College of the Phantom

The college of the phantom is home to those who enjoy the show, but not the spotlight, preferring to assist the stars with their performance from the shadows rather than be on stage.

Level 3: Shadow Cues

You gain proficiency in Stealth and Sleight of Hand. If you already have proficiency in either skill, choose another skill from the Bard skill list.

You have learned a subtle performance language of gestures, posture, shadow play, and stage marks. You can communicate simple ideas, warnings, or tactical instructions nonverbally to creatures that can see you, provided the message could be conveyed as a short phrase. A creature understands the message only if you choose for it to do so.

You can also use Shadow Cues to hide messages in ordinary movement, written marks, object placement, or shifting shadows. A creature trained in Shadow Cues understands such a message, while others notice nothing unusual without magic or careful study.

Level 3: Hidden Stagehand

You learn the Mage Hand cantrip, and it counts as a Bard cantrip for you. When you cast it, the spectral hand is invisible. When you use your action to control the hand, you can also cause it to take the Help action before or after it carries out one of the tasks normally allowed by the spell. The target of this Help must be within 5 feet of the hand.

Level 3: Shadow Manipulation

You gain a set of spells that aid in your setup of the stage. You learn the Silent Image, Darkness, Invisibility, and Silence spells. These spells count as Bard spells for you and don’t count against the number of Bard spells you know.

In addition, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cast one of these spells without expending a spell slot. When you cast a spell in this way, you can replace its verbal and somatic components with Shadow Cues. A creature that can see you can still perceive you casting the spell.

Level 6: Layered Scene

You can concentrate on one spell you cast through Shadow Manipulation and one other spell at the same time, provided the other spell was not cast through Shadow Manipulation. You can’t concentrate on more than two spells at once.

While concentrating on two spells in this way, you make only one Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration when something forces you to do so. On a failure, both spells end. If one spell ends for a reason other than a failed concentration save, you can continue concentrating on the other.

Level 14: Grand Stagehand

The Arcane Hand spell is added to the spells granted by your Shadow Manipulation feature. When you cast Arcane Hand through Shadow Manipulation, the hand appears as a massive shadow puppet, stage prop, silhouette, or other theatrical form of your choice.