Bard Archetype – College of Sea Shanties

Bards of the Collage of Sea Shanties are practiced in motivating their crewmates to perform their best and being troublesome annoyances on the battlefield. Through singing well-known shanties, they can give their allies the chance to join in and receive the benefits of comradery and courage. They also gain a semblance of control over the grim condition known as Scurvy. They are typically unmatched in their loyalty and can eventually provide incredible boons to the one they consider their captain.

College of Sea Shanties Features

Level	Features
3rd	Bonus Proficiencies, Sea Shanty
6th	Scurvy Sickness
14th	O’ Captain, My Captain

Bonus Proficiencies
(3rd-level College of Sea Shanties feature)

At level 3 you learn the skills needed to manage life on a ship. You gain proficiency in Aquatic Vehicles, Ranged Martial Weapons, and Brewers Tools.

Sea Shanty
(3rd-level College of Sea Shanties feature)

At level 3 your sea shanties inspire and motivate the crew and they begin to sing along. As an action, you can begin to sing a shanty. While singing this shanty, any allied creature within 30ft can use their bonus action to sing along, giving them a 1d6 inspiration dice. This is not taken from your inspiration pool.

On your consecutive turns, you can use your bonus action to continue the shanty. If the Sea Shanty ends and an allied creature hasn’t used its inspiration dice, it is lost.

Scurvy Sickness
(6th-level College of Sea Shanties feature)

As an action, you can spend one of your inspiration dice to poison a target creature within 15ft. For the next 1d6 rounds, at the start of the poisoned creatures turn it must succeed a Constitution saving throw or reduce its attack rolls by 1d4 for the duration.

At level 14 this becomes a 1d6 reduction.

O’ Captain, My Captain
(14th-level College of Sea Shanties feature)

At level 14 you become a crucial member of your party. During a long rest, you can choose a member of your party and deem them your Captain. You can grant your Captain your bardic inspiration without expending them from your resource pool. Your Captain is also considered proficient in any skill or tool that you are proficient in. Healing you give your Captain uses the maximum possible roll.

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading! I’ve always felt Bards are a bit limited in how impactful their archetype can be since they get so few features via them. Because of this, I try to prioritise thematic features to ensure everything the get strongly leans into whichever fantasy they are themed around. I hope you enjoyed reading this post and can leave with some ideas for your own games! If you want to see the creative process live you can join me and the community on Twitch or Discord.

Thank you for reading and may your next session be filled with glory!