College of Secrets

The College of Secrets is a little-known offshoot from the College of Whispers. Where the College of Whispers will frequently do most of their own dirty work, a bard of the College of Secrets prefers to be a puppeteer from behind the scenes; gathering information on her enemies and allies alike, twisting them until they do her bidding... sometimes without even realizing it. College of Secrets bards have a tendency to be manipulative and power-hungry, but not for fame: no, they prefer their anonymity, using their traditional Bardic roots as a guise to stay hidden in the crowd.

Bonus Proficiencies

You have a natural talent for discerning when others are lying to you. When you join the College of Secrets at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Insight skill. If you already have proficiency, gain Expertise in it instead. Additionally, when you succeed on an Insight check vs. another creature's Deception, you may spend a Bardic Inspiration die to gain the effects of the Detect Thoughts  spell for one round targeting the creature who attempted to deceive you. You do not need to know the spell nor expend a spell slot in order to gain this effect, but you may not probe deeper beyond the surface thoughts of the creature.

After using the secondary feature of this ability, a creature is immune to its effects for 24 hours.

Silver Tongue

Beginning at 3rd level, whenever a creature fails a saving throw against an Enchantment spell of 1st level or higher that you cast, you regain one use of your Bardic Inspiration. If the Enchantment spell targets multiple creatures, you may only regain one charge. Additionally, an ally with a use of Bardic Inspiration may now use it to increase the effect of any damage or healing they cause. 

Enigmatic Inception

Beginning at 6th level, you gain the ability to whisper directly into a target's mind to attempt to influence them. You learn the spell Suggestion and can cast it once without expending a spell slot; this does not count against your Spells Known. When casting the spell with this feature, the spell has no verbal component and the target has disadvantage on the saving throw, as you speak directly into their mind and plant the suggestion, seeming to come from within their own mind.

You may cast Suggestion in this manner once per Long Rest.

Puppet Master

You've become a master at bending others to your will. Beginning at 14th level, whenever you cast a spell of the Enchantment school, you may cast it as if it were one level higher. For example, casting Dominate Person using a 5th-level spell slot will instead cast the spell as a 6th-level spell, expanding the duration from Concentration, 1 minute to Concentration, 10 minutes.