Bards have always been the generalists of Dungeons and Dragons. Some skills,
some spells, they’ve had a little of everything. But what if a Bard could have
a little more “everything”? What if a Bard could specialize into being a
generalist? Well, that is the College of Lore. Bards get three skill
proficiencies. The College of Lore Bard gets three more skill
proficiencies. The Bard gets Magical Secrets. The College of Lore goes and
gets an extra helping four levels early.
But with all those choices, all those options, it would be so easy to make
all the wrong choices. So easy to spread a character too thin, a jack of all
trades and master of none kind of problem. Conversely, it would be so easy to
choose to put all our eggs into one basket and be a one trick pony. That right
there is the fine balancing act the College of Lore must perform. We can’t do
everything all the time all at once, but we don’t have to hyperfocus on being
really good at one thing.
So then, you might ask, how should we build from there? There’s no easy one
size fits all answer. Not for most Bards, and doubly so for the College of
Lore. We must instead first look at our companions and determine their
strengths and weaknesses so that we may fill in where they lack.
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
Red: Bad, useless options, or options which
are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
Orange: OK options, or useful options
that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
Green: Good options. Useful often.
Blue: Fantastic options, often essential
to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
College of Lore Features
Bonus Proficiencies: 3 more skills of your
choice brings your class’s total number of skill proficiencies up to 6 (not
including those from your background and possibly from your race). You also
get Expertise at this level, so level 3 represents a considerable jump in
your capabilities with skills.
Cutting Words: This excludes saving
throws, so you can’t force enemies to fail save-or-suck saves, but you can
use it to protect allies from attacks which barely hit, or your could use it
to hinder enemies’ ability checks, such as the opposed ability check to
avoid being Grappled or Shoved by an ally.
Additional Magical Secrets: Even more
spells from a different class! This is especially nice because you get it
four levels earlier than other Bards. At this level you have access to
powerful spells which come online at third level like Fireball and Revivify,
allowing you to tailor your spell list to fill what capabilities your party
might need.
Peerless Skill: This has a lot of
applications. Combined with Superior Inspiration you could take an
inspiration die on every initiative check (yes, those are ability checks,
and yes you also get to add Jack of All Trades). You’ll want to be careful
about using this for skill checks on days where you expect to do a lot of
fighting, as that can eat up your uses per day very quickly, and won’t be as
useful as potentially saving the life of one of your allies.
College of Lore Ability Scores
Being a hyper generalist that can build in almost any direction, we could see
a lot of variance here in the ability scores.
Str: While it’s unlikely that we would
need to be the muscle in a party, it’s not impossible. It would just be served
better by a different College.
Dex: No matter what, we’ll need this for
our AC. It’s also one of our good saves.
Con: More hit points, less Dying.
Int: We might be some kind of Scholar with
all of those skill proficiencies.
Wis: Or possibly a Scout of some kind.
Cha: The only thing certain about a Bard is
a dependence on Charisma for spell DCs and Inspiration Dice.
Point Buy
Standard Array
Str
8 (12)
10
Dex
14
14
Con
14
13
Int
8 (12)
8
Wis
12 (8)
12
Cha
15
15
College of Lore Races
Don’t forget to check the
Bard Races Breakdown.We’ll already get six skill proficiencies from being a Lore Bard, so we don’t
need to get more from any particular racial choice. But that doesn’t
mean we can’t if that’s what the party needs. Alternatively, many
races come with potential weapon proficiencies that could be used as-is or
traded in for tools. Beyond those general options, many races have some
incredibly specific, but still nice options.
Bonus Feat Races
Custom LineageTCoE: The one thing we don’t get more of from the College of Lore is feats.
Custom Lineage can get us either an extra skill or Darkvision alongside that
bonus feat and a +2 to an ability score.
Variant HumanPHB: If we don’t want Darkvision, V Humans get an extra skill and a pair of
+1s instead of the +2.
Cantrip Races
High (Half-)ElfPHB: This can give us a Wizard cantrip, but it will be tied to Intelligence.
