College of Letters (5A)

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A lettered bard has a formal education similar to a wizard's, and practices performance and magic in a formal, studied manner.

Subclass Features

At 3rd level, when you are formally admitted into this subclass, you start to keep a spellbook similar to a wizard's spellbook.

Copying a Spell into the Book. You use a spellbook to record and prepare spells. You do not have any known spells, and ignore the Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher rules that apply to most bards. Any known spells you have when you gain this feature at level 3 are recorded in your spellbook without a cost in time or money.

When you find a bard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a level for which you have spell slots and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it. You can learn spells from someone who is capable of casting that spell, even if they are not a bard. You can also learn spells from a spellbook or scroll, if the spell is on your spell list. You must practice the spell until you understand the sounds or gestures required, then transcribe it into your spellbook using your own notation.

For each level of the spell, the process takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp. The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to master it, as well as the fine inks you need to record it. Once you have spent this time and money, you can prepare the spell just like your other spells.

Replacing the Book. You can copy a spell from your own spellbook into another book—for example, if you want to make a backup copy of your spellbook. This is just like copying a new spell into your spellbook, but faster and easier, since you understand your own notation and already know how to cast the spell. You need spend only 1 hour and 10 gp for each level of the copied spell.

If you lose your spellbook, you can use the same procedure to transcribe the spells that you have prepared into a new spellbook. Filling out the remainder of your spellbook requires you to find new spells to do so, as normal. For this reason, many spellcasters keep backup spellbooks in a safe place.

The Book's Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.

Preparing and Casting Spells The Bard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

You prepare the list of bard spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of bard spells from your spellbook equal to your Intelligence modifier + your bard level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

For example, if you're a 3rd-level bard, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an Intelligence of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination, chosen from your spellbook. If you prepare the 1st-level spell Charm person, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove it from your list of prepared spells.

You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of bard spells requires time spent studying your spellbook and memorizing the incantations and gestures you must make to cast the spell: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.