College of the Macabre

Bard’s who belong to the College of Macabre represent a strange but vital tradition in society. Not only do they undertake the role of undertaker, but are known to defend, guard, and even celebrate the line between life and death. Some who practice this craft perform a civil duty of interning the dead and repelling undead hordes, like in the setting of Electrival, while others take it upon themselves to travel from town-to-town performing eulogies, seeing to it that the departed are not forgotten. It is common for a Macabre Bard to celebrate the passing of a friend or neighbor, especially if that person was loved by and relatable to the lower echelons of society. Because of this celebratory relationship with death, they don't see undeath as a moral insult to nature’s cycle. Macabre bards’ often commune with less-intelligent undead and make use of undead servants, but will still consider creatures such as Vampires and Liches, with their grasps on eternal life, as an insult to life's muse.

Commune with the Dead

3rd-level College of the Macabre feature

You gain the ability to glean information from the departed. You can spend 1 minute beckoning the body of a dead humanoid within 5 feet of you to impart some information it knew in life. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all uses after a long rest. You learn the following:

• The name of the person and the culture in which they were raised.
• How long ago they died.
• How they died from their perspective.
• Funeral customs that are traditional to the culture they were raised in.

At the DM’s discretion, you can also glean a memory or secret that person held.

Warden from Death’s Touch

3rd-level College of the Macabre feature

When you gain this feature at 3rd-level, you have increased sway over those standing at the curtain of death. You learn the Spare the Dying cantrip and it counts as a Bard spell when you cast it and doesn't count against the number of cantrips you can know.

In addition, whenever an ally uses one of your Bardic Inspiration dice, they gain temporary hit points equal to the roll of the die + your level.

Grim Puppeteer

6th-level College of the Macabre feature

At 6th-level, you become the puppeteer of undeath. When you gain the feature, you learn the Animate Dead spell, which is a bard spell for you and doesn't count against the number of spells you can know. In addition, you can cast it once per long rest without expending a spell slot. When the spell ends for a zombie or skeleton under your control, you can choose to end the undeath and have the body fall inanimate where it is, given it is within 30 feet of you at the time.

Danse Macabre

14th-level College of the Macabre feature

Starting at 14th-level, you learn a song that has the power to instill death and undeath with the joy and celebration of life. As an action, play the melody while choosing up to 10 piles of bones, corpses, and undead creatures within 100 feet of you. Piles of bones and corpses targeted this way become animated skeletons and zombies respectively (the DM has the game statistics) for 10-minutes, during which time they are under your control. Any number of them can be commanded as a bonus action as long as they can hear you. You can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn to end the song prematurely.

Each undead creature you target that isn’t deafened must succeed on a Charisma Saving throw against your spell save DC or be enthralled by the song. An undead with an Intelligence score less than 10 who fails the saving throw come under your control for 10 minutes and can be commanded like a skeleton or zombie you have risen. Intelligent undead with an Intelligence score of 10 or higher who fail their saving throw are charmed by you for 10 minutes. Each time the intelligent undead takes damage, they can repeat the saving throw, ending the charmed condition on a success. While charmed, the undead have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. A creature that saves is immune to this feature for 24 hours.

Once you use this feature, it cannot be used again until you finish a long rest.