After discussing it with a friend (who is currently playing a Lore Bard), I've made some big changes to this subclass, narrowing their scope a bit. The original is at the bottom, but very small. As part of my "subclasses as multiclassing" series, this is a bard/wizard.
The college of Arcana are different from the other Bards, and broke off from the College of Lore about three score years ago. While the College of Lore focuses on a breadth of knowledge, the College of Arcana focuses exclusively on the study of magic. In that study, they learn the basic secrets of wizardly magic; not the indepth secrets of the wizard schools, but enough that they begin to keep a spellbook and prepare spells like a wizard, in addition to some access to bard magic.
3rd: Additional Skill
At 3rd level, College of Arcana bards receive proficiency in Arcana, or in another skill of choice if they are already proficient. They may apply their 3rd level Bard expertise to Arcana, even if they just learned it.
3rd: Wizard Magic
At 3rd level, the College of Arcana bard switches their style of casting to that of a Wizard; they maintain a spellbook, may learn new spells from the spellbooks of wizards and other bards of the College, and prepare spells each morning. They use Intelligence as their casting attribute, are able to cast any of their prepared spells using any appropriate slots, and so on; all as outlined under "Spellcasting" in the Wizard class description, and the Your Spellbook sidebar, on page 114 of the Player's Handbook.
Their initial spellbook contains all of their 1st level Bard spells, as well as a 2nd level spell from either the Bard spell list or from their chosen Wizard schools. They may no longer cast spells as Bards; Charisma is no longer their casting attribute, and they must prepare spells, not cast spontaneously. They do retain Bardic ritual casting, but may not longer use musical instruments as arcane foci, though they may use arcane foci appropriate to wizards.
As they learned Bardic Magic first, they do have the bonus that all 5 of the bard spells they learned at 1st and 2nd level are prepared at all times. As they advance in levels, they learn spells from either the Bard list or their selected Wizard schools, and all of these spells must be prepared. They may not learn additional Bard spells except through level gain or by finding them in the spellbook of another bard of the College of Arcana. Wizards are not able to cast these Bard spells (unless they are also Wizard spells).
3rd Level: School Selection
As they learned Bardic Magic first, they do have the bonus that all 5 of the bard spells they learned at 1st and 2nd level are prepared at all times. As they advance in levels, they learn spells from either the Bard list or their selected Wizard schools, and all of these spells must be prepared. They may not learn additional Bard spells except through level gain or by finding them in the spellbook of another bard of the College of Arcana. Wizards are not able to cast these Bard spells (unless they are also Wizard spells).
3rd Level: School Selection
At levels 3, 6, and 14, the bard selects a single wizard school. They may learn and cast spells from this school, and gain the 2nd level features of this school. Thus, one bard may learn Evocation, and thus gain Evocation Savant and Sculpt spells, while another may learn Necromancy, and gain Necromancy Savant and Grim Harvest.
Additional Note: Magical Secrets
At levels 10, 14, and 18, bards may select 2 spells, of a level they can cast, and learn them as Bard spells. In the hands of an Arcana Bard, these spells are recorded in the Bard's spellbook, but cannot be learned by Bard or Wizard, unless they are normally Bard or Wizard spells; otherwise, they are simply too esoteric for those casters to unravel. Wizard spells acquired through Magical Secrets do not need to be from one of the Bard's chosen schools.
College of Arcana
The college of Arcana are different from the other Bards, and broke off from the College of Lore about three score years ago. While the College of Lore focuses on a breadth of knowledge, the College of Arcana focuses exclusively on the study of magic. In that study, they learn the basic secrets of wizardly magic; not the indepth secrets of the wizard schools, but enough that they begin to keep a spellbook and prepare spells like a wizard, in addition to some access to bard magic.
3rd: Wizard Magic
At 3rd level, the College of Arcana bard switches their style of casting to that of a Wizard; they maintain a spellbook and prepare spells each morning. They use Intelligence as their casting attribute, are able to cast any of their prepared spells using any appropriate slots, and so on; all as outlined under "Spellcasting" in the Wizard class description, and the Your Spellbook sidebar, on page 114 of the Player's Handbook (save "Learning Spells of 1st level and higher"; they receive only 1 spell upon gaining a level, not 2). Furthermore, they may now learn all wizard spells as wizard spells. Their initial spellbook contains all of their 1st level Bard spells, as well as a 2nd level spell from either the Wizard or Bard spell list. They may no longer cast spells as Bards; Charisma is no longer their casting attribute, and they must prepare spells, not cast spontaneously. They do retain Bardic ritual casting, but may not longer use musical instruments as arcane foci.
