College of Games

Bards of the College of Games are humorous and enigmatic individuals who love to delight, decieve and bend the minds of those around them. The core philosophy of this College revolves around the competition born of two minds being pitched against each other in the battles of wit known as games. While some strains of this College focus on fun and entertainment, others value strategy and brilliant plays. Some even go as far as to encourage the art of concealed cheating, venerating the cunningness and sleight of hand required; though most members of this college find cheating distasteful and harmful to the nature of games. Bards of this College generally love teasing over serious individuals who believe that games and frivolity have no place in real life, accomplishing this by using magic to bring elements of various games into reality that affect their surroundings, often utilizing this power in combat too.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Games at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with three gaming sets of your choice and Intelligence saving throws.

Spectral Dice

Also at 3rd level, you learn how to summon spectral dice that can grant boons and cause hindrances. As an action you may expend one use of Bardic Inspiration to roll the dice, randomly conjuring one of the effects listed below on the Spectral Dice table. Once you have seen the outcome you may use it on any creature, including you, within 30 feet of you that can see you.

Spectral Dice

2d6   Name   Effect

  2     Snake Eyes   The target has disadvantage on their next ability check, saving throw or attack roll

  3     Trinity             The target gains the effect of the bless spell. This only affects one creature

  4     Si-Wang         The target takes 1d8 necrotic damage

  5     Star                 The target gains the effect of the detect magic spell for 5 minutes

  6     Hex                  The target gains the effect of the hex spell as if it were cast by you for 5 minutes. If the target dies before the end of the duration you may not choose a new target

  7     Neutral            The target recieves a Bardic Inspiration Die as if you had given it to them

  8     Spider              The target takes 1d8 poison damage

  9     Nine Lives       If the target is reduced to 0 hit points within 1 hour it is not required to make death saving throws and is stable. This only occurs once during the duration

 10    Plague             The target gains the Poisoned condition

 11    Double Dice    Roll on the Spectral Dice table again

 12   Diamond           The target has advantage on their next ability check, saving throw or attack roll

 

Gamepiece Ally

At 6th level, you learn how to summon Gamepiece constructs that can aid you in battle. You can use an action to summon a Gamepiece of your choice in an empty space within 30 feet of you. On your turn you may use a bonus action to command the Gamepiece so long as it is within 60 feet of you. If it is further than 60 feet away from you the Gamepiece takes the Dash action and attempts to return within range by the most direct route possible. The Gamepiece lasts for a number of hours equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) or until it dies. You regain the abilty to summon a Gamepiece every long rest.

The Gamepiece construct options are as follows (you can find their statblocks in the homebrew community of D&D Beyond):

Gamepiece Rook

Gamepiece Bishop

Gamepiece Knight

Aditionally, you may use a bonus action to flatten a 15x15 foot square area of difficult terain into a smooth marble chessboard-like surface. You may do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all uses at a short or ong rest.

Captor's Cards

Starting at 14th level you can try to capture a monster in a magic card that you can later use to summon a copy of that monster that will aid you in battle. As an action you can conjure a captor's card and force a creature with an Intelligence score of 8 or less to make a Wisdom saving throw. If the target has half or less of its maximum hitpoints it has disadvantage with the saving throw. Monsters with a CR higher than a quarter of your Bard levels automatically succeeds. If the target fails the saving throw it is trapped in the card, which materializes in your hand. At any time, you may use an action to play a card with a creature trapped inside, summoning it to an empty space of your choice within 30 feet of you, with full hitpoints. The creature will fight for you and has its own initiative in combat. The creature lasts for 1 hour or until it dies, after which it dissapears. The maximum number of cards with a creature trapped inside that you can have at one time is equal to your Charisma modifier. If you successfully trap a creature while your "hand" is full, you must "discard" one of the cards. While attempting to trap a creature, whether it succeeds or fails, you suffer one level of exhaustion.