College of Heralds (5A)

This is a Bard subclass for 5A.

Formally The College of Heraldry, the herald is a messenger, a diplomat, and a judge of character and origin. They develop an encyclopedic knowledge of people, especially those carrying coats of arms. In their role as heralds they are not seen as combatants and generally given diplomatic immunity, but a herald can take up arms and is then considered an opponent like any other.

Subclass Features

Bonus Proficiency

When you become a herald at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in History. If you are already proficient in History, you gain proficiency in Arcana, Nature, or Religion instead. If you are already proficient in all of these skills, you gain Expertise in History, as the 3rd level bard class feature.

Herald's Eye

At 3rd level when you take this subclass, your knowledge of coats of arms and of creatures of all sorts is encyclopedic. You gain advantage on Intelligence checks to identify creatures. If the creature you are attempting to identify displays a coat of arms or similar identifying mark, you automatically know the significance of that mark and what family or organization it represents. If the person is of note in their family or organization, you automatically identify them by name and public allegiance.

Diplomat

At 3rd level, you can spend a use of your Bardic Inspiration as a reaction to add your bardic inspiration die to a Charisma check you or another creature within 30 ft. of you makes. You do this after the roll but before the result is announced. If you know the name and identity of the main target of this Charisma check, this ability does not cost a use of your Bardic Inspiration.

Diplomatic Immunity

At 3rd level you learn the Sanctuary spell. Sanctuary becomes a bard spell to you but does not count against your limit of spells known.

Parley

Beginning at 6th level, you can pause a fight and invite to a short pause for negotiation and care of the wounded. As an action, you can call on all creatures within 60 ft. to take a break in a fight. You cast Sanctuary on each creature in the area without expending any spell slots. You can use this ability once before you need to take a long or short rest to be able to use it again.

In addition, if you cast Sanctuary with only yourself as the target, it doesn't use up a spell slot.

Invoke Heraldic Design

At 14th level you can transform a humanoid into the creature portrayed on their coat of arms. A creature must have a coat of arms or similar symbol to benefit from this ability, and you must be aware of what symbol that is. If you are wrong in what you believe a creature's coat or arms to be or whether it have a coat of arms, the ability fails.

You can cast Polymorph on a humanoid target, transforming them into the creature most prominently displayed on the their coat of arms. This version of Polymorph can transform the target into a creature of any creature type. Similar and giant forms of creatures are permissible. For example, if the target has a bee on their coat of arms you can transform them into a giant wasp. The DM is the final judge on what is similar. If a coat of arms has no creatures in it, or if a creature has no coat of arms, you can instead cast Skill Empowerment on that creature.

If the creature you transform the target into has lower challenge than the target has challenge or level, the damage of one of the attacks available in the new shape get a bonus equal to the difference in challenge/level, and maximum and current hit points increases by five times this amount.

You can use this six times per day but only once per day on a particular creature. You regain the ability at the end of a long rest.

Designer's Notes

Heralds are an important feature of European history and in many fantasy worlds. As portrayed here, the herald is mainly a diplomat and messenger of peace, tough the subclass certainly in not limited to pacifists. Invoke Heraldic Design is a spurious ability that has loads of potential problems and will require a lot of DM oversight.