College of Lore 5e bard subclass

The bard who knows a little about everything and steals the best spells from everyone else.

Jump to: Features by level · Playing the College of Lore · 2014 features · What changed in 2024 · 2024 features · Common questions

College of Lore at a glance

Class: Bard
Subclass type: Bard College, chosen at 3rd level
2024 rules: Same name, revised in the SRD 5.2
Key abilities: Charisma, then Dexterity and Constitution
Source: System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2 (Player’s Handbook 2014 and 2024)

The bard class page has the class features this subclass builds on, and the bard spell list the rest of your spells come from.

College of Lore features by level

The bard subclass features you gain at each bard level, in the 2014 rules and the 2024 rules. Each one links to its full text below.

Level	2014 rules (SRD 5.1)	2024 rules (SRD 5.2)
3	Bonus Proficiencies, Cutting Words	Bonus Proficiencies, Cutting Words
6	Additional Magical Secrets	Magical Discoveries
14	Peerless Skill	Peerless Skill

Who the College of Lore suits

The College of Lore is the bard as a spellcaster and skill expert. It suits players who like to solve problems outside combat, talk their way through scenes and pick the perfect spell for a situation, rather than fight on the front line.

It also gives a party a lot of flexibility. Three extra skills cover whatever the group is missing, and early access to other classes’ spells lets you fill a gap in healing, control or damage.

How the College of Lore plays

At 3rd level you gain proficiency in three skills of your choice and Cutting Words. Cutting Words uses your reaction and one use of Bardic Inspiration to roll your inspiration die and subtract it from a creature’s roll. In the 2014 rules it works on an attack roll, an ability check or a damage roll, and you can wait until the creature rolls, as long as the GM hasn’t yet said whether it succeeds. In the 2024 rules it works on a damage roll or on an ability check or attack roll that succeeds, so you know the attack hit before you spend the die.

At 6th level you learn two more spells from outside your list. The 2014 Additional Magical Secrets lets you pick from any class, and the spells don’t count against your spells known. The 2024 Magical Discoveries draws from the Cleric, Druid and Wizard lists, and you always have both spells prepared. Peerless Skill at 14th level adds your Bardic Inspiration die to your own ability checks; in 2024 it also covers attack rolls, only after a failure, and the die isn’t spent if you still fail.

Ability scores for a Lore bard

Charisma first: it sets your spell save DC, your spell attacks and how many Bardic Inspiration dice you have for Cutting Words. Dexterity second for Armor Class in light armor, and Constitution third for hit points and concentration.

With the standard array: Charisma 15, Dexterity 14, Constitution 13, Wisdom 12, Intelligence 10, Strength 8. Take Perception or Insight among your extra skills if Wisdom is decent. The point buy calculator shows other spreads.

Spells and feats to pair with it

From your own list, Healing Word, Faerie Fire and Hypnotic Pattern are staples, and Vicious Mockery is a cantrip that also imposes disadvantage. Good picks for Additional Magical Secrets (2014) include Counterspell, Fireball and Spirit Guardians. For the 2024 Magical Discoveries, Spirit Guardians, Guidance and Revivify come from the cleric list and Counterspell and Fireball from the wizard’s.

For feats, anything that protects concentration helps, since many of your best spells need it: War Caster or a Constitution increase. Alert (2024) makes it more likely you act before enemies, and Skilled adds three more proficiencies for a character who wants to be good at everything.

College of Lore features (2014 rules, SRD 5.1)

Bards of the College of Lore know something about most things, collecting bits of knowledge from sources as diverse as scholarly tomes and peasant tales. Whether singing folk ballads in taverns or elaborate compositions in royal courts, these bards use their gifts to hold audiences spellbound. When the applause dies down, the audience members might find themselves questioning everything they held to be true, from their faith in the priesthood of the local temple to their loyalty to the king. The loyalty of these bards lies in the pursuit of beauty and truth, not in fealty to a monarch or following the tenets of a deity. A noble who keeps such a bard as a herald or advisor knows that the bard would rather be honest than politic. The college's members gather in libraries and sometimes in actual colleges, complete with classrooms and dormitories, to share their lore with one another. They also meet at festivals or affairs of state, where they can expose corruption, unravel lies, and poke fun at self-important figures of authority.

Bonus Proficiencies

3rd level

When you join the College of Lore at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with three skills of your choice.

Cutting Words

3rd level

Also at 3rd level, you learn how to use your wit to distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others.

When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature's roll.

You can choose to use this feature after the creature makes its roll, but before the GM determines whether the attack roll or ability check succeeds or fails, or before the creature deals its damage. The creature is immune if it can't hear you or if it's immune to being charmed.

