Bardic College
College of the Wildwood
The College of the Wildwood is a bardic order that sings even when only the trees can hear. They value freedom and independence intensely, and are more interested in hermits' tales and forest folklore than the songs and histories of noble society. Wildwood bards are sometimes viewed with suspicion for the ease with which they traverse primeval woods. But the college's fluency there is owed not to dark powers or secret pacts, but simple affability and the ability to serve as friends and messengers for shadow druids, forest abominations, and other dangerous denizens.
Wildwood bards may sound innately chaotic, but this need not be so; while they always value liberty, some hold to strict moral codes. Some come from humble origins in or adjacent to the forests they wander, while others may have grander backgrounds, since rejected. All share a commitment to combining forest-lore with their bardic arts.
In the Ivory Empire
Wildwood bards serve as messengers, couriers, and spies for the forest-dwelling rebels. They freely move between the Breakers' Fens, the Brackenwood, and the various towns and cities of the Empire, carrying coded messages.
College of the Wildwood Features
| Bard Level | Features |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Forest Folklorist, Bardic Rejuvenation |
| 6th | Druidic Secrets, Woods Walker |
| 14th | Entrapping Roots |
Forest Folklorist
When you join the College of the Wildwood at 3rd level, you join your bardic training to woodland exploration. You gain proficiency with the druidic language and the Nature skill or another skill of your choice if you're already proficient. When you make a Charisma (Persuasion) check while speaking in Druidic, you make the check with advantage.
Bardic Rejuvenation
Also at 3rd level, your bardic songs can grant creatures a blessing of verdant regrowth. While a creature holds one of your Bardic Inspiration dice, it gains temporary hit points at the start of its turns equal to your proficiency bonus. When it expends the Bardic Inspiration for any reason, it can lose temporary hit points up to your proficiency bonus and regain the same amount of lost hit points.
Druidic Secrets
At 6th level, you learn something of druidic magic from your travels. You learn two spells of your choice from the druid spell list, which are bard spells for you but don't count against the number of bard spells you know. In addition, whenever you would learn a new bard spell or replace a spell you already know, you can learn a druid spell instead, which becomes a bard spell for you.
Woods Walker
Also at 6th level, you can ignore the effects of nonmagical difficult terrain. If you camp outdoors in a forest or jungle, creatures benefitting from your Song of Rest can roll an extra die for its effect.
Entrapping Roots
At 14th level, your Bardic Inspiration can summon the wrath of the forest. When a creature uses your Bardic Inspiration, it can cast the entangle spell at the same time, with a radius of only 10 feet. The spell uses your spell save DC, but the caster's concentration. The caster can choose not to concentrate on the spell, in which case it lasts until the end of the caster's next turn.
College of the Wildwood quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this subclass to choose from.
| d6 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | You avoid metal armor or equipment. |
| 2 | You rarely notice when you have leaves or sticks in your hair. |
| 3 | Small birds and mammals tend to follow you around. |
| 4 | Your hair is a mossy green. |
| 5 | You get antsy and fidgety in villages, and anxious in cities. |
| 6 | You insist on leaving caches behind when you travel in the wilderness. |
Change Log
v0.2
- Tweaked wording on Bardic Rejuvenation
v0.1
- Rough Draft
Credits & References:
- College of the Wildwood created by somanyrobots Discord | Patreon
Art
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, by Chase Stone © Wizards of the Coast LLC
Background Image Stains
License
© 2025 somanyrobots, CC BY-NC 4.0
Includes spells from Kibbles' Casting Compendium 2.0 by KibblesTasty Homebrew LLC, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.
Includes spells from Spells That Don't Suck by Omega Ankh and somanyrobots, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.
Fan Content Policy
This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
5E SRD Content
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available here.
The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available here.