College of Mesmers

Experts at charm and deceit, mesmerists compel others to heed their words and bend to their will. Psychic powers, primarily those of enchantment and illusion, give mesmerists the tools they need to manipulate others—usually for their own personal gain. The very gaze of a mesmerist can hypnotize someone into following his whims. Mesmerists frequently form cults of personality around themselves, and they develop skills and contingency plans in case their ploys are discovered. They draw their magic from Astral Space, and many consider their minds to be conduits to enigmatic spaces others can’t comprehend.

Psychoanalyst

Starting at 3rd level, your understanding of the mind makes it easier to read people. When you make a Wisdom (Insight) check, you can treat a dice roll of 7 or lower as an 8.

Mesmerist Tricks

Also at 3rd level, a mesmerist can create hypnotic bonds with their allies, implanting magical suggestions in their minds that can be later activated. Per Long Rest, they can implant a number of these tricks equal to their Charisma bonus (min. 1). To implant a trick, you must use an action and either touch a willing creature or implant the trick in yourself. A creature can be the subject of only one mesmerist trick at a time. A trick is triggered when the condition is met and by using a bonus action or reaction (detailed in the trick’s description). The subject must be within 120ft for you to trigger the trick; with the exception of Unwitting Messenger. You monitor for the trick’s triggering condition through a subtle telepathic connection, so you don’t need line of sight to trigger it but anything that blocks telepathic contact prevents you from triggering tricks. An implanted trick lasts until the next long rest. Once triggered, a trick is no longer implanted, and can’t be triggered again until you implant the trick again. The duration of the effect caused by triggering a trick is either instantaneous or appears in the trick’s entry. The DC for any mesmerist trick or masterful trick that requires a saving throw or skill check is 10 + proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. You learn 2 tricks at 3rd level, another 2 at 6 level and a final 2 at 10 level (for a total of 8). Each use of mesmerist tricks can be used to implant any trick you know. You regain any spent tricks at the end of a Long Rest.

Astounding Avoidance

The subject can react quickly to avoid damage from magical and unusual attacks. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject attempts a saving throw against an attack or spell effect that normally deals half damage on a successful save, before the subject rolls the save. If the subject succeeds at their save, they take no damage. The benefits of this trick don’t stack with those of the evasion feature.

Chain of Eyes

The subject can share their senses with the mesmerist. You trigger chain of eyes by using a bonus action to close your eyes and concentrate on the implanted subject, allowing you to see and hear everything the target experiences with their own senses of sight and hearing (including any special senses or magical effects). Once triggered, chain of eyes lasts for 10 minutes or until you shift your field of vision back to yourself as a bonus action. While viewing events from the target’s perspective, you are blinded and deafened to your own surroundings.

False Flanker

A duplicate of the mesmerist appears momentarily in the subject’s vision, as though they were fighting in tandem. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject moves into or begins their turn in a square where they threaten an enemy. The subject perceives a copy of you appearing to strike at the threatened target. This believed ally grants the subject advantage on attacks they make and counts as a friendly creature for features such as Sneak Attack. These bonuses last for one round before the trick ends.

Gift of Will

A small portion of the mesmerist’s vast mental power buttresses their ally’s self-belief. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject attempts a Wisdom saving throw or a Wisdom (Insight) check, or if targeted by an Intimidate check. For a saving throw, the subject uses your Wisdom Saving Throw bonus instead of their own. For a Wisdom (Insight) check or Charisma (Intimidate) check, they add your Charisma bonus as a bonus on the check or to the DC. You can’t implant this trick on yourself.

Linked Reaction

A hive mind allows the mesmerist and an ally to share one another’s reaction times. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when either you or the subject is surprised and the other isn’t (even if you would normally be unable to take actions because of being surprised). Both you and the subject can act in the surprise round. You can’t implant this trick on yourself.

Mask Misery

The subject can shrug off a condition for a short time before succumbing to it. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject becomes affected by any of the following conditions: Charmed, Exhaustion (up to 3 level), Frightened, Paralysed, Poisoned or Stunned. The subject can ignore the effect of that condition for 1d4 rounds, after which the subject takes the full effect. This has no effect on any conditions affecting the subject other than the triggering condition, even if those other effects are also listed. The rounds during which the subject ignores the triggering effect still count against that effect’s duration; if the duration of mask misery is longer than the effect lasts, the subject isn’t affected by the condition at all. If an effect that imposes more than one condition triggers this trick, the subject ignores all eligible conditions.

Meek Façade

The subject acts like a weak target, goading an enemy into attacking them. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject misses a creature with a weapon attack. The enemy has disadvantage on attacks against creatures other than the subject, and the subject gains a +2 bonus to AC against the triggering enemy’s attacks. Both of these effects last for 1 round.

Mesmeric Pantomime

By shoring the subject’s belief in themselves, the mesmerist imparts to that ally reassurance in their skill at a physical task. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject attempts a Strength or Dexterity based skill check. The subject gains a bonus on the check equal to your Charisma bonus. You can’t implant this trick on yourself.

Psychosomatic Surge

A subject finds themselves dull to pain, alleviating their wounds temporarily. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject takes damage. The subject gains 5 temporary hit points per bard level you have, which take as much of the triggering damage as possible. These temporary hit points last for 1 round.

