College of Spirits: A Bard Subclass Guide

The College of Spirits, introduced in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, offers a unique and flavorful take on the Bard class. These bards are conduits for spirits, weaving tales of the deceased and drawing power from the spectral realm. They use occult trappings to conjure legendary spirits, influencing the world through their stories and spectral abilities. This guide explores the features of the College of Spirits, offering insights into its strengths, weaknesses, and optimal playstyles.

Core Features

The College of Spirits bard is a casting-focused subclass that adds unpredictable, spell-adjacent options through Tales From Beyond and expanded spell options through Spirit Session. Managing Tales From Beyond and Spirit Session introduces some new bookkeeping to the Bard, which was already a complex class to begin with.

Guiding Whispers

At 3rd level, joining this college grants you the Guiding Whispers feature. This feature provides the Guidance cantrip, extending its range to 60 feet. This is a fantastic means of supporting party members.

Spiritual Focus

Also at 3rd level, you receive a Spiritual Focus. This focus can take the form of a candle, crystal ball, ouija board, deck of tarokka cards, or a skull. This focus aids you in channeling spirits, whether historical figures or fictional archetypes.

Tales from Beyond

The College of Spirits' signature feature, Tales from Beyond, is gained at 3rd level. This feature allows the Bard to generate a randomly selected magical effect from a list. This provides a fun but unpredictable mechanic which can be either wildly effective or barely impactful depending on the situation and the Tale drawn.

Here's how it works:

As a bonus action, expend a Bardic Inspiration die while holding your Spiritual Focus.
Roll on the Spirit Tales table to determine the tale the spirits direct you to tell.
Use an action to choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you (including yourself) to be the target of the tale’s effect.

The tales are also prefaced with flavorful hooks that make for great roleplaying fuel.

Spirit Tales Table

The Spirit Tales table offers a variety of effects, each tied to a different kind of tale:

Tale of the Clever Animal: For the next 10 minutes, whenever the target makes an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma check, the target can roll an extra die immediately after rolling the d20 and add the extra die's number to the check.
Tale of the Renowned Duelist: You make a melee spell attack against the target.
Tale of the Beloved Friends: Defender. from Beloved Friends for a +1 AC bonus and some extra speed.
Tale of the Runaway: The target can immediately use its reaction to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
Tale of the Avenger: The best options in Tales from Beyond apply unpleasant status conditions, so let’s lean into that.
Tale of the Traveler: The target gains temporary hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your bard level.
Tale of the Beguiler:
Tale of the Phantom: The target becomes invisible until the end of its next turn or until it hits a creature with an attack.
Tale of the Brute: Each creature of the target’s choice it can see within 30 feet of it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes thunder damage equal to three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die and is knocked prone.
Tale of the Dragon: The target spews fire from the mouth in a 30-foot cone.
Tale of the Angel: Angel replaces the need for Lesser Restoration, provided that you’re lucky enough to roll it.
Tale of the Mind-Bender: You evoke an incomprehensible fable from an otherworldly being.

Spirit Session

At 6th level, Spirit Session adds flexibility. Once per long rest, you can conduct an hour-long ritual with a number of willing creatures equal to your proficiency bonus (including yourself). Afterward, you temporarily learn a divination or necromancy spell from any class, and that spell counts as a bard spell. The spell level must be equal to the number of creatures who participated in the ritual and be a spell level that you can cast.

This feature lets you access magic that you might otherwise skip when choosing spells. For instance, you can temporarily pick up spells such as Identify and Locate Object when it would benefit you. Summon Undead is a go-to spell on any day where danger is possible.

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Mystical Connection

At 14th level, College of Spirits bards gain more control over their Tales from Beyond. You can now roll a die twice when rolling on the Spirit Tales table, choosing which of the two effects to bestow. Mystical Connection makes Tales From Beyond considerably more reliable, so our signature subclass feature gets a lot better just in time to get the best options on the table at our next level.

Character Optimization and Strategy

Race

Gem Dragonborn: The breath weapon is fine, but we won’t use it much.

Background

Haunted One: Let’s lean into the spooky.

Ability Scores

Prioritize Charisma for spellcasting and Bardic Inspiration, followed by Dexterity for AC and skills.

Skills

We’ll take Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion from our class.

Feats

Dragon Fear (Level 4): That gets us a +1 Charisma increase and turns our breath weapon into a crowd control option that matches our spellcasting DC since it’s Charisma-based. When you’re facing a large number of enemies, jump into the middle and scream.
Telekinetic (Level 8):
Fey Touched (Level 12): Max Charisma, Misty Step, and Heroism to buff whoever we throw Tales from Beyond (Avenger) onto. Misty Step works great alongside Tales from Beyond because Tales isn’t a spell.
Any (Levels 16 & 19): See the feats section of the example build, above.

