Alternate Bard

Known simply as Blades, the Bards that follow this Tradition are famous for their wondrous, yet deadly performances that incorporate bladed weapons. Far from mundane performers, these Bards use their skill with blades to find employment as duelists, vigilantes, and sometimes even turn to adventuring.

5th-level Blade Tradition feature

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action. Moreover, if you use your action to cast a Bard spell or to perform a Chord of Power, you can make a single melee weapon attack as a bonus action on that turn.

11th-level Blade Tradition feature

You wield your chosen weapons with deadly precision. When a creature you can see hits you with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to make one melee weapon attack against it with advantage.

Also, whenever you use an Exploit during your action, you can take the Dash or Disengage action as a bonus action.

15th-level Blade Tradition feature

You are a master of your deadly yet beautiful craft. Once per turn, you can use an Exploit you know without expending a Bardic Inspiration Die, rolling a d6 in its place.

Finally, at the end of each long rest, you can spend time practicing your techniques and replace one Martial Exploit you know with another Martial Exploit of your choice.

The Bards known as Conspirators use their skills and talents for their own benefit. They abuse the trust most folks have for Bards and work their way into positions where they can find incriminating secrets to use for blackmail. These narcissistic Bards often masquerade as practitioners of other Traditions, operating in secret to accumulate wealth and influence, and rarely, if ever, reveal their true motivations to others.

5th-level Conspirator Tradition feature

You are as deadly with a blade as you are with words. Once per turn when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can deal bonus damage equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration Die.

At 11th level this bonus damage becomes two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration Die, and it becomes three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration Die when you reach 15th level.

5th-level Conspirator Tradition feature

You can use sinister bardic magic to trap the Visage of other people who fall victim to your sinister schemes. Whenever a humanoid you can see dies within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to magically capture its Visage.

As an action, you can consume this Visage to transform to resemble that humanoid as it looked in life, gaining access to any memories and information that it would have shared with a casual acquaintance. The effect lasts for 1 hour, but you can end the Visage with an action. A suspicious creature can see through the Visage by making a successful Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check.

You can only have one Visage trapped at a time. When you trap another creature's Visage, any previous Visage is lost.

11th-level Conspirator Tradition feature

You weave your manipulative magic into every strike. When you use Psychic Assault, the creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Spell save DC or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Also, when you hit a creature that is Frightened of you with a weapon attack, you can end the Frightened condition for it and turn your weapon attack into an automatic critical hit.

15th-level Conspirator Tradition feature

Your manipulative bardic magic knows no bounds. You can use Seeds of Terror as an action. On a failure, in place of the normal effect, you can choose to make the target believe you have knowledge of its darkest secret. If you do, it is charmed by you indefinitely, or until you or your allies act with hostility toward it, and it will secretly aid you in any way it can, short of directly fighting or risking its life for you.

You can only have one creature charmed in this unique way at a time, and attempting to charm another creature with this feature end this effect for the previous creature.

Counselor Bards use their mastery over the Song of Creation to empower their speech. They traditionally take up roles as political advisors to the powerful, or master scholars of local law who represent those accused of crimes. They are known far and wide for their silver tongues and linguistic skills.

Counselors channel the Song of Creation through logical arguments and well-crafted speeches rather than music.

5th-level Counselor Tradition feature

You can lace your arguments with bardic magic to assault the minds of your enemies. As an action, you can force a creature that can hear and understand you within 30 feet to make an Intelligence saving throw against your Bard Spell save DC.

On a failed save, it takes psychic damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration Die, and until the beginning of your next turn it cannot take reactions and its speed is halved.

This psychic damage increases to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration Die at 11th level, and three rolls at 15th level.

5th-level Counselor Tradition feature

As an action, you can infuse your speech with the Song of Creation itself so that any creature within 60 feet that can hear you does so as if you were speaking its native tongue.

This effect lasts for 1 hour, and in order for this to work on a creature, it must be able to speak at least one language.

11th-level Counselor Tradition feature

You always seem to recall the perfect fact or know just what to say at the right time. Whenever you make an Intelligence check to recall information, or you make Charisma check to convince a creature of something, you can replace your d20 roll with your Bard level.

15th-level Counselor Tradition feature

Your advice and reasoning have become so powerful that it is indistinguishable from magic. When you use your Bardic Inspiration reaction, you can choose to use the maximum value of your Bardic Inspiration Die in place of rolling it.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Bards who count themselves among this Tradition use crude stories, daring acrobatics, and cutting jokes to entertain and cajole audiences. Where other Bards seek out forgotten lore or tales of bravery, Fools recount embarrassing and satirical stories to undermine the plans of those in power. Their sharp wit and acrobatics make them slippery opponents in battle.

5th-level Fool Tradition feature

Your strange and unpredictable movements allow you to land potent strikes. Once per turn when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack while Tumbling, you can deal bonus damage equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration Die.

You can forgo this additional damage to instead force the target to make a Dexterity saving throw against your Bard Spell save DC. On a failure, it falls prone. Any creature that is at least one size larger than you automatically succeeds on this Dexterity saving throw.

At certain Bard levels, the bonus damage from Tumbling increases: at 11th level it becomes two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration Die, and it becomes three rolls at 15th level.

11th-level Fool Tradition feature

You can embellish your natural acrobatic talents with bardic magic. When you begin Tumbling, you can turn invisible and teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet. You remain invisible until the end of your turn, or until you attack, cast a spell, or touch another creature.

Once you use this feature you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. When you have no uses left, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration Die to use it again.

15th-level Fool Tradition feature

Your affinity for hijinks and embarrassing antics allows you to regain bardic magic from failure. Whenever you miss with an attack roll or fail a saving throw, you can choose to regain one expended Bardic Inspiration Die.