This doesn’t matter for most utility cantrips or Booming Blade.
KoboldMMoM: Here we can get a Sorcerer cantrip with the option of making it
Charisma-based. Useful if we need something reliable like Fire Bolt.
Earth GenasiMMoM: Bonus Action Blade Ward is actually kind of nice. Also getting Pass
Without Trace does save a Magical Secret.
College of Lore Feats
As always, if anything isn’t mentioned below, check the
Bard Handbook.
SkilledPHB: If we choose a race with two skill proficiencies, together with Lore Bard
and our Background we’ll already have ten skills. We could keep pushing it
to thirteen if we really wanted to, but that’s a little overkill. Bards get
Jack of All Trades for a reason.
Skill ExpertTCoE: We already have six skills from being a Lore Bard, and two more from our
Background, as well as four Expertises. So why not have another skill and
expertise? Why not be the most skill-monkey we can be?
College of Lore Weapons
Nothing is really stopping us from
picking up a weapon, but cantrips scale so well that unless we’re using the weapon to cast
Booming Blade or Green-Flame Blade, we’ll find it lacking.
College of Lore Armor
As mentioned in the
Bard Handbook, Studded Leather will end up as the armor of choice unless we multiclass
into something to get medium or heavy armor.
Example College of Lore Builds – The Choose Your Own Adventure Subclass
If the College of Lore is the ultimate generalist blank slate, where the
build choices are about filling in for what your party lacks, what can I
possibly put forth as an example build? I guess we’ll just have to make
multiple builds. Slowly. Over time. We’ll start with one.
Build One – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Let’s say your party is a little lacking in the arcana department, but when
you majored at the College of Lore, you took a minor in Alchemical Engineering
which has served you well thus far.
Abilities
Alright, so we’re standing in for a wizard-equivalent in your classic
cleric/fighter/rogue/wizard party, which would normally provide a mixture of
control, blasting, and support. This is the least reaching that a College of
Lore Bard should have to do to squeeze into another role. We’ll need strong
Charisma with good Dexterity and Constitution. We might need to perform the
Scholarly role of a Wizard though, so don’t write off Intelligence
completely.
Base
Increased
Level 20
Str
8
8
8
Dex
15
16
20
Con
13
14
16
Int
12
12
12
Wis
8
8
8
Cha
15
17
20
Race
We’re going with Half-Elf. Darkvision is a handy feature, and the Half-Elf
+2/+1/+1 is a remarkable asset for many builds. Skill Versatility gives us two
additional skills to work with. We choose Nature and Religion. We get an extra
language, and Undercommon is generally the second option we try if common
fails.
Background
While a Strixhaven background would fit the whole College theme we’re going
for, we don’t use setting-specific backgrounds in the example builds. So we’ll
take Sage for Arcana and History. Pick a pair of languages that feel good for
your campaign. Maybe a racial language common among your party.
Skills and Tools
Our race and background have allowed us to get all the Scholarly skills,
Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion. At first level, the Bard can pick any
three skills, so since we’re already a little invested into Intelligence,
we’ll take the final option there, Investigation, as well as Insight and
Persuasion to perform the Face role that we already have the Charisma for.
But unlike most, our skills don’t end there. At third level, when we take the
College of Lore, we get three more skills. As such, we’ll take the rest of the
Face’s set, Deception and Intimidation, as well as Perception. Also at third
level, all Bards get Expertise in two skills. Now we could use this to boost
our already impressive Face skills, but instead we’ll take the Expertise at
this level for Insight and Perception to reinforce some of our weaker, but
important, skills.
At fourth level, we take Skill Expert, adding Stealth proficiency, and then
also taking Expertise in Persuasion. Then finally at tenth level, when we
again get to choose two Expertises, we choose to improve Deception and
Intimidation.
Our final list of skills is Proficiency in Arcana, History, Investigation,
Nature, Religion, and Stealth, and Expertise in Deception, Insight,
Intimidation, Perception, and Persuasion. And thanks to Jack of all Trades,
every other skill gains half of our Proficiency bonus.
