College of the Dealer (5e Subclass)
College of the Dealer[edit]
Some bards prefer earning their living with their ability in gambling, rather than by entertaining the masses. These bards have formed a loose association that goes by many names: the Card Casters, the Deadly Dealers, and, of course, the College of the Dealer.
Many dismiss gamblers as fly-by-night hucksters or swindlers, relying on the foolishness of marks to gain and lose fortunes. But the College of the Dealer teaches its adherents both the workaday skills necessary to excel in the cutthroat world of gaming (and high society) and the magic arts that allow them to transform a simple deck of cards in a deadly weapon.
- Professional Gambler
When you join the College of the Dealer at 3rd level, you gain expertise with the Insight and Deception skills and with two gaming sets of your choice, one of them must be a deck of cards. This will become your bonded deck of cards, when you wield it you can ignore the somatic components of any spell. Moreover when playing any game involving cards you gain advantage. You can also expend a use of Bardic Inspiration while playing such a game to greatly increase your chances of winning. Also, you learn to use some of your natural bardic talents to manipulate fortune. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, instead treating the creature's roll as either a 1 or a 20. You can use this ability after seeing the result of the roll, but not the success or failure of it. You may also expend a use of Bardic Inspiration while playing a game of chance to greatly increase your odds of success. You can be bonded to only one deck of cards at time. Bonding to a new deck of cards requires one day of meditation.
- Deadly Dealer
At 3rd level, you learn to use some of your natural bardic talents to infuse magic in your bonded deck of cards. You are always proficient with such an unconventional weapon. The deck can be magically enhaced like any other weapon. The cards you fire have the same range of a shortbow, whilst the damage type is half force, half slashing. You use your Charisma for both attack and damage. At 6th level you can use your bonus action to throw another card with half your proficiency bonus, this penalty is cancelled at 9th level; at 15th level you may make a third attack as part of the bonus action with said penalties, at 18th level you can make the third attack with no penalties. The damage increases with level. At 3rd level it deals 2d6, at 6th level 4d6, at 9th level 3d10, at 12th level 4d6, at 15th level 8d6, at 18th level 6d10. The cards are never destroyed, once you throw a card of your bonded deck it magically reappears in your possession, magic enhacements are not lost this way. If the cards aren't anymore in your possession, by expending one use of Bardic Inspiration you can recall the whole deck, magic enhacements are not lost this way either. The card might be used as a light one handed melee weapon too, although you can't use your bonus action to make more than two melee attacks.
- Spot the weakness
At 6th level, you gain advantage on any Insight (Wisdom) checks meant to assess a creature's personality, spot changes in its mood, or predict its next course of action. As a bonus action you can make an insight check to examine a single opponent's pattern in order to receive advantage on yours (or your allie's) next attack roll against said opponent.You might use this last ability a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier. Alernatively twice every long or short rest you can use a reaction to impose a disadvantage for one turn on the opponent's next attacks made against you.
- Poker Face
Also at 6th level, you gain advantage on any Deception (Charisma) test. Whenever a magical spell or effect would read your thoughts, determine the truthfulness of your statements, or compel you to tell the truth, you may make a Charisma saving throw with advantage to instead remain silent or cause the spell or effect to return no information at all.
- Ace Bluffer
At 14th level you gain advantage on any other check involving Charisma. Once every long rest, you can talk to a number of people equal to you Charisma modifier for 1 minute and attempt to seed paranoia into their minds. You have become so exceptionally good at bluffing that the victims of such deed might think you know some of their deepest secrets, or you might be an all important nobleman, or an extremely powerful criminal boss. Whatever you say the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be frightened of you or another creature of your choice for 24 hours. If you expend all of your uses of Bardic Inspiration and the target rolls a number equal or lower than 5 you might make this effect permanent. If the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to frighten it. If the target fails it will hold you in great fear for 24 hours: the charmed creature obeys your commands. It might fight (or even risk your life) for you, although it won't obey to suicidal or obviously harmful commands (unless it was already inclined to do so) . It grants you favors and gifts it would offer to a close friend. When the effect ends, the creature has no understanding of why it held you in such fear and will have no hint of being charmed by you.
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