College of Mercantile

Bards of the College of Mercantile are traveling tradesmen who have mastered the art of haggling. Fast-talking auctioneers, wandering caravan leaders, collectors of rare artifacts, and infomercial salesmen alike string their words together with subtle magic to sell their wares to the unsuspecting and always come out wealthier. So many objects have passed through the hands of these bards that they almost always know what obscure treasure they're looking at is. Still, even a powerful and useful item rarely stays long in the hands of a bard of the College of Mercantile, for the opportunities to exchange goods and find ever more profitable deals are limitless.

Merchant’s Eye At 3rd level, you learn the identify spell, which does not count against the number of bard spells you know. If you already know identify, you can select another spell from the bard spell list instead. You can cast identify once without expending a spell slot or using material components. You must finish a long rest before you can cast it this way again. Additionally, you always know the worth of nonmagical items you hold and have advantage on any check to determine if an item of value is actually fake.

Bargain Prices Also at 3rd level, you always know how to get the better end of a deal. When you buy or sell an item for coin, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die. You can increase or decrease the price of the item by a percentage equal to ten times the number rolled. For example, if you are selling a potion of healing worth 50 gp and you roll a 2 on your Bardic Inspiration die, you increase the value of the potion by 20 percent, raising the price to 60 gp.

Defective Merchandise Starting at 6th level, you can magically exploit the possessions of others. As a reaction when a creature within 60 feet of you attempts to use a magic item, you can force that creature to make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. If it fails, the magic does not activate on that creature’s turn (or ceases to function for that turn, if the effect of the item is constant), but any charge or use of the item is still expended. Alternatively, when you make an attack roll against a creature wearing armor, you can use a bonus action to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the target’s AC for that attack.