College of the Damned

Bards of the College of the Damned are finely attuned to the aspect of death, their knowledge comes and lives on through the very dead themselves. Performing elaborate compositions to the riff of the dead is no easy feat and any slip up could result in failed conjuring and losing the trust of the dead, these bards use their gifts to uphold the values and memories of the deceased. As a symphony is playing, the audience members might find themselves questioning everything they held to be true, the air tends to turn to static and a chill is to engulf the spines of any around allowing the living to feel the absolute feelings of death, fear, dread or in some cases, passion. 

The loyalty of these bards lies in the pursuit of sanctimony for the dead, not in fealty to a monarch or following the tenets of a deity. A bard of this variety would never show loyalty to any one individual in a position of power, for they are eternally loyal to their craft. The more impartial a bard is towards the living, the closer they are to slipping into the world of the dead- this tends to allow these bards to be more powerful than most mortals.

The college’s members tend to remain solitary but do gather occasionally in places where the rift between the worlds of the living and the dead overlap, such as graveyards, battlefields and shrines. They also meet at political rallies or affairs of state, where there is exposure to corruption and the dead feel disgruntled,  they unravel lies, and intimidate self-important figures of authority.

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of the Damned at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with three skills of your choice.

Summon The Dead

You call forth a restless spirit from beyond the grave. The spirit manifests physically in an unoccupied space that you can see within a 30ft range. This corporeal form uses the stat block for an undead creature of the casters choice of challenge rating 1/4 or below. When you use this feature, choose the creature’s form: Ghostly, Putrid, or Skeletal. The creature physically resembles a humanoid with the chosen form unless the caster uses a bonus action to will it to take its original form and vice versa. The creature disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the caster dispels it. You may only have one effect of 'Summon The Dead' active at any given time. Once you have used the affect of 'Summon The Dead', you may not do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

This ability increases at 5th level where the conjured spirit uses the stat block for an undead creature of challenge rating 1 or below and increases again at 10th level where the conjured spirit uses the stat block for an undead creature of challenge rating 4 or below.

The creature is friendly to you and your companions. In combat, the creature shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It obeys verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you). If you don’t issue any, it defends itself but otherwise takes no action.

Waning Rhapsody

At 6th level, you learn to play a daunting 1 minute song-piece with an instrument of your choosing.

For the duration of the song, the following effects are active:

-Any attack roll made against you or an ally within 30ft of you has disadvantage.
-Any hostile character within 120ft of you must make a wisdom save against your spell save DC or become frightened of you.

The effect of 'Waning Rhapsody' is usable again after a long rest.

*This performance requires concentration as if concentrating on a spell

Crescendo of the Fallen

Starting at 14th level, you can choose to expend any number of bardic inspiration uses, roll the die. Summon a number of undead creatures of challenge rating 2 or below equal to the sum of the die. The creatures manifest physically in unoccupied spaces within 50ft of you. When you use this feature, choose the creature’s forms: Ghostly, Putrid, or Skeletal. The effect of Crescendo of the fallen lasts for 30 minutes then the creatures dispel automatically. Otherwise the creatures disappear when they drop to 0 hit points or when the caster dispels them.

Once you have used the affect of 'Crescendo of the Fallen', you may not do so again until you finish a long rest.

The creatures are friendly to you and your companions for the duration. In combat, the creatures share your initiative count, but take their turn immediately after yours. They obey verbal commands that you issue them (no action required by you). If you don’t issue any, they defends themselves but otherwise take no action.