College of Stars

Two cards lay face-up on the table in front of a weary traveler. The half-elven bard sits across from her, deck in hand, ready to reveal the final fortune. With a gesture to the heavens, the bard lays the final card. Skull. The card of death.

The traveler grimaces, sweat running down the side of her neck. "Is...Is the Skull bad?"

The half-elf's lips curl into a knowing smile. "Death is not the end of all things. To many, it also symbolizes imminent rebirth. The passing on to another stage of life, shedding one's old identity and being born anew." He sees it, the tears suddenly flowing from the traveler's eyes. Knowingly, he extends his hand towards her. "You are safe now. They no longer know you are here."

The traveler breathes a sigh of relief, handing him a few silver as a gesture of goodwill, for she has been blessed by the stars. She wipes her tears and disappears into the crowd.

Bards from the College of Stars are bestowed the gift of divination from the heavens. The infinite mysteries of the stars and beyond reveal themselves to a studious bard, who practices day and night honing their ability to read fortunes from a deck of cards.

While the College's most gifted fortune tellers come to learn how to pluck magic from the very heavens and turn them into spells, the powers they are granted are ultimately determined by Fate itself.

 

additionally 

Fortune Telling

If you are in possession of a Deck of Fates, chances are you have the ability to perform divinations with the deck. Even if you are not in the College of Stars (or if you're not a Bard, for that matter), the readings reveal a cosmic truth, ultimately affecting any willing humanoid whose fortune is told.

To read an individual's fortune, draw three cards at random from your Deck of Fates and lay them on a flat surface, face-up. In order from left to right, the cards represent the divination target's past, present, and future, respectively. Refer to the table below.

 

The Cards and What They Represent

Card	Past	Present	Future
Sun	Childhood	Adulthood	Old Age
Moon	Knowledge	Mystery	Revelations
Star	Wish Made	Good Luck	Wish Fulfilled
Throne	Ambition	Career	Opportunity
Key	Isolation	Secrets	Enlightenment
Knight	A Promise	An Oath	Duty
The Void	Loneliness	Emptiness	Hopelessness
Flames	Love	Passion	Friends
Skull	Sickness	Death	Rebirth
Ruin	Loss	Change	Discovery
Euryale	Scorned Woman	Broken Man	Cold Heart
Rogue	Crime	Punishment	Justice
Jester	Games	Ignorance	Shame

Deck of Fates

When you join the College of Stars at 3rd level, you are granted a mystical deck of cards known as the Deck of Fates, which consists of thirteen cards indicated in the Deck of Fates table.

The Deck of Fates is kept inside an ornate box or pouch (your choice), and its cards are made of ivory or vellum (your choice). While inside the container, it resides in a secure extradimensional plane. The deck can be used as your spellcasting focus, and is considered a magical item due to its special properties.

As a bonus action, you may either dismiss the deck into its container, or summon it to your grasp from inside it. If you lose the deck or the container that holds it, you may undertake an hour-long ritual that destroys the previous Deck of Fates and its container, and you summon a new one.

You may also use the deck to tell fortunes, which reveal a cosmic truth when demonstrated on a willing humanoid. Refer to the appendix for how to read fortunes with the deck. As a seasoned diviner, you gain proficiency with the Insight skill, and you can read, write, and speak Celestial.

 

Deck of Fates

Card	Fate's Hand	Cosmic Secrets
Sun	chromatic orb	daylight
Moon	faerie fire	magic circle
Star	magic missile	fly
Throne	sanctuary	spirit guardians
Key	comprehend languages	sending
Knight	shield	crusader's mantle
The Void	arms of hadar	hunger of hadar
Flames	burning hands	fireball
Skull	false life	animate dead
Ruin	thunderwave	sleet storm
Euryale	charm person	meld into stone
Rogue	jump	gaseous form
Jester	mage armor	protection from energy

Cosmic Secrets

At 6th level, the secrets of the universe reveal themselves to you through your Deck of Fates. Once per short rest, you may draw four cards at random from the Deck of Fates. When drawn, you gain the ability to cast the card's corresponding spell from the Cosmic Secrets table as a Bard spell by presenting the card and casting using any spell slot available; the card serving as the spells components.

Scry the Heavens

At 14th level, you become a timeless diviner of the Deck of Fates, and are able to peer beyond the stars with your cards. You no longer draw cards with your Fate's Hand feature. Instead, you may cast any spell on the Deck of Fates list with your Fate's Hand feature once per long rest. You must present and announce the corresponding card when casting a spell this way.

In addition, as an action, you may draw a card at random from the deck to create a magical effect, which instantly takes place when the card is drawn. If the effect is a spell, it doesn't require concentration and lasts for the full duration.

You may use this feature once per long rest.

Sun. You cast sunbeam as a 6th level spell. For the duration of the spell, you create new sunbeams each of your turns if there are hostile creatures within range.

Moon. You cast heal as a 6th level spell on yourself.

Star. You cast planar ally, summoning a celestial. The celestial will perform any one task for free, but it will not assist you in combat.

Throne. A crown worth 1,000 gp appears on top of your head. The crown's design is reflective of your race's culture.

Key. You cast scrying on a location you have seen before.

Knight. A knight appears in a space within 30 feet of you that you can see. The knight is of the same race as you and serves you loyally until they die or disappear after 1 minute. You control this character.

The Void. You cast contact other plane, contacting a mysterious entity from the abyssal planes. You automatically succeed on the saving throw.

Flames. A fire elemental appears in a space within 100 feet of you that you can see. The fire elemental is hostile, and attacks the creature closest to it that it can see. It attacks relentlessly until it dies or disappears after 1 minute.

Skull. Your hit points drop to 0 and you fall unconscious.

Ruin. You cast insect plague as a 6th level spell centered on yourself.

Euryale. You transform into a medusa for 1 minute.

Rogue. You cast greater invisibility on yourself.

Jester. No effect happens.