College of Court

The College of Court is the home of bards who mastered their craft in the confines of court. Tutored by sages, nobles, and other members of court, these bards learn to use their magic to win the room.

The bards of this college are regarded as dangerous as they are helpful. These bards are so enthralling that a few words and smiles from one of them can cause an entire court to want to speak to them at once without any prior knowledge to their existence. The magic that allows them to inspire a court can be extended to their entourage, after all, who would travel with the most interesting person in the room if they themselves weren't interesting. Villainous bards of this college can lie and cheat their way into an influential position within a court. Once one has set down it is very hard to dispose of them as all of what they gained may have been entirely legal. Heroic bards of this college instead use this power to remove corruption or influence a court to do good for the people.

Court Insight

When you join the College of Court at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Insight skill. If you already have proficiency in this skill you may choose another. 

Additionally, as a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to grant yourself a small insight into targets minds. When you do so, choose a number of creatures you can see within 60 feet of you, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). You have advantage on wisdom checks related to these targets if you remain polite in tone and arent overtly threatening. Any target who's mind is unreadable is unaffected by this feature.

Court Appeal

Starting at 3rd level, you can magically bolster your court demeanour.

If you work the room for at least 10 minutes, you can attempt to inspire curiosity in the court. At the end of your walkaround, any number of humanoids who saw or interacted with you are overwhelmed by your appeal. Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you. While charmed in this way, the target becomes immediately curious of you, it speaks in excited hushed tones about you to anyone who talks to it, and it directs anyone who it thinks could help you your way. If the target itself can further your goals it approaches by itself. This effect ends on a target after 1 hour, if it takes any damage from you or your allies, or if it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies.

If a target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to charm it.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Court Sway

At 6th level, you gain the ability to magically increase your social standing or expand the knowledge of your social standing.

As an action, you project a sentence into the minds of humanoids you can see. This sentence, be it false or not, implants into their minds as truth unless the target has explicit knowledge proving the sentence false. (eg: you can convince a set of people that you're the king's cousin that doesn't visit often, but cannot convince the king of this.)

The knowledge remains in the minds of those affected until 24 hours have passed or someone points out that the knowledge was implanted. After this, the sentence fades from memory as if it never reached their ears. If any deals were made based on the implanted knowledge the targets may investigate.

Creatures whose mind cannot be read or altered are unaffected by this feature.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Courtly Entourage

At 14th level, you have mastered the ways of the court and can extend this charm to your entourage. If you charm a creature, the creature regards your allies as extensions of you in regards to the charmed condition and the spell. You and your allies are considered proficient in all charisma related skills regarding any targets charmed by you.