Bard Colleges

Bards gather together to share songs, stories, and knowledge of other arts. These gatherings will oftentimes become more formal in order to retain the collective knowledge.

College of Sales and Marketing

In big cities like Waterdeep (Forgotten Realms) there is a demand for a large array of skills. Bards, being charismatic, artistic, and creative, get hired for a variety of advertising, marketing, and salesperson jobs. Knowledge of these crafts gets passed along just like songs and stories. Being able to use their skills on a regular basis—as well as the profit that can be turned doing it—occasionally draws enough bards to the craft that a college is founded.

Maybe you use your marketing abilities to promote a brand or shop. Maybe you've made yourself into a bit of an icon and want to use your abilities to make yourself famous. Or maybe you want to be such a good salesman that people to say you could sell a holy symbol to Orcus.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Marketing and Sales at 3rd level, you learn how to be a salesman and create advertisements. You gain proficiency in persuasion, deception, and painter's supplies. If you are already proficient with those skills, choose an alternative skill proficiency for each proficiency you already have.

Salesman Tactics

You learn to analyze people and exploit them through social engineering. By spending a few minutes observing someone and overhearing at least one conversation they have, you gain advantage on your next persuasion or deception check towards them.

At 3rd level, you can charm other creatures through your salesman charm. As an action, expend a Bardic Inspiration die and choose one creature you can see within 30 feet which can see or hear you to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is charmed by you for a number of rounds equal to the die roll. This effect ends early if you use this ability on another creature, move more than 30 feet away from the creature, if the creature can neither see nor hear you, or if the creature takes damage from you.

Marketing Tricks

Starting at 6th level, you have acquired some magical tricks to aid you. Maybe you get paid to flash the logo of a local tavern in the busy streets or write "Gilmore's Glirious Goods: Magical Items for Sale" in the sky. Maybe you need to sell a product to a wanderer who doesn't speak Common. You gain the following abilities:

Logo At The Ready. You learn the cantrip Minor Illusion if you don't already know it.

You learn the cantrip Minor Illusion if you don't already know it. Streetside Commercials. You can cast Sileno Image up to a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. You regain any expended uses of this ability after completing a long rest.

You can cast Sileno Image up to a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. You regain any expended uses of this ability after completing a long rest. City-Wide Ad. You can cast Skywrite without expending a spell slot. You regain this ability after completing a long rest.

You can cast Skywrite without expending a spell slot. You regain this ability after completing a long rest. Communication is key. You can cast Tongues without expending a spell slot. You regain the use of this ability after seven days have passed.

Self Promotion

You're so proficient at promotion that you can convince yourself you're better at a task than you actually are. Starting at 14th level, when you make an ability check, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration. Roll a Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to your ability check. You can choose to do so after you roll the die for the ability check, but before the DM tells you whether you succeed or fail.

Credit: Kyounghwan Kim