College of Lore Subclass Guide and Builds

The College of Lore is a Bard subclass in Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3). Check out our guide for how to unlock the College of Lore subclass, its features, best races to use, as well as the best builds.

All Bard Subclasses Bard Class Guide
College of Lore	College of Swords	College of Valor

College of Lore Subclass Overview

College of Lore Basic Information

Subclass Overview
	College of Lore You pursue beauty and truth, collecting knowledge from scholarly tomes to peasants' tales, and use your gifts to hold both audiences and enemies spellbound.
Parent Class	Bard
How to Unlock	Reach Bard Level 3.
Spellcasting Ability	Charisma
Starting Subclass Features
・All Bard Class Features and Proficiencies.

How to Unlock the College of Lore Subclass

Available Once Your Bard Reaches Level 3

The College of Lore subclass will become available once your Bard reaches Level 3. In order to earn EXP and level up in Baldur's Gate 3, players will need to complete quests, discover new areas, or defeat enemies they find in the world.

College of Lore Subclass Features

Additional Proficiencies

After obtaining the College of Lore Subclass, you'll immediately gain to three additional skill proficiences which are Arcana, Intimidation, and Sleight of Hand.

Cutting Words Allow You to Penalize Enemy Attack Rolls

At level 3, the College of Lore also grants the Bard the Cutting Word Reaction Skill. This is a reaction skill that you can use when inflicting voice related spells to enemies or when getting attacked. This is a great debuff since it reduces attack rolls, Abiltiy Checks, and even Attack damage!

Additional Magical Secrets Grants 2 Extra Spells

Aside from obtaining Magical Secrets at level 10 by default, you also gain 2 Extra Magical Secrets at level 6 from the Bard's College of Lore! These are strong spell that belongs to an entirely new spell pool from the Bard's regular spells!

Best Races to Use for College of Lore

High Half-Elf

The High Half-Elf is a great racial choice for the College of Lore as you get proficiency in Shields from your race to make up for only having Light Armor proficiency in the subclass. You'll also be able to obtain a neat offensive Cantrip, the Fire Bolt.

・Civil Militia - Civil Militia is where you'll be obtaining your Shield proficiency from.
・Darkvision - Allows you to cast out spells in the dark without obscuring your vision due to darkness.

College of Lore Builds

Best Ability Scores

As a College of Lore Bard, your highest ability score will naturally be Charisma as it improves your effectiveness with spellcasting.

Pump out some points into Dexterity as well since you'll be taking advantage of weapons with Finesse, which are weapons that will scale with DEX instead of Strength, only if your Dexterity is higher than Strength.

The third highest should be Constitution as it increases your hit points and durability in combat.

Equipment Choice

Spidersilk Armor

You can wear a Spidersilk Armor as it provides a slightly higher AC when compared with other light armor found early on in the game.

Spidersilk Armour: Armor Guide and How to Get

Cap of Curing

When Cap of Curing is equipped, your ally regains 1d6 hit points upon using Bardic Inspiration on them.

Cap of Curing: Armor Guide and How to Get

Baldur's Gate 3 Related Guides

Bard Class Guide

All Bard Subclasses

All Bard Subclasses Bard Class Guide
College of Lore	College of Swords	College of Valor