Additional Magical Secrets

6th level

At 6th level, you learn two spells of your choice from any class. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip. The chosen spells count as bard spells for you but don't count against the number of bard spells you know.

Peerless Skill

14th level

Starting at 14th level, when you make an ability check, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration. Roll a Bardic Inspiration die and add the number rolled to your ability check. You can choose to do so after you roll the die for the ability check, but before the GM tells you whether you succeed or fail.

What changed in 2024

The 2024 Player’s Handbook revised the College of Lore, and the System Reference Document 5.2 has the new version. The biggest differences in play:

Cutting Words now triggers after a creature succeeds on an ability check or attack roll (or makes a damage roll), so you never waste it on a miss.
Additional Magical Secrets becomes Magical Discoveries: two spells from the Cleric, Druid or Wizard list instead of any class, always prepared, and swappable when you gain a Bard level.
Peerless Skill also works on attack rolls, applies only after you fail, and doesn’t spend the die if the roll still fails.

Feature by feature

New features: Magical Discoveries (level 6).
2014 features with no 2024 feature of the same name (some were reworked into others): Additional Magical Secrets.

College of Lore features in the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2)

Plumb the Depths of Magical Knowledge

Bards of the College of Lore collect spells and secrets from diverse sources, such as scholarly tomes, mystical rites, and peasant tales. The college's members gather in libraries and universities to share their lore with one another. They also meet at festivals or affairs of state, where they can expose corruption, unravel lies, and poke fun at self-important figures of authority.

Level 3: Bonus Proficiencies

You gain proficiency with three skills of your choice.

Level 3: Cutting Words

You learn to use your wit to supernaturally distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of yourself makes a damage roll or succeeds on an ability check or attack roll, you can take a Reaction to expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration; roll your Bardic Inspiration die, and subtract the number rolled from the creature's roll, reducing the damage or potentially turning the success into a failure.

Level 6: Magical Discoveries

You learn two spells of your choice. These spells can come from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list or any combination thereof (see a class's section for its spell list). A spell you choose must be a cantrip or a spell for which you have spell slots, as shown in the Bard Features table.

You always have the chosen spells prepared, and whenever you gain a Bard level, you can replace one of the spells with another spell that meets these requirements.

Level 14: Peerless Skill

When you make an ability check or attack roll and fail, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration; roll the Bardic Inspiration die, and add the number rolled to the d20, potentially turning a failure into a success. On a failure, the Bardic Inspiration isn't expended.

Common questions

How does Cutting Words work?

As a reaction, when a creature you can see within 60 feet makes one of the listed rolls, you spend a use of Bardic Inspiration, roll the die and subtract the result from its roll. In 2014 it works on attack rolls, ability checks and damage rolls; in 2024 on damage rolls and on ability checks or attack rolls that succeed.

Can Cutting Words be used after the attack roll?

Yes, in both editions. In 2014 you use it after the creature rolls but before the GM says whether the attack or check succeeds. In 2024 you use it once you know the roll succeeded, which can turn it into a failure.

Which creatures are immune to Cutting Words?

In the 2014 rules, a creature is immune if it can’t hear you or if it’s immune to being charmed. The 2024 text has no such exception.

What spells can a Lore bard take with Additional Magical Secrets?

In 2014, any two spells from any class’s spell list, as long as each is a cantrip or of a level you can cast. They count as bard spells but not against your spells known.

What is Magical Discoveries in the 2024 rules?

The 2024 College of Lore’s 6th-level feature: two spells from the Cleric, Druid or Wizard spell list, each a cantrip or of a level you have slots for. You always have them prepared and can swap one whenever you gain a Bard level.

When does a bard join the College of Lore?

At 3rd level in both editions, with more features at levels 6 and 14.

The College of Lore compared with other options

Page	How it compares
Bard class	Bardic Inspiration, Jack of All Trades and the bard’s own Magical Secrets at 10th level.
School of Evocation	A wizard with far more spells in the book, but none of the bard’s skills or support.
Life Domain	The better healer, in heavier armor; the Lore bard is the better problem solver.
Vicious Mockery	The bard cantrip that pairs with Cutting Words to wreck an enemy’s next attack.

How to build a bard with the College of Lore

Open the builder, choose the 2014 or 2024 rules on the first step, pick Bard as your class, and choose the College of Lore as your bard college once your character is 3rd level. The builder works out everything the rules can: hit points, Armor Class, attack bonuses and saving throws.

Other SRD subclasses

Back to the Bard class or all classes.