COLLEGE OF THE DEAD

 Rebellion is common when faced with discrimination or hardships. Bards of the College of the Dead use their connections to spite those that have wronged them. They travel the lands spreading the fires of rebellion in their wake. They learn to find those with strength and ally themselves with powerful people. The College of the Dead teaches its students forbidden magic unknown to many.

 Many bards aren’t aware of the College of the Dead’s existence and it has been confused for the School for Necromancy due to some similarities in curriculum. It is for this reason some bards from this college will mask their affiliation with it to blend in with wizards or rouges. This disguise allows for infiltration into more dangerous territory to stir up rebellion and call out corruption in kingdoms and governments alike.

College of the Dead Features

Bard level   Feature

3rd              Death Melody, Mantle of the Damned

6th              Wake the Dead

14th            Grimsong

DEATH MELODY

 When you hit a creature with your spell, you can expend one of your Bardic Inspiration to deal an extra 2d4 necromancy damage to that target. This feature increases it’s reach and power at higher levels. Increasing to 2d6 to two targets at 5th level. Increasing more to 4d6 to one, 2d6 to two, or 1d8 to three at 10th level. Then 8d6 to one, 4d6 to two, 2d8 to three or 1d8 to six targets at 15th level.

MANTLE OF THE DAMNED

 As an action you can scavenge a corpse and can concentrate to disguise your visage with dead or undead appearances. This ability gives you advantage on deception against an onlookers passive perception. On success you are able to convince the onlooker that you are a corpse or an undead creature. However, you lose 1d6 hit points every 10 minutes while this feature is active. While under the mantle you cannot be healed by any means. Using a concentration spell will dispel your disguise and you will no longer appear to be dead or undead.

WAKE THE DEAD

At 6th level your songs can call out directly to those soon to be dead. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cast Spare the Dying at a range of 100ft affecting up to four targets. This stabilizes the targets and gives them 1d6 hp

GRIMSONG

 As an action, you can project your voice to the afterlife and call forth the undead. Prior to the summoning, roll 1d20 and if a one is rolled the summoning works but the undead aren’t controlled by your spell and the DM gains control of the creatures. You can summon undead creatures that appear in unoccupied spaces you can see within range. Choose one of the following options for what appears:

• One undead of challenge rating 5 or lower
• Two undead of challenge rating 4 or lower
• Four undead of challenge rating 2 or lower
• Eight undead of challenge rating ½ or lower 

A summoned creature disappears after one hour or if it drops to 0 hit points.

  The summoned creatures are friendly to you and your companions. 

Roll initiative for the summoned creatures as a group, which have their own turns. They obey any command you give them (free action required per round). However, one false note and the tune turns sour. Without commands the undead will exit their thrall and will then be controlled by the DM. This can only be cast once every two long rests