Spells

1st Level: Bane, Healing Word, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Sleep. We immediately start with spells that are unpleasant to be affected by and also Healing Word. Bane is a great way to bait Legendary Resistances (Do I take -1d4 and be useless? Or do I waste a Legendary Resistance on a 1st-level spell?). Hideous Laughter is almost Hold Monster. Sleep wins encounters at very low levels, then we can retrain it.
2nd Level: Dissonant Whispers. Use Dissonant Whispers whenever an enemy is in melee with an ally who would enjoy making an Opportunity Attack.
3rd Level: Shatter. Shatter is our only decent area damage for a long time. Enemies Abound. In encounters with multiple enemies, hit the biggest one with Enemies Abound. Almost nothing has good Intelligence Saves. Hypnotic Pattern.
4th Level: Phantasmal Killer. For spells, we choose a spooky single-target damage option. Raulothim’s Psychic Lance. Psychic Lance is for incapacitating our target. Against big single foes with poor Intelligence saves, you can hit them with this every round and essentially negate an entire encounter, though the spell slot cost to do so is steep.
5th Level: Hold Monster. Hold Monster is a staple save-or-suck spell. It does compete for space with Phantasmal Killer (single-target Wisdom save), but don’t let that stop you, especially since you can upcast Hold Person for more targets.
Magical Secrets: Mind Sliver, Synaptic Static, Eyebite, Forcecage, Contingency, Plane Shift, Dominate Monster, Mass Heal, Wish. For spells, we choose Synaptic Static for area damage without Concentration, and Mind Sliver for the -1d4 to saves. Since they’re bard spells for us we also add the bonus damage from Spiritual Focus. Mind Sliver’s ability to debuff saves cantrip is very useful for spells with ongoing effects like Phantasmal Killer, Hold Person, and Psychic Scream. Put your enemies in a glass cage of emotion. Use Contingency to put something helpful on yourself like Improved Invisibility when something bad happens. Use Plane Shift when anyone you dislike is unfortunate enough to be in melee with you.

Gameplay

The College of Spirits bard excels at support, control, and unpredictable bursts of utility.

Early Levels: Focus on control and support spells like Bane, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, and Healing Word. Use Tales from Beyond to add versatility to your actions, adapting to the situation at hand.
Mid Levels: Spirit Session provides access to crucial divination and necromancy spells, expanding your options significantly. Hypnotic Pattern and Enemies Abound can shut down encounters.
Late Levels: Mystical Connection makes Tales from Beyond more reliable, while high-level spells like Forcecage, Dominate Monster, and Wish offer immense power and flexibility.

Roleplaying a College of Spirits Bard

The College of Spirits offers rich opportunities for roleplaying. Consider these aspects when developing your character:

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Backstory: What led you to the College of Spirits? Did you have a personal encounter with the supernatural? Are you driven by a desire to understand the afterlife or to help spirits find peace? Knee-Knee is a chaotic neutral bard with the Criminal background. Her highest ability scores are in Charisma and Dexterity, while her Strength is below average. Due to her Mimicry and fondness for sounds, Knee-Knee favors spells with verbal components, such as Message, Vicious Mockery, Dissonant Whispers, and Healing Word. The stories that Knee-Knee’s adoptive Vistani family tell her of Shadowfell ghosts can be used to flavor the College of Spirits' Tales from Beyond feature. Knee-Knee also has plenty of volunteers for her daily Spirit Session, allowing her to access circumstantial spells that can aid others.
Personality: Are you a solemn and mysterious figure, or a flamboyant entertainer who uses tales of spirits to thrill audiences? Are you respectful of the spirits you channel, or do you see them as tools to be manipulated?
Motivations: What are your goals? Do you seek to uncover lost knowledge, protect the living from malevolent spirits, or simply entertain and inspire others with your tales?
Spiritual Focus: How did you acquire your Spiritual Focus? What does it mean to you? Do you treat it with reverence, or is it simply a tool for your craft?

Addressing the Unpredictability

While the randomness of Tales from Beyond can be a concern, there are ways to mitigate its impact:

Font of Inspiration: At level 5 when you pick up Font of Inspiration, you can start the day by drawing for Tales from Beyond until you get something that you like, then immediately take a Short Rest to recharge Bardic Inspiration.
Strategic Use: Consider the situation before using Tales from Beyond. If you need a specific effect, it might be better to rely on your spells. However, if you're facing a variety of challenges, the unpredictability of Tales from Beyond can be an asset.
Roleplaying Opportunity: Embrace the randomness! Let the spirits guide your actions and see where the story takes you.

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