Feats
At fourth level, we take Skill Expert, adding +1 to Charisma
(17=>18) from the hybrid bonus as well as gaining Proficiency in
Stealth and Expertise in Persuasion.
At eight level, we take an ASI for +2 Charisma. (18=>20)
At twelfth level, we take an ASI for +2 Dexterity. (16=>18)
At sixteenth level, we take an ASI for +2 Dexterity. (18=>20)
At nineteenth level, we take an ASI for +2 Constitution. (14=>16)
We can take some leather armor from our starting gear. We’ll be using
cantrips mostly, but we can still swing a rapier or use a bow for a
bit. Until we hit level 5 and things like Extra Attack come online,
we’re just as good with a weapon as almost anyone else.
We
take care of covering all the knowledge skills while still managing to
also fit in the negotiation skills.
For cantrips, we take
Vicious Mockery for damage and debuffing saving throws, and we take
Prestidigitation because it’s
very useful for a variety of effects.
For leveled spells we pick up an array of debuffs and
support spells to fill our role of Arcanist Support, as well as
Healing Word.
2
Jack of All Trades
Song of Rest – d6
Spellcasting -1st-level
Spells -Bane
Jack of All Trades is a great feature. We get half proficiency on
every ability check that doesn’t already include proficiency, like the
Dexterity check for Initiative.
Song of Rest is nice, a bit
of extra healing during short rests.
For spells, we’ll pick
up Bane. It’s a strong debuff for saves that targets Charisma, a
traditionally weak save. If Disadvantage is mathematically about -3 to
any roll, and Bane is -1d4, which averages -2.5, then Bane is
Disadvantage to all Attacks and Saves, but also stacks with further
Disadvantage. Another way to look at Bane is giving your whole party
an extra 2.5 AC on average vs those targets. Also, we’re not
Concentrating on anything else yet. However, it does allow a save,
only targets 3 enemies unless you upcast it, and enemies have a bad
habit of dying quickly after you cast this so the effects are often
short-lived. It’s not a go-to spell in every situation, but it’s
appealing in fights that are going to last a while where you’re facing
roughly 3 enemies.
3
College of Lore -Bonus Skills -Deception -Intimidation -Perception -Cutting Words
We take on the College of Lore at this level, getting three more
skills right away, Deception, Intimidation, and Perception.
We
also get Cutting Words here, a way to use our Bardic Inspiration as a
reaction ability to lower an attack roll, ability check, or the damage
of an attack. Now, between this and Silvery Barbs, we have multiple
reaction abilities to use. Use Silvery Barbs on important enemy saves
or to cancel a natural 20, and use Cutting Words to cancel near hits
that beat AC by 1 or 2 points.
Additionally we gain
Expertise in two skills now, which we place on Insight and Perception
to shore up weaknesses in our skills.
For a 2nd-level
spell, we’ll take Enhance Ability and we’ll replace Sleep with
Shatter. Since we’re replacing the party’s wizard-equivalent, Shatter
is a fine area damage spell to have on hand.
Spellcasting -Cantrip -Mage Hand -2nd-level
Spells -Invisibility
For this ASI we’ll be taking the Skill Expert Feat, getting Stealth
Proficiency and Persuasion Expertise, as well as bringing Charisma up
to an 18.
For a spell this level, Invisibility. We’re not
trading out any of our 1st-level spells this time as all of them are
pretty good, but we could switch Dissonant Whispers for Hold Person if
we’re fighting mostly Humanoids.
5
Bardic Inspiration – d8
Font of Inspiration
Spellcasting -3rd-level
Spells -Dispel Magic
Bardic Inspiration gets stronger and it now also returns on a short
rest.
For a 3rd-level spell, we’re going to take Dispel
Magic. It’s something you either don’t need or horribly regret not
having in the party, and we’re the wizard-equivalent for the team.
Countercharm is a weird ability that doesn’t come up enough. Early
Magical Secrets, the College of Lore’s secret advanced independent
study program. We’re taking the Web and Counterspell spells.
