Bard College: The College of Aesthetics

While most Bards are known for being skilled musicians, not all stories are fit for songs, and sometimes beauty takes more than a thousand words to describe. Even in times before civilization, some spells were sung into shape around the fire, others were carefully painted onto cave walls — only the latter remain to this day.

Bards of the College of Aestetics prefer a more visual medium. They paint, draw, scrawl. Illustrations, symbols, patterns. Their may paint nobles, either as splendid portraits hanging in galleries or scalding carricatures on city walls. Or they may peddle incredible illustrations of far of lands or fantastical beasts.

These bards can still cast the same spells as their musical brothers, though many prefer to paint their spells. Some may draw sigils, others illustrations and some may try to find some abstraction of a fireball. They can draw this on scrolls, in books, on nearby surfaces or even the very air.

Ultimately a Bard of the College of Aesthetics still lives for great beauty and stories , but they strive to capture these moments , places and people on canvas or parchment so they can be appreciated for generations to come.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the college of Aesthetics you get profiency in painter's tools.

Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any skill checks made with painter's tools.



You may use painter's tools as a spell casting focus when casting bard spells.

Permance

Music exists only a fleeting moment; your works are made to last far beyond that. When you use bardic inspiration, you may spend 1 minute decorating the skin, clothing or weapons of an ally. Doing so will give them a bardic inspiration dice that lasts up 8 hours.













































Lifelike Illustrations

At sixth level you learn the spell Conjure Animals. It counts as a bard spell for you, but doesn't count against the total number of bard spells you know.

Additionally while wielding the painter's tools, you may cast conjure animals at 3. level, as though it was a ritual spell.

Canvas of the Self

At 14th level when you cast a bard spell of the 3rd level or lower that targets yourself and has a duration longer than 1 minute, you may spend 10 minutes to instead draw the arcane symbols, writing and pictures onto your skin. If you do the spell now lasts 8 hours and doesn't require concentration, even if it normally would.

You can only have one spell cast on you this time, and may no use the feature again until you have finished a short or long rest.

Optional Rule Your GM may decide that you don't need a full painter's kit to cast spells, or that you can only cast low level spells with makeshift tools.

For example a piece of chalk or charcoal could be used to cast second level spells or first level spells.