College of Lies

Homebrew subclass for Bard

The College of Lies is a bardic subclass that focuses on deception and trickery, rather than music and performance. Bards who follow this path are masters of disguise, forgery, and manipulation. They use their silver tongues to weave intricate lies and half-truths, and their illusions to deceive the senses of others. They are often employed as spies, con artists, or diplomats, but can also be found in the courts of nobles or the dens of thieves.

Bonus Proficiencies#

3rd-level College of Lies feature.When you join the College of Lies at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Deception and Insight skills. If you are already proficient in one or both of these skills, you can choose another skill from the bard’s skill list instead. You also gain proficiency with the disguise kit and the forgery kit.

Deceptive Inspiration#

3rd-level College of Lies feature.Whenever you succeed on a Deception check against a creature, you regain one use of your Bardic Inspiration. You can only regain one use of Bardic Inspiration in this way per short rest or long rest.

Silver Tongue#

6th-level College of Lies feature.You can use your Bardic Inspiration to manipulate others with your words. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to target one creature within 60 feet of you that can hear you. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you for 10 minutes or until you or your allies harm it. While charmed in this way, the target has disadvantage on Insight checks against you and must make a Wisdom saving throw whenever you ask it to do something that is against its nature or interests. On a failed save, it does what you ask as long as it is not obviously harmful or suicidal. On a successful save, the charm ends.

Master of Disguise#

6th-level College of Lies feature.You can use your Bardic Inspiration to create convincing disguises and false identities. As an action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to disguise yourself or one willing creature within 30 feet of you. The target gains a bonus to Deception checks equal to your Charisma modifier for the duration of the disguise, which lasts for 1 hour or until you end it as a bonus action. You can also use this feature to forge documents, seals, signatures, or other written evidence. The DC for anyone to detect the forgery is equal to spell save DC.

Master of Deception#

14th-level College of Lies feature.At 14th level, you have perfected your art of deception to the point where you can fool even the most discerning eyes and ears. You gain the following benefits:

You can cast Disguise Self (illusion)
Level: 1
Casting Time: 1 action
Concentration: No
Ritual: No
Modify the appearance of the caster (its physical and its equipment) thanks to an illusion.
View on dndbeyond.com or Silent Image (illusion)
Level: 1
Casting Time: 1 action
Concentration: Yes
Ritual: No
Create the image of an object or a creature (without sound and no larger than a 15-ft cube) and lets it move.
View on dndbeyond.com without expending a spell slot or spell components.
When you cast an illusion spell of 1st level or higher, all creatures that can see or hear the illusion must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be convinced that the illusion is real, even if it would normally be able to discern it. For example, if you cast Major Image (illusion)
Level: 3
Casting Time: 1 action
Concentration: Yes
Ritual: No
Create the image of an animated object or creature, with sounds and smells (without concentration/lvl).
View on dndbeyond.com to create the illusion of a dragon, and nearby creatures would believe that the dragon is real and act accordingly, even if they touched the illusion, saw through it with an Investigation check, or even if they have truesight.
You have advantage on Charisma (Deception) checks when you are disguised or using an illusion. Additionally, you can a d10 to any Charisma check you make that involves lying or deceiving someone.