College of Villons (5A)

This is a Bard subclass for 5A.

Villons are bards that embrace a criminal or outcast lifestyle. A villon is often a member of a gang of thieves or ruffians, chronicling their exploits in song. Surprisingly popular among common folk, villons and their gangs usually focus on stealing from the rich and then quickly burning the money in celebration, often offering rounds of drinks and entertainment to all who are present, endearing them to other patrons.

There is no college where you learn to be a villon, instead members often failed to graduate or even join a more respectable bardic college. Many members insist on calling it a college as a matter of pride, but the tricks of this trade are learnt on the street.

The name and inspiration of this bard college is François Villon, a fascinating character from medieval history.

Greyhawk: Villons are individuals, but to thrive they need cities to hide in and borders to flee across, both of which are common all over the Flanaess.

Subclass Features

Villon Spells

Starting at 3rd level when you join this bardic college, you learn additional spells when you reach certain levels as a bard, as shown on the Villon's Spells table. Each of these spells counts as a bard spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of bard spells you know.

Whenever you gain a bard level, you can replace one spell you gained from this feature with another spell of the same level. The new spell must be from the bard spell list.

**Villon Spells**
Bard Level	Spells
3	Expeditious Retreat, Find Familiar
3	Misty Step, Rope Trick
5	Remove Curse, Tiny Servant
7	Grasping Vine, Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum
9	Rary's Telepathic Bond, Skill Empowerment

Bonus Proficiencies

At 3rd level when you pick this college, you gain proficiency with two of the following: Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Investigation, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, thieves' tools, or the disguise kit.

Flabbergasting

At 3rd level you can use trickery and Bardic Inspiration to stupefy others. As an action, you can spend a use of Bardic Inspiration to use Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) or Charisma (Perform) to stun a creature within 10 ft. Make a roll with a DC equal to target's passive Wisdom (Perception). If you succeed, the target is Stunned until the start of your next turn.

Cunning Escape

At 6th level, your quick thinking allow you to escape quickly. You can take a bonus action to take the Disengage or Hide action.

Hidden Distraction

At 14th level, if you are hidden from a creature when you cast a spell on it, the creature has disadvantage on any saving throw it makes against the spell this turn.

Designer's Notes

External Links

François Villon @ Wikipedia