College of Echoes

Bards of the College of Echoes move amongst villages and towns to help with funeral rites. Known as Lamenters, these Bards provide comfort and support to those who are grieving for those who they have lost. More powerful Lamenters are even sought after by richer families, when a priest is not readily available (or willing) in order to attempt to communicate, albeit briefly, with their deceased relative in order to attempt to resolve disputes of inheritance or to solve mysteries that only the dead knew the answer to.

Lamenters have often been falsely equated with Necromancers or Liches by the ignorant or uneducated, but no Lamenter in his right mind would actually use his magic to raise the dead for any exploitative purpose. Instead, these bards see it as their duty to help the living to mourn and remember those who have moved beyond. Many other Bards therefore dismiss Lamenters as being a sombre and morose lot compared to Bards of the other Colleges, however they will grudgingly acknowledge the importance they have in society. 

Although Lamenters may not seem the most suited to the adventuring lifestyle, their subtle use of memory and mourning can be applied in all sorts of useful ways to create fear and dread amongst enemies. It is also why a Lamenter who has disregarded the gravity of his duties can be a very formidable enemy indeed, as the most powerful are able to create a gaping maw of sorrow that an entire village may find impossible to climb out from. 

Sorrowful Reckoning

When you join the College of Echoes, you gain the ability to find words that speak to the heart of an enemy's deepest sorrows.

The Bard may spend 1 of their Bardic Inspiration dice to allocate ONE bardic inspiration dice to an enemy within 60 feet. 

Once within the next 1 minute, the Bard can roll the die and subtract the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw the enemy makes. The Bard MUST decide before the DM rolls the d20 for the enemy's check, attack roll or save (unlike regular Bardic inspiration). Once the Bardic Inspiration die is rolled, it is lost. An enemy can have only one Sorrowful Reckoning die at a time.

The die is the same as the die for the Bardic inspiration (e.g. d6 for level 3, d8 at level 5, etc.)

A Song of Mourning

The Bard sings a beautiful song of lament to those who have fallen too soon, helping to provide comfort to those who continue to live.

If the Bard performs for 1 minute in a location that the DM deems is associated with funeral rites (such as a church), or has in the past day suffered a death of a non-hostile humanoid (such as a house or battlefield) they may choose from one of the following options:

1. All allies within 20ft remove all Exhaustion
2. All allies within 20ft are no longer charmed or frightened
3. All allies within 20ft gain Resistance to Psychic Damage for 1 hour.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

A Song of Rememberance

The Bard plays a song to call back the spirit of those who have passed on, allowing them to reveal some of their mysteries to those who still walk among the world.

Once per Long Rest, the Bard may cast Speak with Dead without spending a spell slot and without the need of incense. Otherwise the rules for the spell still apply.

Thief of Time

The Bard weaves magic about their person to make themselves a veritable avatar of death and loss, with enemies surrounding them feeling the chill touch of age on their bones, as their sorrows weigh heavy on them.

As a Bonus Action the Bard may invoke the Thief of Time for a duration of 1 minute. Any humanoid, fey, celestial, fiend, dragon or giant enemies within 30 feet of the Bard (or who come within 30 feet of the Bard in this duration) must make an Intelligence Save against your Spell Save DC. If they pass, there is no effect. If they fail then their Movement is halved, they cannot Multiattack and they have an Initiative of 1 beginning at the end of the turn until the minute passes.

Furthermore, the Bard can use a Bardic inspiration dice to 'pulse' Necrotic Energy through their invocation as a subsequent Bonus Action. In order to do this, the Bard simply rolls a Bardic Inspiration die and then deals that much Necrotic Damage to all enemies within 30 feet of the Bard.