now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistances and immunity to nonmagical attacks.

When one of your rats dies, they explode with filth, dealing 2d4 acid damage to all creatures in a 5 foot radius around them.

Overwhelming Swarm

Starting at 14th level, your extensive time with your plague rats has trained you to control a larger swarm. You can now overrun your foes with and endless horde of rats. Whenever one of your plague rats dies, roll 1d4-1. That many new plague rats appear in unoccupied spaces within 15 feet of that rat.

When you use your action and/or bonus action to command a rat to make a bite attack, you may have up to two different rats make that bite attack instead of one. You now also can control a maximum number of rats equal to three times your Charisma modifier.