College of Mimes

[plutarch120]

Thoughts? I was trying to come up with a Bard Subclass for mimework, with aspects from the different tropes for mimes, with a magic twist (they can actually conjure the items that they are pretending to have)


College of Mimes
Trained in the noble art of mimework, a Bard from the College of
Mimes can mimic actions well enough to warp reality itself.

Bonus proficiencies

You gain mage hand as a bonus cantrip

Charades (3rd level)

As a professional mime, you are mute; however, given your superior
abilities at mimework, you can talk nonverbally with anyone willing who has
you in line-of-sight. People who can see you can reply normally (with
speech), or make a DC 10 skill (Perform) check to respond
nonverbally.

You can cast spells with a verbal component as if it had a somatic component instead.

Mimework (6th level)

As an action, you can spend a use of bardic inspiration to create an
object that you are miming. To do so, you must succeed on a perform
check (DC in table), on a pass the object is created (out of force)
for one minute (you can extend the duration by one minute per bardic
inspiration without having to take more skill checks).

DC (I cribbed this from the Sand Shape prestige class in 3e):

Size	DC
1 cu. ft. or less	-5
1.1-2.0 cu. ft.	0
2.1-4.0 ``	5
4.1-8.0 ``	10
8.1-12.0 ``	15
12.1-16.0 ``	20
16.1-24.0 ``	25
24.1-20.0 ``	30

Modifiers:

Fine details	+2
Functioning Tool	+2
Functioning Armor/Weapon	+5
Multiple Parts	+5
Masterwork	+10
Moving Parts	+10

Invisible Walls (14th level)

Once per long rest, you can cast Wall of Force; however, you
must be adjacent (within five feet) to part of it.

[Damon_Tor]

Good stuff.

I would both simplify the pantomime conjuration system and be more generous with it. "Cubic feet" isn't a statistic for objects found anywhere in any 5e document, so just make the DCs scale relative to size: DC 5 for a tiny object (which would include most weapons and tools) 10 for small (most heavy weapons are small objects) 15 for medium, 20 for large, 25 for huge and 30 for gargantuan. No modifiers for functionality, just keep it simple. As a balancing factor, require the mime's action each turn to involve the conjured object in some way, as well as their concentration, so if he conjured a sword he would lose it if he failed to attack with it. If he conjured a rowboat it would vanish if he stopped rowing it. Etc. He couldn't make a wall and run away because as soon as he spends a turn without touching the wall as his action the wall would vanish.

As for the level 14 ability to cast wall of force for free once per day, that's less relevant if the mine can make 20/20 objects with a skill check, and they can always take wall of force as a magic secret anyway. Maybe at level 14 give them the ability to pantomime beasts into existence. The creature could follow the same rules as the objects they conjure (so would require their action each turn to maintain) and couldn't have a CR higher than 1/4 their hard level, but would otherwise follow the bard's nonverbal commands.

[Greywander]

For Charades, I wouldn't require the mime to be mute. That's a roleplay decision, in my opinion. Converting verbal components to somatic is interesting. For communication, I would do something like the following: "You can communicate simple ideas through gestures to other creatures. You don't need to share a language to communicate this way." Opens up a lot of possibilities for nonverbal communication with creatures when no one took the relevant language.

I'm not sure if this is strong enough to stand by itself, though. Maybe give them Silence as a bonus spell, and make it not require concentration for them? It's only a 2nd level spell, so they could learn it at 3rd level anyway.

For Mimework, I agree with Damon_Tor, it could be greatly simplified by basing it off of size categories. I also feel like this ability should roll the bardic inspiration die for something. Perhaps to determine how long the mimed object can exist? Or perhaps to determine the maximum size? Maybe larger objects can't exist as long, so rolling higher lets you either create a bigger object or make a smaller object last longer? I also might not require a skill check, you're already spending a limited resource to use this feature.

For Invisible Walls, it does seem a bit lackluster when you can already create objects out of force. What about something like a permanent Silence aura (that you can turn on and off)? Maybe something that causes deafness? Maybe the ability to polymorph into other creatures (but without a change in appearance)?

[MrStabby]

So the themes that spring to mind for a mime are mimicry and silence.

The suppression of verbal components is good but doesn't seem like a powerful class feature. I wander if something like being able to centre a silence spell on the mime for the expense of a couple of BK dice might work? Typically bards get a unique BI usage to their college at 3rd level and it is when the spell would appear anyway. Forcing others to mime would be cool.

On mimicry, there is the arcane trickster ability to steal magic. I think it is a pretty cool ability. I wonder if the ability to cast a spell they have seen in the last minute (with appropriate resource consumption) would be useful enough? It could easily be underpowered in some campaigns, on the other hand if you can ape your team mates and be casting all their best buff spells, landing fireballs etc. It could be very powerful.

Sounds like a cool college though.

[Greywander]

Perhaps on the subject of mimicry, the 14th level ability could be copying another creature's last action. For example, after the dragon breathes fire, the mime could use their action to also breathe fire, but it has to be on their next turn after the dragon did so. It's already limited by the resources of the creature being mimicked, but I could see a concern about doubling up on PC abilities (for example, the sorcerer does a Twinned Empowered Disintegrate, and then the mime copies it without spending any resources). Then again, it's the subclass capstone, so it should be strong.