College of Serpents (5e Bard Archetype)

## **College of Serpents**

Singing joyous tunes throughout the freezing night, bards of the college of carols travel in the coldest lands of the world, spreading good cheer and jolliness to every place that they go to. They are vigilant in their march, able to handle the worst frozen wastelands, always able to lend happiness to others.

### **Bonus Proficiency**

When you join this bardic college, at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the poisoner's kit.

### **Snake Charming**

Beginning at 3rd level, you can charm a powerful serpent to serve you. With 8 hours of playing your instrument and the expenditure of 50 gp worth of rare meats and incenses, you call forth a giant snake to serve you. This snake uses the statistics for a giant poisonous snake. When complete, your charmed snake gains all the benefits of your Bound Serpent ability. You can have only one charmed snake at a time.

If your charmed snake is ever slain, the musical bond you share allows you to return it to life. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of a further 25 gp worth of material components, you recall your snake’s spirit and use your magic to create a new body for it. You can return a charmed snake to life in this manner even if you do not possess any part of its carcass.

If you use this ability to return a former charmed snake to life while you have a current charmed snake, your current snake dissipates into sand and is replaced by the restored companion.

### **Bound Serpent**

Your charmed snake gains a variety of benefits while it is linked to you. The snake obeys your commands as best it can. In combat, it acts on your initiative, before or after your turn. On your turn, you can verbally command the snake where to move (no action required by you). You can use your bonus action to command it to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action. If you do not command your snake on your turn, it takes the Dodge action.

Your charmed snake has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your snake uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, a charmed snake also adds its proficiency bonus to its damage rolls. Additionally, its bite attack's damage die is the same as your bardic inspiration die.

Your charmed snake gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws.

For each level you gain after 3rd, your snake gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly.

Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your snake’s abilities also improve. Your snake can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your snake can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Your snake shares your alignment, and you are free to determine its personality traits and flaws. Your snake shares your ideal and its bond is always: “My master plays the most beautiful music, I am glad to serve such talent.”

### **Mystic Fangs**

Starting at 6th level, your snake's attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magical attacks and damage.

### **Call the Swarm**

At 14th level, your music can call forth an immense amount of snakes. You learn the *conjure animals* spell if you did not know it already. As an action, you can cast *conjure animals* as a 5th-level spell without a spell slot or components, summoning two swarms of poisonous snakes. These snakes add your Charisma modifier (min +1) to their damage rolls. After casting this spell in this way, you cannot cast it like this again until after you take a long rest.