Radiant Charm
Bards of the College of Radiant Charm go beyond mere vocal or instrumental performance. To them, every gesture is a declaration, every pose a melody, every glance an incantation. Drawing as much on dance as on the art of emotion, these bards channel magic through their very presence.
Their charm soothes, distracts, kindles hearts, and unsettles minds. Some members of this college use their gifts to inspire love, peace, and trust. Others use them to infiltrate, manipulate, or command a social gathering with an almost supernatural grace.
Bard Subclass: College of Radiant Charm
Unveiled Grace
3rd-level Bard feature
You learn to turn your posture, movements, and presence into a magical defense.
While you are wearing no armor and wielding no shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Charisma modifier.
You also gain proficiency in three of the following skills: Persuasion, Performance, Deception, and Intimidation. If you are already proficient in all of these skills, choose one other skill from the Bard's skill list instead.
Scent of Radiant Allure
3rd-level Bard feature
Your Bardic Inspiration can carry a subtle aura—floral, sweet, or celestial—that beguiles the senses and heightens your presence.
When you use your Bardic Inspiration on a creature other than yourself, you can expend one additional use of Bardic Inspiration to envelop yourself in a radiant scent. When you do so, you gain a charm die, which is the same die type as your Bardic Inspiration die.
Within the next 10 minutes, you can roll this die and add the number rolled to a Charisma (Persuasion), Charisma (Performance), Charisma (Deception), or Charisma (Intimidation) check you make. You can wait until you see the d20 roll before deciding to use this die, but you must do so before the DM announces whether the check succeeds or fails.
You can have only one charm die at a time. If you use this feature again before spending your charm die, the old die is lost.
In addition, when you envelop yourself in this radiant scent, choose a hostile creature you can see within 9 meters of you. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your Bard spell save DC or suffer one of the following effects of your choice:
- Captivating Presence. The target is charmed by you until the end of your next turn. This effect ends early if you or your allies deal damage to it.
- Blinding Radiance. The target is blinded until the end of your next turn.
- Radiant Burn. The target takes radiant damage equal to the result of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and it cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn.
A creature that succeeds on its saving throw is immune to your Scent of Radiant Allure until the start of your next turn. You choose which effect to apply when the target fails its saving throw.
Will to Live
6th-level Bard feature
Your presence becomes a caress of light, a call to life so powerful that it turns violence aside and drives your allies to surpass themselves.
As a bonus action, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration to choose an allied creature other than yourself within 18 meters of you, provided it can see or hear you. The creature is enveloped in an aura of protective charm until the start of your next turn.
During this time, whenever a hostile creature attempts to target the protected ally with an attack or a harmful spell that targets only one creature, that hostile creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your Bard spell save DC. On a failed save, it must choose a new target or lose its attack or spell if no other valid target is available. On a successful save, it can target the ally normally.
This protection does not apply to area effects, such as a dragon's breath or a fireball.
In addition, if the protected ally scores a critical hit or reduces a hostile creature to 0 hit points before the start of your next turn, the ally can trigger an Exalted Light. When the ally does so, choose a hostile creature you can see within 3 meters of that ally. That creature takes radiant damage equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and the protected ally gains the same number of temporary hit points.
An ally can trigger this Exalted Light only once per use of Will to Live.
Radiant Beauty
14th-level Bard feature
Your charm is no longer merely an artistic expression: it becomes an inner light, an almost supernatural grace that unsettles enemies and stirs hearts.
You cease to age naturally, and you cannot be aged magically unless you choose to be. Your creature type does not change.
In addition, your Scent of Radiant Allure improves in the following ways:
- When you use Scent of Radiant Allure, you can target up to two different hostile creatures instead of one.
- When you choose the Radiant Burn effect, the damage equals two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier.
- When you use your charm die on a Charisma (Persuasion), Charisma (Performance), Charisma (Deception), or Charisma (Intimidation) check, you can reroll the die if you roll a 1 or 2, but you must use the new roll.
Finally, you can manifest your radiant beauty to turn aside an attack at the last instant. When a creature you can see within 3 meters of you hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Wisdom saving throw against your Bard spell save DC.
On a failed save, the attack misses you instead, and the creature is charmed by you or blinded, your choice, until the end of its next turn. On a successful save, the attack hits you normally.
You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
