College of Encores

Gather your allies together in a rocking, rollicking band!

Even a bard who is the lone musician in an adventuring party knows the value of gathering together to fight and play as a singular, rollicking band. The techniques and abilities of this college have been passed around between young punks and front-line performers for centuries. The goal is to join the party into a unified whole for the sake of incredible performances, even on battlefields.

Bards of this college sometimes take on leadership roles to bolster and support their allies. Some are seen as the figurehead or star of the party, while others raise up all members of their adventuring band to be stars together. Whatever alignment or motives they hold, these performers harness bardic magic to guide, empower, and influence other creatures by energizing allies and impressing foes. This magnifies the style of the band—and the deeds they perform—to rock the boat, undermine oppressors, and rally people to incredible actions that change the world.

Improvised Musical Instrument

3rd-level College of Encores feature

When you join the College of Encores at 3 level, you gain proficiency with improvised musical instruments. You can perform using commonplace objects as makeshift musical instruments for a time.

Rehearsal is Magic

3rd-level College of Encores feature

Form a Band. When you finish a long rest, choose a number of willing, allied, creatures up to your Charisma modifier to be in your band. You don’t have to choose any; you can be in a band by yourself.

As a bonus action in combat, you can give one other band member that can see or hear you the ability to Dash, Disengage, or Dodge as a bonus action on its turn. You choose the optional bonus action they can perform when you use your bonus action for this feature; the targeted creature decides whether or not to perform that action using its bonus action on its turn.

Magical Rehearsal. When you finish a long rest, roll a d20 and record the number rolled. You can replace one attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by any band member (including you), or a creature that can hear you, with the value of this rehearsed roll. You must choose to do so before the roll. The rehearsal result becomes the result of the replaced roll, regardless of any advantage or disadvantage on the action; add or subtract modifiers, Bardic Inspiration dice, and other effects as usual.

A rehearsed result can be used only once. When you finish a long rest, you lose any unused rehearsal result and gain a new one.

One, Two, Three, Four!

 3rd-level College of Encores feature 

Starting at 3 level, you can gather your band on your initiative result. When you roll initiative, you can choose to roll a Bardic Inspiration die and add it to your initiative result.

Instead of using their own initiative result, creatures in your band can choose to act on the same initiative with you. When your initiative result is called, choose a creature in your band (including yourself) to take their turn. When that creature has completed its turn, it selects another band member to go next, and so on. When all band members on your initiative have taken their turn, the flow of initiative resumes normally. When your initiative is called again, you again choose who in your band goes first.

If a band member changes initiative, they cannot sync back up with you until you roll initiative again.

The Spotlight

6th-level College of Encores feature

Starting at 6 level, whenever you or a band member within 10 feet of you must make a saving throw, the creature gains a bonus to the saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum bonus of +1). You must be conscious to grant this bonus.

As an action, you can move the Spotlight effect onto one other member of your band within 30 feet of you (or back onto yourself) by singing their praises or performing a sick intro. The Spotlight effect immediately centers back on you if the target band member is ever more than 30 feet away from you. The Spotlight effect ends if you lose consciousness.

Big Encore

14h-level College of Encores feature

At 14 level, you gain one of the following spells if you do not know it already; it does not count against the number of bard spells you know but does require a spell slot to cast: greater restoration, mass cure wounds, raise dead, regenerate and resurrection.

When you cast one of these spells from any source, using a musical instrument as your arcane focus, the range (but not the area) of the spell increases by 30 feet.

If a target of your spell is in your band and has fewer than half their hit points, they may use their reaction to expend some of their HIT Dice to regain additional hit points as if they had taken a short rest. This does not bestow any other benefits of a short rest. A target can choose to spend a number of their Hit Dice up to your Charisma modifier at most.

This feature does not remove or replace the need for material components for these spells (if they are required). The components can be on the bard’s person or affixed to their musical instrument.

Big Encore

At 14 level, you gain one of the following spells if you do not know it already; it does not count against the number of bard spells you know but does require a spell slot to cast: greater restoration, mass cure wounds, raise dead, regeneration and resurrection.