"Listen, an idol's job isn't to show people their smiles, it is to make people smile. Never forget that!" -- Yaza Niconi, legendary bardic idol

College of the Idol Singer

While some bards pursue the study of magical secrets, and others devote themselves to the rakish audacity of swordplay, there are some bards who prefer to focus on what they see as the true heart of their calling: music. Rather than becoming what they see as discount-rate fighters or knockoff wizards, these bards seek to harness the true power of music and performance.

These bards, called idols, believe that music is a driving force in the world, and that it can bring people together and inspire them, and not in the way you roll an extra die for. To an idol, performing is the way they leave their mark on the world.

This college's members can be found in performance halls, taverns, and amphitheaters, and often form close personal organizations called groups or units. The head of any given group or unit is called the "center," and it often rotates, though it is not unheard of to have one member be the center far longer than their teammates.

Idol bards tend to be broadly good-aligned and well-meaning, and are often, though not exclusively, women.

Bonus Proficiencies When you join the College of the Idol Singer at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Performance skill. You also gain proficiency with two additional musical instruments of your choice and with the Lightblade weapon (detailed at the end of this section). You always know the dancing lights spell. It does not count against the number of spells you know.

Listen to My Song! Also at 3rd level, you can infuse an entire performance with your power to inspire others. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to begin a performance of singing, dancing, or playing an instrument. On subsequent turns, you can continue the performance as a bonus action. You can use the same bonus action to grant Bardic Inspiration as you normally would. As long as you maintain this performance, all friendly creatures within 60 feet add damage to the first attack they make every round, equal to half the maximum of your Bardic Inspiration die. Maintaining this performance is treated as a Concentration effect. The performance ends if you use your bonus action to do anything other than to continue the performance or grant Bardic Inspiration. You can cast spells while performing, provided they have a cast time of 1 action, and do so ignoring any verbal or somatic components. If you cast a spell that requires Concentration, the performance ends.

Our Feelings As One Starting at 6th level, you begin to understand how you can use your music to understand others. You can use an action to cast hypnotic pattern or detect thoughts as Bard spells. If you are singing or dancing while you cast the spell, you ignore verbal, somatic, or material components. You use your Charisma score for detect thoughts instead of Intelligence, and as long as you only read surface thoughts, a creature does not know that you read its mind. Casting a spell in this way does not spend a spell slot. You regain the use of this feature after finishing a long rest.