See in Darkness

The subject gains darkvision with a range of 60 feet for 1 minute. You can use a bonus action to trigger this trick when the subject moves into an area of darkness.

Telepathic Bond

The subject can communicate telepathically with the mesmerist for a short period. You can use a bonus action to trigger this trick when you and the subject are within 120ft. For 10 minutes, you and the subject can communicate telepathically. If you and the subject are more than a 120ft apart, the telepathic connection is severed and cannot be regained unless the trick is implanted again. You and the subject must share a language to be able to communicate. You can’t implant this trick on yourself.

Umbral Shield

The subject ignores any harmful effects of bright light or sunlight for 1 minute. You can use a bonus action to trigger this trick whenever the subject is exposed to bright light. The subject has resistance to Radiant Damage and is immune to the effects of Sunlight Sensitivity while this trick is in effect.

Unwitting Messenger

You describe a recipient to the subject while implanting this trick, then recites a verbal message no longer than twenty-five words. The subject of unwitting messenger has no memory of the message or the target recipient. When the subject encounters the specified recipient, they repeat the message verbatim, but does not recall speaking the message or its contents. The message remains buried in the subject’s subconscious for 24 hours, after which time it disappears if not delivered. The subject of unwitting messenger can be fooled by mundane disguises or illusions, causing them to deliver the message to the wrong recipient.

Voice of Reason

The subject can more easily pierce sight based illusions with the mesmerist’s aid. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject attempts a saving throw or Investigation Check to disbelieve a sight-based illusion effect, but only so long as you are not affected by or has disbelieved the illusion yourself. The subject receives a bonus to disbelieve the illusion equal to your Charisma modifier.

Silvered Tongue

Beginning at level 6, your mastery of the mind manifests multiplicative. When you cast the Friends cantrip or a spell that includes an effect that inflicts the Charmed or Frightened condition; you may cast the spell while ignoring any verbal and somatic components as well as negating any effect of the spell that would indicate you cast the spell.

Masterful Tricks

At 14 level, you gain insight into the more potent effects a mesmerist can learn. You gain 2 Masterful Tricks, which are detailed below. Masterful Tricks work the same way as Mesmerist Tricks but with the following distinctions: Masterful Tricks do not count against the number of tricks you can implant and you can implant a Masterful Trick as well as a Mesmerist Trick in a creature. Additionally, you may only implant 1 Masterful Trick per Long Rest.

Allay Pain

The subject of this trick gains a dissonance against the pain of battle. You can use your reaction to trigger this trick whenever the subject is hit with an attack that deals nonlethal damage. When triggered, the subject gains resistance to all damage, including the triggering damage and gains +5 to AC against further attacks for the rest of the turn.

Concealing Veil

You can use a bonus action to trigger this trick. When this trick is triggered, the subject is treated as being under the Nondetection and Pass without a Trace spells for 10 minutes.

Faked Death

The subject appears to die, but actually can stealthily move about. You can trigger this trick as a reaction when the subject is damaged by an attack. The subject appears to fall down dead (as programmed image), but actually turns invisible (as invisibility) for 1 minute or until they attack. Once the subject becomes visible again, the illusory dead body disappears. These are illusion effects, and a creature that interacts with the false body can attempt an Intelligence (Investigation) check to disbelieve the effect.

Mental Mantle

The mental toil of the subject is alleviated by the mesmerist. You can trigger this trick as a bonus action when the subject is concentrating on a spell. The spell remains in effect but you take over concentration, as if you had casted the spell. If you lose concentration, the spell ends. You cannot trigger this trick if you are already concentrating on something and you cannot implant this trick on yourself.

Spell Anticipation

The mesmerist can choose a spell to strike back at enemy spell casters. When you implant this trick, you must expend one spell slot to embed a spell you know of that level with the trick. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and be able to target one creature (spells like dominate person that have more restrictive targeting can be used, but have no effect if triggered against creatures that don’t match). You can use your reaction to trigger this trick when the subject is targeted by an enemy’s spell. Your spell triggers after the triggering spell, affecting only the enemy spell caster. This takes effect only if the enemy spell caster is within range of the spell (as measured from the subject of the trick), and functions as though you were in the subject’s square. The enemy’s spell still has its full effect, even if your spell would normally protect against it or make the caster unable to cast it.

Visions of Blood

When an enemy is struck by the subject, it believes its wound is far more severe, and the shock overwhelms it. You can use a reaction to trigger this trick when the subject hits with an attack using a weapon, a natural weapon, or an unarmed strike. The attack’s target must succeed at a Wisdom saving throw or be stunned for 1 round. If the triggering attack was a critical hit, the target doesn’t get a saving throw.

Wilful Ignorance

The subject gains the ability to tell one undetectable lie. When the subject attempts to lie, such as through making a Deception skill check, the mesmerist can use a reaction to trigger this trick. That particular lie resists truth-detecting magic, and creatures attempting to use such magic must succeed at a check using their spellcasting modifier Bonus to succeed; failure means the magic doesn’t detect the subject’s lie or force them to speak only the truth.