You can do so a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

The Bards known as Loremasters travel the world collecting bits of knowledge about everything they can. From scholarly tomes and religious texts to tavern tales and superstitions of local peasants, these travelers value stories of all kinds. The loyalty of these Bards lies above all in the pursuit of beauty and truth, not in fealty to a monarch or the tenets of a deity.

5th-level Loremaster Tradition feature

Whenever you cast a Bard spell that deals damage, or restores hit points to a creature, you gain a bonus to the damage roll or hit points restored equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration Die.

Moreover, whenever you roll a Bardic Inspiration Die, you can roll the Die twice and choose which result you use.

11th-level Loremaster Tradition feature

Your wide-ranging knowledge and talents with bardic magic allow you to turn your failures into success. When you miss with an attack roll, or fail an ability check or saving throw, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration Die, roll it, and add it to the result of your roll, possibly turning failure into success.

15th-level Loremaster Tradition feature

Your skill with bardic magic is beyond reproach. When you add a Bardic Inspiration Die to a creature's attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you can invoke a Wondrous Success to replace its d20 roll with your Bard level. If this roll causes it to find success, it does so in an overtly magical way.

Once you use your Bardic Inspiration in this way you must finish a short or long rest before you can do so again.

Often hailing from the wondrous courts of the Feywild, these glamorous Bards use their magic to beguile and captivate all who look upon them. Never to be upstaged, Bards known as Mesmers use their powerful personalities to manipulate or motivate an audience to serve their goals.

5th-level Mesmer Tradition feature

The otherworldly power of your bardic magic has increased. When you use Glamorous Mantle, it lasts for up to 1 minute, or until you are incapacitated or end it as a bonus action.

For the duration, you can use your bonus action on to produce one of the following effects targeting one creature that can see or hear you within 30 feet:

5th-level Mesmer Tradition feature

You can distract attackers with your whimsical bardic magics. When a creature who can see you hits you with an attack, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration Die as your reaction, roll it, and add the result to your Armor Class against that attack.

When your Glamorous Mantle is active, you can use this reaction at will, without expending a Bardic Inspiration Die to use it.

11th-level Mesmer Tradition feature

Your performances exude an aura of protective bardic magic. When your Glamorous Mantle is active or while you perform a Chord of Power, you and creatures of your choice within 30 feet who can see or hear you gain the following benefits:

Moreover, when you roll initiative and are not surprised or incapacitated, you can use your reaction to expend a Bardic Inspiration Die to activate your Glamorous Mantle.

15th-level Mesmer Tradition feature

The powerful enchantment magics you use have given you a lovely, yet fierce appearance, much like the powerful Archfey. When you cast an enchantment spell on a creature that can see you within 30 feet, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration Die and force it to make its saving throw with disadvantage.

If your Glamorous Mantle is active, you can use this feature without expending your Bardic Inspiration Die.

Bards of this Tradition are no strangers to adventure. Unlike other Bards that sing the tales of heroes from ages long past, Skalds seek to inspire new legends. They seek out bands of adventurers and potential heroes, hoping to use their magic to inspire them to great feats worthy of song and legend.

5th-level Skald Tradition feature

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action. Moreover, if you use your action to cast a Bard spell or to perform a Chord of Power, you can make a single weapon attack as a bonus action on that turn.

5th-level Skald Tradition feature

Your heroic presence rallies allies to charge into battle. As a reaction when you roll initiative, you can expend a Bardic Inspiration Die. Creatures of your choice within 30 feet that can hear you gain a bonus to their initiative roll equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration Die.

11th-level Skald Tradition feature

Your weapon attacks are empowered with your signature bardic magic. Whenever you hit with a weapon attack you deal bonus thunder damage on hit equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration Die.

When you make a weapon attack, you can choose to forgo this bonus damage to make your attack with advantage.

15th-level Skald Tradition feature

Your words motivate others to ever greater feats of gallantry. When you add a Bardic Inspiration Die to another creature's attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can also grant that creature temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 temporary hit point).

While a creature has temporary hit points from this feature its walking speed increases by 10 feet.

While all Bards can wield the Song of Creation, those known as True Singers are said to have a unique understanding of it. This intimate knowledge of the song which created all things tends to make them eccentric, even more so than the average Bard, and drives them to take up residence in the wilderness, where they can be closest to creation in its purest form.

5th-level True Singer Tradition feature

Your understanding of the Song of Creation has deepened, allowing you to temporarily bring life to lifeless objects. As an action, you can sing life into a Large or smaller object that is not being worn or carried, awakening it as a Living Object.

5th-level True Singer Tradition feature

Your songs compel your allies to dance along to the Song of Creation with you. Whenever you use your Bardic Inspiration reaction, the target can move up to 15 feet without provoking opportunity attacks once it resolves the triggering attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.

11th-level True Singer Tradition feature

Your natural affinity with the Song of Creation allows you to channel it in ways impossible for other Bards. Whenever you perform a Chord of Power, you can perform two Chords you know to produce both effects simultaneously. However, you must expend a Bardic Inspiration Die for each as normal.

If you use Bardic Virtuoso to continue performing these Chords, you can continue both with a single action.

15th-level True Singer Tradition feature

You understand the Song of Creation as if you were present when it first brought the multiverse into existence. You learn the awaken spell, and you can cast it without expending the normal material component. Once you do so, you must finish 1d4 long rests before you can cast it in this way again.

Also, when you use Dancing Creation to create a Living Object, the Object stays animated until you animate another object or it is destroyed. Moreover, if you cast awaken on your Living Object, it becomes an independent living creature.

Finally, when you use Creator's Song to create an object by expending a spell slot, the object is a permanent creation.