College of Death

These bards go by many names including Death's Bards, Bard of Deaths, Power Thieves, and more, and achieve various levels of fame, but there is one thing they all have in common. A Death's Bard has tricked death itself to achieve their abilities.

Although rare, there are those who have defied death itself. These people are known as bards of death who used their charisma to trick some powerful deity, malign or benign, and escaped their wrath thus far. These bards then traded what they stole for skills to overcome their death as orchestrated by the deity they have stolen from. This bards act on whims, as they stole from a powerful deity just to trade it away. They often fake their deaths and make or claim a new identity.

 

Body Double

When you join the College of Death at 3rd level, you gain the ability to create fake dead bodies of any creature you can see within 60 ft. The body always appears in your arms.

This body remains for an amount of hours equal to your bard level, afterwards it dissipates.

The body can be seen through with a wisdom check equal to your spell save DC.

You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 1 + Charisma modifier.

Life After Death

At 3rd level, you learn to use your knowledge of the dead and undead to become one yourself.

Once per short rest, you can change your creature type to undead for 1 hour.

While in this state you are resistant to necrotic damage, but vulnerable to radiant damage.

Living Double

Using 1 minute, you can create a functioning body double of a humanoid that moves like it's alive. This body double is controlled by you mentally within a 30 ft. radius. It can speak whatever languages it knew in life. It does not have vision or hearing and functions off of how you command it. It has 1 hit point and 10 AC. It is not an undead, it is no longer a creature. It is unable to make damaging attacks or lift objects over 5 pounds. The original body still remains, it is not used up in the process, nor does it make up the body double. You can do this once per long rest. The body lasts for 10 minutes or until destroyed or dispelled. This body shares your action economy.

Thespian's Act

Once per long rest, as a reaction, if you take damage that would down or kill you, you can roll 1d4. Whatever you roll is the health you remain on. You turn invisible until the end of your next turn, and drop a body double in your place.