Web
is a very strong AoE control spell that causes the restrained
condition and costs actions to escape, which is much stronger than
many other shutdown spells.
Counterspell is Counterspell.
Spend a reaction to tell a spellcaster to sit down. And yes you can in
fact Counterspell your own spell inches from the target’s face as part
of an Intimidation check.
We’ll also take Enemies Abound as
a regular Bard spell. This is a good way to turn the big guy in a
fight against the rest of the enemy team, especially good because it’s
targeting Intelligence.
At this level we get 4th-level spells, and there are a lot of good
options.
We’re taking Greater Invisibility and Phantasmal
Killer, two fantastic spells, and removing Bane. Bane isn’t a bad
spell, but we’re hitting Concentration overload and need to prune some
of this.
8
ASI: Charisma +2 (18=>20)
Spellcasting -4th-level
Spells -Psychic Lance
We cap our Charisma to cap our Spell DCs.
Psychic Lance is
a pretty nice spell. The damage is a little lower than most spells of
this level, but it targets Intelligence and on a failed save robs the
target of a turn.
9
Song of Rest – d8
Spellcasting -5th-level Spells -Synaptic
Static
More short rest healing is helpful.
Synaptic Static is the
Intelligence-targeting Psychic-damage Fireball, with a crippling
debuff. And it wont burn the Web.
Inspiration goes up again. Handing out d10’s is nice.
For
Expertise, we get the rest of our Face skills boosted. We should be
winning any of these kinds of contests, especially if you add Enhance
Ability (Charisma).
We pick up Mending because it’s a nice
utility and nothing else piques our interest here.
With
Magical Secrets we’re taking Find Greater Steed because it’s just so
strong to have a flying horse.
Destructive Wave is an
interesting spell. Normally it’s only for Paladins to get as a
5th-level spell and it’s balanced for 17th level. But we’re getting it
7 levels early. It’s an AoE that allows us to choose targets in the
range, so we don’t have to worry about hitting our allies. It does
target Constitution saves, which is a problem, so go for other AOE
spells like Synaptic Static when you don’t need to worry about
friendly fire.
While those spells are great, if we have an
ally that does a lot of attacks every round, such as a Crossbow Expert
Fighter, Holy Weapon is also a great option to add 2d8 Radiant to all
their weapon attacks.
11
Spellcasting -6th-level Spells -Mass Suggestion
Mass Suggestion and you can just tell everyone to abandon the
dungeon.
Irresistible Dance is funny because the target doesn’t get to attempt
the save for the first time until they take an Action on their next
turn, which is backwards to a lot of spells.
13
Song of Rest – d10
Spellcasting -7th-level Spell -Forcecage
Song of Rest for more healing from Short Rests.
There
aren’t a lot of 7th-level spells I like on the Bard list, but there is
Forcecage: Put the big slow monster in a box for an hour and keep
walking through the dungeon.
Heal is the best healing
spell to get some healing done in a single turn until you get
9th-level spells.
Forbiddance has a funny little
exploit
that works great with ritual casting.
If you come upon a
dungeon which you know is full of forbiddable creatures (technically
you don’t need to know, but knowing ahead of time is the abuse case),
you can sit down, spend 20 minutes to cast this as a ritual, and turn
40,000 square feet of dungeon into a 30-foot high area of ongoing
damage for 24 hours with no save.
15
Bardic Inspiration – d12
Spellcasting -8th-level
Spells -Glibness
Glibness + Counterspell = Winning
Also good for winning at
negotiations.
16
ASI: Dexterity +2 (18=>20)
More AC, more Dexterity saves.
17
Song of Rest – d12
Spellcasting -9th-level Spells -Foresight
Foresight is such a great buff. Put it on someone who can really take
advantage of the all-day Advantage.
Hailing from north of Boston, MA, Rocco has been playing TTRPGs since D&D 3.0 back in 2001. Since then he's been playing different systems on and off over the years. Eventually, he met Random, who then introduced Rocco to Tyler, and together they've been playing TTRPGs over the internet for almost a decade.
