College of Firecraft

Fire is an everpresent force in the world, one of the universe's most basic concepts. And as a force revered and feared in equal measure by all, so are there fields of art and performance dedicated to it. From acrobats, to daredevils, to those that want to spruce up a revel - for these artists, fire plays an important role in their routines.

Beyond fear and reverence, the flame is symbolic in many ways: a representation of passion, of change, of destruction and the eventual birth of new life and experiences, and storytellers and performers can thrive off these concepts.

To call those that join the community a "college" is a bit of a misnomer; rather, bards that follow this path are more akin to ringleaders, or shepherds of their own flock, though in a sense that encourages free thought and camaraderie among those that revere and follow them. There is still value in cooperation among those that follow this path, in order to maintain a positive influence and uphold unwritten rules of the social contract; fire can spread, after all, and it has its place in the world order, but it can also burn out of control if others are careless. Chaos and law are of equal import with firecrafters: knowing when to encourage the former and rein it in when it conflicts with the rules of the community is paramount, unless the rules are corrupt to the point of choking the spread of freedom and solace. At that point, a spark may very well be necessary to stoke the right flames.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Firecraft at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with alchemist's supplies, and one of either Acrobatics or Performance. If you already have proficiency in both skills, choose one of those skills; you double your proficiency bonus when making an ability check using the chosen skill.

Pyretic Performer

Starting at 3rd level, your very passion and dedication can manifest as an arcane flame, which you can manipulate in various ways. You learn the produce flame cantrip; it becomes a bard spell for you, and it doesn't count against your number of cantrips known.

Whenever you grant another creature your Bardic Inspiration die, you cast your produce flame spell as part of that action, and you gain one ember die, which is the same size as the Bardic Inspiration die you've granted. While your produce flame spell is active, whenever you cast a bard spell or make an attack with your produce flame, you can spend ember dice to deal fire damage equal to its result to a creature that was hit by an attack or failed a saving throw from that spell, or to grant temporary hit points equal to its result to a friendly creature affected by that spell.

Once you use this feature, your produce flame ends if it hasn't already. If you would gain one or more ember dice while you already have them, you choose whether to keep the dice you have or to gain your new amount; the amount of dice do not stack. Ember dice last for ten minutes if unspent.

Showstopper

Starting at 6th level, you've added more spectacular manipulations to your personal performance arsenal, turning fire into fuel for extraordinary abilities. You can spend an action to cast either dragon's breath or pyrotechnics* without spending a spell slot or material components. When cast this way, the spells are modified in the following ways:

• You target yourself with dragon's breath, and you may only choose fire. When you cast the spell, you make its associated attack immediately as part of the action. While concentrating on the spell, you are considered to have your produce flame active for the purpose of Pyretic Performer.
• You can target your own conjured flame with pyrotechnics; if you do, you are immune to its effects.

You have one use of this feature. You gain a second use at 14th level, and you regain all uses once you finish a short or long rest.

* from Elemental Evil Player's Companion 

Dauntless Revelry

Also at 6th level, your illuminating performance can directly inspire and enthrall your audience, potentially spurring them to action. When you use your Countercharm feature, you can target a number of creatures up to your proficiency bonus within the area of the ability. Those creatures gain your Bardic Inspiration die, except the die is a d4. You have a number of uses of this feature equal to your Charisma modifier, and you regain all of its uses once you finish a long rest. You only cast produce flame once with this ability as per your Pyretic Performer feature, regardless of how many Bardic Inspiration dice you grant.

You also possess a manner of control over heat and flame that allays the worst of its harm on you. You have resistance to fire damage, and if you would succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against an effect that would deal fire damage, you take no damage if you would otherwise take half damage.

Light Up the Stage

At 14th level, your ability to inspire grows ever stronger, and it can ignite others' passions to even greater lengths. The extra die from Dauntless Revelry becomes a d6. In addition, when you grant a creature a Bardic Inspiration die, they can immediately exhaust the die as a reaction to make a melee or ranged weapon attack against a creature of their choice, and that attack deals extra fire damage equal to a roll of the exhausted die. A creature can only benefit from this feature once before a short or long rest.