College of Panacea

The bards of this college are regarded by some with trust and a sense of safety, confiding great secrets in their presence. Others find themselves skeptical and defensive, as members of the College of Panacea perform at their best when their audience is vulnerable. Their performances are not necessarily for the sake of revelry and cheer; rather they can be heartfelt, intimate, and personally empowering... or soul-crushing. These bards can reach into the souls of others by forging a path through their emotions. This path can be laid in stones of trust and confidence, or blazed with relentless vivisection. To access one's deepest desires and insecurities can be an outlet to heal seemingly permanent wounds and bolster seemingly inevitable weaknesses. Of course, with this same power, permanent and insidious deeds can be done in the guise of healing. Villainous bards of this college can take the meekest coward and corrupt them into a willing slave, or even a relentless murderer. Heroic Panacea bards can convince the cruelest tyrant to seek redemption and pursue a better life.

Words of Comfort

When you join the College of Panacea at 3rd level, your words gain the ability to soothe maladies in times of strife.

As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration and roll the die. When you do so, choose a creature you can see. That creature gains hit points equal to the number rolled + your Charisma modifier.

 

Introspective Boon

Starting at 3rd level, your words can be used to sway the actions and afflictions of those you connect with.

If you converse for at least 10 minutes with a creature who understands you, or 1 minute with a creature who is charmed by you, you can choose to influence their emotions and actions. Should you choose to do so, the creature must make a charisma saving throw. If the creature fails, they fall an effect you specify from the list below. If you consider the target an ally, they can choose to fail this throw and choose the effect, and creatures who do not operate with emotions, such as Lizardfolk, have advantage on this throw:

• Feeble Cunning: Choose between Persuasion and Deception. For one hour, you have advantage on ability checks for one, and disadvantage on the other.
• Guided Hand: For one hour, you have advantage or disadvantage on your next attack roll.
• Regretful Fury: For one hour, you take psychic damage equal to the damage die of your next attack, but you add a damage die to the hit if it does not miss.
• Nourishing Gratitude: For one hour, if you use an ability, item, or spell to heal, the target is healed for the maximum amount permitted by the effect.
• Lasting Impression: For one hour, you are under the effect of the Bless or Bane spell.

If a target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to influence it.

Once you successfully instill an effect on a creature, you can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Closer to the Heart

At 6th level, your words become lasting tools to be utilized by those who will listen.

Your Bardic Inspiration die no longer expires after 10 minutes; it remains indefinitely until used. In addition, anyone with your Bardic Inspiration die can choose to expend it as an action or bonus action and gain hit points equal to the number rolled. They can also choose to add the number rolled as psychic damage to their next successful attack within 1 minute. 

Axiomatic Arsenal

At 14th level, your lessons give tangible power to all who wield them; most of all to yourself.

You can expend Bardic Inspiration uses as if the die was given to you. You and allies who have your Bardic Inspiration die can now expend them as an action or bonus action to invoke their specification of an effect listed in the Introspective Boon feature. In addition, you and those who are given your Bardic Inspiration die can now hold two die, instead of one.

You can use an action or bonus action to choose a creature you can see. They must make a Charisma saving throw. On a fail, the creature is given a Bardic Inspiration die they cannot expend themselves. You may expend that die and specify the effect they receive from the Introspective Boon list.