Bardic College: College of Folk Tales

More at home by the hearth of a village inn than any lofty hall, bards who follow the College of Folk Tales tell the stories of myth and legend, weaving illusory magic into their performances to truly bring them to life.

Bonus Cantrip

3rd-level Folk Tales feature

You gain your choice of the minor illusion or dancing lights cantrip. This counts as a bard cantrip for you, but doesn’t count against the number of bard cantrips you know.

Collection of Fables

3rd-level Folk Tales feature

You learn two fables of your choice from the list below, and you may choose one more to learn when you reach 6th and 14th levels. You may expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration to begin to tell a fable as an action on your turn, and you continue to tell it for 1 minute, or until you lose concentration (as though you were concentrating on a spell.

While you speak your fable, you conjure illusory images related to the story in a 30-foot radius centred on you – an illusion fades if you start your turn more than 30 feet from it. A creature may realise the illusory nature of your creations by using its action a successful Investigation check against your spell save DC – as their creator, you always know they are illusory. The precise nature and magical effect of the illusion is determined by the fable.

Once you finish telling a fable, you may not tell that same fable again until you finish a short or long rest.

The Draconic Scourge

You tell the tale of a fierce dragon which rained death on the countryside.

You conjure a Large illusory dragon within your radius. The illusion has hit points equal to your bard level + a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die, and it uses your spell save DC as its armour class. The illusion is immune to psychic damage, poison damage, and all conditions.

As a free action on your turns, including the turn you summon it, you may move the dragon up to 30 feet (including through the air) and choose one of the following actions for it to take:

Bite: melee spell attack: your spell attack bonus to hit, reach 5 feet, 1 target. Hit: your proficiency bonus + your Bardic Inspiration die psychic damage. You may also use your reaction to make this attack against a creature when it leaves the illusion’s threatened area.
Breath Weapon: All creatures in a 15-foot cone originating from the dragon must make an Intelligence saving throw against your spell save DC, taking psychic damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die on a failed save or half as much on a success.

A creature who sees through the illusion may still damage it, but it no longer suffers the damage of its Bite or Breath Weapon attacks. The fable ends early if the illusion is reduced to 0 hit points.

The Fiendish Fiddler

You tell the tale of a musician so talented they bested a devil from the Nine Hells.

You conjure a Medium illusory musician within your radius. The illusion has hit points equal to your bard level + a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die, and it uses your spell save DC as its armour class. The illusion is immune to psychic damage, poison damage, and all conditions. You may move the illusion up to 30 feet as a free action on each of your turns.

When you cast a spell or grant a creature Bardic Inspiration, you may choose the illusion as the point of origin; for instance, you can inspire a creature within 60 feet of yourself or the illusion, and cast thunder wave in a cube originating from yourself or the illusion.

A creature who has seen through the illusion cannot be affected by Bardic Inspiration or spells delivered through it, but they may still damage it. The fable ends early if the illusion is destroyed.

The First Hunt

You tell the tale of mortalkind first learning to hunt through the dense wilderness.

You conjure a number of illusory objects equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) – the objects take on an appearance suitable for your current location. You may change the location of any or all of the objects as a bonus action on each of your turns.

Each object fits in a 5-foot cube, but you may combine multiple illusions to appear as larger objects. Creatures within 5 feet of them may use your illusions to gain half cover against attacks from creatures who have not realised their illusory nature.

Design by Lexi Abbey | Made with GM Binder

The Fountain of Youth

You tell the tale of a mythical fountain with rejuvenating properties.

You conjure a Large illusory fountain at a point of your choosing within the radius. A creature within 5 feet of the illusion may use its action to “drink” from it, regaining hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die. Once a creature has gained hit points from the illusion, it may not do so again until you tell the tale again.

A creature who has seen through the illusion cannot drink from the fountain, and when another creature tries to drink from the fountain, it may use its reaction to point out that the fountain is not real. This is not enough to cause the creature to see through the illusion themselves, but it negates the healing they attempted to gain this turn.

The Knight's Last Stand

You tell the tale of a wandering knight, beset by bandits in defence of an innocent village.

Your illusions take the form of 1d4+2 Medium humanoids which appear on the edge of your radius – the GM chooses their precise locations and controls their actions, which are hostile to you and your companions and ambivalent to your enemies. The illusions act at the end of the each of your turns; each one may move up to 20 feet and make one attack, using your spell attack modifier and dealing psychic damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die on a hit.

Any creature may destroy an illusion with a successful attack against it (its AC is your spell save DC). A creature who destroys an illusion gains the benefits of the heroism spell for the duration of the fable. If a creature realises the illusory nature of the illusions, they no longer suffer damage from them and cannot gain the benefits of destroying them, but they may still destroy them and have advantage on the attack roll to do so.

The Witch's Forest

You tell the tale of a forest so dark and wicked that the very ground ensnares the feet of travelers.

You turn any 5-foot squares of ground of your choice within the radius into difficult terrain. You may change which patches of ground are affected as a bonus action on each of your turns.

A creature who sees through the illusion is unaffected by the difficult terrain and can move normally.

Oral Tradition

6th-level Folk Tales feature

When you make an Intelligence check to recall information about a creature, place, or event, you may choose to add your Charisma modifier to the roll, as you attempt to recall a folk tale to convey the information you need. On a success, you learn the information, but it might be embellished or speckled with metaphors, as old tales often are.

Recite From Memory

14th-level Folk Tales feature

You no longer require concentration to maintain a fable, allowing you to cast concentration spells while telling it. You may not tell more than one fable at a time.

Far-Reaching Tales