I am looking for a review of this homebrewed Bard College. Critiques, suggestions, etc. are all welcome. Neither of the Bard colleges fit my character (I am reusing a character I played in an old NWN server), and an Assassin/Lore bard is the closest I can probably get to what I want core-wise, but the flavor is still off, so I would have to alter the Assassin roguish archetype a bit to fit better…but since I’d be altering, I may as well just homebrew a new college to fit the flavor even better, while retaining full caster progression. So from that, the College of Performance Arts was born.
The Consensus of the College of Performance arts is that no matter what your craft is (thief, street game con artist, magician, musician, tavern singer, jester, actor, etc) it is very beneficial to have a Stage Name or an alias…whether it’s protection from the law, a crazy fanatic, persecution, or even just stress reduction.
Bonus Proficiencies at lvl 3 entry:
Deception skill, Performance skill, and Disguise kit. Additionally you can pick Disguise Kit as one of your Expertise skills (much like how the rogue can pick Thieves’ tools for Expertise), however you can only do this when you gain Expertise as a Bard.
Level 3 feature- Stage Name:
Just as the Assassin’s Infiltrate Expertise Feature. If you already have RP’ed that you obtained a fake identity or have one from the Charlatan’s False Identity background feature, then you can use this as your stage name without paying the cost (7 days and 25 gold)…Always at the DM’s discretion though.
Level 6 feature- Skilled Performance:
Similar to the Lore Bard’s Peerless Skill ability except that you can only use it on Skill and tool checks that you have Expertise in…It is A LOT dumbed down from Peerless Skill, in that Peerless Skill can be used for ANY ability check…regardless of proficiency or not.
Level 14 feature- Alter-Ego:
You can designate one of your Stage Names as your Alter-Ego. Basic premise is you are in this Alter-Ego persona just as much, if not more, than your true persona, therefore it becomes just as much real as your real identity. If you are currently portraying yourself as your Alter-Ego, then a successful detect alignment would treat you as whatever your Alter-Ego’s alignment would be rather than your own. Lies cannot be discerned if what you are saying is in your false identity’s back-story and/or their nature. Detect thoughts would only gain surface thoughts of the Alter-Ego as a real identity, and you gain advantage is the caster of detect thoughts tries to delve deeper…if they succeed though, then the spell acts normally and they can read your real thoughts.
The Consensus of the College of Performance arts is that no matter what your craft is (thief, street game con artist, magician, musician, tavern singer, jester, actor, etc) it is very beneficial to have a Stage Name or an alias…whether it’s protection from the law, a crazy fanatic, persecution, or even just stress reduction.
Bonus Proficiencies at lvl 3 entry:
Deception skill, Performance skill, and Disguise kit. Additionally you can pick Disguise Kit as one of your Expertise skills (much like how the rogue can pick Thieves’ tools for Expertise), however you can only do this when you gain Expertise as a Bard.
Level 3 feature- Stage Name:
Just as the Assassin’s Infiltrate Expertise Feature. If you already have RP’ed that you obtained a fake identity or have one from the Charlatan’s False Identity background feature, then you can use this as your stage name without paying the cost (7 days and 25 gold)…Always at the DM’s discretion though.
Level 6 feature- Skilled Performance:
Similar to the Lore Bard’s Peerless Skill ability except that you can only use it on Skill and tool checks that you have Expertise in…It is A LOT dumbed down from Peerless Skill, in that Peerless Skill can be used for ANY ability check…regardless of proficiency or not.
Level 14 feature- Alter-Ego:
You can designate one of your Stage Names as your Alter-Ego. Basic premise is you are in this Alter-Ego persona just as much, if not more, than your true persona, therefore it becomes just as much real as your real identity. If you are currently portraying yourself as your Alter-Ego, then a successful detect alignment would treat you as whatever your Alter-Ego’s alignment would be rather than your own. Lies cannot be discerned if what you are saying is in your false identity’s back-story and/or their nature. Detect thoughts would only gain surface thoughts of the Alter-Ego as a real identity, and you gain advantage is the caster of detect thoughts tries to delve deeper…if they succeed though, then the spell acts normally and they can read your real thoughts.