College of Heavy Metal

ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!?!?!?!

Bards of the College of Heavy Metal channel the raw power of thunderous rhythm and furious emotion. Where most bards inspire with grace or beguile with charm, these warriors of sound shred reality with chords so intense they can crack stone and rattle souls. Forged in the crucible of battle and performance alike, they wield their instruments as both weapons and conduits of primal energy. A bard of this college doesn’t just play music—they unleash it by Shredding, entering a state of musical rage, a trance of headbanging fury, where each note becomes a weapon.

 

Level 3: Shred

The tempo, impossible; the riffs, insane; the beat, a beatdown. You fly into a charged performance that grants you extraordinary musical ability and grants you access to the Raging Solo. You can enter it as a Bonus Action if you aren't wearing Heavy armor. You can Shred a number of times based on your Bard levels. Reference the Barbarian class table and treat your Bard class levels as if they were Barbarian levels towards Rage uses and Rage damage. Your uses of Shred and Shred Damage match those values.

Anger Adept. Shred is a specialized form of Rage. You learn the Anger Adept (homebrew) feat, which offers multiclass options for Rage users and adds an additional verbal component to every spell you cast while under the effects of Shred.

You regain one expended use of Shred when you finish a Short Rest, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

When active, your Shred follows the rules below:

Spellcasting. Unlike a Barbarian's Rage, you can cast spells while Shredding. You may only maintain concentration on spells whose active effect can cause a potential target to take damage or would force them to make a saving throw to avoid a harmful effect.

Crank it up to Eleven. You have resistance to Thunder damage. Your spells that deal Thunder damage to other creatures overcome their resistance--a creature that is normally immune to Thunder damage is instead resistant; and a creature that is normally resistant to Thunder damage takes damage from your spells as normal. If you have the feat Elemental Adept (Thunder) the resistance penetration effect does not stack with the exception that a creature that is normally immune to Thunder damage takes damage from your spells as normal. While Shredding you also have the following three effects as if continuously under the effects of the Thaumaturgy spell (note, you cannot cast Thaumaturgy while Shredding to to add additional effects or change these effects):

• Fire Play -- You make a light show, causing nearby flames to flicker, brighten and change color in time with your music.
• Booming Performance -- your music can boom up to three times as loud. For the duration you have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks.
• Tremors -- The bass notes in your music causes harmless tremors.

Shred Damage. When you deal damage from a spell, you gain a bonus to the damage that increases as you gain levels in any class that uses a Rage effect (see Anger Adept for more details). If that spell damages more than one target simultaneously, you must choose one target that takes this extra damage.

Raging Solo. While Shredding, you have access to a modified version of the Eldritch Blast cantrip. The spell does Thunder damage instead of Force damage, and the description is modified as follows:

"A wave of musical energy streaks toward a creature within range. Make a Charisma (Performance) check and use the result as a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 Thunder damage.

The spell creates more than one beam when you reach higher levels: two beams at 5th level, three beams at 11th level, and four beams at 17th level. You can direct the beams at the same target or at different ones. Make a separate Charisma (Performance) check for each beam."

Duration. Shredding lasts until the end of your next turn, and it ends early if you don Heavy armor or have the Incapacitated condition. If you're still Shredding on your next turn, you can continue Shredding for another round by doing one of the following:

• Play a Raging Solo against an enemy.
• Force an enemy to make a saving throw.
• Take a Bonus Action to extend your Shred.

Level 3: Rock Legend

You came here to chew gum and blow minds, and you're all out of chewing gum. When you use your Raging Solo ability you have these options. You may only use one option per turn:

Oomph. You can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration to deal damage. When you cast Raging Solo and hit at least one target, roll a Bardic Inspiration dice and add it to the damage you deal to that target. If you hit more than one target you must choose which one takes this additional damage (which can be different than the target that takes your Shred damage bonus).

We Are Not Worthy. You can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration to make your target worship you as a rock legend and grovel at your feet. When you cast Raging Solo and hit at least one target, you subject that target to the Grovel effect of the Command spell (you do not expend a spell slot). Roll a Bardic Inspiration dice and subtract it from the target's saving throw. If you hit more than one target you must choose which one receives this effect.

 

Level 6: Extra Attack

You can attack twice instead of once whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

In addition, if you are currently Shredding, you can cast your Raging Solo in place of one of those attacks.

Level 14: Battle Rock

After you cast a spell that has a casting time of an action, you can make one weapon attack as a Bonus Action. If you are Shredding, you can substitute a Raging Solo for this weapon attack, and you have additional options for your Raging Solo:

• Eardrum Blowout. You can expend two uses of your Bardic Inspiration to unleash thunderous energy. Each creature you hit with your Raging Solo makes a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes Thunder damage equal to two Bardic Inspiration dice and is pushed 10 feet away from you. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage only. In addition, unsecured objects that are on a straight line path between you and each target you hit are pushed 10 feet away in a random direction, and your thunderous solo is audible within 300 feet.
• Encore. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration die to cast your Raging Solo twice this turn. The second Raging Solo cannot have any added effects applied.
• We Love You, Goodnight. You must have at least three uses of Bardic Inspiration to use this effect. You expend all of your remaining uses of Bardic Inspiration to cast the spell Destructive Wave (you do not expend a spell slot). Roll one of your Bardic Inspiration dice and subtract it from the saving throw of all targets, then roll all of your remaining Bardic Inspiration dice and add them to the damage you deal. When you cast Destructive Wave in this way, all of the damage is Thunder damage, and targets that fail their saves are pushed ten feet away from you in addition to being Prone.

Additionally you can now subject as many targets as you hit to your Raging Solo optional effects Oomph & We Are Not Worthy, instead of just one. You still only expend one Bardic Inspiration die per effect, and all targets must be subject to the same effect.