As they learned Bardic Magic first, they do have the bonus that all 5 of the bard spells they learned at 1st and 2nd level are prepared at all times. However, as they advance in levels, they only learn one spell per level (unless they gain access to a spellbook containing other spell), from either the Bard or Wizard lists, and all of these spells must be prepared. They may not learn additional Bard spells except through level gain or by finding them in the spellbook of another bard of the College of Arcana. Wizards are not able to cast these Bard spells (unless they are also Wizard spells).
3rd: Additional Expertise
At 3rd level, College of Arcana bards receive Expertise in Arcana, in addition to the Expertise that all bards gain at 3rd level.
6th: School Secrets
At 6th level, the College of Arcana begins to unravel some of the secrets of Wizardly traditions; they may choose any one power granted to a Wizardly tradition at 2nd level. For example, a bard who favors abjurations may choose either Abjuration Savant or Arcane Ward (p. 115), but not both.
14th level: Further School Secrets
At 14th level, the College of Arcana unravels some further secrets of Wizard traditions. They may again choose any one power granted to a Wizardly tradition at 2nd level; this need not be from the same school as the secret granted at 6th level, but it cannot be the same secret; they cannot choose Abjuration Savant twice to reduce the costs to one quarter, nor Arcane Ward twice to create two wards, or a double-strength ward, when casting Abjurations.
The college of Arcana are different from the other Bards, and broke off from the College of Lore about three score years ago. While the College of Lore focuses on a breadth of knowledge, the College of Arcana focuses exclusively on the study of magic. In that study, they learn the basic secrets of wizardly magic; not the indepth secrets of the wizard schools, but enough that they begin to keep a spellbook and prepare spells like a wizard, in addition to some access to bard magic.
3rd: Wizard Magic
At 3rd level, the College of Arcana bard switches their style of casting to that of a Wizard; they maintain a spellbook and prepare spells each morning. They use Intelligence as their casting attribute, are able to cast any of their prepared spells using any appropriate slots, and so on; all as outlined under "Spellcasting" in the Wizard class description, and the Your Spellbook sidebar, on page 114 of the Player's Handbook (save "Learning Spells of 1st level and higher"; they receive only 1 spell upon gaining a level, not 2). Furthermore, they may now learn all wizard spells as wizard spells. Their initial spellbook contains all of their 1st level Bard spells, as well as a 2nd level spell from either the Wizard or Bard spell list. They may no longer cast spells as Bards; Charisma is no longer their casting attribute, and they must prepare spells, not cast spontaneously. They do retain Bardic ritual casting, but may not longer use musical instruments as arcane foci.
As they learned Bardic Magic first, they do have the bonus that all 5 of the bard spells they learned at 1st and 2nd level are prepared at all times. However, as they advance in levels, they only learn one spell per level (unless they gain access to a spellbook containing other spell), from either the Bard or Wizard lists, and all of these spells must be prepared. They may not learn additional Bard spells except through level gain or by finding them in the spellbook of another bard of the College of Arcana. Wizards are not able to cast these Bard spells (unless they are also Wizard spells).
3rd: Additional Expertise
At 3rd level, College of Arcana bards receive Expertise in Arcana, in addition to the Expertise that all bards gain at 3rd level.
6th: School Secrets
At 6th level, the College of Arcana begins to unravel some of the secrets of Wizardly traditions; they may choose any one power granted to a Wizardly tradition at 2nd level. For example, a bard who favors abjurations may choose either Abjuration Savant or Arcane Ward (p. 115), but not both.
14th level: Further School Secrets
At 14th level, the College of Arcana unravels some further secrets of Wizard traditions. They may again choose any one power granted to a Wizardly tradition at 2nd level; this need not be from the same school as the secret granted at 6th level, but it cannot be the same secret; they cannot choose Abjuration Savant twice to reduce the costs to one quarter, nor Arcane Ward twice to create two wards, or a double-strength ward, when casting Abjurations.
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