The Contractor

The bard that has chosen to take this path knows their way around contracts and have spent some time analyzing contracts that come from the 9 hells. They grant access to magic to anyone that is willing to sign their contract, at the cost of whatever the bard decides. The reason that the bard has this ability can depend on several things, but one way is through the bard entering an agreement with a devil and tricking them out of their own contract. This obviously leads to the bard living a dangerous life and having more than a couple daring stories to tell around the camp fire. These contracts are magically altered by the bard so they can benefit in their own various ways.

 

First draft

At third level, the bard has just finished writing their first contract, and has one of three options to choose from:

The Warrior:

• Grants the signer greater strength than normal, at the cost of their wits. (Grants an additional damage die to the signers attacks, but they have to role a d4 and subtract that from their attack role)
• The bard adds an additional d8 to their maximum hit points

The Wanderer:

• Grants the signer the ability to traverse a greater distance, but comes with a cost (grants the user the ability to teleport up to 30 ft in addition to their base movement, but they have to role a d6. On a 1 or 2, they revert back to their original spot at the beginning on their turn and cannot move until their next turn.)
• The bard gains the ability to temporarily go invisible at the end of their turn a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus

The Mage:

• Grants the signer the ability to potentially regain some magic, but can also have negative effects. (When a magic user casts a leveled spell, they can choose to role a d6. If they role a 6, then the spell does not use up a spell slot. If they role a 2-5, nothing happens. If they role a 1, however, then they lose the ability to cast spells for 1 turn, afterwards they regain their access to magic).
• The bard can empower a spell with an additional dice roll a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus

Intermediate wordsmith

The bard has learned a few more tricks and has a 32 page revised copy of the contract for the signer to thoroughly read and understand before reapplying their signature. The bard has also been in the trade long enough to realize when they are having the wool pulled over their eyes. They gain a proficiency with investigation and insight checks. Additionally, the bard can now have 2 contracts written up at the same time.

The Warrior:

• The signer gains increased movement to be able to get to their enemies, but at the sacrifice of their reaction time (10 foot movement speed boost and can now leap 20 ft as a bonus action, dealing 2d6 bludgeoning damage to anyone caught in the leap, but take a -3 to their initiative role)
• The bard can now choose an additional target for their vicious mockery a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus. This recharges every short rest

The Wanderer:

• The signer can now choose to blink out of existence at the end of their turn, but have to role a d6. If they role a 1 or 2, then they get stuck in that realm and can only move at normal movement speed and cannot attack for their next turn) *can be done twice per short rest
• The bard can now cast dimension door for free equal to the number of signed contracts. This comes back every long rest.

The Mage:

• The signer now has the ability to choose to empower their cantrips with an additional dice role, but have to role a d6. If they role a 1 or 2, then they end up taking a dice role away from their damage, but if they role a 6 then they add another die on top of the original addition)
• The bard can now give inspiration an additional number of times equal to signed contracts, and these inspiration come back every short rest

Master of Words

The bard has finally perfected their contract making skills and adds a new addendum to the contract, this time risk free! (The bard is not liable to fix any previous arrangement in the contracts, as seen on page 72, section C, subsection 4). They are also now able to make a 3 third contract.

The Warrior:

• The signer now gains an additional attack per turn
• The bard can now sacrifice an inspiration to gain resistance to 2 damage types for 12 hours

The Wanderer:

• The signer can now attack from their teleportation, dealing an additional 2d6 damage to the enemy that they hit
• The bard can now sacrifice an inspiration to make a duplicate of themself for 10 minutes. While there, the duplicate can be used as a means of tricking people, with the bard able to trade places with their duplicate up to 100 ft away and can control the duplicate with a bonus action. The duplicate has half the bards health and disappears when they lose their health

The Mage:

• The signer can now choose an additional target for a spell to affect a number of times equal to contracts made. This returns every short rest
• The bard can now sacrifice an inspiration to gain spells slot equal to level 5 (once per long rest)