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Bard - College of Thought

DRAFT - BALANCE CHANGES MAY OCCUR

Lord of Light
Exploit that which connects the soul to the physical body
(Prerrequisite: Proficiency in Thought Theory)

Bards of the College of Thought are part of the most highly positioned magical institution of Novarkan, the School of Creation, where the arcane is studied through the "Words" that created the Material and Ethereal Planes millions of years past. The aspect on which these bards are proficient is the Brain, also known as the biological conduct between the soul and the body, the ethereal and the physical, the connection between positive energy and matter.
Though the origins of their power has been lost to time.
  In Mystralis, these bards are held in the highest regard of their profession, so they tend to become highly positioned government officials attributed with intelligence tasks like criminal prosecution, reeducation, and humanoid management, taking care of the second sacred mandate of the Sacra Monarchia, control.

Career

Career Progression

Level 3: Soulfire Brandish

You gain proficiency with simple and martial weapons with the Finesse property.

When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to temporarily imbue it with Soulfire. The attack does an additional 2d6 True Fire Damage and marks the target hit with Soulfire. If you hit a marked creature with this ability again, the mark will activate, making the enemy take 1d20 True Fire damage in addition to the extra damage. After the mark activated, or if it's not activated after 10 seconds, the mark wears off and the creature can't be marked with Soulfire again for a 24 hour timespan, this doesn't mean that it is immune to the initial True Fire damage of Soulfire Brandish, just that it can't be marked again.
  You can use this ability once per round on your turn.   The True Fire Damage dealt by the initial attack increases when you reach certain levels in this class, going to 2d8 at 5th level, 2d10 at 10th level, and 2d12 at 15th level.
  The mark activation explosion increases to 2d20 True Fire Damage at 14th level.
 
Level 3: Chaining Words

You can try to chain the mind of an immobilized creature (immobilization may be grapple, paralysis, retainment, etc.). Force the creature to make one Saving Throw of your stat of choice against your spell save DC, producing different effects based on the chosen trait:
 
  • Strength: the creature goes frail, its AC is lowered by 1 and every attack that hits it does +1 damage of its type.
    When upgraded, both debuffs are increased.
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  • Dexterity: the creature tires, it looses 10ft of its walking speed and has a -1 modifier on Dexterity Saving Throws.
    When upgraded, both debuffs are increased.
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  • Constitution: the creature is sickened by arcane energy, it is poisoned by magical means, taking 1d4 Magical Poison damage each round. Only non-biological creatures may be resistant to this kind of damage. The creature may repeat this ST every minute.
    When upgraded, the d4s of damage are increased.
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  • Intelligence: the creature's ability to reason and solve problems is hindered, its spell save DC and spell attack bonus are reduced by 1.
    When upgraded, both debuffs are increased.
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  • Wisdom: the mind of the enemy goes frail and easy to tamper with, it gains vulnerability to psychic damage done by your spells of level 3 or lower. Though the creature repeats the Saving Throw each time it takes psychic damage from any source.
    When upgraded, the max spell level is increased.
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  • Charisma: an abstract exploding device is planted on the enemy's soul. You may detonate it using a bonus action, dealing a guaranteed 10 True Fire Damage to the creature.
    When upgraded, the True Fire Damage is increased.
  All effects may last for a maximum of 1 hour, but a creature may only have one active Chaining condition at a time. You may use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, all uses are replenished after finishing a long rest.   Some aspects of all effects are multiplied by 2 when you reach level 10 on this class, and by 3 at level 17. Specified under each one of them.  
Level 6: Adapt Flesh

You can attempt to merge with the body and flesh of a recently deceased humanoid that was afflicted with Soulfire of any kind for at least 10 minutes before its death.
  You gain its appearance, smell, some of its memories, knowledge, and aspects (but not its secrets), mechanically buffing one or more stats or abilities by +1 (minimum) to +3 (maximum) depending on the creature's build and what it was proficient in when alive.
  You can only take on one persona at a time.
  Another creature can see through this disguise by succeeding on a Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check. You gain a +5 bonus to your check as long as the creature did not personally know the humanoid you are assimilating when it was alive.
  The disguise lasts for a maximum of 24 hours, but for every hour that passes after merging, your Charisma (Deception) check is reduced by -1 as the flesh starts decaying. You can remove the flesh whenever you want with a bonus action.
  Once you merge your flesh with that of another, you can't do so again until you finish a short/long rest.  
Level 14: Dominate Mind

You can attempt to dominate the mind of a weakened enemy to your will. If a creature is under an effect of your Chaining Words ability, you can force it to do a Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma Saving Throw against your spell save DC. If it fails in at least 2/3s of them you get full control of its Mind, making it effectively act as a slave to you for 24 hours.
  It may fight for you, tank for you, speak for you, whatever you want, as it feels an extreme level of fear and respect towards you, even though it does not know why, it is forced to serve and forced to like it. Furthermore, the slave is vulnerable to True Fire Damage, making the aspect of control a little bit easier.   A creature with enough insight may try and see through this "charm" (even though it doesn't count as one) and try to get it out of it. Each time the mind of the dominated creature is meddled with, (be it by dealing psychic or true fire damage to it, or if someone tries to charm them via another spell of similar level, or if it receives a condition that meddles with the mind like "stunned"), it repeats the Saving Throws, with the DC getting lowered by -1 each time.
When the effect ends, the creature has no idea who beguiled it.   If the creature has an intelligence or wisdom stat of 20 or more, even if temporarily, the ability only lasts for a minute. Additionally, you may dominate a creature's mind only once per long rest.
Alternative Names
Mental Police Officer
Type
Intelligence Gathering
Demand
Medium
Famous in the Field
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